How Much Money Are You Actually Spending on Food Delivery?
I want you to do something right now. Open your DoorDash app (or UberEats, or SkipTheDishes, or whatever your go-to is). Go to your order history. Add up what you've spent in the last 30 days.
Done? How do you feel about that number?
If you're like the average North American, you're spending somewhere between $150 and $200 per month on food delivery. That's $1,800 to $2,400 per year. On food that, let's be honest, is mostly working against your health goals.
The Hidden Math
A $25 delivery order is rarely just $25. There's the delivery fee ($3-6). The service fee ($2-4). The "small order fee" if you didn't hit the minimum. The tip (which you should absolutely leave, but it adds up). That $25 meal is often $35-40 by the time you checkout.
Order that three times a week and you're at $120/week. $480/month. Nearly $6,000/year. On food that a team of researchers at Cancer Research UK found is specifically designed to make you over-order through bundle deals and minimum order thresholds.
Compare that to cooking the same meal at home. A grilled chicken breast with rice and vegetables costs about $4-5 in ingredients. You could eat that every night for a month and spend $150 total. That's less than what most people spend on delivery in a single week.
It's Not Just Your Wallet
The financial cost is one thing. The health cost is another. Restaurant meals, especially the ones people typically order through delivery apps, are higher in calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar than home-cooked meals. They also come in portions that are significantly larger than what you'd serve yourself at home.
Research published in a major nutrition journal found that food delivery apps primarily promote unhealthy fast food through value bundles and algorithmic visibility boosting. The apps are literally showing you the worst options first because those are the ones with the highest margins for the restaurants and the platform.
So you're paying more money for food that's making you less healthy. That's a bad deal by any measure.
The Emotional Cost
There's a third cost nobody talks about: how ordering delivery makes you feel afterward. Relief for about 20 minutes while you eat. Then guilt. Then the cycle repeats tomorrow. One TikTok creator's video titled "My DoorDash Addiction Exposed" went viral because millions of people related to that feeling of scrolling through your order history with dread.
78% of Americans describe food delivery as "self-care," according to DoorDash's own research. But real self-care doesn't leave you feeling worse afterward. Real self-care is cooking a meal you're proud of, seeing it show up as a green tile in your food vault, and knowing you just saved $30 and kept your streak alive.
The Math That Matters
Slopax costs $29.99 per year. One year of the app costs less than a single week of delivery orders for most users. And in return, it blocks the apps that drain your wallet, shows you what to cook from what you already have, and tracks your food quality with a two-second photo.
Users report saving $150 or more per month after they start using the blocker. That's $1,800 per year back in your pocket. The app doesn't just pay for itself. It pays for itself 60 times over.
Go look at your order history one more time. Then ask yourself: would you rather have that money, or those empty calories?