True or an excuse?

KayteeBear

I can't go back to edit my post anymore, but I was going to add that even though eating healthy means spending more money, i still try to eat healthy.

Lyadeia

I don't know about anyone else but I think it's cheaper. You have to make more trips to the store but processed boxed food is so much more expensive.

Exactly this. My grocery bill has gone down. I have always gone to the store every single weekend, and when I was buying all the boxes and cans of crap, it cost me more money than it does now. If I run out of something like strawberries, yeah, I do run back out to the store on Thursday or whatever, but that doesn't make the total bill more than what I was paying before.

And that's not even counting eating out.

It's a flat out excuse.

SergeantSunshine_reused

I said the same thing earlier. It did no good.

My apologies. I see threads like this and get so frustrated. But like I guess you said, it doesn't do much good, people will always judge others on their own situation. I wish even 5% of those who think the way they do would work with those impoverished, or even visit that area before they judge.

Check out the stats on obesity or being overweight with poverty levels and locations. Lower economic areas are more likely to have higher obesity rates, lower income areas are going to have a lot more barriers to physical activity and supermarkets. I would quote my sources but I've lost access to my good library access.

Not really sure how it did no good?

Like I said in an earlier post saying that it is an excuse is a generalization and there will always be exceptions. This kind of situation being one of them. No one is judging that I have noticed, just a casual topic :]

I still think that some can be healthier - for what they can make do with. Like i said before cooking chicken in bulk then using it all week - can be easily microwaved and served again. Many cheap health foods can be cooked and stored. Eggs, meats, rice, beans can be cooked ahead and used all week. Oats can be made in the microwave - doesn't always have to be an extravagant meal.

The lack of transportation to supermarkets is certainly an exception. Areas like that you will have to make due with what you have.
I cannot talk much on that, because I have never been in an area/ gas station store that had outrageous prices like you speak. I know they are out there, but just haven't looked into finding them for my own curiosity yet

daffodilsoup

Depends what your version of "healthy" is, I think, also the foods that your diet revolves around. A healthy vegan lifestyle is one of the cheapest out there - brown rice, beans, tofu, lentils, etc. are all about $1 per pound (usually less), plus fresh veggies. I am lucky enough to have a great produce store near my house in the US, but for the things that are more expensive, I use coupons or buy in bulk during a sale (lookin' at you, Boca Patties and Soymilk).

Regardless though, I do think claiming healthy eating is "too expensive" is an excuse. I feel like a lot of times, "it's too expensive" is just a cover-up for "it's too much work". Better to spend the money on healthy foods than medication and hospital visits later down the road.

taramaureen

Total excuse. I've done both... and continue to alternate, HA!

Per meal, it's cheaper. I think the biggest road block to eating healthier is lack of education on what's healthy, what's not, and that you dont' have to eat all organic, etc, to have a healthy meal.

bhalter

I do cut corners when it comes to eating healthy - I buy some fruit fresh, but some fruit I buy canned (the non-syrup, low sugar ones) and I buy most of our veggies frozen, which are super cheap and will last through a LOT of meals. I plan buying meat around sales and we don't eat a lot of meat anyway. Though packaged stuff is always on sale more than healthier items, we get a lot of oatmeal, veggie sauce, canned/frozen veggies, rice, whole-grain pasta, cheese, etc., on sale. When I ate cheaper "crap food," it didn't fill me up. So yes, it was cheaper to buy those things, but we went through a lot of it and were constantly eating. I personally think our healthier options that I make with a lot of protein and fiber fill us up more and cuts down on costs because we're not eating as much.

I have to count pennies and watch sales because my fiancee works part-time and goes to school, we have an 8-year-old he has from a previous relationship whose mother never pays her child support or contributes to her daughter's needs, and I'm technically the breadwinner with a full-time job and still don't make TONS of money, but comfortable enough so that we're not starving and can pay all our bills. We manage to get by with smart planning and watching sales. We do not keep chips, "convenience food," or many sweets in the house and I cook 90% of our meals from scratch. My fiancee's daughter is allowed one tub of ice cream in the freezer and one box of cereal that she only gets to eat on weekends. Breakfast for her and I is oatmeal everyda, and her snack options consist of fruit, kids' fruit snacks, or popcorn. Her dad is a weird eater and only eats 1-2 meals a day, which consist of dinner leftovers for lunch and then dinner that night.

