This is an article written by my friend Lianne who lives in the US. I could have done the same experiment in euros here in the Netherlands but I figured that food prices in a small country such as the Netherlands wouldn’t be that interesting. So Lianne did the test for me in US-dollars. With a $100 budget, how much food could she get? Here is her answer to the challenge:
When it comes to buying groceries, people often assume that processed food is cheaper and more convenient than healthy food. Convenient it may be, but is it really cheaper? At the same time, we are persuaded to believe that organic healthy food is far over-priced for the average household. This may be true several years ago; but with much higher demands of better quality food from the general public, more companies are shifting towards affordable prices for organic healthy food. Still, do you believe it?
Here’s a test. Suppose one person uses $100 to buy a week of grocery consisting of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks. How much food will the person get if they solely spend it on processed food, healthy food, versus organic healthy food?
To make this a more realistic test, I decide to split the hundred dollars into smaller portions specifically for the breakfast expense ($20), the lunch expense ($30), the dinner expense ($30), and the snack expense ($20).
At the same time, I aim to compose grocery lists that provide well-balanced diets which include various sources of proteins, vegetables, fruits. I try to vary different sources of food so that one doesn’t have to get stuck eating the same thing every single day. This way, I can also show you the different price range for various meat, vegetables, and fruits.
[Please note that these food prices are based on local supermarkets, Walmart, Safeway in Colorado. The food prices may vary in different parts of North America as some food products are much cheaper in some regions than other regions. Still, these prices will give you a good idea how much processed food, healthy food, and organic healthy food you can get for $100.]”
Breakfast Budget: $20
Lunch Budget: $30
Dinner Budget: $30
Snacks Budget: $20
Looking at the results of this test, I see that processed food isn’t cheaper than healthy food. As a matter of fact, it is evident that I can get much more food if I buy healthy food instead of processed food.
Even though organic healthy food tends to be more expensive than healthy food, I want to point out one very important fact that will help everyone to become smarter shoppers. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, “organic” does not necessary guarantees a higher price. The trick is to find local organic fruits and vegetables. Because of the lesser shipping cost, the local supermarkets will have seasonal local organic produce that are often cheaper than the non-organic product. If you own a separate freezer, you can really stock up on local berries, tomatoes, and spinach during summer time, and eat them throughout the year.
In my grocery trips for this test, I bought twenty 510g of blueberries at the price of $2.99 instead of the regular price of $5.99, and thirty 170g of raspberries at the price of $1.99 instead of the regular price of $3.99. If you do the calculation, the regular prices berries will cost $239.50. But at the sale price, the price is only $119.5 — the price of a smaller freezer. Just by being a smart shopper, there is really no need to limit your grocery to certain food selections.