97.9g
Most protein per $1
Pinto beans (dry), as purchased
2026 food cost statistics
What a Dollar Actually Buys at the Grocery Store
In our July 2026 price snapshot, $1 bought 97.9 grams of protein from pinto beans (dry) or 77.8 grams of fiber from whole wheat flour. The spreadsheet has opinions. Apparently one of them is that the dry-goods aisle deserves better lighting.
This page summarizes 622 published rows across 24 datasets. It's a dated US price study, not a live quote for your ZIP code. Every table links to the study and the raw CSV, because a statistic without a receipt is just a number wearing a tie.
Looking for one food instead of the highlights? Search the 79-food value database and compare price, protein, fiber, and grams per dollar in the same table.
77.8g
Most fiber per $1
Whole wheat flour, as purchased
$0.62
Cheapest 30g fiber day
Five audited food portions
$0.82
Cheapest 50g protein day
Four audited food portions
Source: Daily Life Hacks Food Value Data, version 2026.2. USDA FoodData Central is the primary grocery nutrition source, with exact, proxy, and unresolved status retained per row. The fiber audit contains 42 exact matches, 9 close proxies, and 2 unresolved rows. Prices use BLS Average Price data where available and dated national retail listings otherwise. Read the methodology.
Which foods provide the most fiber per dollar?
Whole wheat flour leads this 53-food snapshot at 77.8 grams per dollar. Dry peas and beans take most of the next seats. Produce is invited, but it isn't controlling the aux cord. The table preserves published rank and recorded values, but proxy and unresolved rows cannot establish a verified winner. Popcorn's 51.3-gram row is unresolved because its nutrition value is for air-popped popcorn while its price is for unpopped kernels, so we converted it to a kernel basis.
| Rank | Food | Fiber per $1 | Source match |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whole wheat flour | 77.8g | Exact USDA match: Whole-grain flour |
| 2 | Green split peas (dry) | 71.0g | Exact USDA match: Mature seeds, raw |
| 3 | Pinto beans (dry) | 70.8g | Exact USDA match: Mature seeds, raw |
| 4 | Black beans (dry) | 58.1g | Exact USDA match: Mature seeds, raw |
| 5 | Pearled barley (dry) | 57.1g | Exact USDA match: Pearled, raw |
| 6 | Navy beans (dry) | 52.0g | Exact USDA match: Mature seeds, raw |
| 7 | Popcorn kernels | 51.3g recorded, not verified | Unresolved, recorded only. NOT TIED TO A PUBLISHED RECORD. USDA publishes no SR Legacy or Foundation entry for unpopped popcorn kernels; all 17 popcorn records in those data types are popped or prepared forms. The 12.9 g per 100 g here is DERIVED, not quoted: USDA FDC 167959 (Snacks, popcorn, air-popped) gives 14.5 g per 100 g of popped corn, which is converted to an as-sold kernel basis using the moisture difference between kernels and popped corn. Sensitivity band 12.8 to 13.0 g per 100 g; rank 7 across the whole band. Treat it as our calculation, not as a USDA figure. |
| 8 | Old-fashioned rolled oats | 35.8g | Exact USDA match: Regular or quick oats, dry |
| 9 | Whole wheat spaghetti | 35.4g | Exact USDA match: Whole-wheat pasta, dry |
| 10 | Canned black beans | 34.4g | Close USDA proxy: The row prices the whole 15.5 oz can (439 g net) at edible_fraction 1.0, so the undrained solids-and-liquids basis is the only arithmetically coherent match, the same convention already used for Canned kidney beans. FDC 175188 is undrained: its water 75.6 g and protein 6.03 g/100 g sit below the drained-and-rinsed Foundation record FDC 2644285 (water 70.8 g, protein 6.91 g). The previous 5.6 value matched no official record. USDA's only canned black bean records, FDC 175188 and the low-sodium FDC 175238, both publish 6.9 g/100 g. Flagged proxy because USDA names the record by the black turtle cultivar rather than generically, and the undrained basis is inferred from the record's water and protein rather than stated in its description. The form-matched Foundation record FDC 2644285 publishes no dietary fiber value at all and so cannot support this row. |
Which foods provide the most protein per dollar?
Pinto beans (dry) leads at 97.9 grams per dollar. Whole wheat flour is second, which is probably not what the guy selling a tiny protein cookie expected to hear today.
| Rank | Food | Protein per $1 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pinto beans (dry) | 97.9g |
| 2 | Whole wheat flour | 96.0g |
| 3 | Black beans (dry) | 81.0g |
| 4 | Brown lentils (dry) | 77.7g |
| 5 | Navy beans (dry) | 75.9g |
| 6 | Green split peas (dry) | 73.9g |
| 7 | Chickpeas (dry) | 56.7g |
| 8 | Red lentils (dry) | 56.0g |
| 9 | Whole wheat spaghetti | 53.4g |
| 10 | Peanut butter | 50.7g |
How much does a full day of fiber or protein cost?
The ingredient choices matter more than the target. Our five fiber menus ranged from $0.62 to $14.42. The five protein menus ranged from $0.82 to $13.23. Same rough targets. Wildly different receipts.
| Day style | Fiber | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Rock-bottom dry goods | 31.9g | $0.62 |
| No-cook convenience | 30.8g | $1.74 |
| Realistic mixed | 35.0g | $1.99 |
| Fresh produce lover | 31.4g | $4.18 |
| Restaurant day | 31.0g | $14.42 |
| Day style | Protein | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Rock-bottom dry goods | 52.7g | $0.82 |
| Realistic mixed | 51.7g | $1.51 |
| No-cook convenience | 53.5g | $2.05 |
| Meat-eater cook day | 52.3g | $2.78 |
| Restaurant day | 53.0g | $13.23 |
What changes after protein quality is included?
The quality-adjusted ranking multiplies the price result by a published DIAAS score. Pinto beans (dry) still leads this 25-food cut at 57.8 adjusted grams per dollar, but the gap tightens considerably.
- 1. Pinto beans (dry) 57.8g/$1
- 2. Chicken drumsticks (bone-in) 50.3g/$1
- 3. Brown lentils (dry) 49.0g/$1
- 4. Black beans (dry) 47.8g/$1
- 5. Chickpeas (dry) 47.1g/$1
Which fast-food orders buy the most protein per dollar?
Chipotle's High Protein Cup (4 oz chicken) led our dated 30-item menu snapshot at 8.4 grams per dollar. That's useful when the drive-thru is already happening. It doesn't make a drive-thru cheaper than a bag of beans.
- 1. High Protein Cup (4 oz chicken)Chipotle 8.4g/$1
- 2. Original Recipe Chicken Breast (1 pc)KFC 7.6g/$1
- 3. 8 pc Bucket, chicken only (Original Recipe)KFC 7.3g/$1
- 4. Jr. Bacon CheeseburgerWendy's 6.2g/$1
- 5. Double Quarter Pounder with CheeseMcDonald's 5.9g/$1
Can I download and cite these food cost statistics?
Yes. The public data catalog has all 24 CSV files, row counts, source studies, citation wording, the Frictionless data package, and the API documentation. Read the license scope and attribution terms before republishing. The current release is 2026.2, observed in July 2026. Prices move. Spreadsheets, tragically, don't get to tell grocery stores to hold still.
Limits of this snapshot
These are national comparison figures built from BLS prices where available and dated national retail listings where BLS doesn't track the item. They aren't a census of every store, brand, sale, or ZIP code. Package sizes change, local prices wander off, and a sale can flip two close rows. Use the figures for comparison, cite the release date, and check the raw file before publishing a number.