There is a wide spectrum of food choices for both diets, consequently they both can be expensive, or relatively inexpensive, dependant on whether one chooses to dine on highly processed, refined, and frozen foods, along with other variables. However, if the assumptions for both diets are made relatively equal then the results of each diet's grocery bill is as follows: They are roughly the same. Huh? What, then, is the reason for this report, you might ask.
Because there are a myriad of costs directly related to an animal-centered diet that are not paid to the grocery checker, but come out of your pocket nonetheless. And money is money. So what are these costs? Subsidies to livestock ranchers, subsidies for feed grains, subsidies for water for feed grains, government subsidies to fishermen, taxes for water purification, taxes for overseas promotion, school lunch and food assistance programs, prescription drugs, chemotherapy drugs, cancer medical bills, diet industry, asthma medical bills, pharmaceutical advertising, food advertising, medical costs to treat poor diets, tax dollars for diseased cattle, government-backed loans, soil erosion begetting chemical fertilizers, energy resources, pathogen-source illnesses, and pesticide-source illnesses. No doubt there are others not covered by this report. The rough total of these expenses adds up to an amount that about doubles a family of four's animal-centered diet food bill. The only benefit is that those consuming a vegan diet are paying 25 percent of the expenses.
The hidden cost of consuming meat, dairy, eggs, and fish can be found in the fine print. But it is not all that fine, thus should be blaring at us in large, bold print.