Is Nutrisystem Really Less Expensive Than Buying Groceries Containing Diet Foods?

I sometimes hear from people who have heard claims that you actually save money on your grocery bill by eating Nutrisystem food rather than trying to make your own diet meals. Understandably, people can wonder about these claims. Even though that we all know that the costs of groceries today can bring quite a shock when you are checking out, the Nutrisystem diet has costs associated with it as well.

Common comments are things like: “I’m looking at the costs per day on Nutrisystem. And I’m reading that it’s anywhere from $8 to $11 each day depending on the plan. I am wondering if this is really cheaper than buying groceries.” I will try to break this down to give you an idea of the costs comparisons in the following article.

Your Grocery Store Needs Go Way Down Once You Go On Nutrisystem: Some people are under the impression that all you have to do on this diet is to eat the prepackaged meals that they send you. This isn’t necessarily the case. You do need to add in fresh snacks with each meal. They ask you to add in fresh vegetables, fruits, dairy and whole grains. And this is going to require groceries. This might sound extensive, but it truly isn’t. We’re talking about small servings that you can often buy in bulk. An example might be an apple, a piece of string cheese, a piece of lean meat or a slice of whole grain bread. The point is that for most people, the grocery store necessities do not add up to that much money. Many people are already buying these types of foods for their family. I would think that you could buy a week’s worth of grocery store side items for less than $30.

How Much Do You Normally Spend On Groceries?: If you try to do any research on this, you’ll probably find that estimates on average monthly grocery store budgets can vary widely. That’s because individuals and families tend to spend an amount on groceries that is a percentage of their income and is based on the size of their households. Of course, you are probably the best one to ask about how much you spend per week or per month on groceries. The number that you are looking for is the amount of groceries that you spend on yourself and not on your family. The reason for this is that even if you go on the diet and most of your food is covered and provided, your family’s meals are not. So, you will still need to buy groceries for the rest of your family.

I was interested to know about the average cost of groceries for American families and individuals in order to get a rough idea of how much many people spend. And I was able to find a 2009 statistic from The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics which found that the average American spent $6,443 annually food. Statistics from the census bureau indicates that the average family size in the United States is 3.14 people in the household. So if we divide one number into another, this works out to be about $2148 per year for each person. If you figure this out per month, you’re looking at $179 per month per person, on average.

Now, if you look at the rough estimate I gave above of the grocery side items, this comes out to about $120 per month for your grocery store sides. This is $60 less than the average cost of groceries. That means that if you’re anywhere close to these estimates and averages, you would spend less on groceries with the diet, even with having to buy some groceries for side items. Of course these are just averages. You may spend more or less than the averages. But I do think that it’s notable that you can go on a diet for less or at least for a comparable sum than what most people spend on groceries. If you’ve ever tried to diet by cooking your own foods, you probably already know that health or diet foods are expensive at the grocery store.