The cost of a healthy diet - its madness!!

kettlenic

Asda do a price gaurentee if you type that into google add a few bits of info from your till slip if they are not 10% cheaper they give you the money back!

also agree farmers markets are the way forward as wellas buying what is in season:

http://eattheseasons.co.uk/

tins and dried versions are good - pulses and beans etc

also for berries the frozen ones are heaps cheaper and perfect for deserts and smoothies

also check out ; www.lovefoodhatewaste.com and you will never throw anything away

use a slow cooker and cook in bulk and freeze - your veg will not go off as they will be frozen and cooked

Good luck it can be done

also try not too buy too much plan what fruit and veg you need for the week and only buy that so as not to waste anything

baisleac

I hear this complaint a lot, but I have found my grocery/food bills overall have gone down quite a bit.

This.

Family of three with the kiddo moving from free food to real food and still our grocery bill has dropped significantly since this time last year.... enough so that I've been ^%$ing about my lack of fuel reward points. LOL.

biddysaurus

I found coupons for 50 cents off strawberries! That helped this week since they were already on sale. But I agree healthy foods are expensive. However, try planning your meals for 1-2 weeks ahead of time. I find that's helping me a ton. Find meals that use the other half of that pepper you bought for one meal, etc. Also beans are super cheap in bulk. You can freeze most of them too. So make a batch and freeze some for later use. I find frozen black beans work great for quesadillas etc.

biddysaurus

Here's the link for the coupon for Driscoll berries if they sell that brand in your area. Just sign up for their newsletter and the coupon comes to your inbox. Yeah it's 50 cents off but every little bit adds up.

http://www.driscolls.com/email/

hbrekkaas

I find it costs us way more to eat like crap then it does to eat healthy. I always complain about our grocery prices, but if it stops us from buying all the junk I guess I shouldn't.

Gennienm

Just a note here, most have posted what I would say, but my thought is ;

"I would rather spend my money of healthy foods now and not on the medical bills for eating unheathy "

Frozen cherries are wonderful . . .I prefer fresh, but sometimes we have to make the cheaper way work on healthy items.

I went to the local mega club here and no BlueBerries :grumble: to be found ($4.00 for 20 oz) , but wonderful cantelopes in season (4.00 for two) needless to say I wanted blueberries, but got the melons. Will enjoy the change . :grumble: Still spent the same amount of money when you think about it. :bigsmile:

100lb

As the OP is also in the UK, have you tried Aldi supermarket. They often have 59p deals on fruit and veg - if you don't mind only going for those (they change weekly so you do rotate) then thats cheap.
6 kiwi for 59p - 3 kiwi for the price of a bag of crisps.

Its always been the way, fat, sugar, salt are cheap.

After 1 week I eat less portion size than I used to, so if I keep it up then I'll eat small healthy portions :happy:

Texas501

Do you know how much monthly supplies of medications cost? Even with health care insurance, when you add up all the co-pays, it's a hefty chunk of change! All this money you invest in healthy foods vs cheap unhealthy products is paying off in the long run! Would you rather spend a few extra dollars (or pounds in your case) and be healthy, or eat cheap food, but also pay for five to six medications a month to control your blood pressure, diabetes, acid reflux, and impotence? I would rather choose the former. This is the way I look at it when I read that grocery bill. I walk away with a smile knowing I'm saving on prescription medications.....

TinaDay1114

We do our local farmer's market. And this year we put in a "square foot garden." It's one of those raised bed garden boxes that is so easy to plant and maintain -- no weeds, easy watering and picking, and we can do it year after year.

We have a 3 foot x 3 foot square bed and have it packed with peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and herbs. The plants were only a couple of dollars at our local market, so they were organically grown and already starting to mature when we put them in the ground, so we had veggies FAST.

Doesn't solve the fruit issue, but could free up some $ for the pricier fruit at the store!

Texas501

We do our local farmer's market. And this year we put in a "square foot garden." It's one of those raised bed garden boxes that is so easy to plant and maintain -- no weeds, easy watering and picking, and we can do it year after year.

