A 1925 home economics textbook provides recommendations for how to divide each dollar spent on food across the various food groups.
How Much to Spend on Food
Whether one is purchasing food for all the meals of a family or is only selecting a luncheon or one meal, it is desirable to spend money wisely.
The five food groups may serve as a basis for the purchase of foods. It has been suggested that each dollar used in buying foods be divided into 5 parts of 20 cents each.
Out of each dollar use:
- 20 cents, more or less, for vegetables and fruits
- 20 cents, more or less, for milk and cheese
- 20 cents, more or less, for meat, fish, eggs, etc.
- 20 cents, more or less, for bread and cereals
- 20 cents, more or less, for sugar, fat, tea, coffee, chocolate, flavoring
(A footnote indicates that this is from the United States Thrift Leaflet #15.)
School and Home Cooking by Carlotta C. Greer (1925)
Sometimes I wonder if I spend too much on food, but I’ve never really thought about how it should be divided across food groups. I wonder if the hundred-year-old breakdown still holds, or if the division across food groups should be different now.
I’m tempted to do the experiment 🙂
I’m also tempted to track how my grocery bill is distributed across food groups – but then I think about it being a lot of work and I’m not even sure what is currently an appropriate distribution.
There are just so many factors. When I went shopping today, I bought more meat and chicken than usual, but most of it went into the freezer for future use. And usually, if I look at what I have in my cart, it seems it’s half filled with produce.
I do the same thing. If there is a sale on a type of meat, I often stock up and freeze some. There probably is a lot of variation from week to week in how much I spend on the different food groups.
Don’t think today’s budget would be divided as such.
I also think it would be divided differently today – but I’m not sure how.
I think it would really depend on what you are making.
I agree. My sense is that how food dollars are distributed across food groups would vary a lot from cook to cook.
I’m guessing it is 50% for the meat, fish, and eggs piece of the pie currently.
You may be right. I also spend a lot on fruits and vegetables.
I spend a lot on fresh fruit and vegetables, too; I was thinking more about how much the cost of beef, chicken, fish, and eggs has gone up in the last few months.
It seems like most everything has gone up the past few months. I’m still in shock when I buy a few apples and then when they are rung up I see that they cost over $10.
Goodness. I can’t begin to imagine our household percentages on each. I’ll go away and have a think …
🙂 When I buy groceries I generally focus on the total expenditure amount and whether I bought enough fruits and vegetables so that we will have at least 5 servings a day.
Exactly!
Interesting way to think of spending money on groceries.
It’s really different than how we think about it today.
That is very interesting. I don’t think it would change my choices, but it might make me pay more attention to what I was buying. I always have a detailed list with me and rarely deviate far from it. I find it very helpful to look at the week’s flyer while compiling the list.
You and I both approach grocery shopping in a similar way. I also always take a list when I shop.
That is fun to know. Thank you.
It’s nice to hear that you enjoyed this post.
I enjoy all your posts, but I might not say that every time.
An interesting concept – but I think the distribution has shifted in more modern times….
I agree. Something seems off with this distribution, though I don’t know how much I typically spend on the different food categories. Off the top of my head, without actually looking at my grocery receipts and doing any calculations, I think that I spend substantially less than 20% of my food dollars on Milk and Cheese, as well as less than 20% on Bread and Cereals. I think I spend more on the Meat, Fish, and Eggs and the Vegetables and Fruits categories. I not sure whether I spend more or less on the Sugar, Fats, Beverages, and Other Groceries category. “Other groceries” encompass a lot of things that I might spend quite a bit on.
Exactly! We don’t spend only 1/5 of the budget on meat. With the price so high we just aren’t buying. I’ve been making meatless meals on a more regular basis. But when we do purchase meat, fish and eggs it exceeds 20%…
So I have been thinking on this since you posted it…I think percentages change thru the time of year. Its no longer based on “seasonal availability ” as much as is it hot or cold outside…am I headed into a lot of outside work, cleaning, heat wave or blizzard or holiday.
I am pretty sure that regardless of the season it dose not break down as 20% each.
Similarly, what I buy is dependent upon what I plan to do (and what I plan to make for my next blog post). 🙂
I love that they include chocolate in their essential items!
sherry
I know I do, and consider it essential for brain health. Woo Hoo!
I took the chart to be something for considering a budget. If I can skimp or I’ve saved in one area, I could add that in another.
When I go shopping and know I’m flint skinned, swapping proteins is easy for my as I love bean burritos. hahaha So I can ship savings to something else or save it for tomorrow. Because there’s always tomorrow, it’s only a day away. hahaha