Meat is fine for a lot of things

Meat is fine for a lot of things: roasting, barbecuing, pigs-in-a-blanket. But one thing it is not good for is budgeting. According to a new Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition study that compared a week of 2,000 calorie-a-day meat based meals with equivalent veggie feasts, meat eaters spend almost $750 more a year than vegetarians. In other words, the sounds of bacon sizzling in a pan or sirloin searing on a grill are really the screams of Bed Franklin being burned alive. "When you consider only food purchased to make a meal, meat is the most expensive part of a food budget," says Mary M. Flynn, Ph.D. And as the World Health Organization reported recently there may be health issues, too.