How many calories are in a typical grocery store item?

We will find the calorie per unit volume of dairy products(high density) and derive the Medium and low relative to it.

1 litre milk = 100 cal

1 cu. ft = 30 l = 3000 cal

1 cu. ft (high density) = 3000 cal

1 cu. ft (medium density) = 1500 cal

1 cu. ft (low density) = 750 cal

So my estimate = 14.4 Million Cal.

janeyan2004 · Answer 2 · 2021-04-15T14:59:52+0000

Clarifying question:

1. Type of the grocery store: large super market, or specialized grocery store?

2. Type of food sold in the store

3. Does the count include the items on the shelf? or in the storage as well?

4. Does it include refridgrated items? or not?

This question has a lot of categories to break into, and listing a few as examples:

Let's assume only calculating the items in the store (not in the storage), and it's a small store (like 7-11)

1. Snacks (bars, small bags of chips, cookies, candies etc) => about 200 calories per item, about 400

2. Bread and packaged foods => 2500 cal per item, about 400

3. Drinks (small) => 200 cal per item, 200

4. Drink (large) => 1500 cal per item, 100

8. Cakes/pies => 3000 cal per item, 40

Now, estimate the number of items in each category, and cross check with total weight

That gives 2740kcal.

Cross check: protein 4 cal per gram, carbs 4 cal per gram, and fat 9 cal per gram

Assume the store has 8 shelves, each shelf has 5 levels, and each level holds 30lb of items in total.

That gives 1200lb => 540kg.

Assume 60% carbs, 20% protein and 20% of fat, that gives total of 2700kcal.

So it's close to 3M calories.

Assuming one person consumes 2000 calories, the store can support 50 people for a month.