Cost of healthy eating 10 times higher

LoveHoodies

It also depends a lot on where you live. I'm lucky enough that I have half a dozen grocery stores with competitive prices all in a couple miles so I can buy fresh produce, meat and all the rest at a good price. However, I remember when I lived in the city, and it gets worse for people in the poorer areas. Grocery stores are not that prevailant. Often times the produce sections are over priced and spoiled. Sometimes, the only options that a family has is to go to the local convience store to buy food, they don't have the means to travel the distance to a grocery store. They don't have the money to save up for one big grocery store trip and shop the sales, they can only buy what they need right then. For some people, you can shop around and find fruit for $1 a pound, when you are stuck shopping at the gas station where one banana is $1, or you can buy a couple old hotdogs for the same price and feed more people, what are you going to choose?

I think most people that say that it isn't true are lucky and have never experienced living in or even shopping in an impoverished area.

earthsember

I eat only whole, unproccessed, organic and local foods. My grocery bills are under $150/month. I still don't get how people can argue that healthy eating is expensive...just shop smart!

How many people are you feeding?? My bill is about 400.00 a month give or take for a family of 2 adults and 3 young kids.

My family of three budgets $70ish a week for unprocessed/local/organic or pesticide free. Not a bad price at all, our main expense is raw milk and pastured eggs. If I wanted to eat similarly but go for convenience stuff it would cost a lot more. But, for bulk items like a huge bag of steel cut oats or bulk brown rice, it's very inexpensive. Farm direct stuff cuts out a lot of the cost, for example we buy a whole 3-4lb chicken for about $18 (free range, no soy in feed). That sounds expensive, but, we make bone broth to cook rice in, and using the scraps to make things like spaghetti sauce, curry, or soups helps that one chicken stretch into 8 or so servings (not including the benefits from the broth). And while it sounds like a lot of work, it really isn't. I stick it in a pot to roast on Sunday, that takes about an hour and a half. After we eat dinner on Sunday I stick the bones in the slow cooker with some water, and it's done Monday evening. Most of the time is spent on it cooking, and then I have all of that meat available and cooked for meals throughout the week

So yeah, it's easy to balk at the initial cost, but it's all in how you use it.

MinnesotaManimal

Our bill has gone down. My wife and I are both using the site to track our goals, we don't buy allot of organic or specialty foods, we just eat less quantity, enough to meet our caloric goals. What use to feed just the two of us one meal ( years ago) now feeds both of us, 2 children and often has left overs. So for us since it was a quantity of food consumed more than the quality, our bill has dropped. I do all the cooking at home, always have; so I have a good handle on the numbers.

well I say our bill has gone down, I speak as far as quantity of groceries purchased, we all know that the cost of living is going nuts and staple food items such as meat and vegetables are going through the roof. At least where we live.

Q9S7

I have found this to be the case also (at least w/my eating habits). It may be that if you are ill, and your illness stems from lack of proper diet/+ exercise, it is on average more expensive to 'eat unhealthy'. However, examing an average as compared to a single variable won't result in a very conclusive result.

That being said, buying healthy foods in bulk such as beans, rice, oats, is on a whole cheaper if you're willing to take the time to prepare them. I find that what raises my cost of food (proportionally) is the vegetables and lean proteins.

I would also like to mention that my overall goal is to gain lean body mass. This requires I eat more than if my goal were to lose fat mass. Some may find that their cost of eating decreases due to less total food consumed and in what manner it is consumed (eating out a lot vs. preparing all your foods at home).

Lots of factors and variables to discuss..

Interesting thread! Thanks guys.

ShellyMacchi

Hmm..our grocery bill has only gone up slightly since we've started trying to eat healthier foods. And really when you get down to it, we're probably spending less because we're not hitting up the fast food joints all the time. That, and the healthy food tends to fill us up better, so we're not just sitting around devouring all the junk in the house!

THIS!

we are definitely spending less overall for food as we eat out in restaurants far less.. and by preparing most of our meals from scratch, there are always leftovers (already portioned out) for lunches or quick meals, eliminating 'last minute' junk food splurges.

Plus, frozen veg are picked and frozen at peek of ripeness, and so often on sale, it's easy to stock up then. Same with whole wheat pastas etc. i DO love sales *LOL* i presently have a whole years supply of low sodium tuna in my pantry as a few weeks ago walmart had them on a crazy low sale so i stocked up *L*

vim_n_vigor

I totally believe that. My grocery bil has gone up exponentially since I started on this site. It helps to stick to "whole" foods, meat/fruit/veg and not a lot of processed or pre-made "healthy" food. That said I still buy lots of Kashi frozen meals because it is so much more convenient to take to work. But they usually cost about $2 more per meal than lean cuisine or those disgusting healthy choice "all natural" steamer meals. Oh, well, it's worth it.

