Healthy Eating & Your Grocery Bill

MsCzar
MsCzar Posts: 1,071 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've often heard the lament that eating 'healthy' is much more costly than eating highly processed, low nutrition junk. I may be odd woman out here, but I have found just the opposite to be true. Since eschewing poor food choices and cutting back on calories, my grocery bills have plummeted. Heading off a tangent here, I am NOT talking about lack of easy access to grocery options.

Granted, being the frugal type, I freeze and can my home garden bounty, make my own yogurt and keep a well-stocked larder of bulk basics. Without drive-thru and take-away meals, frozen pizza, ice cream, packaged cookies and convenience/snack foods, my monthly recurring grocery spend is mostly confined to milk, eggs and basic/in-season produce. If and when a good sale comes along, I pounce and stock up.

What about you? How has healthy eating impacted your grocery bill?
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Replies

  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    Mine has gone down for the same reasons as you mentioned. My weekly grocery shopping typically includes produce, meat, bread, yogurt, and eggs. If I got a good deal on meat the last time I bought it, I would buy double what I need and freeze the rest so I may not need to rebuy it. I also take a trip every few months to Costco and stock up on pantry staples I use a lot like diced canned tomatoes.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,096 Member
    My grocery bills haven't really changed much, because I cooked a lot from scratch before losing weight.

    Most grocery trips include produce, dairy or plant-based dairy subs, and diet soda or club soda, and about every other trip I buy eggs and bread. I frequently buy some kind of protein (beef/chicken/pork/seafood/tofu/other plant-based proteins), although in any given week I might skip it and take something out of the freezer that I bought on sale or make a big batch of beans from dried beans. As needed and as sales occur, I restock things like dried and canned beans, lentils, peas; grains (rice/quinoa/bulgur/farro/grits etc.); frozen veg; some canned veg -- mostly tomato products; canned soup for when I want soup and don't have time to make it; pasta; flour, yeast, baking soda, sugar, etc.; nuts and nut butters; and dried fruit.

    I haven't eliminated convenience, snack, or "treat" foods, but I probably do eat them less frequently and/or in smaller portions than before I started tracking my calories on MFP.

    This week I skipped the grocery store and just went to the local farm stand to stock up on apples (they taste so much better than what they have at the grocery store) and picked up my first winter squash of the fall, and a few other items for a cooked beet salad I'm planning to make. I doubled up on yogurt on my last grocery store trip, so I can skip the grocery store this week.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    I think saving money on groceries takes a little study. I pour over the ads from the local supermarkets, check out what's on sale, and make a list. I feed at least 4 people a day. I stock up when something's on sale, and I've come to hate buying anything at a regular price.

    We eat a lot of fruits and veggies, and the unbagged stuff costs less. However you need the time to prep. I splurge a little, especially on ice cream. I do have 3 men in the household after all.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    edited October 2021
    Folks like me, who can cook and have every kitchen tool and ingredient at hand are oftenof the opinion that many people waste endless money on junk and take out. But, a visit to the digs of a truly disadvantaged person will often show no pots and pans, no condiments, no fresh ingredients (because the grocery stores cannot compete with shoplifters) and no skills to cook anything. Further, poorly controlled residents and visitors, such as children and relatives, will decimate the storage of anything remotely tasty. So, takeout BBQ chicken and fries may be the best choice.

    And, on the other end of the spectrum, a little box of organic baby spinach, side dish for one, at $3.49 will put a proper meal beyond expensive.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    My weekly food budget went up a bit in the last 2 months. Why? I needed to restart eating healthy and, for me, that means retraining my brain to eat regular meals of decently healthy food instead of grazing on whatever is handy or can be picked up at a drive through window.

    I chose to buy Hello Fresh. At first I got a weekly box of 4 2-serving meals (seven dinners and either a lunch or something for the freezer) in their Calorie Smart line. I am now getting 3 kits a week and will probably stop after I receive my next one. I am starting to crave several of my classic recipes (a lot of stews and soups) and want to get back to them.

