The Recession Kitchen: Milk is Chillin,' David's Chillin': USDA Low-Cost Food Plan grocery list development Step 1.

I was to believe there would be no math.

OK, that's hyperbolic. When it comes to limiting food costs, it's all about the math, well as long as it doesn't totally destroy taste. But I am about to enter a new level of ration metrics. It's so awful, I could call the Ratrics.

I'm attempting to develop a shopping list based on the USDA's 2007 Low-Cost Food Plan which I blogged about last month. The reason I'm using the 2007 plan is because it's the most recently available. The plan is to use the USDA's estimate of what a person would need to consume to meet nutritional needs, while also reducing a family's food costs.

At first glance what becomes clear is that I eat a lot of meat. Hey, I'm an American male. But here, according to the plan, is the amount of flesh that I, as a male between the ages of 19 and 50, should be eating in a week:
1 lb. beef, pork, veal, lamb and game
1.13 lbs. chicken, turkey, and game birds
0.24 lbs. fish and fish products
0.19 lbs. bacon, sausages, and luncheon meats

That's it. All told, according to this plan, I will eat 2.56 pounds of meat in a week. By the way, for my lunch today, I ate a roast beef sandwich that blew my lunch meat quota for the week.

Just for fun, here's the meat allotment for my wife, who is a woman between the ages of 19 and 50.
0.69 lbs. beef, pork, veal, lamb and game
0.68 lbs. chicken, turkey, and game birds
0.36 lbs. fish and fish products
0.06 lbs. bacon, sausages, and luncheon meats.

I don't know who wrote this report, but I'd be willing to bet they never served their wife 3/4 of a strip of bacon, which I'm guessing probably weighs about 0.06 pounds. What should be noted here, as you've probably already recognized, is that my wife gets 0.12 pounds more fish than I do, which answers the question of who gets the last shrimp.

Finally, let's look at the allotment for our toddler, who falls among the 2-3 year olds.
0.30 lbs. beef, pork, veal, lamb and game
0.49 lbs. chicken, turkey, and game birds
0.83 lbs. fish and fish products
0.01 lbs. bacon, sausages, and luncheon meats.

OK, who wants to break the news to my kid that he can't eat hot dogs anymore because he can only eat 0.01 pound of sausage in a week? In all seriousness, what is with that huge jump in seafood consumption? Do the scientists really want a two year old to eat more fish than his parents in a week?

The thing that gives me great pause is the very real concern I have about mercury levels in fish. I don't want to go all Jeremy Piven, but should a child with a rapidly developing brain really be eating almost three times as much fish as beef in a week? I'm not going to pontificate on that, as I don't have the data. But that's something I will do some reporting on.

As for now, my real point has to do with putting together a shopping list.

Given the numbers you've now been given, I'll need to buy:
1.99 lbs. of red meat
2.30 lbs. of poultry
1.43 lbs. of fish
0.26 lbs. of bacon.

Remarkably, as far as shopping goes, this shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish. Surely, I'll be going to the butcher shop or meat counter. But I tend to do that anyway. Also, I won't be so exact as to ask for .26 pounds of bacon, but a quarter of a pound is pretty darn close.

Let's take a look at what will be on the rest of my list, not including stuff like fats and soups. Note that this plan does not allow for any spending on soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, coffee or tea. So, well, we'll just be ignoring that in favor of maintaining sanity.

By the way, if anyone can help me flesh out my dairy buying list, I'm all ears. As you'll see below my cart will be might full of moo juice derivatives of the low-fat variety.

OK, enough delay, here goes:
3.62 lbs. whole grain pasta and breads
0.95 lbs. whole grain cereal
.56 lbs. popcorn*
2.83 lbs. white rice/white bread
3.67 lbs. of potatoes
3.87 lbs. dried beans and lentils#
3.02 lbs. dark-green veggies
2.00 lbs. orange veggies (does sweet potato count?)
7.22 lbs. other veggies
15.73 lbs. whole fruits
3.57 lbs. fruit juice
3.02 lbs. whole milk products (non-dessert)
26.96 lbs. low fat dairy products (hello, lactose intolerance!)
0.48 lbs. cheese
0.46 lbs. dairy desserts
1.52 lbs. nuts
0.44 lbs. eggs
0.43 lbs. sugar and sweets
3 mega-packs of Charmin Ultra-Strong.

I'm going to head to the grocery store in the next few days and will try to work this in to an actual grocery list. Already I'm seeing some potential issues. I'll have to contact the USDA to make sure I'm clear what counts as low-fat dairy products and what a dark green veggie is versus a medium green veggie. I may also have to speak with a nutritionist about all of that dairy, I mean, really, do I have to buy more than 30 pounds of dairy to get my family the nutrition we need?

* Seriously, there was breakout for popcorn. Sadly, corn chips were ignored.
# There's where the protein is coming from. Limit the meat and eat beans and lentils. That's a Recession Kitchen classic!