The cost of a healthy diet has been one of the major barriers identified to healthy eating. In a recent systematic review, Darmon & Drewnowski [10] investigated the role of food prices and costs on socioeconomic disparities in diet quality and health. They demonstrated that healthier diets and the majority of nutrient-dense foods have been found internationally to be more expensive. Higher consumption of fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, which are promoted as part of healthy eating guidelines, are associated with higher costs. Some nutrient-dense foods are low cost but are often unacceptable culturally, for example, lentils are a relatively inexpensive source of protein but not a staple food in Irish culture. Qualitative research finds that food is a flexible part of the household budget [11,12]. Other household costs are fixed, for example rent, whereas food costs can be reduced in low income families by choosing less nutrient-dense foods where the focus is on filling up household members.One of the main approaches to investigating food costs and diet quality has combined food composition databases and dietary