STOP saying healthy food is more expensive

maryjay52

I am a good shopper when it comes to getting the best bang for my buck. I buy 40lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast at 1.39/lb which is dirt cheap. I found a local corner meat store that sells it at bulk that inexpensive. I found places where I can buy produce less expensive than the avg grocery store. I invested in flavorings such as herbs ,olive and coconut oils, almond butter , nuts ,dried onion flakes ect .. this way i can make food a bazillion different ways as opposed to the same ol' same ol. food stretches a long way when you use the alloted amount for a serving too. also i found that things like the red bell peppers i buy on sale can freeze well too. i use red bell pepper in cooking a lot . it is expensive unless its in season or on sale.

mungowungo

I think it depends on where you live. When I used to live in Sydney I could definitely get a lot more bang for my food dollar - a trip to the markets would get me for around $70 a car full of fresh vegetables and fruits - I am talking boxes of oranges, apples, tomatoes etc - and I did usually fill the boot and the backseat too. I now live in a small country town that has one supermarket and everything is expensive. I refused to buy peaches yesterday because they were nearly $10 a kilo and they are in season - yet I could have bought a packet of biscuits for $2. Luckily there is an Aldi 70km away - so I do a fortnightly shop there and make the best choices I can within my budget. Organic and/or grass fed or free range is just out of the question as it is far too expensive but on the other hand frozen vegetables are very cheap.

April_Brockes

New study confirms that eating healthy does indeed cost more:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/1ue6um/new_study_confirms_that_eating_healthy_does/

xLexa

I have recently changed our shopping habits to organic, gluten free, casein free, (mainly because my son was recently diagnosed with Autism and these things have been said to help some children with Autism function at a higher level) I can sincerely say that it truly is more expensive. Example milk. $3.89 at walmart for walmart own brand full to the brim with artificial growth hormones vs $5.79 or thereabouts for the TG Lee's without the growth hormones. A small gluten free loaf of bread almost $5. that is just a small comparison but I have found on the whole it is more expensive. I have a budget for each month and since we changed over to this style of shopping/eating, we are at the limit a week sooner.

fruttibiscotti

New study confirms that eating healthy does indeed cost more:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/1ue6um/new_study_confirms_that_eating_healthy_does/

For every study or published opinion for eating healthy is more expensive, you can find another one that is against it, like http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/04/04/cheap-healthy-food_n_3015030.html

Carnivor0us

Sorta off topic, but if I want to buy pastured eggs, they're like $8 a dozen at Whole Foods (the only place in my area that carries them commercially). They're $4 a dozen at the farmer's market, and $2.50 a dozen from the chicken lady a few exits up from me. I think it depends on where you go to look for a specific thing that mostly determines expense.

waytobeduck

There is no wrong or right answer here.

Shopping is dependent on individual store prices and food availability/popularity in a region. Unless we all live in the same place and have the same allergies/food intolerances/preferences/family format... Who are we to cast this dumb generalization either way.

VeggieKidMandy

I dont really think shopping healthy is expensive at all.
My usual grocery basket can last me a week, and costs me around 30$

Brown Rice
2 Bags of Kale
Swiss chard
Fresh Collard Greens
Variety of peppers/onions/ fruit
one bag of lentils
one bag of red beans
3 cans of black beans
variety of squashes
cauliflower/broccoli frozen
and two of three different types of protein
there might be a few other things thrown in there...but for the most part I never go over 40$ when I go to the grocery store.

BekaBooluvsu

That's okay that you disagree. The organic/healthier items are way more in my opinion.

I buy organic and I have checked prices. Organic is almost always more expensive. I buy certain items at certain stores. Obviously I buy most organic produce from Publix though because they are the only ones in the area that carry them. I have to say though eating healthier and mostly at home has saved me money. My husband and I use to spend $500 a month but we did eat out about 4 or 5 times a week. Now we eat almost ALL of our meals at home and try to eat organic whenever possible and now we are at about $300 a month. Obviously most of the savings are because we don't eat out anymore.

Here is just a few examples.

Regular/Organic
@Walmart
Eggs (12)1.59/ 4.58
Spinach(16oz) 2.98/4.99

@Publix
Strawberries(1#) 3.99/5.99
Cauliflower(1head) 1.99/3.99
Eggs(12) 1.99/4.99

jjscholar

Actually, it depends upon what you buy...

However, since I live by myself, I do not mind paying extra for better food. I have either veggie foods, fruits, vegetables, fish, chicken, turkey, seafood, cereals, and yogurt.

I go to the Publix food stores because they have a great selection of veggie foods such as the Go Veggie Brand of vegetable protein cheese products. Publix also has a great selection of organic turkey, chicken, and vegetables.

Another good place to buy some organic products is the BJ's wholesale club. At least the one in Merritt Island, Florida has a half way decent selection...

neanderthin

Healthy food is more expensive. :happy: On a calorie for calorie basis, processed and fast food is cheaper.

neandermagnon

I think it depends on where you live.

^ this times a hundred million.....!!!


of course it depends on where you live. I have an Algerian friend who's from an extremely rural part of Algeria, so rural it doesn't even have a McDonalds and no supermarkets either, and most of the brand names you get here, you can't get there. But if you want to buy a chicken, it comes live with feathers on, and they have farmers markets, lots of farmers markets where you can buy all kinds of locally produced, fresh, traditionally farmed (probably organic in most cases) fruit, vegetables and animal products all for extremely crazy cheap prices.

But if you don't happen to live in that part of Algeria, this information isn't really much use to you.

Every place has a different local economy, and the question of whether healthy food is cheaper or more expensive is different in every place. Yes some places it really is more expensive to eat healthy. In other places it's cheaper to eat healthy. The internet is a global medium, it's about time people learned to understand that the whole world isn't like their neighbourhood.