    6 meals costs about $60 after shipping is added. They are more expensive than shopping for yourself locally but the ingredients are fresh and the recipes are tasty. It worked for me and I am not on a tight budget. I have saved a bunch of the recipes from them and have picked up on cooking techniques I never thought of that will be used in the future.

    I am glad I tried them but it is not sustainable for a lifetime. After next week I will be back to spending about $40 a week instead of $75 for food.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,957 Member
    I guess it really depends on where you live and whether you live alone or with a partner or family. In the country I lived previously, I found veggies very expensive compared to meat. Now I tend to eat more veggies and only small amounts of meat in meals, which raises shopping prices. I also live alone. While I can freeze meat, I can't really freeze fresh veggies. When I want to cook something with lots of different veggies I end up with lots of spares. Of course I tend to cook for 2-3 days at a time, but still I end up with lots of leftovers. So yeah, eating healthy is not necessarily cheap everywhere. Just a chunk of chicken or something with mince, and then rice or potatoes would be cheaper.
  • mom22dogs
    mom22dogs Posts: 470 Member
    I'm single and disabled. It is far more expensive for me to eat healthy than it is to buy the cheap carb stuff. My grocery bill has gone way up - everything is about $2.00 more per item than it was 6 months ago, so the cheap chicken is more, milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, frozen vegetables, are all more expensive. If I buy fresh vegetables and fruits, I can't eat them fast enough before they go bad, so I have a lot of waste that way, so buying frozen is less wasteful. I also find that just buying frozen dinners, like Smart Ones, is cheaper in the long run, because I don't have to buy 6 items to make one dish.

    I could eat ramen, mac and cheese rice, and potatoes and eat really cheap. But not healthy.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    Yeah, I only spend on my wife and daughter's "treats" because they are dairy free for the most part. We eat mostly plant based, lots of fresh, in season produce.

    It's stunning when you cut out ready made processed foods and cook a lot at home, eliminate deli meat/cheeses, and only eat meat once a week, how cheap your grocery bills can become. If I really wanted to, I could easily feed 3 on $75 to $100 a week, including snacks. I usually spend around $130 with the snacks that they like and toiletries/over the counter stuff included.
  • ehju0901
    ehju0901 Posts: 394 Member
    My grocery bill didn't drop, but my eating out bills did!
  • LiveOnceBeHappy
    LiveOnceBeHappy Posts: 448 Member
    I've become great friends with my freezer. Two kids in college, so not at home. I buy a Costco bag of shredded chicken, portion it into 3 or 4 oz bags and freeze. I make a batch of rice and freeze into single portions. I make a squash and freeze into portions. I brown 93% lean ground beef and freeze into portions. Then I can pull out what I want for a meal, heat it up, and then serve with fresh veggies and fruit. It is decent food and easy to grab. We don't eat out much anymore, which is obviously saving money.
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    If I buy a lot of organic produce that’s not on sale, yes it can be expensive. I also buy seafood and some vegan cheeses and milks which are pricey.

    In general, eating healthier is cheaper for me. Rice, beans, lentils, and other grains are super cheap, and I often find vegetables and fruits on sale. I honestly believe the whole notion that eating healthy is too expensive is an excuse to eat bad. I have noticed fast food is more expensive nowadays than me cooking my own meal, and I have enough for leftovers.

    Growing up, my family was really poor and we ate quite healthy.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    Mine has mostly stayed the same. Some costs have gone down (eating more in season, not buying soda or treats as much, less red meat) and some costs have gone up (more seafood and fish, oatmilk instead of regular milk). I also have food restrictions and allergies and often the "safe" item is more expensive. Plus, I can't eat lentils or a lot of beans, so those 2 "cheap" plant based proteins are a no go.
  • 33gail33
    33gail33 Posts: 1,155 Member
    nooshi713 wrote: »
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    nooshi713 wrote: »
    If I buy a lot of organic produce that’s not on sale, yes it can be expensive. I also buy seafood and some vegan cheeses and milks which are pricey.

    In general, eating healthier is cheaper for me. Rice, beans, lentils, and other grains are super cheap, and I often find vegetables and fruits on sale. I honestly believe the whole notion that eating healthy is too expensive is an excuse to eat bad. I have noticed fast food is more expensive nowadays than me cooking my own meal, and I have enough for leftovers.

    Growing up, my family was really poor and we ate quite healthy.

    A hamburger from McDonald's is a dollar. It's ready to eat. It's not a lot but it requires no time, no prep, and a dollar.

    A pound of ground beef is 6.00. That needs cooked and other ingredients added to it. And you can't buy just enough for now. You can't buy 1/4 lb of beef, one hamburger bun.

    I think people who say 'this is an excuse' have never actually had a really limited budget to feed a family on. I think they tend to be people who can't imagine real food insecurity and think the alternative to healthy eating is stuff like ice cream and cookies, not '50 cents for a box of storebrand mac and cheese because I have to feed my 2 kids and in a pinch I can make that with water'.

    So, yeah, healthy eating on a normal grocery budget/comfortable income can be as cheap or expensive as eating a normal diet but if you're trying to feed a family of four on 150/a MONTH then yes, the healthy options are still often out of reach.

    We grew up poor as a family of four and ate healthy. I didn’t even know what mac and cheese was. We were poor. I remember having almost no furniture in our apt, my mom admits she owned three shirts, two pants, and that was it. It is an excuse. I was poor in college and lived off rice, beans, veggies and canned fruit for a while. We don’t need meat or dairy. Most won’t be full off one small hamburger. I will be full off a bowl of rice and beans which costs 50 cents. I would argue that if you’re eating meat, you’re not really that poor. Meat is a luxury.

    Being full doesn't necessarily equal "healthy". Personally I wouldn't call a diet of rice and beans "healthy" for a child to grow on, and while yes children can be raised on a healthy vegan diet, I doubt that most people who are struggling with food insecurity have the resources to do that optimally.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    IDK. I was pretty broke in college and couldn't really afford much in the way of good meat or fresh produce. I liked cooking, but a nice meal like that was more of an occasion than everyday due to cost. For the most part I lived off of Ramen noodles, generic mac 'n cheese, or the crappy Chinese take out place around the corner from my *kitten* apartment that served horrible food but it was like $2 for a massive serving. The only thing I ate much of that I would consider "healthy" was beans...lots of beans and rice or tortillas. When I bought meat it was usually the family packs of bone on/skin on chicken legs that were on sale because they were about to expire, unless I was cooking for a date.

    Post university I was in a completely different situation financially and my diet improved exponentially from a nutritional standpoint...but my grocery cost also increased exponentially and there's no way I could have afforded to eat like I did post college while I was in school. I mean a container of greens costs me about as much as an entire case of Ramen. Ironically I was always at a healthy weight in college. I didn't put on weight until after college, even though my diet improved by a lot. But I was a lot more sedentary post college and very active in college. I could also afford to consume more food post college and eat out more.

    My biggest savings these days isn't my grocery bill. It's pretty on par with where it's been since graduation and getting married (save for it did go up with two boys to feed). But I used to eat out pretty much everyday for lunch and that's a pretty rare occurrence for me now.
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,071 Member
    edited October 2021
    I don't consider meat a necessity or a luxury. But I do enjoy eating it. :) My freezer holds chicken, pork and beef for which I've never paid more than $2.00 USD per pound. I often find deals on chicken for 49¢-99¢ lb. With 3-4 oz. servings, that works out to less than 50¢ per. When I find family-sized packs of frozen fish on sale (usually $6-$8 USD) I stock up. I also use canned tuna, sardines, and salmon which are very affordable. Even a $5 USD Costco or Sam's Club rotisserie chicken usually provides me with at least 5 meals plus a carcass for making broth.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    Y'all are all missing that 'affordable' varies. To a large degree.

    I have not seen chicken for less than 2.00 a pound - and that's for chicken leg quarters wibh bone and skin so you're paying per pound for inedible parts - in years. Tuna is only a dollar a can. That's a dollar for 5 ounces, so about 3 per pound.

