Skinny Girl's Quest for Muscle

Skinny Girl's Quest for Muscle
Approximate Cost of Groceries (Eating Healthy)


In my last two blog posts, I included my week's menu plan and a shopping list. This post will estimate the cost of the week's worth of healthy food (not including the "free day"), and include some suggestions about substitutions and where to find groceries.

First, to set up a cost-comparison target, I pulled information from the USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS). This is the annual, per-capita cost of food, including groceries and restaurants:

$3,832 (2008 per capita home and away from home food expense(1))
$319 per month
$74 per week

On average, we spend about $74 per week on food. When I purchased the groceries on my shopping list for my own personal use last weekend, I didn't spend $74, I didn't even spend $50--I only spent $35. This is because I had a few of the items already (coconut oil, olive oil, wheat flour--most of the staples), and because, except for bananas, I grow a lot of the produce listed on the menu. However, using my actual prices for the foods that I did buy (from a high-end grocer), and looking up prices from online grocers (such as Alberstons.com), I was able to estimate that it would cost $80-90 per week by purchasing from a non-bargain grocery source.

Now, not everyone wants to spend high-end prices. In that case, I've estimated that one could save up to $20 by bargain shopping, coupon shopping, and/or purchasing produce from farmer's markets. As a result of smart shopping and finding a few sale items, the menu's for a week, as written, would cost just about the same as what the average consumer spends for food:

$60 to $90 estimated price range for 1 week of healthy food from plan

Another consideration is that my menu is pescetarian (vegetarian + fish). However, if one were to swap in chicken for the fish on the menu, and turkey breast slices for the tuna, one could cut the price even further while enjoying a more typical diet. Additionally, if your focus was not necessarily to gain muscle (and you did not plan workouts), you could also skip the post-workout or high calorie snacks/meals (skip the chocolate milk, peanut butter, and protein powder). Another exchange would be brown rice in the place of the wheat and soba noodles and to exchange oatmeal for the higher-calorie, and more expensive granola.

$40 to $60 estimated price with substitutions

So there you have it, you can eat healthy without paying more than the 'Jones'.

Until next time, go do something athletic!



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references:

(1) http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/CPIFoodAndExpenditures/Data/Expenditures_tables/table13.htm