But eating right is so expensive...

Lleldiranne

I've seen studies showing the relative value of fresh foods vs cheap crap. None of them seem to have been run by people who have actually been poor, as they tend to use high priced junk food - chips, pizzas, hot pockets, that sort of thing - as their basis for 'cheap' food, which completely misses the issue.

Let me put it this way: $5 buys 20 packs of ramen. Each one is ~400 calories. Eat one for lunch and two for dinner, and that $5 is enough to lunch and dinner for a full week.

Add in a $2 pack of Bar-S hot dogs and a $3 carton of eggs and you're eating for ~1.40 per day, or $10 per week.

That's what people are talking about when they talk about crappy food being cheaper than fresh. They aren't talking about eating Ruffles and Twinkies for every meal.

Continuing on this line of thought … 93% lean ground beef is often almost $1 more per pound than 73% or even 85%. Bread made from 100% whole wheat flour and fewer additives costs almost $4 a loaf, whereas the fluffy air puffed "sandwich bread" (which is mostly white flour and full of crap) runs about $1.50. 100% fruit juice costs a lot more than the juice cocktails that are about 15% juice and have lots of HFCS.

That's not even looking at things like organic, free-range, or grass fed, which some people say are essential for a truly healthy diet.

We are fortunate to have about $600 a month for groceries (for a family of 6). I make the best choices I can within that budget (ie lean ground beef, whole wheat bread, etc). And I do buy some unnecessary stuff. But if I was much more limited in my budget, I would probably have to chose the cheaper, less healthy alternatives. Yes, some people use "but I can't afford to eat healthy" as an excuse. Some of it is just needing education (which doesn't happen when comments get snarky or have a superiority complex). Some of it, though, is genuine. If I had $40 a week for my family's meals, you bet I'd worry less about eating "healthy" and more about just having something to eat for every meal!

llkilgore

… 93% lean ground beef is often almost $1 more per pound than 73% or even 85%.

Do you leave the rendered fat behind in the pan or on the grill? The lower wastage of lean ground beef will make a big dent in the price difference if you do, and may cancel it out completely.

lauraleighsm

Again, reasoning like this makes me think Mfp is filled with Kellogg's employees that have no reasoning ability. Non natural msg has been linked to cancer and obesity, not to mention migraines. Naturally occurring MSG is world aparts from the chemical we process and add to our food. It's ridiculous. Someone defending MSG? Like, really? Is Mfp forums for real or a practical joke?

We have forgotten that food is supposed to provide us nutrition as well as energy to keep going. Where is the nutrition in a package of ramen or $5 carry-out pizza? Can you pronounce or recognize any of the ingredients in some of this "food" that is so cheap?
There are a million websites providing guidance on how to eat healthy and plan meals on the web. People just need to put their priorities in order. I've made all the excuses myself with no time, etc. It is a pain in the *kitten* to plan and prep meals, I agree!!

I don't know, looks like it has nutrition to me.



From: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/soups-sauces-and-gravies/7979/2

This is SO silly. You forgot to include the other ingredients in typical canned soups (MSG, ferrous sulfate, gmo soy protein, and sodium phosphate. Sounds like non food for me and my kiddos. But go ahead and discount tons and tons of research not backed by food corporations. Silly goose. The pop tart thread is somewhere else!

MSG? Hope you don't eat things like parmesan cheese or broccoli

Acg67

Again, reasoning like this makes me think Mfp is filled with Kellogg's employees that have no reasoning ability. Non natural msg has been linked to cancer and obesity, not to mention migraines. Naturally occurring MSG is world aparts from the chemical we process and add to our food. It's ridiculous. Someone defending MSG? Like, really? Is Mfp forums for real or a practical joke?

Oh hai. First, correlation =/= causation, see graph below if you do beleive that though. Can you cite exactly how MSG differs from glutamate metabolically speaking? Are you familiar with Chinese restaurant syndrome?

amie709

We have found a mix of both so far with our healthy eating: It most certainly does cost less then getting sick! Remember-those who don't make time for fitness will eventually have to make time for illness!!

For the food, yes if you simply cut your food intake then your bill will get smaller. I didn't do that. How do I get healthy eating the same pre processed and pre manufactured crap as I was before-just less?? Plus, our bodies need the right fuel. No doubt about it-our bodies need it!! So, if you need calcium and the only place that you are getting it is from a chocolate bar how many chocolate bars do you need to eat for your body to get the calcium that you could have gotten from one glass of milk?? So, eating less of the same crap just really doesn't cut it for healthy eating?? (if most of your eating was healthy to begin with then yes that would work for you. Mine was not)

So, we completely changed our foods as well as the amount that we eat. And we found it extremely expensive!! But, we've also found that there are some ways to help with the costs a little too: buying frozen foods like chicken breast and frozen veggies and fruit when possible and if you like the taste (I hate the taste of frozen fruits so we buy those fresh), buying your chicken breast with the skin on and taking the skin off your self, farmers markets are supossed to be great places to get fresh things cheaper-I don't think we have one within an hour of here so I have not been. Costco is also a good place to buy if you think ahead with your meals. For example., I spent $30 on a slamon and came home and cut it up into individual servings (I'm the only one that likes it lol) and with that $30 salmon I made 20 servings with it. We switched from white pasta to whole grain but I don't think there was much of a price difference. The switch from ground beef to ground turkey was a big price difference!!

But, over all I think the price is well in hand now!!

MzPix

Our food bill has decreased since we started a more healthy lifestyle.

For us though, (and most people I would think) there cannot be a linear comparison between monetary medical cost versus monetary food cost. We have to do an overall assessment of how we think and behave differently, how our time is spent differently, and how we feel.

For instance, here are just a few of the variables that impact “medical money versus food money” that in no way accurately portray our newly acquired healthier lifestyle:
* My partner’s medical costs are covered 100% due to his military health coverage. That isn’t going to change regardless of what ailments or conditions he does or does not develop. We pay a great deal out of pocket for my health care, but that will change once we marry. Also, I already have most of the ailments. And, as people who also implement some holistic health care measures, those costs don’t change based on coverage.
* People who don’t work outside the home, are self-employed, or simply don’t work, don’t lose as much money due to health ailments, so figures such as “wages lost due to sick time” might be inapplicable even though the ailments are present.
* As part of a healthier lifestyle, we have put in our own garden which yields about 80% of our produce. There was an initial investment cost to put it in, but we are beyond that return, so at this point, 80% of our produce is now completely free.
* As part of a healthier lifestyle, we have also “gone green” so overall our expenses have dramatically decreased in ALL areas of our life. Due to that alone, we now are more physically active because we are exerting physical labor to ride bikes and walk. Those things have lowered our chances of developing obesity related ailments in the future, but have no impact whatsoever on our food bill.

Specifically regarding our grocery bill, we traded out a lot of cheap unhealthy choices for cheap healthy choices instead.

I don’t agree that there can be a linear comparison of food cost versus medical costs because life is a much more complex equation than that.
However, I do not buy into the social mythology that healthy eating habits are more expensive than unhealthy ones.

iechick

I make a good salary, and still find my food bill a bit ridiculous. But I made the conscious choice to go organic and the sticker shock is one of the results. When I was broke in college, I could have eaten better, but not by any stretch of the imagination like I do now. I used to go in the grocery store and play a game. I'd take in 10 dollars, buy 10 of the 10 for 10 items and see if I couldn't eat off that for at least 2 days. Guess what is 10 for 10? Carbs, processed stuff, junk, and sugary food.

It really will vary based on where you live-this week my local chain grocery store (Meijer) is doing their 11/$10 sale and included is
-bags of lettuce
-organic baby carrots
-bell peppers
-large cucumbers
-pkgs of organic mushrooms
-broccoli
(all fresh).

