But eating right is so expensive...

stephiehampshire

I find healthy eating cheaper than eating junk

I dont buy pop (soda), chips (fries), crisps, chocolate, cheese, pudding etc

I stock up on veg and meat and I cook as much as I can from scratch my food bill is less than it used to be as its more thought out and controlled

thatbelinda

It's also easy enough to find chicken breast for $2.00/lb if you watch for when it goes on sale. Whole chickens are often less than $1/lb (of course, you're going to be tossing the carcass, so it's not entirely a fair comparison, but still...)

I'm so jealous of American pricing!! 1kg (2.2lbs) of chicken in Australia is around $12.00. On a really great special, you can get it for around $9, but for me that means driving to somewhere that is probably more than $1 petrol away!

SkinnyFatAlbert

I find healthy eating cheaper than eating junk

I dont buy pop (soda), chips (fries), crisps, chocolate, cheese, pudding etc

I stock up on veg and meat and I cook as much as I can from scratch my food bill is less than it used to be as its more thought out and controlled

This is how I feel. Chicken breast is $1.99 a pound at Walmart. Frozen veggies are a buck a small bag and maybe $5 for a HUGE bag. Farmers markets are pretty cheap if you go the fresh route. The argument I usually hear is how a salad at a restaurant costs more than a burger. So? Cook at home and skip the mark up on either.

kowajenn

My grocery bills have remained pretty flat, but I do most of my shopping at Costco so that helps a lot.

The thing is, my bills are the same (junk vs. healthy) but I haven't felt full all year. This eating only what I need thing is hard. If I were eating healthier foods in the quantities I was eating of junk food before, my bills would definitely be higher. I shudder to think what the bills are going to be like when I get to maintenance and can increase my calories.

liftheavyeatwell

For me personally, food and fitness are two places I am willing to spend more money. I will shop at TJ Maxx and Marshals until the day I die for my clothes and drive my car until it's falling apart. But even when I was making much less money than I do now it was much cheaper for me to buy whole foods and cook for myself than it was for me to eat fast food, buy frozen dinners and other prepared meals or food items. And this was in a supposed BFE town in Montana.

I understand that not everyone has good financial situations and we all live in different ares. But I also bet that if people ran out the cost of prepping your own meals and yes even the time it takes if you use things like slow cookers while you are at work, the cost and time of fast food and prepared food items really isn't that much cheaper. Just takes a little bit of planning to do... which is work... which most people don't want to do.

daftthoughts

I can't buy whole wheat bread or other 'healthier' carb products because they're simply too expensive, when eating one day may literally come down to whether I have those 25 cents or not.

My food bills increased despite buying the cheapest of the cheapest because the junk food I filled up on costs significantly less than the vegetables and fruits I now stock up on regularly, whether that's frozen or fresh produce.

Before I started this healthy weight loss journey I was already down 40lbs simply because I had not enough money to buy food and suffered from a severe depression. Changing my lifestyle forced me to juggle incredibly with my resources and I had to make sacrifices in other areas. Not buying new clothes despite the fact I only own one pair of jeans that literally slide off my hips when I walk 100 steps is one of them.

I made it happen, but where I managed to survive off 50 euros a month on groceries, I now have to spend at least double that to live healthy. I wasn't living healthy before, completely deprived of vitamins and other nutrients. I looked like crap after the first 40 pounds came off.

I don't live in the US where supermarkets offer regular foods for so damn cheap it almost makes me cry in desperation when I read about it, so I can't speak for anyone else. I just know that my situation is pretty tight, and I feel very insulted when someone tells me that living healthier costs less. It really doesn't for me.

Deipneus

I'm not guessing, I've kept financial track: I spend less now that I'm eating healthy foods than I did when I was eating junk. Alcohol, chips and dip, candy is outrageously expensive. I find it amazing how little per pound it costs to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

celadontea

I spend a lot on groceries, about 80-100$ for one person a week. I buy mostly organic and I do sometimes buy frivolous ingredients, but it makes me happy. Sometimes I can cut that down to 40$ and still eat healthfully with the bulk organic grains I have on hand from when I had a higher bill. There are some places in this country where only fast food and liquor stores are available and all full of junk food. This is where people need to write or call to the stores and demand they carry what they need and they also need to start getting political and tell their local government that their community does not cater to the health needs of them and their families. If there is a huge cost issue here, you can grow your own vegetables (it really does work). There are community farms if you do not have yard space. When there is a will, there is a way.

If you don't have time then cook your foods only one day a week on the weekend. You'll be saving money and still have the convenience of pre-packed meals during the week that you can plan to fit your caloric intake goals. Look up meal prep mondays for ideas.

And remember no one needs "super foods" to eat healthfully. Organic is not a fad, but goji berry, chia seeds and other exotic ingredients tot his country are. Regular fruits and vegetables are all super foods, even bulk carrots and celery.

liftheavyeatwell

Eating healthy would be cheaper for me if I didn't buy organic. The biggest change is the time it takes to prepare meals now instead of unwrapping them. I can do this because I only work part time, but it would be much harder if both parents worked full time. Sometimes, there's a 15 minute window between activities to actually eat. So, I can understand why it seems daunting to eat healthy.

Quite a few foods that are raised "organic" don't actual involve any different practices than what is involved in standard agricultural operations: http://whole9life.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/whole9-seasonal-produce-2012.pdf

running_shoe

If you are willing to cook and explore options, eating healthy food is not expensive. It is a myth. (What is expensive is cell phone plans and satellite TV/radio, the latest gadgets, interest on your credit card, etc).You can make lean meats go a long way. I think the truth is that home cooking on a daily basis is a dying art. We depend on processed and prepared foods and forget that we can actually buy the limited number of ingredients we need to prepare something and benefit from that. Finding the TIME is probably the problem for a lot of people, but, as in the rest of life, it's all about priorities. You really can cook for a day and eat for a week. Think about it.