You can make your own frozen meals at home for a fraction of the cost. Save on preservatives and other unknowns in the frozen foods.

chellabella26

I have that problem now. I have a family to feed so I have to try and balance budget and health; unfortunately it's not a choice, especially in this economy and especially when the choice is fresh veggies or the power bill, rent etc. I get around this dilema by buying frozen veggies and fresh when it is on sale. Fruit has been great recently .25/lb for peaches, plumbs, and nectarines and $1 a pint for blueberries, so I am stocking up now and freezing what I can. I wish I could buy more fresh fish, but I can buy canned tuna and imitation crab. Also bananas, lettuce, carrots and cucumbers are usually pretty cheap most of the year so that is always a good choice. It's tough, but as long as you can stay away from heavily processed items (that are usually on the aisles) it is a step in the right direction. There was actually some solid advice from the Atkins diet book that the healthiest choices are on the perimeter of the grocery store.

gianna42

They gave no specifics to back that up.
You can buy frozen vegetables (often more nutritious than fresh, if not picked locally), bulk grains, legumes, and meat/fish on sale, large instead of single serving yogurt, etc, - and if you actually cook instead of relying on packaged/partially cooked foods, it can be less expensive, A lot would depends upon your choices and if you consider frozen vegetables healthy as opposed to organic and fresh.

iysys

Fruit has been great recently .25/lb for peaches, plumbs, and nectarines and $1 a pint for blueberries,

wowzers!! i consider it a huge deal when i can get peaches, plums or nectarines for $1.25 a pound! blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are usually $3 a pint when they are on big sale.

fteale

I just don't believe that at all. My weekly shopping is very comparable to everyone else I know, and I only buy fresh ingredients. Meat is the biggest expense, and being veggie, I don't have that.


Anyone complaining about food prices - go vegetarian, you'll find it much cheaper!

erickirb

Ths article is BS. It states that most of the cost goes to marketing. "real" healthy food doesn't do marketing at all (fresh fruit and veggies) I think this article is talking about diet foods, not healthy food, which are by no means one and the same.

MrsCon40

I didn't read the article, but I would debate that one. Also, whats the cost to be unhealthy? meds, doc visits...even worse. hospital time etc. yes...I think overall it is a bit more $ to eat healthy, but Ive learned that I would rather spend the $ on that and cut back in other areas to save $.

^^ This

Loko_Ino

Watch Food, Inc..most of your questions will be answered.

hpygirl64ColleenLinder

You either pay for your health (clean eating) now or you will pay for it later....I'd prefer to pay for it now and live a healthier and more active life in my later years.

Feel free to friend me for some calorie free tips and food for thought daily. Colleen

DestinyDarbi

I have found this to be the case also (at least w/my eating habits). It may be that if you are ill, and your illness stems from lack of proper diet/+ exercise, it is on average more expensive to 'eat unhealthy'. However, examing an average as compared to a single variable won't result in a very conclusive result.

That being said, buying healthy foods in bulk such as beans, rice, oats, is on a whole cheaper if you're willing to take the time to prepare them. I find that what raises my cost of food (proportionally) is the vegetables and lean proteins.

I would also like to mention that my overall goal is to gain lean body mass. This requires I eat more than if my goal were to lose fat mass. Some may find that their cost of eating decreases due to less total food consumed and in what manner it is consumed (eating out a lot vs. preparing all your foods at home).

Lots of factors and variables to discuss..

Interesting thread! Thanks guys.

Can I just say that I always love reading your responses? :flowerforyou:

baisleac

I'm really glad this is totally false, at least in my area of the U.S.. We started eating healthier and did NOT have a corresponding increase in income. Our food budget has remained the same; $50-75 per week, with occasional restocking of bulk staples.

melsinct

That article is a load of crap and yet another excuse for people to use when justifying how poorly they eat.

I live in one of the most expensive areas of the US and have an extremely low grocery bill. I eat cheap vegetables in season, buy frozen veg (cheap!) out of season, and cook a lot myself. If you can cook, you can make tons of low cost meals, easily, even if you use all organic ingredients. People end up jacking up their grocery bill when they start buying fake healthy foods, like Fiber One bars and Skinny Cow ice cream.

ruststar

10 x higher? BS. I think if you're going for the all-organic grass-fed free-range whatever, sure, maybe, but I took shopping healthier as buying whole grain oatmeal and pasta, making my own tomato sauce instead of buying expensive jars, and making my own pizza from scratch. My whole wheat pizza recipe (makes two pizzas) costs me the same in ingredients as two frozen, but is infinitely better in quality.

chellabella26

Fruit has been great recently .25/lb for peaches, plumbs, and nectarines and $1 a pint for blueberries,

wowzers!! i consider it a huge deal when i can get peaches, plums or nectarines for $1.25 a pound! blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are usually $3 a pint when they are on big sale.

It's the same here, so I totally jumped on those prices! I have like 10 pints of blueberries in my freezer, lol! Usually I just look longingly at the fresh fruit because I can't afford it and when I was growing up we had peach, plum, orange and lemon trees in our backyard...not to mention tons of tomato plants, wild blackberry bushes, cherry plums, cumquats....ah, I miss California!!

dlyeates

I believe that in the long run that eating healthier is cheaper. Eating out (while it can be healthy if you are counting calories) adds up!!! I don't think they put restaurant eating in there when they do these comparisons. It costs about $30 for 1 meal with me, husband and 2 kids (and that's on the low side). $30 can easily make a few meals for us.

And I am all for organic but you can make good choices by only doing the dirty dozen or reading labels. A lot of milk is now being taken from cows that are NOT being treated with the growth hormone and they put that on the label!!! Also, it is against FDA regulations to use hormones and antibiotics in poulty (chicken and turkey) and pork. That is what most of our food consists of because I don't have to worry about the hormones. I do buy organic red meat for the kids and organic hot dogs and then the dirty dozen.

It's about being smart, meal planning and making healthy choices overall. But in the end it's worth it. I spend roughly $400/month for a family of 4 and that includes snacks and stuff.