We have a 3 foot x 3 foot square bed and have it packed with peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and herbs. The plants were only a couple of dollars at our local market, so they were organically grown and already starting to mature when we put them in the ground, so we had veggies FAST.

Doesn't solve the fruit issue, but could free up some $ for the pricier fruit at the store!

Awesome idea!

eamconnor

No question, a pint of fresh blueberries always is going to look expensive next to that 99-cent tub of Wendy's chili. But you know, basically, what you're getting with the blueberries, especially if you're shopping at a farmer's market. God only knows what Wendy's is doing to make a profit on that chili.

All the suggestions on the board are good. Buy fresh, and FREEZE. I can't eat anywhere near all the berries I buy from the farmer's market right now, but they'll be great in a smoothie in a few weeks.

VeganGal84

I eat a lot of frozen and canned vegetables and fruits in lieu of fresh because of the price.

Also- whole grains like brown rice and barley are pretty low in price if bought in bulk.

4KidFather

The true 'cost' is actually less!. Consider factoring in "lifestyle mitigation" pharmaceuticals suchas insulin, hypertension, blood pressure drugs AND quality of life/morbidity issues.
Striving for Health makes our short time on earth better.

crazycranberry

Thanks for all the feedback guys! It was interesting reading your thoughts on the subject.

I wish that I had a garden as I would try and grow my own fruit and veg................. But I don't.
I wish I had the time to make ALL my meals from scratch....................................... But I don't.
I wish I didn't work everyday so that I could get to markets and get better deals on fruit & veg......... But I do.

I have never lived on rubbishy crisps, fatty foods, burgers etc and I don't intend to start now just to save money! I was just pointing out the massive difference in the cost of healthy food compared to the unhealthy options.

I will continue to choose the fruit & veg even if its expensive. Its the right choice!!!

jimmy_jenkins

Thats a crazy price for Cherries, i love them (help with Gout apparently, but i remain skeptical). Morrisons have 250 g for a quid. But my wife and i have been doing this for 3 months and the shopping bills have rocketed, although we are eating out far less so i guess it works out cheaper!

100lb

Thats a crazy price for Cherries, i love them (help with Gout apparently, but i remain skeptical). Morrisons have 250 g for a quid. But my wife and i have been doing this for 3 months and the shopping bills have rocketed, although we are eating out far less so i guess it works out cheaper!

Asda have similar quid lines (incl cherries). It great that fruit is becoming cheaper

Azdak

One way to save money is to stop following fads and chasing "superfoods". Basic foods will work just fine, as well as buying what's in season. Are you really going to eat pomegranates the rest of your life? Every week there is another article touting the "benefits" of some new exotic food. After a while, your list would be so long it would take forever to eat. Just my $.02

ingies2011

Lol, you guys all think it is expensive, try living in NZ, the price of food here just goes up and up. You think that living here with abundant food and lots of cows it would be cheaper here, but no, unfortunatley lack of competition and giant coorporations that state that we pay the "international price" of our products that get exported. We have had about a 7% increase in food prices since last year, with wages static (they also are less then what they are in Eu).

A 2 L bottle of milk here costs about NZ$4.50-$5, around 2.5 pounds, decent brown bread around NZ$4-$5. When cherries are in season here they are around $15 per kilo, currently cauliflours are $4 at the farmers market and $5-6 at the supermarket, and broccolli is $3-4 each. Needless to say that it will be more frozen peas this week, and I didn't get any brocolli as the qualitiy also didn't look that great. We do however have great frozen berries, I buy blackcurrents as they have more antioxidants then blueberries and they only cost $8 per kilo for my smoothies, blueberries also cost about twice as much at $13. Even apples cost $4-5 per kilo at the supermarket- usually buy cheaper lower quality ones at the farmers market. Kiwifruit is in season here so that is not too expensive ($1.5/kg), and the same with our oranges ($2.5/kg).

It is currently winter here so I wouldn't even think about buying things like red and green capsicum ($18/kg) which has gone up way more then it ever has in previous winters.

I suppose that is the price we pay for living here.

Kagard11

I love our local farmers markets! Try them!