STOP saying healthy food is more expensive
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To clarify, $6-15/lb beef tends to be 'grocery store beef.' Things like "angus prime" aren't real grades of beef. USDA choice, USDA prime, those are real grades of beef.
There really isn't a difference in walmart beef and grocery store beef.
IF you buy from a butcher, ask where they get their beef. One around here buys it bulk frozen... No more cows.
That said. Whole Foods is a decent place for steak.
But anyway, I was joking about steak vs potato chips. I frequently shop at Costco for steak. It isn't terrific, but they do cut it at 1.5" which should be the minimum thickness.
lol- steak at Whole Foods will set you back at least $30! For not too many portions
my 2cents: food overall is expensive, the Federal subsidies keep processed food cheaper- a sad state (at least in USA).
This keeps the SAD going (standard american diet).0 -
I'm not buying organic apples or $30 steaks. I'm making healthy choices of bags of apples and babies carrots over $4.00 bags of chips and cheese whiz. There are plenty of ways to have produce during the entire year by canning/freezing while the items are in season. I am just tired of people's excuses on why they make unhealthy choices.
Not everyone has a good income. I don't. I just finished my degree and my hubby works at a gas station. I am willing to pay for quality food over stupid cable TV. Sorry. I have priorities. My body being one of them.
When you eat the way you should as an adult, you don't need to eat a HUGE amount... I'm not talking about growing teens or families. I'm just saying that the normal suburb living young adult with potentially a spouse could afford to not eat chips and soda pop and instead eat a much more sustainable diet... a dinner for 2 adults at mcdonalds can be over $15... I can make 3 dinners with $15 that are delicious and nutritious. So sorry that ya'll would rather feed yourselves microwave dinners and juice boxes.
Bags of apples and baby carrots are not exactly cheap for the amount of calories they contain -- if money is short, buying foods that are a high price per calorie is not exactly efficient. A dinner for 2 adults might be over 15 bucks if you're choosing high-priced items on the menu -- if I go there (which I haven't in a while) I get 1-2 mcdoubles depending on how much food I need. It's pretty dumb to compare the cheapest "healthy food" with the most expensive "unhealthy food".
Also, I have no television at all to save money, and also no phone. I'm glad that you have enough money to make it a choice between cable TV or healthy foods, but not everyone can even make that choice.0 -
This is a non-issue for me. Food is something I'm willing to spend money on. I'll make sacrifices in other areas if I have to, but I've invested too much time and money in my education and my career to say that I can't afford to eat what I want. I'll get rid of cable, Internet, phone, trips, etc., before I cut back on groceries. I do try not to be wasteful with the food I buy because wasting food is just dumb, but that's about as financially concerned as I'm going to get on the subject.
For me personally- I feel the same way. I drive an old car with 240,000 miles on it, but I'll spend whatever it costs for fresh, healthy food - it's one thing in my life that I do not mind splurging on. I do try my best to eat everything that I buy, and I will buy things that can be stocked up on when they are on sale (when blueberries are on a big sale, for instance, I fill up the freezer!), and I'll look at what's on sale today when it comes down to deciding to buy wild caught fish or organic chicken, for example. But other than that - I'll pay the money for good fresh food. I don't care if it costs me more to eat healthy because I enjoy it and it makes me feel better and I'm lucky enough to be able to make that happen. Though if it came down to it I would cancel our cable TV and things like that before I made sacrifices regarding what I eat.
I do completely understand that not everyone can afford to do that, and not everyone has any other areas they can cut back on. If you can't afford to buy organic or whatever, that's completely understandable. I would agree though that in most places you can still find non-organic produce and beans/rice/lentils/etc. that are going to be cheaper than fast food or boxed microwave meals. Is it more work? Yes. But it's not THAT much more work. I can make a crockpot full of food that lasts me the better part of a week and it takes 20 minutes tops to chop vegetables and get it going. And then maybe 5 minutes when it's done to portion it out and stick it in the fridge. Ultimately it's saving me time. You can do healthy, cheap, and easy if you put your mind to it.0 -
Have to disagree with you on that. It runs about $120-$180 a week for two getting groceries from Fresh Direct or Whole Foods. I don't buy any junk food, soda, or any crap like that. That's with us mostly eating home Mon-Fri. Doesn't even touch the going out during the weekend.
Not complaining about the price though. We busted our *kitten* in college for a reason.
^^^ Ditto for me, hubby and our 15 month old.0 -
lol its so weird how people are trying to make excuses for filling their body with toxic garbage. i spend about $120 +/- on groceries per month so yeah i guess that's $30 a week. mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, and dried beans, and rice. i shop at asian markets, farmers markets, and grocery stores. i would rather eat a giant delicious healthy meal and feel awesome later than eat some ****ty salty candy ultra processed fast food and feel awful. it takes more time and initially costs more (to stock a pantry), but once you get used to cooking for yourself you will never want to go back to eating garbage.0
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Reasonable Quality Steak: $26.99 a pound
Potato Chips: $3.99 a bag
Just sayin!