Plus carmel apples :laugh: I could mix 11 of the above for $10, which is very reasonable for the amount of fresh produce I'd get . Plus the sale includes bags of frozen veggies, canned veggies and fruit and then things like Greek yogurt, canned beans and tomatoes, tuna etc etc. There's lot of healthier choices included, on top of the candy corn and pudding cups It really is crazy how stores/prices will vary from city to city/state to state!

eta: Meijer is also doing a store coupon deal this weekend (called Mperks, where you 'clip' coupons on your cell phone), and you get $5 off $50 or $10 off $100. Plus I have some catalinas from the last time I shopped and I'll get $1 off my produce purchase, plus one for $4.50 off of a $50 or more, which I think I can stack with the mperks deal. If I can, then I'll be getting $50 worth of groceries tomorrow, which will include quite a bit of produce, for under $40. Plus I have some manufacturer coupons for some of the other things on my list, which will bring my bill down even lower. It takes a bit of time to work out the deals, but it's worth it, as I'll be buying groceries for a family of five for around $35 this week. Meijer is a midwest chain, but there's other stores that also offer $1 deals and/or have their own store coupons that you can pair up with manufacturer coupons. The deals are out there, it just takes a bit of time and work to get them.

jwdieter

For the food, yes if you simply cut your food intake then your bill will get smaller. I didn't do that. How do I get healthy eating the same pre processed and pre manufactured crap as I was before-just less??

You create a calorie deficit and lose weight. For people who are obese, this by itself will reduce the risks for every disease mentioned by the OP.

If you're eating packaged and processed food to the point of obesity, the savings from reducing consumption can be redirected to vegetable purchase.

Many if not most of the people here are spending hundreds per month on discretionary entertainment, rendering the fine points of affordability pretty moot.

Anyway, if you want to spend more, great. I'm all for that. Enjoy your food!

If you want to reduce the vast majority of risk for consumption-related diseases while decreasing food costs, eat less. If you're actually poor to the point of not getting enough calories, you have a lot more pressing concerns than the potential future costs of diabetes, heart disease, or cancer, and spending more money is not an option.

JDBLY11

Just some grist for your mill, next time you think eating well costs too much. I carry this information around with me for when I'm feeling whiny about my grocery bill.

Estimated lifetime cost of diabetes for an individual diagnosed at age 30, including out-of-pocket medical costs and lost productivity: $305,000. (American Diabetes Association)
Estimated lifetime cost of a heart attack: $700,000 to $1 milion, depending on the severity. (American Heart Association)
Average cost of one year of treatment for a woman with colorectal cancer: $51,327. (National Institutes of Health)

Average increase to my weekly grocery bill so the three of us can eat decent food: $30. If I spent that every week until I turned 100, that would be $103,080. Probably worth it, eh?

I find that eating vegan is actually the least expensive way for my family and I to eat. Meat and dairy is usually so much more expensive than veggies, beans, and other similar foods. There is a BI-LO near where I live too that has really good deals. They have BOGO and bonus card savings. I just went today and tried to load up on healthier foods and I only paid $126. I saved about $60.

hagatron4

Eating healthily is expensive? That's an absolute myth and I'm not sure how people can believe that rubbish. It should be much, much, cheaper! My main food expense is lunch when I'm working, and by swapping lunch with a couple of pieces of fruit, I'm spending around $40 per week less on this meal alone. Then I'm eating much the same at dinner but the same sort of food as before (meat and vegetables), just less meat. Sometimes I'll cut this out completely from a meal and have a healthy soup or frittata instead. Finally - limiting alcohol is definitely going to be great for the purse strings!

c_tap77

For anyone who is interested (and has a Meijer near them) they have TONS of healthy choices on sale 10/$10 (11th item free) this weekend. Healthy options include:

Bags of Salad Mix
Raspberries
Frozen Veggies
Bags of Carrots
Cucumbers
Greek Yogurt (a couple varieties)
Canned Black Beans
Diced Canned Tomatos
English Muffins
Bread
Barilla Pasta (they have a whole grain variety)
Mushrooms (Organic)
Broccoli
Peppers

Just to name a few!!!

Lichent

Eating right is not as expensive as eating junk Check out how much we saved when we decided to no longer be slaves to the junk food.\Today we saved, I rounded off the numbers, approx. $24 because we didn't buy the soda $9,00 cuz we didn't buy the potato chips {3 for $3} $7.00 Cuz we didn' buy the Cheeze Whiz $15.00 cuz we didn't buy the nestle ice cream sticks, the reese peanut butter ice creams and the oreo cookes ice cream We saved $14.97 cuz we didn't buy the Kraft Dinner,, We saved $6 not buying the cookie special and another $3 not buy the voortmans. Then there were the kit kat bite sizes at $5. two cadbury big chocolate bars at $3.00, So our cupboards are no longer full of the nasty sweet stuff.

