The Great Burger Cook-Off: Eating Out vs. Cooking at Home -- Savings Experiment

Where's the beef? In the mouths of hungry Americans, it seems.

U.S. consumers ordered 2.2 billion hamburgers at restaurants nationwide last year, according to the NPD Group market research firm.

So it seems fitting to sink our teeth into a comparison of what it costs to buy a burger from a national chain restaurant -- in this case Applebee's -- versus what it costs to cook one at home.