How much does good food cost?

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Replies

  • IsabellaGiano
    IsabellaGiano Posts: 158 Member

    I feel like we're the only ones reading our comments, and everyone else is too busy feeling good about not spending crap tons of money.

    I'd like to not spend crap tons of money. Do you know how many cute dresses I could have bought instead of spending money on fruit?!

    I believe you, why not?

    May I ask why, in your opinion, food is so expensive at your place?
    Some Canadian said that there the food is expensive for long winter, or for the transportation costs, what about Hawaii?

    Really just asking out of curiosity!

    For example, what about fish? Sorry for my ignorance...

    Because it's an island. Land is limited, so local things are limited and very expensive. Things that are shipped in have transport costs attached to them.

    Fish is about the same here as it is anywhere else, assuming it's locally caught. No more expensive than other places, but certainly no cheaper.


    In Italy sellers have to specify the origin of products, and yes, usually our so called "zero chilometers" products are cheaper... anyway, we still see a lot of stuff from -more or less- every place in the world.
    From Europe most of the stuff travels by tir, from Africa or south America through ship -I think-
    Travel costs and intermediate costs (from the producer to the mediator to the small grocery sellers to the buyer ) are reeeeeally the greater part of the final costs.

    Anyway, the food is still affordable

    I mean, fortunately is still affordable...
    I didn't mean I don't believe you!
  • mycupyourcake
    mycupyourcake Posts: 279 Member
    Eating healthy is CHEAPER than eating poorly. Rice and beans are incredibly cheap. Vegetables are free for half of the year, due to gardening. Fruit can be pricey off season, but it's cheap in the summer. In America, we are spoiled. We have such great distribution networks bringing produce from South and Central America. Our produce is some of the least expensive in the world.

    Around here, a fruit tree costs about $25US. It's the gift that keeps on giving.
    Eating healthy is not cheaper than eating crap. Fresh fruit and vegetables, when not from your garden, cost a lot more than cheetos and mac and cheese. I just bought 3 large Mt. Rainier something something crisp apples and they were over 8 dollars. They are not organic but they are still firm and juicy. We live in Northern Virginia and I must say that food prices here are higher than I have seen in other parts of the country.
    When i was eating crap, i wasn't getting the chips and noodle dishes. I ate a lot of meat, which is expensive.
    Some people would say that eating meat and fruit and veggies is healthy. What did your average meat heavy dinner look like? I have been meaning to add in dhal and veggie shak days to bring our bill down but lately have been on a seafood kick.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    I was reading an article about the culinary scene and the farm to table movement hitting Hawaiian restaurants now. The author asked the chef why Hawaii is so late to the game and he pointed out that while Hawaii has amazing weather for growing things, the land is so expensive that farmers can not afford to farm it. I imagine that fish there might be quite expensive as the general cost of living is and that drives up the price of locally harvested food as well.

    Basically this. What farmers have to charge for their food just to make a profit is...well, I don't buy local either. Let's leave that at that.

    I think even my pineapple comes from somewhere else.
  • Lwillis1234
    Lwillis1234 Posts: 990 Member
    it's just me and my 2 year old girl. I spend about 30 dollars a week/$120-$200 dollars a month for our food. I buy lots of meat and vegs! I also get WIC so that covers cereal cheese and milk..etc..
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    if you have a little dirt and a green thumb, it can be pretty cheap.
    A couple tomato plants, some pepper plants, some onions, cucumbers, beans, and greens of some type. All pretty easy to grow. Just need the space for them.

    My dog ate all my tomatoes, my cucumbers never made it past flowers and the green beans were nasty and grainy. I apparently do not have a green thumb. The parsley did well though.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    I live in a landlocked part of Canada and food is expensive. Everything takes a long time to ship, we're nowhere near an ocean, and the growing season is so short that just about everything has to be imported. All of those things can add up like crazy. Even the farmer's markets sell stuff grown in greenhouses, which are more expensive to operate than a patch of land...