Eating out, running through McD or Taco Bell, and ordering in pizza has stopped, which has majorly cut down on what we spend on food. Like most people have said here, everyone has different opinions and it depends on their budget, and grocery store options. I'm lucky in that we have 6 grocery stores all within 5 miles of each other, so I can get things at different stores, and have multiple sale options available to me.

redheadmommy

I think it is WAY more expensive. We are a family of 3 and I drop over $1,000 on groceries every month. I always so envy when people in the US write they feed a family of 4 from $500 . From that amount you can eat macaroni and cheese here not much more.

It is greatly depends on location though, where do you live geographicly and where do you live within the city. Fruits and veggies do not grow on cold climate. On cold climate all the fruits and veggies are green house grown or transported from thousands of miles away, and both methods makes them super expensive. I live in Alberta, Canada, where the climate only suitable for wheat and cows. Nothings else cheap here. When we travel I always amazed how cheap food are on other places, even within in Canada.

Also people tend to compare home cooked healthy food with restaurant eaten non healthy ones. Totally not fair comparison. If I eat in a restaurant, I pay for the people work who made for the food.

Lets compare homemade healthy food with homemade unhealthy food. If I cook a large bowl of home cooked pasta with the cheapest ( fattiest ) hamburger I can make dinner for 3 us for $5. If I want to buy the lean or extra lean veal and serve fresh fruit and veggies, with it, the price is 3 x more.

Or let compare the healthy fast food versus unhealthy fast food. McDonald is so freaking cheap. On the other hand if I go to OPA ( freash made greek souvlaki with nice salads), or Extreme pita ( fresh veggies , lean meat in a pita) I pay at least 50% more, if not double.

There are sociology studies related to food prices, and there are studies when they change school vending machine prices to make the healthy choices cheaper. The result is "surprise" people started to by the healthy food.

sarahgilmore

Lets compare homemade healthy food with homemade unhealthy food. If I cook a large bowl of home cooked pasta with the cheapest ( fattiest ) hamburger I can make dinner for 3 us for $5. If I want to buy the lean or extra lean veal and serve fresh fruit and veggies, with it, the price is 3 x more.

just drain the fat off the cooked meat before you add it to your meal
Also, consider if you're serving fruit or vegetables with the meal, you need serve less pasta and meat so can save there

redheadmommy

just drain the fat off the cooked meat before you add it to your meal
Also, consider if you're serving fruit or vegetables with the meal, you need serve less pasta and meat so can save there

Still the pasta is cheap and the veggies are expensive. If you replace cheap ingredient with expensive ones, it is still became more $$$$

BeeElMarvin

In many cases, it is indeed more expensive to eat fresh foods canned foods, but frozen are very healthy and are generally less expensive. Comparing the price of canned green beans to frozen and to fresh:
fresh = $.60 per serving
canned = $.45 per serving
frozen = $.27 per serving

This is pretty typical. Frozen is your best price and is relatively healthy.

http://nutritionbudgeteer.com/default.aspx


and we very seldom eat out, that is crazy expensive for a decent meal, I never have eaten much "fast food".

berryjwells

Here's my opinion for what it's worth. Yes it is less expensive than eating out and yes it is less expensive when you eat less. But when you eat the same amount and have to feed a family with it, the healthy recipes and foods cost more than buying boxed or frozen meals. Ex- Walmart brand lasagna frozen=4.26 all the ingredients to make a whole wheat turkey lasagna=12(ish) or ground chuck=2.88/lb vs. lean ground turkey=3.98/lb And keeping fresh fruits and veggies in stock for 2 adults and 5 kids is expensive
That's why we eat in ALOT and have 3 leftover nights a week to get the most out of what we buy.