Aha, apples and oranges, a Bentley Continental versus a Hyundai Accent.
A better comparison: homemade potato chips which take about 10 minutes to make in the oven.
For the sake of argument, let's say that the process of turning potatoes into chips drives off half their weight in water and the $3.99 bag of potato chips has 12 oz. of chips. What is the price of 24 oz. of waxy potatoes plus a bit of oil and salt and heating up the oven for a few minutes?
24 oz. potatoes = $2.39 (assuming using Yukon Gold potatoes which are $5.99 for 5 lbs at a local supermarket this week but you could wait for a sale or use a cheaper potato)
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil using a pump spray = about $0.20 (based on an average per ounce price at local supermarket)
1 teaspoon of salt = far less than $0.01 (based on $1.00 for a 26 oz. container)
30 minutes running an standard electric oven = about $0.08 (based on http://www.pickyourown.org/costsofcookingmethods_ovens.php)
$2.39 + $0.20 + $0.01 + $0.08 = $2.68 for homemade potato chips which were made with better potatoes, better oil, and have no transfats or mystery chemicals in them.
Yes, there was my time in making them. And, yes, they don't taste exactly like a good bag of Cape Cod chips (my favorite brand). But they were NOT more expensive than the processed item from the store.
And, yes, I do throw together a potato or two of homemade chips at the drop of a hat. Often sweet potato chips which are even better for me.
Even at my poorest, my time has had some value and ain't nobody got time to be making homemade chips to save 40cents. ( (more likely than $1.40, since I wouldn't be buying name brand.
Especially when momma and daddy are working two jobs.
But really....I have quite a large weekly food budget and I've never spent $25 for a pound of steak. And my kids have never eaten a bag of chips for dinner.0 -
So, please stop with the excuses that eating healthy is too expensive. Grow a garden, pack some carrots, stay up an extra 10 mins to prepare a meal for the next day. Jeepers Creepers, quit complaining and research what groceries you have locally and what seasons good food comes in season/what freezes for winter when fruits and veggies go up in price.
How are you supposed to grow a garden if you life in a flat without a garden? And yes, we could all go out today and buy the stuff to grow them but wait, you have to plant them at certain times of the year. Like if you planted potatoes now they wouldn't be ready until Christmas (and I know that for a fact because my father is growing them). Yes you could go and "research what groceries you have locally" but there are a lot of us who live in the UK where local greengrocers and butchers and fishmongers are dying out and we only have supermarkets. It's unfair to put up a generic comment like this and expect us to all jump and be able to do it. Some of us can't. Our nearest green-grocer (as in only sells fruit and veg) is over 40 miles away. And I don't drive. I'm not saying that all I buy is junk food and I don't eat take-aways much but I will buy tinned and frozen food because it is cheaper.0 -
Umm, it's always been more expensive to buy healthy food vs. unhealthy foods. This isn't news. However, good for you that you can spend $30 for you and your husband and make it last for a week. I can't even do this for myself! I'm looking at at least $100 for me and my husband. I'm a pscetarian and his a chickatarian. I would love a tutorial on how you do this. Thank you much!
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I'm not buying organic apples or $30 steaks. I'm making healthy choices of bags of apples and babies carrots over $4.00 bags of chips and cheese whiz. There are plenty of ways to have produce during the entire year by canning/freezing while the items are in season. I am just tired of people's excuses on why they make unhealthy choices.
Not everyone has a good income. I don't. I just finished my degree and my hubby works at a gas station. I am willing to pay for quality food over stupid cable TV. Sorry. I have priorities. My body being one of them.
When you eat the way you should as an adult, you don't need to eat a HUGE amount... I'm not talking about growing teens or families. I'm just saying that the normal suburb living young adult with potentially a spouse could afford to not eat chips and soda pop and instead eat a much more sustainable diet... a dinner for 2 adults at mcdonalds can be over $15... I can make 3 dinners with $15 that are delicious and nutritious. So sorry that ya'll would rather feed yourselves microwave dinners and juice boxes.
Sorry but categorizing foods with no regard to context or amount is silly talk. Also I suspect your 3 dinners you made for $15 wouldn't be very good or extremely small portions
Also this. I eat 1800+ calories a day. My husband eats more than that, way more. I'm taking in 600-700 calories at dinner: is the dinner I make for my husband and I going to well balanced, tasty, and meet our calorie needs?0 -
Two days ago, I bought 4 Angus Ribeye steaks that were on sale for $6.97/lb. I routinely buy lean Sirloin steaks at Costco for $4.99/lb. I have no idea where to even find steak that is $27/lb except at Ruth's Chris Steak House.....
