Food is central to our lives. There are few things more
important to our day-to-day survival than ensuring we get enough to eat. Shared meals
are one of the best ways to build community, network, and spend time enjoying
life with friends and family. However, much of the food that is available to us
is expensive, unhealthy, or unappetizing. The goal of this blog is to work
towards cutting food costs without sacrificing health and flavor.
Food cost
can vary wildly, but to analyze it we will consider the cost of a “meal”, or 667
calories. For the origin of this idea, check out Mr. Money Mustache’s excellent
blog post, Killing your $1000 Grocery Bill (and while you’re at it, check out
some of his other articles). By pricing out all of the ingredients in a recipe
on a per-meal basis, we get a sense of what parts of our food are helping or
hurting our grocery bill. From there, we can adjust our recipes to be more
cost-effective without having to give up favorite meals.
Health and
flavor can be argued over to no end, but for this analysis we will be making
some simplifying assumptions. I am not a dietitian, and you will know your
body’s needs much better than I do. If you have restrictions on your diet, I
hope I can provide tools that will work for your situation.