    However, eating well is worth it for me, so whatever it costs is what I pay. I do make an effort to shop cheaply - I buy my produce at a discount fruit-and-vegetable-only market, try to avoid expensive convenience stuff, and buy what I can at the least expensive grocery stores. But I prefer meat that's organic/free range/grass fed/etc so I just pay for it. But it's worth it to me to do that. Seafood is the killer though. We love it but we don't love paying $11-12 for two salmon filets, you know? Sigh.

    I bet I spend about $500/month on groceries for two people, easily. I'm lucky that I can afford it, but I'd kind of hate to live where I live if I couldn't spend this kind of money. I'd be eating a lot of frozen vegetables and frozen Costco chicken thighs, I think.
  • ModoVincere
    ModoVincere Posts: 530 Member
    if you have a little dirt and a green thumb, it can be pretty cheap.
    A couple tomato plants, some pepper plants, some onions, cucumbers, beans, and greens of some type. All pretty easy to grow. Just need the space for them.

    My dog ate all my tomatoes, my cucumbers never made it past flowers and the green beans were nasty and grainy. I apparently do not have a green thumb. The parsley did well though.

    Squirrels ate all mine last year....so I ate the squirrels.
  • Pirate_chick
    Pirate_chick Posts: 1,216 Member
    I buy frozen chicken breast, frozen lean ground beef, twice a month, sometimes I will will get Shrimp at costco runs about $50 for all three items. Also , I get two loves of bread at costco for $3, that will last us about a month So $53 plus tax I have meat and bread for a month. I buy fresh produce,milk, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc bi-weekly since it spoils quickly. Depending on what I get my bill is normally $30-$50 for twice a month depending on what I need and if I buy snacks like 100 calorie packs. It's just my daughter and me. so I guess I spend $150-$200 on groceries a month.
  • Bernadette60614
    Bernadette60614 Posts: 707 Member
    I've found that good food may cost a little more initially but you don't eat as much so it lasts longer...so overall, it ends up a break even (or maybe even less!)

    For example, I buy a 2.2 lb canister of protein powder for our a.m. breakfast smoothie which is under 30 dollars on Amazon subscribe and save. It lasts us a month (both adults have a smoothie each a.m.) and I'm not hungry till a mid-morning snack (usually a banana and a few almonds) at 10 a.m.

    A packaged pastry might cost less, but 30 minutes later, I'm hungry again.

    We don't do a lot of organic, other than milk for the kid and apples (which he loves). We do masses of house brand frozen vegetables, e.g. broccoli and make them tasty with spices.

    I think sometimes people think good food has to be locally grown, organic. I like "good enough" food which is produce I can afford to buy and eat in abundance, popcorn kernels which we pop in an $8.00 device we got on Amazon for about 25 cents for a ton of popcorn et al.

    I think a lot of us have busy schedules which does allow much cooking from scratch..so while a huge container of Quaker Oats might cost less than some boxes of Total cereal..the Total is pour and go.
  • jenmom2myboys
    jenmom2myboys Posts: 311 Member
    Buy the fruits and veggies that are on sale. Giant just had 5lb bags of apples for 3.99 last week. I stocked up and keep them in the fridge. Buy the large bags of red and green peppers instead of individual ones. You just have to look for deals.

    A 5lb bag of apples where I live is about 7 dollars, on sale. There are no large bags of peppers (there are small bags of the small sweet ones though.).

    But I suppose I'm just not looking hard enough for the deals. It's totally not a matter of location or anything!

    I never said anything about your location, so there is no need for an attitude. I am in PA, there are many grocery stores and I dont spend a lot of money.
  • salembambi
    salembambi Posts: 5,585 Member
    heres the thing...do not assume your experience is the same as everyone elses

    food costs vary all over the world some people are lucky enough to have access to"healthy" foods for a good price a lot of people are not that lucky so yes it can be very very expensive
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
    Hi,

    I was wondering now and then why people complained about the costs of dieting..
    Now a new fried wrote that he has to pay 3 dollars for an apple?!?!?

    Well, I really hope it is not like this everywhere...
    I live in Italy, and I lived in the UK, and the food is by no means as expensive as that...