PennyLane1114

I'm a college student and I think it is just an excuse. I used to do it!.. Until I actually stopped and looked at how much I was spending eating pizza on campus, late night fast food, and going out to eat with friends. Now that I am strictly eating at home, my bank account is thanking me. When I go to the store, I purchase mainly generic items (they all taste the same to me). Also, I buy frozen and canned vegetables and lean frozen meats such as ground turkey breast or seafood (if it's on sale). I feel so much healthier already and I've only made changes in the past two weeks. I used to eat ramen noodles all the time because it was quick and easy, but now I know that I was just making excuses for myself. it is just as simple for me to make a decent sized meal for dinner and save the leftovers to eat if I'm in a rush.

irridia

I for one would love to live in a "rural wasteland". My grocery bill would be spent mostly on materials for greenhouse and seeds. Though where I live you can totally garden with out a greenhouse year round if you have the correct type of land. Biggest requirement being unobstructed southern exposure. plant your stuff get it established in the spring and then cover with straw at night in the fall and winter. All the stuff you should be eating, Kale, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, leeks, anise, chard and rhubarb. Root cellar full of carrots, beets, winter squash, apples, yams and other overwinter items, would be heaven.

As a mother of a teenaged wrestler who uses somewhat questionable methods for making weight, I know that some people just won't listen until something wakes them up. But rather than looking down on them, we should aspire to give them all of the tools they need to make the appropriate choices.

The solution to unhealthy eating in this country includes things like pushing schools and other organizations to have onsite gardens for fresh produce. STOP the insistance that a balanced meal should include grain or other starchy foods for anyone not involved in an extremly active lifestyle, and accept that legumes are included in this catagory and should probably be limited for almost everyone not on a vegan lifestyle.

Boardergurl

oh and here is some food for thought. For those of you who drive to numerous stores to get everything exactly how much are you spending on gas versus how much you are saving at that particular store?? Studies have shown when you drive to numerous stores to save a penny you are spending a dime in fuel.

for me this doesnt cost more at all.... I rotate days I do my shopping when I know something is onsale.... Walmart/Superstore are in the same complex where i buy groceries so its not out of the way or more of a drive for me at all...
When something is on sale I stock up

anyonebutmehaha

imho- true.
but wow. i guess i have a very different definition of the word "healthy"! :noway:
guess it depends on how one was raised? i was raised to eat only fresh organic foods and so for the most part that is all i know.
hence to me organic (or at very least all natural)= healthy.
meat and dairy from factory farming loaded w/ drugs and hormones. produce from genetically modified seeds on soil riddled w/ synthetic chemical fertilizers, sprayed w/ pesticides and then passed through radiation for good measure.... those don't fall under the word "healthy" to me,..and that's just briefly touching on outer aisle of typical US supermarket. i haven't set foot in a typical supermarket for a long time but the inner aisles are simply frightening to me- super sugar artificially colored crackhead carbs in a box w/ 50 unpronounceable ingredients doesn't even fall in the food category for me.
does it cost more to buy organic, fair trade, trying to leave the smallest possible carbon footprint you can on the planet? hell yeah! i wish it didn't but there just isn't enough demand for this in the United States where the more sugar and empty carbs and bad fats and sodium and artificial crap a company can put into a product the better (the majority) of people will like it and buy it.

last night's "whoohoo it is pizza night!" (i loves pizza) dinner from local mom and pop place costs 10 bucks for a kick-*kitten* NY pizza delivered to my door and i made a nice salad for two so prolly $16 or so for dinner for two and since no way was i eating more than 2 slices and go into the red for day there was plenty leftover for him to take to work for lunch.
tonight's dinner? well haven't bought it yet but i was thinking about going down to fish market, something locally line caught, but i know i won't get outta there for under 20 bucks, i never do, lol.. then to organic/natural supermarket for veggies, etc.- dunno exactly but i just scribbled down approximately what that will cost and added up- gonna be something like $47.00 for dinner tonight's dinner for two. there will be leftovers for me for next day though for lunch.
can i afford to eat like this 24/7? in theory no, but i'm unwilling to eat any other way (minus pizza whoohoo night of course ). every time i shop i am voting with my dollars and for health, ethical, political, ecological, etc., reasons i don't feel good about giving money to companies that i feel are hurting the planet and living things on it. yeah organic fair trade coffee beans ground fresh for our morning coffee at $16/lb vs folger's or whatever for i'm sure what must be 1/5 the price is an expensive way to live......but i save money by not buying cosmetics or viewing clothes as anything but protection against the elements, never eating out (i honestly just don't like the taste and he hates to sit at table waiting to be served so that works for us) or thinking of a car as anything but 4 wheels and a way to get from point A to point B, my nails aren't done, last movie i saw hit the theaters in 1996, i don't own an i-anything, ~ but i feel i live very well.:glasses: