How much meat per week? Set your budget
There's no single official number, but cancer-prevention guidance (WCRF/AICR) suggests keeping red meat to about three portions a week and processed meat close to zero. Whatever cap you choose, it's easier to hold when you can see the whole week — set yours below and print the plan.
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vegetarian meals
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meat meals a week
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meat-free meals
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meat meals | — | — | — |
meat-free · 🍖 any meat · 🥩 beef · 🐑 lamb · 🥓 pork · 🍗 chicken · 🐟 fish
Tap a meal to paint it with the meat you picked; tap it again to send it back to green.
What this week costs
Emissions
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Freshwater
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Meat on the bill
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at the counter, per week
rough retail prices
Keep this up for a year
- Emissions
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- Freshwater
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- Meat on the bill
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- at this week's prices
Adjust the assumptions
Footprints vary with region and farming method, and meat prices vary with everything. These are the defaults — change any of them and the numbers above follow.
| Per kg | kg CO₂e | Litres water | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef | |||
| Lamb | |||
| Pork | |||
| Chicken | |||
| Fish | |||
| Any meat | — | — | — |
🍖 is a blend, not a separate number: 35% chicken, 35% pork, 20% beef, 10% fish by weight. It follows whatever you set above.
Ranges are ±20%, the spread environmental studies typically show. Emissions and water figures match the ones in my No Meat Today app: beef ≈ 60 kg CO₂e and ≈ 15,400 litres per kg, chicken ≈ 6 and ≈ 4,300. Prices are rough supermarket averages — yours will differ, so change them.
How the plan is built
A week has 21 meals (three a day, seven days). Your cap fills dinner slots first — where meat meals feel most like an occasion — then lunches, then breakfasts. Days fill in the order Monday, Friday, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday, so a small cap spreads out instead of clustering at the start of the week. The layout is a starting point, not a rule: tap any meal to flip it and the cap follows. The health context comes from the World Cancer Research Fund / American Institute for Cancer Research recommendations on red and processed meat; this is a habit tool, not medical advice.
Pick a specific meat and the footprint follows it — the gap between a beef dinner and a chicken one is roughly tenfold. Emissions and freshwater figures are the ones my No Meat Today app uses, applied to 150 g of cooked meat per meal, with the ±20% band environmental studies typically show. Meat prices are rough supermarket averages and the least reliable number on the page. Every assumption is editable under "Adjust the assumptions".
Keep reading
- How Much Meat Is Too Much Per Week? The Numbers
Health bodies suggest under 350–500 g of cooked red meat per week and minimal processed meat. What that looks like in real meals, and how to count it.