Calories per dollar

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ryanchemist
ryanchemist Posts: 19
in Food and Nutrition
Food For Thought - . Let's say you have a budget of $300 per month for food. Let's also say you have a calorie intake of 1500 calories per day for you fitness plan. How many calories per dollar do you need to make sure you stay under your money budget?

$300/30 = $10 per day ...
1500/$10 = That is 150 Cal per dollar.

I have found that if I don't try to maintain close to 200+ Cal/$ ... I will go broke and then lose weight because I don't have any more money to spend on food.

So ... Balancing money, Calories, and nutritien. Can be tough on a budget. I am very careful not to buy fake food just because it has no calories. I eat real food and just don't eat tons of it!

No artificial sweeteners
No Splenda

Just keeping track and eating real food.

Replies

  • TaraMaria
    TaraMaria Posts: 1,975
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    It really can be hard to lead a more healthy life style and not go broke. I tend to snack on a ton of veggies and fruits and moving into winter moves that price right on up! Plus my healthy beef jerky is ridiculously expensive, anywhere from $3-$6 an ounce! My problem seems to be that I tend to eat less then my recommended calories and I of course don't loose any weight. Which means I need to spend more money to buy healthy food. My husband seems to have the right idea: you can eat practically anything (not a lot of refined sugars) as long as you spread it out evenly over the day and concentrate on portion control. You can still manage to eat cheaply this way. I just have a mental block about carbs and thus have a hard time eating cheaply. Ah well! It will all click one of these years!
  • Nmama
    Nmama Posts: 191 Member
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    It helps if you can buy fresh veggies in bulk, (especially in summer when their cheaper) then chop them up and use freezer bags to freeze them. I can and freeze alot
  • lemonllama
    lemonllama Posts: 124 Member
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    I think its cheaper to eat healthy!
    One large pizza=20 dollars, cld buy enough salad and soup to last a week with that!
    One meal at mcdonalds= 6ish dollars, cld buy two or three healthy choice dinners for that!
    One blizzard=3.50, cld buy a weeks worth of apples and bananas!!
    One soda a day 1.25ishx 7, water=FREE!!
    =)
  • TaraMaria
    TaraMaria Posts: 1,975
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    I guess I was never one to buy much junk food to begin with thus going from Ramen noodles to fresh veggies the price increase is dramatic!
  • BroiledNotFried
    BroiledNotFried Posts: 446 Member
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    i find that buying fruits and veggies at a local stand saves me a ton over the supermarket.

    Sunday, i bought 6 red peppers, 6 limes, 6 bananas, and a basket of tomatoes....all for $8.00! I could have bought her Romaine lettuce for $1.00 for two heads.

    Also, frozen veggies are super nutritious and cheaper than fresh. Store brand is just fine with me, too. But the Green Giant and Bird's Eye sometimes goes on sale for 50% off, about $1 a bag. Then, i buy enough for the whole month. Frozen food just doesn't go bad quickly.
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    $300 a month?!?! BWAHAHAH :laugh:

    Try $160!

    I buy the same stuff every time. Not a lot of fresh veggies..mostly frozen. Frozen meat/fish. Oats. Brown rice. Nothing quick, convenient, or pre-made.
  • ryanchemist
    ryanchemist Posts: 19
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    OK grocery shopping:
    1 pound of asparagus
    1 pound potatoes
    1 pound ground beef - Grass fed!
    1 pound red onion
    1 carton Rice Dream
    1 jar Classico spabeghtti sauce
    1 pound Muesli (uncooked 12 grain cereal)
    1 box green tea

    This was $24.97 and came out to be 182 Cal per dollar. With my wife and I (Total Cal per day for both is 3300) this means $582 per month just for food. So ... Not sure where anyone can come up with $160 a month for one person if you buy any vegetables at all!.