BoomstickChick

My mom pays like $2 for her test strips and nothing for her insulin because of insurance, so I don't buy into that. That's for people with no insurance and don't look into any additional help, however, eating healthy isn't expensive; it's just an excuse.

I get that in the winter in certain parts of the country here in the US, it is more expensive, I used to live in New England, but is it worth paying a little more for something healthy or buying crap food because it's cheap? Cook healthy meals at home, don't eat out, that's where it gets expensive to get the healthier options.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Eh, I pretty much think people who whine about how much "healthy" food costs are in the same category as people who complain that they don't have time to work out. When something matters to you, you miraculously find a way to make room for it in your life. If you don't want to eat vegetables, great. But don't act like the reason you don't eat them is because you can't afford them.

^^and this

100% agree *claps*

x4

c_tap77

I keep track of my grocery bills very carefully and when my husband and I started eating healthy foods I was shocked when I saw the first grocery bill. It was about $50 higher than I was used to!!!

BUT (and this is a big BUT) we ended up going much longer between trips to the store because we were portioning everything carefully and everything we buy goes a lot farther than it used to.

We're spending about the same amount on groceries every month with maybe a $20 overall increase. To me, $20/month is a small price to pay to live a healthier life. And since we eat out less, that is easily pulled from that budget every month. We also coupon (we did this before we were eating healthy too) and that helps us save.

I agree with everyone who has been saying the argument that you can't eat healthy because it's too expensive is just an excuse. Sure maybe fresh produce is expensive but stores often have great deals on what is in season and there's always frozen options which can often be cheaper. Plus there are coupons out there for the frozen produce. Or canned! I know canned isn't always the best option because things are packed in juice or salt, but it's better than throwing your arms up and getting eating crap because it's super cheap. Where there's a will, theres a way.

iechick

Changing to a mostly whole foods, plant based diet has saved me money and my grocery bill has come down quite a bit. Beans, whole grains (oats, rice etc), local veggies and produce from small hobby farmers (some of which I freeze for the winter), are all cheap. My biggest cost now is olives, nuts and then 'specialty' things like nutritional yeast, but I get some of that on Amazon and save money that way. I still eat meat occasionally, but now usually once a week (usually out at a restaurant, with a coupon lol), instead of eating it 1-2 times a day like I used to. Dairy is another pricey thing that I've almost totally cut out-the amount of money I'm saving from not eating cheese anymore is crazy!

iechick

I keep track of my grocery bills very carefully and when my husband and I started eating healthy foods I was shocked when I saw the first grocery bill. It was about $50 higher than I was used to!!!

BUT (and this is a big BUT) we ended up going much longer between trips to the store because we were portioning everything carefully and everything we buy goes a lot farther than it used to.

We're spending about the same amount on groceries every month with maybe a $20 overall increase. To me, $20/month is a small price to pay to live a healthier life. And since we eat out less, that is easily pulled from that budget every month. We also coupon (we did this before we were eating healthy too) and that helps us save.

I agree with everyone who has been saying the argument that you can't eat healthy because it's too expensive is just an excuse. Sure maybe fresh produce is expensive but stores often have great deals on what is in season and there's always frozen options which can often be cheaper. Plus there are coupons out there for the frozen produce. Or canned! I know canned isn't always the best option because things are packed in juice or salt, but it's better than throwing your arms up and getting eating crap because it's super cheap. Where there's a will, theres a way.

I recently discovered that my local grocery store chain (Meijer) has their own coupons that you 'clip' on your cell phone. So many of the coupons are for fresh produce, which is great because then I stack them with produce that's on sale and get stuff for almost free They also have a reduced rack, of riper stuff, and I usually get bananas and other fruit to that I use in baking, for a few cents (last week I bought 12lbs of bananas at .19lb and made up a bunch of banana bread to freeze).

Irenaekl

I disagree that eating healthy food is more expensive - the ingredients for a large pan of healthy vegetable soup costs a great deal less than the equivalent amount in cans which are full of sugar and additives. The ingredients for a main meal, of for example pasta and meatballs in tomato sauce, for four people cost much less, and is much healthier, than the equivalent processed ready meals. It isn't necessary to buy organic or buy the most expensive items to eat healthy food.

Mom_4_More_Muscles

......if you really want to succeed....you'll FIND a way.....if not....you'll find an excuse..... :bigsmile:

Saratini76

(...) a 99 cent roll of frozen ground turkey. )...)

OMG, where do you find that? My family uses ground turkey for nearly everything!

contingencyplan

I eat healthy on $40-$50 a week.

bcattoes

The cheapest calories on our grocery shelves are from government-subsidized commodity foods: Corn, soybeans, and the resulting cheap animal products. Think boxed mac & cheese, packaged ramen, and the like. If you eat those foods until you're not hungry anymore, you will have eaten too many calories. If you have to do that every day, you're going to get fat and sick. Eating well costs quite a bit more money than eating the standard American diet, which is why most people don't do it.

But these foods are not unhealthy. When cooked al dente, pasta does not have a high GI or GL. Sure, you don't want to eat ONLY pasta, but pasta can be part of a heatlhy meal.

Unless you are springing for grass fed animal meat, there is little nutritional difference in the cheap meats and expensive meats. The cheaper meats are often lower in fat and calories. And the difference in grass fed and store bought meat is highly unlikely to ever be the deciding factor in a healthy vs. unhealthy diet.