Whoa! Is that gold plated unicorn steak? Angus rib-eye in my area is $9 on sale. I'm glad I live in the cheap seats!Reasonable Quality Steak: $26.99 a pound
Potato Chips: $3.99 a bag
Just sayin!
Amen!!0 -
lol its so weird how people are trying to make excuses for filling their body with toxic garbage. i spend about $120 +/- on groceries per month so yeah i guess that's $30 a week. mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, and dried beans, and rice. i shop at asian markets, farmers markets, and grocery stores. i would rather eat a giant delicious healthy meal and feel awesome later than eat some ****ty salty candy ultra processed fast food and feel awful. it takes more time and initially costs more (to stock a pantry), but once you get used to cooking for yourself you will never want to go back to eating garbage.
lol @ food other than fruits and veggies, eggs, dried beans & rice being "toxic garbage".
also, i wish I had time to go to 3 grocery stores.0 -
ruths chris has an awesome happy hour. $7 for a steak sandwich0
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lol its so weird how people are trying to make excuses for filling their body with toxic garbage. i spend about $120 +/- on groceries per month so yeah i guess that's $30 a week. mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, and dried beans, and rice. i shop at asian markets, farmers markets, and grocery stores. i would rather eat a giant delicious healthy meal and feel awesome later than eat some ****ty salty candy ultra processed fast food and feel awful. it takes more time and initially costs more (to stock a pantry), but once you get used to cooking for yourself you will never want to go back to eating garbage.
lol @ food other than fruits and veggies, eggs, dried beans & rice being "toxic garbage".
also, i wish I had time to go to 3 grocery stores.
lol wut? i didnt say other food than that was garbage! filling your body with proccessed food makes you sick! and is expensive. its just a fact.
ANYWAYS what are you doing at the store that takes so long? i BIKE to the store, pick out what i want, bike home in under 30 minutes. everyone making excuses here is just lazy and wasteful.0 -
You have obviously never been poor and tried to feed an entire family.
When my husband was growing up, they would buy bulk beans and rice and tortillas. Throw in some eggs and that was breakfast lunch and dinner for DAYS. Cost pp per meal? Like twenty five cents. Or hot dogs! One pack of hot dogs and buns and a can of chili? $3. Or spaghetti! Back before meat wasnt through the roof expensive, it was a $6 meal they could eat on for days. Or a giant pack of sausage. Or the dollar menu at McDonald's.
There's "rich people" junk food' and "poor people" junk food. People really strapped for cash don't indulge in shopping carts full of name brand sodas, TV dinners, oreos, and Twinkies. They also don't want to munch on carrots like a rabbit. They want hearty, filling meals that stick so their kids aren't asking for a snack in 2 hours.
^^This
When you don't have a lot of money for groceries you don't fill your cart with "junk". You fill it with necessities. It was rare we bought chips, cookies, soft drinks, juice or even milk.
When I used to have dinner with my husbands family as a teen they'd have tacos a lot. I thought it was insane that it was just meat and a shell. Where was the lettuce, tomato, onion, CHEESE!
Well, now I know where it was. It was at the store. Instead of luxury items, they bought more meat and tortillas so there would be more tacos to go around.0 -
Let me preface by saying I have two grocery stores and a Walmart in my town. These are the prices I pay at any of them on a given day.
I used to buy white bread for $1-$1.50 a load. I now buy whole grain for $3.50-4.
I could buy a pound of bologna for $1-1.25, or a pack of hot dogs for $.75. Instead I buy real meat for $3.50-$7 a pound.
I can buy a frozen just-heat-up entrée to feed my family of 4 for about $5, frozen pot pies for under $1 each. I, personally, grew up on pot pies and Hamburger Helper with deer meat.
The meal I made last night was brown rice ($1.99/pound vs. white rice, $.96/pound) with Imagine lite sodium broccoli soup ($2.50/pound vs. Campbell's, $1/can or about 1.50 for the same amount), fresh mushrooms ($3.00 a half pound vs. $.50/can), an onion (cheap any way you slice it) and a pound and a half of chicken ($3.00 on sale, purchased at sale and frozen for the need).
I could have made last night's dinner for approximately two thirds of the price I actually paid for it. Not a huge difference, but a difference for sure.
PS--we can all eat at McD's for under $13.
ETA: Regarding gardens, I have poured a lot of money into water and fertilizer, and when I did the math at the end of growing season (froze it all) I realized it was cheaper monetarily to buy canned or frozen veggies at the store. When you factored in my time, injuries and sweat, the difference was incredible. That is why I buy my produce.0 -
This is just plain wrong. In fact it isn’t cheaper to eat highly processed food: a typical order for a family of four — for example, two Big Macs, a cheeseburger, six chicken McNuggets, two medium and two small fries, and two medium and two small sodas — costs, at the McDonald’s a hundred steps from where I write, about $28. (Judicious ordering of “Happy Meals” can reduce that to about $23 — and you get a few apple slices in addition to the fries!)
