Cost Optimization for Weekly Meal Planning of College Students Based on Calorie Constraints using Linear Programming (LP) Method

Eating a well-balanced diet is as important as exercising the body to remain healthy and avoid any sickness. A healthy diet is especially important for students who use their minds and body to accomplish tasks in their daily classes. With this, it is important to prepare a well-balanced meal for them to get the right amount of nutrients in their body. Additionally, making these meals more affordable is necessary to make them more accessible for the students. Hence, this study aims to optimize the cost of a one-week cycle menu from breakfast to dinner for college students to satisfy the nutrients their body needs using different Linear Programming (LP) techniques. After sub-dividing the subjects according to their sex and physical activeness, a Linear Programming (LP) and Integer Linear Programming (ILP) technique was used to acquire the minimized cost for a 5-day dietary plan. It was observed that LP was able to obtain a lower cost compared to the ILP method and obtained different combinations of food. As a result, it was proven that college students can afford a well-balanced diet while sticking to their budget plan.