Diet Cost Comparison Calculator

Diet cost comparison calculator compares food spending across diet types. Standard diet 80/week vs Mediterranean 100/week vs vegetarian 60/week vs vegan 55/week. Significant lifetime cost differences - 25/week × 52 weeks × 50 years = 65,000 lifetime difference. Diet choice major financial as well as health decision.

Example: Diet A (standard) 80/week vs Diet B (vegan) 55/week = 25/week difference. Annual savings 1,300. Over 50 years (adult life): 65,000 saved. Plus health impacts (vegan/vegetarian diets associated with reduced cardiovascular disease, lower BMI, cancer risk reduction). Combined financial + health value: significant.

Diet cost rankings (weekly per adult): vegan 40-60 (cheapest), vegetarian 50-70, standard omnivore 70-100, pescatarian 80-110, ketogenic 90-130, paleo 100-140, organic premium 150+. Cost drivers: meat (most expensive macronutrient per calorie), processed convenience foods, dining out frequency, organic premium (30-50% more), supplements (30-100/month if heavy user). Cheapest healthy approach: home-cooked plant-forward with occasional meat. Most expensive: premium organic + restaurants. Track for 1 month to know real spending.

Run it with sensible defaults

Using diet a weekly cost of 80, diet b weekly cost of 55, weeks following diet of 52, the calculation works out to 1,300.00. The defaults are meant as a starting point, not a recommendation.

The levers in this calculation

The inputs — Diet A Weekly Cost, Diet B Weekly Cost, and Weeks Following Diet — do not pull with equal force. Two inputs usually tip the answer one way or the other. Identify which ones matter most by flipping each value past a round threshold and watching whether the option with the lower calculated total changes.

How the math works

Total difference = (Diet A weekly - Diet B weekly) × weeks.

When to actually change the habit

Most lifestyle spending delivers real value. The exceptions are the ones that stopped delivering months ago but got auto-renewed anyway, and the ones chosen out of defaults rather than preference. Run this, then audit for those two categories — that's where the easy wins live.

What this doesn't capture

The tool prices the money; it can't weigh the enjoyment. A coffee habit, gym membership, or streaming bundle might cost what the math says but deliver value that's harder to quantify. Use the number to make the trade-off visible — the decision is yours.