On the weekend I decided to work out what raw foods give the most bang for the buck in terms of nutritional value for fixed calories and price. I thought it was more interesting than by weight as we normally look at it (certainly for anyone who wants to lose weight and save money). So far I have only been able to look into nuts, seeds and oils because they are the least numerous, but this is what I discovered:
I collected data in 100g/100ml quantities for:
flaxseed oil ($4.59), olive oil ($2.60), sesame oil ($2.60), coconut oil ($3.33), flax seeds ($0.80), macadamia nuts ($3.50), chia seeds ($2.20), walnuts ($2.00), almonds ($2.00), cashews ($2.00 – not really raw at this price), mature coconut meat ($0.66), young coconut ($0.60), pecans ($2.00), pine nuts ($6.00), pistachio nuts ($4.50), pumpkin seeds ($0.80), brazil nuts ($2.00), sunflower seeds ($0.80) and raw cacao ($4.30). If you can get 100g locally for a different price then my results might not be accurate for you.
Calories:
sunflower seeds win the most calories with 730 per $1
Omega-3:
flax seeds gives the most per $1
flax oil gives the most per calorie
Omega-6:
sunflower seeds gives the most per $1
walnuts give the most per calorie
protein:
pumpkin seeds give the most per $1
cacao gives the most per calorie
vitamin A:
pumpkin seeds gives the most per $1
pistachio nuts gives the most per calorie
vitamin E:
sunflower seeds gives the most per $1 and per calorie
vitamin K:
pumpkin seeds give the most per $1 and per calorie
folate:
sunflower seeds give the most per $1 and per calorie
choline:
flax seeds give the most per $1 and per calorie
calcium:
sesame seeds give the most per $1 and per calorie.
this is kind of obvious, but is it less obvious to know that chia seeds and young coconuts came in second place, and not miles off like I would have expected?
iron:
its a draw between pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds for the per $1 rank, but cacao wins per calorie
magnesium:
pumpkin seeds wins per $1
cacao wins per calorie
phosphorus:
pumpkin seeds wins per $1
cacao wins per calorie
potassium:
flax seeds and pumpkin seeds have a draw per $1
young coconut wins hands down per calorie
zinc:
pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds have a draw per $1
nothing stands out per calorie
selenium:
as you would expect, the winner on both counts, hands down is brazil nuts
Popularity: 4% [?]
