Random Pondering - food cost vs caloric value

wolfchild59

A friend and I were talking about food budgets and the wishful idea came up that food could be priced based on caloric and nutritional value. The idea being that things like veggies or whole grain, non-HFCS filled breads would be cheaper to buy than stuff like Twinkies or Wonder Bread.

Obviously just wishful thinking, but with all the discussions of food costs here, thought it could be some fun wishful thinking for folks here too.

ameyc2002

that would b awesome

auticus

That will never happen because companies make good money on our reliance and dependence on insulin medicine, high sugar intakes, blood pressure medicine, and the complacency and low energy drive that such a diet instills.

shaj316

Unfortunately you'll never see it. It's just plain cheaper to make the bad stuff than the good stuff. I will say access to healthy food is a lot easier than it was the other time I tried dieting (10 years ago). I found it very difficult and expensive to eat healthy (especially since I don't cook much). This time around it seems a lot easier. A lot of restaurants have changed and offer much better options than before. It's not perfect but its way way better now.

wolfchild59

Oh, I'm more than aware of why it'll never happen. That's why I was sure to state clearly that it was nothing more than wishful thinking. But it's just one of those fun ideas to bounce around with people. Make up the rules that would govern the pricing factors and stuff like that. Sorta like the conversation of topic of which dead person would you like to have lunch with and why. Not meant to be a topic of debate of why it could or couldn't happen, just the coolness of if it did and what would great or awful about the idea. (like lots of healthy food for cheap, yay! But dang, $15 for a scoop of ice cream, boo! Kind of stuff)

HMonsterX

It'd be bloody awful!

Personally, i wish they'd really raise the tax on alcohol.

And ease off the tax on tobacco :P

hollyrlambert

Apparently this is somewhat true in France. Parents have just moved over there and my Mum was telling me the other day about how the food pricing is actually the right way around over there for a lot of stuf - i.e. fresh fruit and vegetables are cheaper than processed food (it's not perfect, but a lot closer than other countries).

Makes you think.

joseph9

What shaj said. It's cheaper to make processed food - you can make millions of servings in a factory and it lasts for weeks. It's also cheaper to make food that a lot of people want, because you can ship it in big trucks without a lot of individual customization.

So canned or frozen healthy food is relatively cheap, while specialty processed food (like the asian treats in the "international" section of my local supermarket) is pricier.

wolfchild59

*facepalm* lol - I don't care why it's an impossible thing. I know it's an impossible thing and acknowledged fully, twice, that it was simply meant to be a fun conversation starter topic. If you're sitting around in a group of friends and someone asks who you'd want to have lunch with, living or dead, would you tell them all the reasons it would be impossible to have lunch with a dead person? This is exactly the same thing, a random ponderance that became a really fun conversation both between my friend and I and later between my hubby and I as we created the rules to our make-believe food pricing world.

What would be good about it?
What would be bad?
Should be based on calories alone or overall nutritional value?
What things that are super cheap now would end up crazy expensive?
What would we buy more of all the time if it were suddenly super cheap?

That's all. Just for fun. Since healthy eating and the topic of food costs come up here all the time, I really just thought it could be a fun conversation starter.