    It just.

    This whole discussion is a display of people demonstrating that they've never, ever, been really food insecure with their luxury of shopping sells, traveling to different stores, and having a lot of storage space -- and money to do the initial outlay of buying large portions and bulk to start with. Instead of 'my grocery budget is 25.00 this week for 2 people'.

    Go watch some 'extreme grocery budget' stuff on youtube even if you can't personally relate. Better yet see what you can do YOURSELf, WITHOUT using a single item in your pantry.

    And other people going "YO. It can be affordable when compared to a typical american diet but it sure as heck ain't accessible to truly poor people."
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,071 Member
    edited October 2021
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    This whole discussion is a display of people demonstrating that they've never, ever, been really food insecure with their luxury of shopping sells, traveling to different stores, and having a lot of storage space -- and money to do the initial outlay of buying large portions and bulk to start with. Instead of 'my grocery budget is 25.00 this week for 2 people'.

    Yes, the discussion I'd intended was about personal experiences with grocery costs given an assumed healthier diet, not some philosophical or hypothetical tangent. Happily, there is always an opportunity to create a new thread with the directions you've referenced. It's an interesting subject.

    My biggest savings have been in no longer buying ice cream, sugary soda, bakery goodies, candy, packaged cookies, cheeses and deli items. I also used to hit a drive thru once or twice a week and buy a take-out pizza every other week - usually a large one that I would devour in under 4 hours. :#

  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    edited October 2021
    33gail33 wrote: »
    nooshi713 wrote: »
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    nooshi713 wrote: »
    If I buy a lot of organic produce that’s not on sale, yes it can be expensive. I also buy seafood and some vegan cheeses and milks which are pricey.

    In general, eating healthier is cheaper for me. Rice, beans, lentils, and other grains are super cheap, and I often find vegetables and fruits on sale. I honestly believe the whole notion that eating healthy is too expensive is an excuse to eat bad. I have noticed fast food is more expensive nowadays than me cooking my own meal, and I have enough for leftovers.

    Growing up, my family was really poor and we ate quite healthy.

    A hamburger from McDonald's is a dollar. It's ready to eat. It's not a lot but it requires no time, no prep, and a dollar.

    A pound of ground beef is 6.00. That needs cooked and other ingredients added to it. And you can't buy just enough for now. You can't buy 1/4 lb of beef, one hamburger bun.

    I think people who say 'this is an excuse' have never actually had a really limited budget to feed a family on. I think they tend to be people who can't imagine real food insecurity and think the alternative to healthy eating is stuff like ice cream and cookies, not '50 cents for a box of storebrand mac and cheese because I have to feed my 2 kids and in a pinch I can make that with water'.

    So, yeah, healthy eating on a normal grocery budget/comfortable income can be as cheap or expensive as eating a normal diet but if you're trying to feed a family of four on 150/a MONTH then yes, the healthy options are still often out of reach.

    We grew up poor as a family of four and ate healthy. I didn’t even know what mac and cheese was. We were poor. I remember having almost no furniture in our apt, my mom admits she owned three shirts, two pants, and that was it. It is an excuse. I was poor in college and lived off rice, beans, veggies and canned fruit for a while. We don’t need meat or dairy. Most won’t be full off one small hamburger. I will be full off a bowl of rice and beans which costs 50 cents. I would argue that if you’re eating meat, you’re not really that poor. Meat is a luxury.

    Being full doesn't necessarily equal "healthy". Personally I wouldn't call a diet of rice and beans "healthy" for a child to grow on, and while yes children can be raised on a healthy vegan diet, I doubt that most people who are struggling with food insecurity have the resources to do that optimally.

    My point was that even if a small hamburger is one dollar, most aren’t going to just order one small hamburger. They may order $3 worth of food. For one dollar you can get a bag of beans which makes 8 servings. Many people live off rice and beans as their staple diet. It is certainly healthier than McDonald’s hamburgers by far. People don’t need meat every day. I’m not saying everyone has to be vegan but I know from personal experience that it can be cheaper to eat healthier if one wants to.

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