    So, my questions, out of curiosity... how much does "good" food cost where you live?
    Fresh fruit and vegs, chicken and pork meat, legumes, potatoes, rice...

    Do you really find that eating healthy is more expensive than not?

    This is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to people who want to lose weight, go on a diet, etc when they wonder about the high price of 'healthy food.

    I have yo yo'd over the years. I am not proud of it, but it has happened. I master losing weight buy eating better, eating less and exercising. It is just maintaining that has killed me. I am giving it one more go around.

    When people complain and say they cannot lose weight because it is too expensive...that is complete BS.


    YOu can easily lose weight, and gain more $$ in your bank account. It really goes hand in hand. People dont need to go out and buy fancy "healty" food to lose weight.

    When I lose weight I make $$$$$.
    I spend sooo much less on food. How? Because you eat less. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH less fast food, much less drinks. much less eating out, much, much less $$ spend when you eat less/healthier

    I don't know about where you live but in Hawaii, where I live, I without a doubt spend less when I grab fast food. Food is expensive, far more expensive than on the mainland, but fast food prices remain fairly consistent with what they are on the mainland.

    That aside, not everyone who gains weight eats fast food so for some what you experience just isn't the case.
    I dont know about Hawaii, never been.
    My general point in this though when people complain that eating healthy and losing weight is just too expensive.
    Most people can go to the grocery and get a week's worth of food, even healthier food, and spend much less on food than those people who eat out often. The obesity epedemic for some many people also drains their pocket books with the high prices of eating out/ordering in.
    Case in point this past weekend. My wife just wanted to get breakfast for all of us at McDonalds or BK. $3-$4 a person it would cost. Instead I made some good breakfast, for a fraction of the cost, for the whole family.
    Same thing for dinner. Chicket breasts on the grill, vegetables and a side salad...bought it all at the local market and it came to much less than what you could really get at even a fast food restaurant.

    My main point is this.....people who say they cannot lose weight because it is too expensive to buy healthy food are just full of it.

    And again, that's not true everywhere. Hawaii is one of the poorest states in the union, people are often cramming 4 generations of a family into a 3 bedroom house and just barely getting by. In that situation spending a few bucks a person at BK is going to be cheaper than anything else.

    That said, you can lose weight eating BK or McDonalds, so if the point to fast food as the reason they can't lose weight that's nonsense. They could certainly lose weight eating solely fast food if they were so inclined (And depending on location is may be cheaper than going to the grocery store.)

    Sure, you can lose weight by eating at Bk or McDonalds. That is 100% true.

    But you know how you do it?

    Eat less.

    Eat less = spending less = losing weight isnt too expensive.

    Losing weight isn't expensive, no. I believe I actually said as much. Changing ones food habits to so called 'healthy food' can certainly be expensive. Which is the argument being posed in this thread, is it not? Was that not while you told me that you could have chicken, veg, and a salad for less than you'd pay for fast food, because you're saying it's cheaper to eat healthy at home than to eat out?

    Or was that just a fun anecdote for the sake of things?
    I had a few minutes to think and I believe I am took this more on a tangent than what the originator intended. I was more talking about those people who complain tht to lose weight they need to spend more $$ and used expenses as an excuse as to why they cannot lose weight, which is totally false. I let threads from other message boards interfere with the subject at hand.

    I personall grow some food in my small garden that keeps some veggi costs down. The good thing about living in rural America, aka God's country, is that we are surrounded by agriculture. If I want apples? Go to the apple orchard and pay next to nothing. Corn on the cob? $1.50 a dozen at many farmers markets and such. Want many other fresh foods at a good cost? Go to the Amish stores.

    So I do apologize for taking it off track, and that $$ should never be an excuse not to lose weight
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    Buy the fruits and veggies that are on sale. Giant just had 5lb bags of apples for 3.99 last week. I stocked up and keep them in the fridge. Buy the large bags of red and green peppers instead of individual ones. You just have to look for deals.

