Why is Healthy Eating So Expensive?

hesn92

I spend a lot less eating healthy actually........

but that's because I used to eat out all the time.

It is expensive though. Food in general is getting more expensive, I think.



It sucks

sazroy

I love how so many are comparing unhealthy eating to "eating junk" and "eating out".

Back to what I posted back on page 1. There's a different between Healthy eating and Mid/Somewhat healthy eating.
I don't eat take away.
I used to earn only $150 a week.
When I tried to buy veggies, meat etc for my partner and I, food shopping was $140 a week.
Then I switched to just making things like pasta for dinner, greatly reduced my shopping bill, but it wasn't a healthy alternative.. It certainly wasn't junk food, there was no chips or lollies and certainly no take away. But it wasn't as healthy as it could have been.
We eat healthy now, but I earn around $500 a week now.

Eating healthy (depending on where you live, I for one do not have a 99c store anywhere near by) can be very expensive.
Eating unhealthy can be even more expensive.
Eating simple is cheap.




** Edit **

Old diet
Breakfast - 2 pieces of toast, butter, vegemite, glass of skim milk
Lunch - Vegemite sandwich
Dinner - Pasta
No snacks.
CHEAP!

Current Diet
Breakfast - Healthy cereal or multigrain muffin with butter, vegemite, green tea.
Lunch - Soups, sometimes microwave meals (easier for time at work), cruskits with tuna, tomato etc.
Dinner - Chicken, veg, rice, alternating meals with red meats or just chicken, healthy home made pizzas
Snacks - Popcorn, muesli bars, yoghurt, apples

NOT AS CHEAP AS OLD DIET! People will probably say my current diet is much more satisfying but I couldn't give a crap about what I eat, I was happy eating vegemite sandwiches and pasta everyday, but I was gaining weight from all the carbs.
CARBS ARE CHEAP But not JUNK

monicalosesweight

I think it depends on what you buy and whether you're eating it quickly or tossing it. I know we've gotten real good at dicing up leftovers and making sure we freeze them before they go bad (bell peppers for example). Also, I buy giant bags of frozen veggies so that we don't over prepare and sometimes it is cheaper. It just depends on what you're eating and how quickly you go through it. We freeze it if we can't get to it so that we can at least make sure we use up our fresh produce. Grapes for example are great in the freezer and if you're not eating them fast enough - pop them there and you'll still get use out of them.

NattyLeilani

I don't find healthy eating to be any more expensive than unhealthy eating. Sure, there's more prep work involved when you're cooking meals, but my grocery bill hasn't changed much at all (and I'm feeding myself plus my 3 kids and husband). I've just replaced bags of chips with apples and candy with fruit. *shrug* I mean, if you're going to Whole Foods as opposed to Wal Mart or Super Target, yeah....you bet your bill will be higher. I go to Wal Mart and get almost all in season fruits and veggies. For my family of five, I spend around $150/week.

waldo56

Because people that sell expensive food have convinced you that that their food is healthier.

Healthiness is subjective and in the eye of the beholder. One person's healty food is another's unhealthy food.

The relationship between food and health is very poorly established, especially at finer scale than the diet as a whole. The idea that this particular food is healthier than this particular food is largely build on the backbone of decades of propaganda; the public has come to believe the propoganda as fact. For the most part it is laregly a baseless assertation. Every item that is not acutely poisonous is just as healthy as every other item when removed from the context of diet. There is no such thing as healthy or unhealthy food, only healthy or unhealthy diets.

126siany

- I see a lot of people bringing up meats as expensive, and indeed they are. That's why I have found many different recipes using beans, lentils as the main source of protien. SO much cheaper.
...
And as myfitnesspal has taught me, PORTION CONTROL!

Meats are so expensive, but when its on offer (or in the reduced section) I buy loads and freeze it. I have a freezer full of bags of lean mince meat!
Smaller portions make everything cheaper too!

Or cook meals with it that freeze well.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

It really shouldn't be. Buy fruits and veggies that are in season, shop around, you'll find you can actually eat healthily for a lot less. good luck x

Agreed. Stick to what is local and in season for the most part. Meat markets, farmers markets and local stores that get their food, fresh from local farmers is quite healthier, fresher and tastes much better.

BogQueen1

Just went to Costco yesterday. Picked up 8 boxes of whole grain pasta for $9.69, so $1.20 a box, same price as regular white pasta in the grocery store. Picked up 8 cans of organic diced tomatoes, and 12 cans of organic tomato sauce for about $6 for each box. The ground beef there is 93/7 and comes in at under $3 bucks a pound. You can get a 10 lb bag of frozen chicken breasts for about $20 bucks, so $2 a pound. Potatoes are like $6 for a 20 pound bag or something ridiculous like that. Oh and I got a bag of pears for $6. I think it's like a 5 or 6 pound bag. Not sure exactly how it compares to store bought, I don't buy pears frequently, but $1 a pound for fresh fruit is generally never a bad bargain. I picked up 4 cans of beans from Wal-Mart for 68 cents each. Brown rice is $2.99 for a 2 pound bag at my grocery store. More expensive then white (a bit) but cheaper then Rice a Roni by far.

Buy fresh veggies and fruits on sale, splurge occasionally on the ones you REALLY can't live without. Buy the rest frozen or canned.

Summation? Avoid buying prepackaged frozen meals. Buy canned and dry goods in bulk to save big $$'s. Buy meats in bulk as well and potion out then freeze. We invested in a Foodsaver so we can vaccuum seal things and they last longer frozen.

Also a point. To effectively buy in bulk and make it a good bargain, you MUST be aware of the prices of items at the store. Otherwise there is a good chance you will pay just as much as normal. Everyone has to be price savvy these days, otherwise the sneaky grocery stores will charge you $.99 for a dozen eggs... and $2.99 for the 18 pack... when you could just buy 2 packs of 12, get more eggs for less money! Sneaky stores.