So me and buddy managed to save $88.00 by not buying what we used to buy each week.

Now that leaves us with a big chunk of change to shop out some grazed fed delcious prime rib and some quality trout, plus get our yougurt, eggs, veggies , fruits and muesali.
Oh I fogot we saved an additional $10 cuz we didn't buy the corn flakes and the cheerios .

New total $98.00 to go our new style of clean eating. Guess what , we are losing pounds and we are having fun doing it.

That we were told works out to $2400 a year per person. $4800 for the two of us at the end of the year if we leave the junk in the store. Now there is that other cost, other health and happiness, and how much better we feel now we are no longer eating the nasty sweet stuff.

sloth3toes

Copy and Paste of a previous post

You're starting to go into reruns.

Lichent

What you expect me to sit here and type our whole story again. It was easier to copy and paste. Our Point is that good eating is not as expensive as the old shopping habits with junk food purchases.

sloth3toes

What you expect me to sit here and type our whole story again. It was easier to copy and paste. Our Point is that good eating is not as expensive as the old shopping habits with junk food purchases.

It just amused me, that's all. You're very enthusiastic about the changes you've made.

walleymama

Depends on how you define healthy eating.

I spent a bundle on groceries following a low-carb paleo sorta diet, and that is considering that we raised our own pigs and chickens for meat, so we were getting that part for a good price. It was the gluten-free flours, the coconut oil, the organic nuts and seeds used to make my grain free granola...

Going MFP and eating whatever we feel like eating (within our caloric goals) has had a dramatic effect on our food budget. I was, frankly, quite stunned. But things like rice and potatoes, lentils and beans, bread and cereal, oats, and wheat flour.....are all inexpensive. Plus we are eating less food all around because of controlling our portion sizes.

darkrose20

<quote> Orthorexia is expensive.

Stop being orthorexic. </quote>

:noway: :huh: OMG, I had to look that up. Then I LOL'ed. This is very true!

gigglesinthesun

I've seen studies showing the relative value of fresh foods vs cheap crap. None of them seem to have been run by people who have actually been poor, as they tend to use high priced junk food - chips, pizzas, hot pockets, that sort of thing - as their basis for 'cheap' food, which completely misses the issue.

Let me put it this way: $5 buys 20 packs of ramen. Each one is ~400 calories. Eat one for lunch and two for dinner, and that $5 is enough to lunch and dinner for a full week.

Add in a $2 pack of Bar-S hot dogs and a $3 carton of eggs and you're eating for ~1.40 per day, or $10 per week.

That's what people are talking about when they talk about crappy food being cheaper than fresh. They aren't talking about eating Ruffles and Twinkies for every meal.

there are recipes out there with dried beans or peas that can feed you for very little as well. I personally follow this blog, cause she has some good ones on there http://agirlcalledjack.com/tag/budget-recipes/

FindingAmy77

I honestly don't know why this has caused a nine page and growing debate. It is cheaper. You aren't going out, you aren't buying prepackaged and processed foods now, you may be growing your own herbs and vegies ( I bought seeds, yay), you are finding new ways to make meals with less meat and portions but that are quick and easy yet still satisfying. You are finding sales on foods and buying in bulk when possible so the unit cost is way less, slicing your own meats.... Well at least this is some of the important changes I have made for me and my family. Nutrition should be number one, if its important to you then you make the changes and just do it. I have cut my food bill in half or even thirds now that I make meal plans for the week and do all of the above. I love youtube for all the food and recipe ideas too. My husband is loving the variety and new meals I make him. Anyone who wants to go on and on about how oh poor me, its too expensive then they are the same ones who make excuses to not exercise. There are so many programs free out there that give you healthy eating ideas on a budget. Michele Obama is even sponsoring MYPlate now. Check it out. IT can be done, you just got to make small changes each week and do a kitchen makeover and eventually you will see the savings. Ramen noodles cases may be 3.99 for 12 but you can get some dried beans for cheap and some canned vegies or canned tomatoes for the same amount and make a creation for the same money. IT can be done, just look into it on youtube or the internet. The time it takes to post on these boards, you could have watched a youtube video on how to eat cheap but healthy. Just saying.