    A 5lb bag of apples where I live is about 7 dollars, on sale. There are no large bags of peppers (there are small bags of the small sweet ones though.).

    But I suppose I'm just not looking hard enough for the deals. It's totally not a matter of location or anything!

    I never said anything about your location, so there is no need for an attitude. I am in PA, there are many grocery stores and I dont spend a lot of money.

    You implied that those who are spending a lot aren't looking for deals and should just buy the stuff on sale/in bulk, which totally ignores that in some places there are no deals/bulk buying isn't an option. It's fine to say "I do this." but it's rather short sighted to go "You just need to do this!" while ignoring all the factors that go into that kind of thing
  • Mangopickle
    Mangopickle Posts: 1,509 Member
    In middle TN, this wks Kroger sale sheet.
    I spend about $250 a month for 3 people. we have 2 deer in the freezer
    boneless skinless split chick breast 99cents/lb
    choice boneless shouder roast 3.99/lb
    tuna $1 can
    Barilla pasta$1 box
    red globe grapes $1.49/lb
    russet potato 10lb/ $6
    milk $2.99/gal
    wheat bread 2/$3
    cheddar cheese $1.99/8oz
    fresh green beans and roma tomatoes 99cents/lb
    organic pears $2 /lb
    organic oranges $3.99/ 4 lbs
    navel oranges $3.49/ 5 lbs
    Silk almond or soy milk $2.99
    frozen veg $1/ 12oz bag
    Kashi cereal $2.99 box

    dried beans and brown rice run $1.50-$2 /lb. but I like to buy in large quantity from Indian Mkt so it is more $1/lb

    Around here people hunt and fish pretty much yr round. Turkey season right now, Yum. We have hunters for the hungry to provide venison for people struggling with meat prices.
  • Bounce4
    Bounce4 Posts: 288 Member
    Where I live it is definitely more expensive to eat healthy. Fresh produce costs noticeably more than filler junk foods and are often not nearly as tasty - especially during the off seasons. There is a very high risk of produce not having any flavor at all or tasting like wood. Fish sticks are way cheaper than buying a piece of real fish. Greek yogurt is $1 when it goes on sale. Regular yogurt is 50 cents (10 for $5).

    I'm not saying it is an excuse, or not worth it, or that there are not some very healthy inexpensive options available as well but that doesn't change the reality that, where I live, good food (especially produce and some dairy and meats) cost more than their nutritionally inferior equivalents.
  • Sjarkey15
    Sjarkey15 Posts: 57 Member
    Wow... What a jerk.

    Food does cost a lot! But if you shop around you'll find good deals. 5lb container of organic spinach at sams club is $5!! Anywhere else you pay that much for the 2oz bag. Apples can get pretty expensive too... I used to live in NC and the meat was much cheaper. Now I'm in Houston and chicken has become a "treat" pretty much. Cost of living in General is much higher hear so our food budget took a hit!
  • amy8400
    amy8400 Posts: 478 Member
    For 10 years while our children were involved with 4H, we raised our own chickens. It cost us about $1 a pound to raise a typical 10 pound chicken. Our feed costs more than doubled over that time period. When you factor in butchering ($2 whole, $2.75 cut up), transportation and your time, I can see why buying local, organic meat costs what it does.

    I sure miss those days. That was some amazingly good chicken! We still keep a huge garden and do a lot of canning and freezing. We used to do it just because we could and it was a project for the kids to take to the fair. Now we have a garden because of the savings and organic quality.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    Hi,

    I was wondering now and then why people complained about the costs of dieting..
    Now a new fried wrote that he has to pay 3 dollars for an apple?!?!?

    Well, I really hope it is not like this everywhere...
    I live in Italy, and I lived in the UK, and the food is by no means as expensive as that...

    So, my questions, out of curiosity... how much does "good" food cost where you live?
    Fresh fruit and vegs, chicken and pork meat, legumes, potatoes, rice...

    Do you really find that eating healthy is more expensive than not?

    This is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to people who want to lose weight, go on a diet, etc when they wonder about the high price of 'healthy food.

    I have yo yo'd over the years. I am not proud of it, but it has happened. I master losing weight buy eating better, eating less and exercising. It is just maintaining that has killed me. I am giving it one more go around.

    When people complain and say they cannot lose weight because it is too expensive...that is complete BS.


    YOu can easily lose weight, and gain more $$ in your bank account. It really goes hand in hand. People dont need to go out and buy fancy "healty" food to lose weight.

    When I lose weight I make $$$$$.
    I spend sooo much less on food. How? Because you eat less. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH less fast food, much less drinks. much less eating out, much, much less $$ spend when you eat less/healthier

    I don't know about where you live but in Hawaii, where I live, I without a doubt spend less when I grab fast food. Food is expensive, far more expensive than on the mainland, but fast food prices remain fairly consistent with what they are on the mainland.

    That aside, not everyone who gains weight eats fast food so for some what you experience just isn't the case.
    I dont know about Hawaii, never been.
    My general point in this though when people complain that eating healthy and losing weight is just too expensive.
    Most people can go to the grocery and get a week's worth of food, even healthier food, and spend much less on food than those people who eat out often. The obesity epedemic for some many people also drains their pocket books with the high prices of eating out/ordering in.
    Case in point this past weekend. My wife just wanted to get breakfast for all of us at McDonalds or BK. $3-$4 a person it would cost. Instead I made some good breakfast, for a fraction of the cost, for the whole family.
    Same thing for dinner. Chicket breasts on the grill, vegetables and a side salad...bought it all at the local market and it came to much less than what you could really get at even a fast food restaurant.

    My main point is this.....people who say they cannot lose weight because it is too expensive to buy healthy food are just full of it.

    And again, that's not true everywhere. Hawaii is one of the poorest states in the union, people are often cramming 4 generations of a family into a 3 bedroom house and just barely getting by. In that situation spending a few bucks a person at BK is going to be cheaper than anything else.

    That said, you can lose weight eating BK or McDonalds, so if the point to fast food as the reason they can't lose weight that's nonsense. They could certainly lose weight eating solely fast food if they were so inclined (And depending on location is may be cheaper than going to the grocery store.)

    Sure, you can lose weight by eating at Bk or McDonalds. That is 100% true.

    But you know how you do it?

    Eat less.

    Eat less = spending less = losing weight isnt too expensive.

    Losing weight isn't expensive, no. I believe I actually said as much. Changing ones food habits to so called 'healthy food' can certainly be expensive. Which is the argument being posed in this thread, is it not? Was that not while you told me that you could have chicken, veg, and a salad for less than you'd pay for fast food, because you're saying it's cheaper to eat healthy at home than to eat out?

    Or was that just a fun anecdote for the sake of things?
    I had a few minutes to think and I believe I am took this more on a tangent than what the originator intended. I was more talking about those people who complain tht to lose weight they need to spend more $$ and used expenses as an excuse as to why they cannot lose weight, which is totally false. I let threads from other message boards interfere with the subject at hand.

    I personall grow some food in my small garden that keeps some veggi costs down. The good thing about living in rural America, aka God's country, is that we are surrounded by agriculture. If I want apples? Go to the apple orchard and pay next to nothing. Corn on the cob? $1.50 a dozen at many farmers markets and such. Want many other fresh foods at a good cost? Go to the Amish stores.

    So I do apologize for taking it off track, and that $$ should never be an excuse not to lose weight

    That's quite alright. This is a topic that gets me riled up, because so many people ignore that just because where they are things are cheap that such things aren't true everywhere.