AmyP619

It really isn't...... since my husband and I started our journey in May our weekly grocery bill has not changed. You're basically replacing one type of food for another, so it really evens out....unless you're trying to eat organic everything. Instead of buying chips, cookies, and junk food, we now buy fruits and veggies or healthier snacks. Instead of buying ground beef we now buy ground turkey. We eat a ton of chicken, so we buy that in bulk at the local "bulk" store. It's really not that much more expensive!

alaskaang

Eating can be expensive or not whether you eat healthy or not.
Ice cream: Ben & Jerrys micro sized container is $4.99, Generic brand gallon and a half for $2.99.

Chicken: Brand name at the grocery store $3.79 a pound, Family pack of generic, $2.99 a pound, Family pack of generic at Sam's Club $1.99 a pound. Basically the same product, three different prices.

And healthy means different things to different people.

For example, organic cage free omega 3 eggs, $6.99 for 18 pack. Same producer, conventional eggs, $8.99 for 5 dozen. Healthier in this instance is more expensive only if you believe that the first is healthier. Many would argue that cage free only means there is a tiny door in the coop that most of the chickens never use and also that it's not really a good idea to feed chickens flax meal. In that case, the 5 dozen is definitely cheaper for same. If you think the first is more healthy, then yes it's more expensive.

Produce: if you are strictly buying organic at the grocery store then, typically it's more expensive than the conventional counterpart but not always. Apples for instance are the same price where I shop whether you buy organic or conventional. Aside from organic, produce varies greatly depending on what you buy and what is in season. Asparagus is currently $4.99 a pound. Green cabbage is only $.69 a pound.

Pasta, rice and potatoes are cheap. Some would say none are healthy, some would say all are, and others would say one or more is and the other is not.

There are too many variables and differences in opinion to make a blanket statement that eating healthy is more expensive.

KayteeBear

.....
CARBS ARE CHEAP But not JUNK

That's my biggest problem! I could afford tons and tons of carbs however it's not the best to eat pasta or rice or potatoes every single day and nothing else....

There are ways around healthy food being more expensive but sometimes you can't afford it. I have ONE grocery store in my town. I have no choice to but to buy from there. Sometimes I go to the city and will get groceries at Walmart if have time however I go to the city sometimes only once or twice a month and don't always have time to do grocery shopping.

However, next summer I'm hoping to have enough time to plant a garden and have plenty of veggies and then can them as well. Plus I can get chickens from my dad (who raises and butchers them himself) and my boyfriend raises pigs so we have meat (however we don't always have meat around).

My problem is I eat okay right now. I don't eat junk food, I never buy cookies, chips, candy, etc. But being able to buy lots of veggies and meat is not as affordable as it would be if all I ever ate was carb loaded stuff. For me it's not switching things, it's ADDING healthy things to my already mostly healthy diet.

ETA: a big problem is people always think of where they live. All the stuff listed on here with prices...where I live the prices are easily more, sometimes twice as much as what they said.

If anybody is finding it hard to buy healthy though, search cheap healthy eating or something and there are some threads that I've seen in the last few months that have some GREAT ways to save money from just making certain things (like yogurt which I have made for years now) to which foods are the cheapest but still healthy.

sazroy

.....
CARBS ARE CHEAP But not JUNK

That's my biggest problem! I could afford tons and tons of carbs however it's not the best to eat pasta or rice or potatoes every single day and nothing else....

There are ways around healthy food being more expensive but sometimes you can't afford it. I have ONE grocery store in my town. I have no choice to but to buy from there. Sometimes I go to the city and will get groceries at Walmart if have time however I go to the city sometimes only once or twice a month and don't always have time to do grocery shopping.

However, next summer I'm hoping to have enough time to plant a garden and have plenty of veggies and then can them as well. Plus I can get chickens from my dad (who raises and butchers them himself) and my boyfriend raises pigs so we have meat (however we don't always have meat around).

My problem is I eat okay right now. I don't eat junk food, I never buy cookies, chips, candy, etc. But being able to buy lots of veggies and meat is not as affordable as it would be if all I ever ate was carb loaded stuff. For me it's not switching things, it's ADDING healthy things to my already mostly healthy diet.

ETA: a big problem is people always think of where they live. All the stuff listed on here with prices...where I live the prices are easily more, sometimes twice as much as what they said.

If anybody is finding it hard to buy healthy though, search cheap healthy eating or something and there are some threads that I've seen in the last few months that have some GREAT ways to save money from just making certain things (like yogurt which I have made for years now) to which foods are the cheapest but still healthy.

I know exactly what you're saying, and thanks for agreeing with me about the Carbs lol.

The other day I bought ONE tomato to have with my tuna and spinach on a cruskit.. one tomato.. it was two dollars something. tomatoes are currently $9 a kilo!!!! I couldn't believe it.

That_Girl

It's not, if you know where to shop.

ndj1979

processed foods are easier to mass produce hence you get high quants of them for cheaper....

High gas prices and inflation are also making food prices across the board higher...

Are you buying a lot of organic? If yes, I would recommend against doing that. A lot of studies out there are saying that organics are not better for you ...that being said I do by the free range chicken, meats etc...

Bobbie_89

I do not uderstand those reports.

I find if I stay away from prepared, processed, frozen and canned foods my food bills are lower. Stay around the perimater of your supermarket - dairy, meat, fish and produce - and I would expect it to cost less.

Agree with staying around the perimater of the supermarket. I shop for myself and my boyfriend so that means 2 different types of foods. He's skinny as a rail and he doesn't like healthy food. I stay in the perimater 95% of the time for myself.