In general, despite extensive government subsidies, hyperprocessed food remains more expensive than food cooked at home. You can serve a roasted chicken with vegetables along with a simple salad and milk for about $14, and feed four or even six people. If that’s too much money, substitute a meal of rice and canned beans with bacon, green peppers and onions; it’s easily enough for four people and costs about $9. (Omitting the bacon, using dried beans, which are also lower in sodium, or substituting carrots for the peppers reduces the price further, of course.
A. I could feed a family of 4 at McDonalds for about half that.
B. Why compare McDonalds (an example of expensive 'unhealthy' food) to cheap store bought food? Why not compare hamburger helper to the other stuff?
C. A pack of pork bacon is no less than $7 where I live. How would I have money left for Green Peppers and onions? Also what kind of meal is that? I would be starving two hours later. Four chicken breast alone would set me back over ten dollars. A head of lettuce is 1.69. Milk is $4 for a half gallon.0 -
I honestly just bought $30 worth of fresh veggies, whole grain bread, meats, milk and cheese. I know it will last my hubby and I at least an entire week....
I calculated how much it would cost to get mac and cheese and chips and soda and crappy foods, I could get about the same amount of food, but a bag of chips goes so fast and it's not filling and makes you feel uber icky. I know that if I bought $30 of junk food, fast food, quick meals - I would not be able to sustain more than a few days between two people.
So, please stop with the excuses that eating healthy is too expensive. Grow a garden, pack some carrots, stay up an extra 10 mins to prepare a meal for the next day. Jeepers Creepers, quit complaining and research what groceries you have locally and what seasons good food comes in season/what freezes for winter when fruits and veggies go up in price.
I've written out 3 replies to this and deleted all 3 because I can't be even reasonably civil in the face of this degree of blatant ignorance, condescension, and stupidity. The long and short comes to: 1) You've quite obviously never been significantly poor enough to have real food choices to make, yet you want to talk about their food choices like you have some idea of what you speak of. 2) You obviously have never fed a significant number of people or children and have no real concept of what is important in food choices first and foremost when on a limited budget 3) Gardens are a luxury. Deep freezers are a luxury. Time to do the **** you're talking about is a luxury. A huge number of people don't have those luxuries.
Frankly, your false moral superiority, condescending attitude, and desire to look down upon others based on your subjectively better food choices without any knowledge of their situation is sickening and deserves nothing but scorn and ridicule.0 -
ANYWAYS what are you doing at the store that takes so long? i BIKE to the store, pick out what i want, bike home in under 30 minutes. everyone making excuses here is just lazy and wasteful.
Lazy and wasteful? Can I ask where you live? I don't need the precise area just the country will do. Cause here in the UK some of us really don't have the time to be doing all of that. We are all on this site to try and lose weight and are doing the best we can. Posts like this original topic and some of the comments on here aren't helpful in the slightest. All they do is make people feel bad because they don't have the same luxury of time or the same options for shopping as you seem to.0 -
I honestly just bought $30 worth of fresh veggies, whole grain bread, meats, milk and cheese. I know it will last my hubby and I at least an entire week....
I calculated how much it would cost to get mac and cheese and chips and soda and crappy foods, I could get about the same amount of food, but a bag of chips goes so fast and it's not filling and makes you feel uber icky. I know that if I bought $30 of junk food, fast food, quick meals - I would not be able to sustain more than a few days between two people.
So, please stop with the excuses that eating healthy is too expensive. Grow a garden, pack some carrots, stay up an extra 10 mins to prepare a meal for the next day. Jeepers Creepers, quit complaining and research what groceries you have locally and what seasons good food comes in season/what freezes for winter when fruits and veggies go up in price.
I've written out 3 replies to this and deleted all 3 because I can't be even reasonably civil in the face of this degree of blatant ignorance, condescension, and stupidity. The long and short comes to: 1) You've quite obviously never been significantly poor enough to have real food choices to make, yet you want to talk about their food choices like you have some idea of what you speak of. 2) You obviously have never fed a significant number of people or children and have no real concept of what is important in food choices first and foremost when on a limited budget 3) Gardens are a luxury. Deep freezers are a luxury. Time to do the **** you're talking about is a luxury. A huge number of people don't have those luxuries.
Frankly, your false moral superiority, condescending attitude, and desire to look down upon others based on objective food choices without any knowledge of their situation is sickening and deserves nothing but scorn and ridicule.
^^^^THIS^^^^ TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!!!!
You have NO IDEA what being broke and having a family to feed is like... Cheap junk food is more affordable than healthy food.. unfortunately...0
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