    Right now I'm staying with my mom while my husband is deployed, so I'm in North Carolina. I'm able to buy the food for half of the meals for my mom, myself, and my four siblings on my food budget from Hawaii, and that's allowing for fresh fruit and vegetables I would never buy back home. If I lived here, in North Carolina, I would spend maybe 1/4 of what I spend in Hawaii (and have a wider selection/more fresh items.)
  • I love living in Florida.... that is all I gotta say LOL
  • RoseAnneDent
    RoseAnneDent Posts: 3 Member
    I feed my family of 5 (my husband, myself, and our kids, 7 year old boy, 4 year old boy, and 1 1/2 year old daughter) a mostly Paleo diet for around $400 a month. It's hard but food is around the same price as when we ate junk because I track local food costs and buy at the right stores. We also save money because we eat less fast food. I make as much from scratch as I can and we garden in the summer to get fresh veggies. It's just give and take at the store. Yeah, I can't buy Ramen for 30 cents a pack anymore (non-Paleo) but we're also not buying $8 frozen pizzas anymore either. Strawberries are expensive sometimes but broccoli is cheap. The kids actually cost more to feed than we do because they eat cheese and dairy and bread still. I live in Oregon btw :)
  • Lisacare
    Lisacare Posts: 40 Member
    Funny I just had a similar chat with a friend last night. I was saying that it is no wonder that people are increasingly overweight. I went to Walmart on Sunday and bought a honeydew mellon and a pineapple for 2.99 each. Last night I cut them up and put them into containers to munch on. I would say the whole process took me probably 15 minutes, including clean up. It crosses my mind that the McDonald's is less than five minutes form my house and I could buy a double cheese burger, small french fries, and a snack size mcflurry for 3 dollars. Half the price of the two fruits I cut up, and there would be no clean up needed! I am by no means advocating an unhealthy life style, however it is difficult to argue that a healthy life style is not more work and more expensive. That being said please, no one hand me head on a platter, I am on board with the work it takes to be healthy!!! :smile: I am shopping around for the cheaper foods, I am cutting up mellons and pineapple to have easy access to healthy snacks, I choose to buy them whole and cut up so that it's a bit cheaper. Just saying it's annoying, one would think there would be something out there to help those that have limited funds and time to make it easier to live a healthy life style. It is work, well worth it, but work non the less!!!!
  • candidcamster
    candidcamster Posts: 44 Member
    We are all worth the investment, and to be frank it isn't much money. I live in Houston,TX and shopping at Trader Joe's my organic apples are 89 cents each, my strawberries (which get me through about 3-4 servings for a 16 oz. container) is $4.20 I believe, but you can find it about 21 cents cheaper when on sale at Kroger's. My Tofu nuggets have 3 servings and is $2.99 a bag, so 3 meals for 3 bucks! If you can't already tell I'm obsessed with Trader Joe's and they've been a Godsend for me, but even in regular grocery stores prices may be a little higher (sometimes lower) but it is certainly worth it to be healthier. As another poster joked earlier you'll pay for all of those dollar menu fast food products with your health, and the cost of your prescriptions and care, it's not worth it. On average my grocery expenses are about $40-60 a week.
  • gringuitica
    gringuitica Posts: 168 Member
    I'm in Costa Rica. As a rule, fresh produce is inexpensive here, provided you don't buy imported goods. Apples, for example, are easily $5/pound but I can get three small pineapples for $1 at the farmers market. Our property has guava, plantains, bananas, papaya, oranges, etc. growing randomly (almost like weeds, albeit yummy weeds), so we try to utilize those. We also grow our own herbs and lettuce.

    Meat and dairy are expensive, especially when you factor in local salaries. Chicken is about $4-$4.50/pound, beef comes in a little less. $1.50 for a liter or milk. Cheese probably costs more by weight than gold. (I pay about $10 per pound for cheddar. :shudder: )

    We don't buy many convenience foods – you don't want to pay $9 for a thing of Double Stuf Oreos (no judgement here; sometimes I totally want to!) – and I cook from scratch almost everyday. We pay about $400 a month for groceries.

    ETA: There are no, and I do mean absolutely none, coupons in Costa Rica. Sales are almost nil. Loss leaders at the grocery store? Ha ha ha.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
    Well guys, this discussion is very interesting, thanks for answering... by the way, do you know a way to go directly to the first comment you didn't read yet?
    Every time I go out and come back I have to go through all pages to find the right spot.

