Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Follow the Money

Sometime in October, a friend and I had a discussion about the cost of fruit and veggies. So I became interested in my monthly food expenditures. I created a spreadsheet and fastidiously recorded my family's food purchases for the month of November 2014. Yes, I included Thanksgiving purchases as well. I figured it wouldn't skew it that bad because we shared a meal with a large extended family and all pitched in.

The main finding, fruit and veggies are pretty damn expensive. We eat a lot of fruit, I must have spent about $50 on apples alone. As I continue this process I will break it down further to see where the most costly purchases are coming from. Another thing I need to add to my spreadsheet for December is caloric amount per item.

When I Look at the amount of meat our family of four consumes it seems really low. If I had added each item's calories to my spread sheet it would give me a more accurate measure to compare what we are purchasing/consuming for their dollar value?

All-in-all, it is interesting to see where the money goes and the amounts you eat. I really thought I consumed a larger amount of meat and alcohol.

The revealing bit that is hard to swallow is when I compare our family's expenditures with this gallup poll. "WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans report spending $151 on food per week on average. One in 10 Americans say they spend $300 or more per week and, at the other extreme, 8% spend less than $50."

Even though it is from 2012 and food prices have risen, I am still spending out of my place on the totem pole. The next question I have to answer is are my expenditures economical and healthy. Then I can find out if healthy food is only for the wealthy. 

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