[quitit]

This headline is a touch misleading as it gives the impression of being across all US households, the quote is:

>Within six months of starting a GLP-1 medication, households reduce grocery spending by an average of 5.3%. Among higher-income households, the drop is even steeper, at more than 8%. Spending at fast-food restaurants, coffee shops and other limited-service eateries falls by about 8%.

[UncleOxidant]

Thank you. It didn't make sense that if 16% of the population was on these drugs that grocery spending overall would be down over 5%.

[insane_dreamer]

That's not "a touch" misleading. It's very misleading.

[HDThoreaun]

Unless the title was changed, it says "average" which to me pretty clearly means it's measuring individual or household consumption

[a123b456c]

The question is what average; some people apparently view "in the US" as implying US population-level averages (which it does not explicitly imply), whereas authors report the average within adopting households, which for this study's data source, all happen to be in the US

[HDThoreaun]

If the claim was just that grocery spending is down 5.3% across the country they wouldnt have said average, the title would just be "Ozempic reduced grocery spending by 5.3% in the US"

[tzs]

That works out to something like $30-100 a month for most households. A bit disappointing for those hoping the savings on food would pay for the drug at the current drug prices.

[jasongill]

The cash-payer (no insurance) price of GLP-1's has fallen by about 70% since I started on them 18 months ago, from around $1100/mo to $350/mo, for brand-name non-compounded (Ozempic, Zepbound, etc). Many people also stretch that 1 month supply to last longer, as well (eg "click counting").

Not to say that it's cheap, but they are no longer the high-priced drugs only for the glitterati that you may be thinking.

[toomuchtodo]

n=1, I pay $300/month for 2.5mg of Zepbound (tirzepatide) for cash pay direct via http://lilly.com/, shipped to my door.

(no affiliation, I just like the drug)

[kube-system]

LillyDirect is $400-450 for standard doses though. 2.5mg is just a starter and most people should be off of that dose pretty soon after they start.

FWIW tirzepatide is the more expensive of the GLP1s right now.

[rootusrootus]

> FWIW tirzepatide is the more expensive of the GLP1s right now.

That's not surprising, it is the most effective -- for now. On the gray market, reta is even more expensive than tirz, and also more effective. I expect it will be the most expensive at retail, as well, and I hope that the net effect is to make tirz more affordable.

[zahlman]

> The cash-payer (no insurance) price of GLP-1's has fallen by about 70% since I started on them 18 months ago, from around $1100/mo to $350/mo

My total food bill is still a fraction of that.

[mrmuagi]

You are spending a fraction of $350/mo on food? I'm actually interested in learning more...

[zahlman]

About $6/day, Canadian. Only for myself. Not counting energy costs.

The core of it is the stuff you'd expect, at least if you remember older stereotypes of the diets of the poor. But it doesn't have to be just the things that would drive you mad. There's room for quite a bit of variety, really. In fact, there's room to eat out sometimes at my current price level.

I buy a lot of dry food (naturally dry or dehydrated in processing) in bulk: flour, rice, dried fruit (carefully portioned out), legumes (split peas and kidney beans are what I like; I could get others if I wanted), skim milk powder (many culinary uses). Mostly frozen meat (not pre-made things in boxes), or ground meat that I buy in quantity and freeze. Boring old generic cheese in the full-sized bars, not sliced or shredded and definitely not the plastic crap. (I really should get eggs more often. Even at regular prices, which have nearly doubled since 2020 for the most basic offering, they're still reasonably priced for what you get.) Not a whole lot of fresh vegetables, or rather, just starchy ones like carrots and potatoes when they go on sale.

I drink tea that I make myself (I haven't crunched the numbers but I assume homemade drip coffee is comparable). I don't buy pop (er, "soda") and my selection of snack foods is quite limited: generally bottom-shelf generic-brand cookies and biscuits (even then I shop around) and sometimes generic-brand potato chips. I used to get generic-brand ice cream sometimes but those prices have gone way out of control.

And I read the flyers.

[wasabi991011]

Thanks for sharing, this is useful advice for a fellow Canadian. If you don't mind me asking follow-ups:

Can I hear more about the frozen meat? I usually go for chicken thighs or pork (almost always one is on sale), it's about 8-9cad/kg. What's your cuts of frozen meat, and price point?

Also, no frozen nor canned veggies in your budget?

And finally, can you describe your typical breakfasts, lunchs, and suppers? You say it's "what you'd expect", but I grew up affluent and only recently going through a budget crunch so I don't really have any reference for what to expect.

Cheers.

[mrmuagi]

Thanks for sharing, I am also a Canadian. I'll read and digest (no pun intended) what you wrote.

[buellerbueller]

While you might be right in what you have presented, your calculation of the total savings is not including reduced medical spending.

[jjk166]

I mean considering most drugs don't result in any cost savings on routine household spending, that's still pretty welcome.