MsBluelipstick

There is no wrong or right answer here.

Shopping is dependent on individual store prices and food availability/popularity in a region. Unless we all live in the same place and have the same allergies/food intolerances/preferences/family format... Who are we to cast this dumb generalization either way.

Exactly! Someone posted how they get chicken breast at 1.39 a pound. I could never get that here.An average pack of 5 cost me about $20. You live in a small rural town, unless you get fresh local you can be screwed.

Just from province to province I have lived in I have noticed huge differences in prices..In the Martimes I have access to lots of fresh fish at amazing prices.. when I lived out west beef and dairy were much cheaper. This debate is old and over done.

tigerblood78

I dont really think shopping healthy is expensive at all.
My usual grocery basket can last me a week, and costs me around 30$

Brown Rice
2 Bags of Kale
Swiss chard
Fresh Collard Greens
Variety of peppers/onions/ fruit
one bag of lentils
one bag of red beans
3 cans of black beans
variety of squashes
cauliflower/broccoli frozen
and two of three different types of protein
there might be a few other things thrown in there...but for the most part I never go over 40$ when I go to the grocery store.

That's all your groceries for the week? I'd be hating life after a few days. But I'm sure I'd have healthy bowel movements.

kaned_ferret

I think my eating costs have reduced since eating healthily - and I use a combination of cheapy stuff from the supermarket when I can bothered to go, but mostly get fresh stuff from my greengrocer. For example, I bought 2 bags of fresh veg the other week, and yes I spent £6 on it all, including a cabbage, a pepper, a leek, an onion, cauliflower, sweet potato and squash. I then used most of these to make a pot of soup. Expensive soup I hear you say, when it contains £6 worth of veg.. but that pot of soup was monumentally huge, and gave at least 6 large servings. I freeze it individually in tubs once made, and suddenly my very healthy meal has actually cost me less than £1. Way cheaper than getting similar from a store, or any other alternative lunch meal.

Las week I got a 1kg pack of stir fry veg from tesco, it cost a quid. So far it's done me 4 meals and there's still some left, even with adding in some cheap meat again it comes to a pound a meal. Being able to cook IS a big factor for sure, but I love cooking.

Francl27

There is no wrong or right answer here.

Shopping is dependent on individual store prices and food availability/popularity in a region. Unless we all live in the same place and have the same allergies/food intolerances/preferences/family format... Who are we to cast this dumb generalization either way.

This.

/thread

darkangel45422

I definitely think that you can't say 100% that it's more expensive or cheaper for everyone on the planet, because as has been said a thousand times before, everyone's locale has different prices, and some unfortunately live in the more expensive ones. I do think however that it also depends on what you ate before. If your only change in grocery shopping is to now buy organic, obviously it's more expensive - if however you're going from buying basically nothing but frozen pre-made meals, chips, soda, chocolates, etc. it's probably cheaper to buy all natural healthy foods. Maybe not calorie for calorie, but there's a big difference between eating 1000 calories of chips and 1000 calories of celery when you're talking satiety; I could easily eat the whole bag of chips in 1 sitting (over 1000 calories), but eating 1000 calories of celery? Not likely to happen in a day even.

I can honestly say my grocery bill has gone done since cutting out the junk food, but that's because I now buy natural or whole foods rather than processed "health" foods, which are also expensive. Replacing the $10 cheesecake desserts with some apples is both healthier and cheaper for me, and I don't live in a place that's all that cheap for food either (definitely not finding my meat for $1.39 a pound - try $4 a pound being a great deal)

kimad

I personally don't believe that healthy food is more expensive. Maybe if you buy organic, but to me lettuce is lettuce is lettuce.

I think eating crap and fast food costs WAY more money. For the price of Mcdonalds for a family of 4 I can easily get 2-3 meals depending what I make.

I spend way less now at the grocery store stocking up on fruits/veggies, than I ever did stocking up on chips and pop.

PeaceHappinessBalance

It depends also on what you consider "healthy". To me real healthy foods are organic/grass fed, no gmo etc. and yes those are more expensive than non organic, etc.

Also, if you are really in a tough financial situation and literally only have $5 to feed a family of four for the day and no one has eaten the whole day and everyone is starving for dinner then a $5 Little Caesar's pizza goes farther than 2 apples and a piece of chicken.

I'm so happy Kroger is starting to sell organic/grass fed meats and products at a reasonable price. It is still a little more expensive than conventional foods. Healthy food is more expensive IMO, but it is definitely worth it if you can make it work.

thankyou4thevenom

There is no wrong or right answer here.

Shopping is dependent on individual store prices and food availability/popularity in a region. Unless we all live in the same place and have the same allergies/food intolerances/preferences/family format... Who are we to cast this dumb generalization either way.

Agreed.

BrainyBurro

i don't know what you mean by healthy food. i don't believe there is such a thing as healthy food. i also don't think there is such a thing as unhealthy food. likewise for good foods or bad foods. food is just fuel. you can be very "healthy" eating so-called unhealthy foods and vice-versa.

what matters is the nutritional content of each food choice in combination with all of your other food choices on a given day.

i know this is much too rational a way of seeing things than many people are prepared to accept, but i'm willing to keep pushing this boulder up the hill on the off chance that a few people will suddenly have epiphanies while reading my remarks.

xLexa

I agree that there is no "winner" in this debate. I can only compare between what I used to do and what I do now and definitely, for me , in this area, buying healthy is more expensive. I also agree that I do save on the eating out part so in the end I am saving that money. I do have to say that I have now found Aldi and the fruit and vegetables section is awesome! Really if you have on you can save a fortune.