My friend and I once spent some time scoping out the local supermarket, trying to find the cheapest calories in the store.

The results were probably what you’d expect – you can get more bang for your buck with a bag of marshmallows than you can a box of crackers or some veggies.

And is it any surprise that the “winner” of our little contest was a packet of Top Ramen, on sale for something like $0.20?  That’s 400 calories, divided by twenty cents, for a grand total of 2000 calories per dollar!

No wonder college kids eat that stuff.   I’ll challenge you to find anything cheaper.

Fast food also has a bad reputation, appearing in movies like Food Inc. because it’s cheaper to feed a family of 4 off the McDonald’s Dollar Menu than to cook something at home.  How do some common favorites stack up on the cost per calorie metric?

Well, they’re no where near as cheap as Ramen, but they’re pretty inexpensive. This because our helpful friend Uncle Sam pays farmers to grow so much corn we are forced to feed it to cows, chickens, pigs, and people in all of its various processed forms.

Curious as to why the authors of the article didn’t consider Ramen and other delectable sundries?

We’ve stuck to the items that could reasonably hold body and soul together for some time. You can take in more calories by just eating donuts. But you will die.

Well said.
via Chart Porn

Can't get enough? Try these related posts:

1. Food, (shr)Inc.
2. Michael Pollan and the Sun Food Agenda
3. Brazil Calls Our Bluff
4. Food Pyramids – Supply and Demand
5. Why does organic food cost more?