    We don't drink Soda, Pizza out, Mcdonalds, or other fast food for that matter ... but if we did, we would get more calories per dollar. I have figured it out.
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    OK grocery shopping:
    1 pound of asparagus
    1 pound potatoes
    1 pound ground beef - Grass fed!
    1 pound red onion
    1 carton Rice Dream
    1 jar Classico spabeghtti sauce
    1 pound Muesli (uncooked 12 grain cereal)
    1 box green tea

    This was $24.97 and came out to be 182 Cal per dollar. With my wife and I (Total Cal per day for both is 3300) this means $582 per month just for food. So ... Not sure where anyone can come up with $160 a month for one person if you buy any vegetables at all!.

    We don't drink Soda, Pizza out, Mcdonalds, or other fast food for that matter ... but if we did, we would get more calories per dollar. I have figured it out.

    You'd be surprised what you can find as a broke college students whose entire first paycheck goes to rent and bills. I don't buy green tea, Muesli, or anything corn fed. Nothing organic, nothing out of season. Also no junk food.
  • CasperO
    CasperO Posts: 2,913 Member
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    Calories per dollar? Piece of cake,,, McDonalds Double Cheeseburge. 440 calories, 1 dollar.

    By that logic, Sweet's $160 will buy her over 70,000 calories for the month. About 2350 a day.

    Problem?

    Terrible metric to use IMHO,,, good real food costs more, it's cheaper (and much easier) to eat crap. Thinking about calories for money spent will lead you to some really bad stuff.
  • LittleSpy
    LittleSpy Posts: 6,754 Member
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    I think its cheaper to eat healthy!

    I'm thinking this too. The HUGE moneysaver for me is FROZEN VEGETABLES! Stock alllll the way up when there's a sale. And forget about the kind of veggies you can steam in the bags they come in -- 1. steaming in plastic is potentially harmful to your health (you can find a bazillion articles on plastic releasing chemical components when heated -- I'm sure it's a controversial topic) 2. They normally cost 2x more than the generic veggies you put in a container & plop in the microwave so unless they're on BOGO sale, don't bother (and even then, you may want to consider steaming them in something other than plastic anyway).


    Also, if you drive by several grocery stores on your way to/from work or other errands, consider stopping at all of them to hit weekly specials. I go to 2, sometimes 3 grocery stores (all of which are already on my way, so I'm not wasting gas) to hit weekly specials. Apples 50% off at one store, potatoes 50% off at another and I've got 13 pounds of food easily for $5. Pay attention to the sales, buy in bulk if it's cheaper & you'll actually use that much before it spoils, buy things that can be frozen when there's not much of a difference in nutritional value (meat, veggies, fruit). And, don't forget about your local farmer's market (if you have one near you)!

    I generally spend less than $100/week to feed 2 adults, 6 dogs, 1 cat, 2 birds. And my dogs and cat are rawfed (read -- they eat well over 200 pounds of MEAT/bones/organs every MONTH). Granted, unfortunately my dogs & cat do eat mostly grain-fed meat (which means I sup. their O3s), but it's still a billion times better for them than any processed dog food. :wink:

    When I was in college trying to eat healthy while being really ignorant about a lot of things, I spent $75/week to feed myself and 1 dog (who ate kibble at the time... because again, ignorance).
  • ryanchemist
    ryanchemist Posts: 19
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    Maybe you all don't get the point. What if I only have $300 for a month for two people and our diets have us at 3300 calories per day between us. This is real simple math ... I'll make it 3300 cal/day * 30 days /$300 = 330 Cal per dollar. So to stay within budget for money I have t figure out how to get 330 Cal/dollar or run out of food by the end of the month.

    Last trip to the store was 368 Cal/dollar ... Lean meet, vegetables, potatoes (helped a lot in the Cal/dol area), ...

    So ... It is still easier to get more calories from junk food for sure ... Just trying to eat right, stay within my calories and my budget. So far we are doing well. Both Dasha and I have been under our calories for the last week ... and we are changing our buying to accommodate healthy eating and still staying within budget.

    I am sure there are other people out there that are seeing a cost increase when eating healthy.

    Looking to a great 2010.

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