Food costs are steadily rising in the US, and many Americans find it challenging to eat healthy. Fresh, organic foods are often significantly more expensive than packaged foods.
But how much does it really cost per month to eat a "perfect" diet? How is a perfectly healthy diet defined? What was our experience testing this diet for a month, and how much did we spend? What did a sample meal look like?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we explain what we consider to be a "perfect" diet, and share the author's experience testing it for a month straight (including the cost breakdown).
We'll also include a few sample meals including the cost breakdown of each.
Key takeaways:
- We define a "perfect" diet as whole food based and organic certified
- We spent $1,179.98 in one month
- Noticed higher energy and better sleep than usual on this diet
What is a "Perfect" Diet?
We define a "perfect" diet as a diet comprised entirely of whole foods.
The animal products are sourced from grass-fed or pasture-raised animals (which is clinically shown to be more nutritious than from conventionally-raised).
Fish are exclusively wild-caught (because farmed fish have significantly higher pesticide levels, as we documented in our Butcher Box reviews article).
Produce is organic where available, because organic food was shown in a medical review published in the Nutrients journal to have lower levels of toxic metabolites.
We certainly recognize that there is no true "perfect" diet due to individual biology, but this is our hypothesis about what's best in general.
How Much Did We Spend?
The total for a full month of the "perfect" diet was $1,179.98.
I shopped mostly at Whole Foods, but occasionally visited Shop & Shop and Walmart.
Surprisingly, a large percentage of this spend went towards produce.
$417 went to produce, or 35% of the total spend.
People generally consider produce to be cheaper than protein and staples like bread or potatoes, but it's not at all cheap when purchased organically at Whole Foods.
One single serving of organic broccoli sprouts, for example, cost $6.99
One bag of organic grapes cost $10.99.
I live alone so this was doable, but it would certainly be challenging for a large family, even on a high income.
Since I typically only eat two meals per day, the average meal cost was $19.67.
What Was a Sample Meal & Expense?
I typically only eat two (large) meals per day.
Below is sample first meal on the "perfect" diet:
This was a vegetarian meal. I typically only consume animal products once per day. The prices below do not necessarily reflect the price of the full item, but the portion of it I ate:
Four organic corn tortillas: $1.10
Okra: $1.25
Organic strawberries: $5
Two organic avocados: $7
Total: $14.35
Below is a sample second meal on the "perfect" diet:
This was one of my cheaper dinners, since the whitefish was so reasonably priced:
Three organic corn tortillas: $0.83
Organic spearmint: $1
Wild-caught scup: $4.05
Organic cherries: $4.50
Total: $10.38
Was it Worth it?
In my opinion, this diet was worth it, and it's somewhat similar to what I eat on a regular basis.
I believe that you can get 80% of the way there in terms of nutrition by just purchasing whole foods and trying to eat as minimally-processed as possible.
This can be done cheaply and doesn't require organic certifications or grass-fed meat; just lots of fresh meat, fish, fruits, veggies and whole grains.
For those who can afford it, spending the extra money to get slightly better nutrition and (potentially) slightly lower toxins is worth it in my opinion, as it's an investment in health and quality of life.
High-quality food also just tastes better.