    I just comment when I'm done so I can scroll quickly for my easily noticeable ticker.
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
    Funny I just had a similar chat with a friend last night. I was saying that it is no wonder that people are increasingly overweight. I went to Walmart on Sunday and bought a honeydew mellon and a pineapple for 2.99 each. Last night I cut them up and put them into containers to munch on. I would say the whole process took me probably 15 minutes, including clean up. It crosses my mind that the McDonald's is less than five minutes form my house and I could buy a double cheese burger, small french fries, and a snack size mcflurry for 3 dollars. Half the price of the two fruits I cut up, and there would be no clean up needed! I am by no means advocating an unhealthy life style, however it is difficult to argue that a healthy life style is not more work and more expensive. That being said please, no one hand me head on a platter, I am on board with the work it takes to be healthy!!! :smile: I am shopping around for the cheaper foods, I am cutting up mellons and pineapple to have easy access to healthy snacks, I choose to buy them whole and cut up so that it's a bit cheaper. Just saying it's annoying, one would think there would be something out there to help those that have limited funds and time to make it easier to live a healthy life style. It is work, well worth it, but work non the less!!!!
    How many "meals" would consider the pineapple and mellon to consist of? I could def see it be enough for a breakfast, and a lunch, and maybe a breakfast that next day. Maybe even more. YOu paid $6.00 for it and can literally get 3 meals out of it so you are at $2 a meal if you are doing it that way.
    and I dont know about you, but at the local mcdonals around here that meal is 4 bucks and more if you wanted a flurry.

    But your point is well taken, and people can lose weight if they wanted to get that meal (and if you get water to drink) it is around 670 calories if you watch the rest of your day

    I know when I go to the market and piece out the prices of the food for the meals it typically comes out cheaper than most meals eating out.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
    Not everyone is in the same situation. I remember a time in my life when my ex-bf, myself and my daughter ate on $800-$900 per month. We were living the life! And pooping away tons of money!

    Do the math on what being a single mom making $11.50 means. If I pulled that **** now I wouldn't be able to afford the roof over my head.

    Healthy eating and solid efforts are brag worthy.

    If you got it, spend it on poop if you want too.

    I consider my diet to be wonderful, although there's a ton more I could spend (steak, shrimp, farmer's eggs, for starters, but I could really, really go on) but I choose not too.

    No one is better or worse for spending a lot or spending a little on groceries, we're all awesome by using the resources we have to improve ourselves.

    Except for the ones making the excuses "healthy eating is too expensive".

    That's copping out of personal responsibility.
  • bethwr1
    bethwr1 Posts: 21 Member
    We are a family of four, we buy almost zero processed/prepared foods. My husband very often makes pasta or bread, so we've even cut back on purchases of those. Our two children eat very, very little meat of any kind. We spend about $700/month.

    We live in Missouri.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
    For the sake of curiosity I whipped out my spreadsheet...

    Including groceries, dining and out "drinks at gas stations" (all food costs basically):

    I spent:

    Jan 2014 $387.61

    Feb 2014 $312.40

    March 2014 $324.90

    The goal is $250 and it has been done, but it's hard, and I like treats.

    I actually almost met the goal in Feb, then turned around and bought a car, then took my family to a restaurant to celebrate, but then I had to factor that in, so I was no longer at goal after splurging to celebrate almost meeting the goal.

    Silly finances.

    I've decided since I work somewhere I don't get raises at all, I would compensate by reducing my cost of living.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
    heres the thing...do not assume your experience is the same as everyone elses

    food costs vary all over the world some people are lucky enough to have access to"healthy" foods for a good price a lot of people are not that lucky so yes it can be very very expensive

    Salem nailed it.
  • Rocbola
    Rocbola Posts: 1,998 Member
    We are all worth the investment, and to be frank it isn't much money. I live in Houston,TX and shopping at Trader Joe's my organic apples are 89 cents each, my strawberries (which get me through about 3-4 servings for a 16 oz. container) is $4.20 I believe, but you can find it about 21 cents cheaper when on sale at Kroger's.
    Check out this co-op that's down in Houston. They get top notch produce
    https://www.rawfullyorganic.com/content.php?section=order_form&selector=order