How much of a difference does it make to cook 5 servings of rice instead of 4?

I was listening to a podcast where they had a professional chef on talking about cooking pastured meat. It was near the end of the podcast and near the end of the interview, so it was just a passing comment, but he mentioned that when he used to work in restaurants, they would always cook a bit extra food, around 10% more, and they would give it to the staff near the end of service, and take the left overs home.<br><br>He said that the way a lot of establishments have moved towards streamlining their food costs over the past 30 years, they've gotten to where they're cooking exactly what they need to, so there's near zero waste. He said that while it makes business sense, it's terrible for morale. Everyone gets to go home empty, which means everyone has to go spend money on food when they get home. Previously, they would all get to bring home 1-2 servings of whatever they had been serving, which is much easier for them near the end of a shift. Previously, they could bring the food home and have something a lot better than ramen for near zero cost. <br><br>When I was near the end of college, I had a 5 year residency posting in Boston, and all of my friends would go out to get a drink or food after work, and I would never join them near the end of the week. I had around $500 for food and supplies. So, I'd have around $60 for groceries between Friday and Sunday. I could never get a take out, but if someone was cooking near the end of the week, I'd always bring over a bottle of wine and the change from buying groceries. So, for near zero cost, I could get a pretty good meal where I could take home left overs for the next day, and I wouldn't have to spend 2+ hours cooking. <br><br>Those take home meals were where my take home pay came from. <br><br>Has anyone ever done a cost analysis on left overs?