Is eating healthy really more expensive?

yksdoris

It isn't always cheaper. I think it depends on how much money you have and how many people you have to feed.

These past few months, we've been struggling a lot to feed my family of 3 on just one income. At times, we really did have to settle for unhealthy, but cheaper things just to get by; e.g. white bread was on sale for $1, compared to whole wheat that was $2 - 3. Every cent counts sometimes.

I think it's stupid to say that eating healthier is cheaper *in all cases*. In some cases, it's just not. If I have to feed my family for a month, but only have $50, buying fresh produce just isn't going to last as long as a bag of white rice or a huge sack of potatoes. And to be honest, when you're that broke, eating healthy is not typically on one's top priority list; it's feeling full and meeting calorie needs in whatever way one can.

This article explains my point a little better. http://www.fatnutritionist.com/index.php/if-only-poor-people-understood-nutrition/

This got me thinking and googling. Basically all bread is, is flour, egg some butter and milk. According to Google, a 5 lb bag of flour is 79 c at Aldi, that's enough for about 5 loaves of bread, plus 2 eggs per loaf plus about 1 cup of milk (but can be substituted with part water) per loaf plus some butter, one spoonful of sugar and yeast (sugar is needed to get the yeast going). And whatever it costs in electricity to keep the oven on for 40 min. I think if you made your own bread, you'd come out really close to the 1 dollar range, however: no preservatives, no colour agents, no added flavour enhancers and you get fresh homemade bread! it'll take some practicing (in my case, it was touch and go the first maybe 10 times I tried making bread, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.) and it'll take time to prepare, but in my opinion, it's worth it.

I'll be honest, I looove me some expensive stuff such as avocadoes, pineapples, good cuts of meat and fish. And sometimes I do indulge. But some of my absolute favourite ingredients are healthy and cost pretty much nothing: zucchini for example is very filling, low on calories and relatively cheap, and it goes with everything. Beans, potatoes, lentils... I like to grow the herbs I use most myself (a rosemary plant kosts something like... 1 dollar, maybe. in a good climate it won't die in the winter, too. though sadly I don't live in a good climate)

chrishgt4

Also - if you just walk into a supermarket and get all your stuff from there then prepare to get ripped off.

I get all my meat, eggs, milk from a farm shop where the produce is much (and I mean MUCH) better than supermarkets, and cheaper....for example...supermarket - pack of 3 chicken breasts is £5. One will be around 150g, the other 2 will be more like 100. Also when I cook them they shrink up even more due to all the water they are pumped with to plump them up. Compare that to the farm shop where I buy 10 breasts for £11, each of them is 200g and barely shrink at all during cooking.

Some things supermarkets can sell cheaper, but most things you can get better and cheaper from the source.

tadpole242

£20 is really cheap...maybe its frozen fruit/veg etc which is still better than junk.. but remember junk isnt just mcdoalds, take outs etc its ready meals, tinned meals. etc which are usually very cheap.

I spend about double maybe abit more than that per week, but i only shop at butchers and farmers markets and only buy organic, (plus my nearest store is waitrose which really doesn't help the bank account)

£20 is about right, I spend £50 but that is for a family of three, and includes house cleaning toiletries extra stuff like store cupboard tins and packets, My food is mostly homemade meals with the addition of freeze stuff that my daughter eats, like oven baked fish, or burgers.

tadpole242

I think if you made your own bread, you'd come out really close to the 1 dollar range, however: no preservatives, no colour agents, no added flavour enhancers and you get fresh homemade bread!

I think you need to have a look at what they put in flour.
Bleaching agents
Treatment agents
E220 Sulphur dioxide
E223 Sodium metabisulphite
E300 L-Ascorbic acid -
E920 L-Cysteine hydrochloride
E220 or E223 E925 Chlorine bleach
E926 Chlorine dioxide

yksdoris

I think if you made your own bread, you'd come out really close to the 1 dollar range, however: no preservatives, no colour agents, no added flavour enhancers and you get fresh homemade bread!

I think you need to have a look at what they put in flour.
Bleaching agents
Treatment agents
E220 Sulphur dioxide
E223 Sodium metabisulphite
E300 L-Ascorbic acid -
E920 L-Cysteine hydrochloride
E220 or E223 E925 Chlorine bleach
E926 Chlorine dioxide

none "extra" is what I meant. butter has preservatives in it too, as does milk.

slay0r

I spend WAY more now I'm eating healthily. I'm trying to eat as much as I did before but healthily though so that's probably why (lifting etc) I spend an absolute fortune on food people are horrified. I think last time I worked it out I was eating a family of 3/4's budget to myself..

tadpole242

I think if you made your own bread, you'd come out really close to the 1 dollar range, however: no preservatives, no colour agents, no added flavour enhancers and you get fresh homemade bread!

I think you need to have a look at what they put in flour.
Bleaching agents
Treatment agents
E220 Sulphur dioxide
E223 Sodium metabisulphite
E300 L-Ascorbic acid -
E920 L-Cysteine hydrochloride
E220 or E223 E925 Chlorine bleach
E926 Chlorine dioxide

none "extra" is what I meant. butter has preservatives in it too, as does milk.

Not in the UK, salt in butter is for flavour, and according to the EU rules, plain milk is just that milk. Bovine secretions

minisumo

Wow, this has been a really enlightening thread! It's been interesting to find out what people around the world have to pay to eat well. I live in Dubai and it's definitely more expensive if you want to have a healthy (and varied) diet because the majority of produce has to be flown in.

I buy local produce as much as possible - lettuce, cucumber, potatoes, chicken, milk, standard yoghurt (i.e. not organic) - as it's easier on the wallet (plus it's more environmentally friendly). Everything else I have to pay a premium on, often double the price that I would pay for exactly the same item elsewhere.

Strawberries are around US$15 for a 300g/10oz punnet, blueberries are US$10 for a 140g/5oz packet, and half of the fruit and veg has already gone limp or mouldy by the time it hits the supermarket shelves. A fresh salmon fillet big enough for 1 person is around US$10. I bought 6 slices of low-fat turkey breast recently and it cost me US$10, so I won't be doing that again any time soon!

On the other hand, unhealthy produce is often cheaper than elsewhere - all fast food brands are cheaper than in the US and UK, a can of Coke is US$0.27, a packet of crisps (chips) is about the same.

My main problem is that I live alone and am only feeding myself - a lot of the fruit & veg is already wilting/going mouldy by the time I buy it from the supermarket, and I can't eat it quickly enough so I frequently throw away half of what I buy (it's pre-packed so I can't just buy enough for what I need). I can either eat the same thing 4 days in a row, which to be honest I don't really want to do, or I can eat a varied diet but have to waste food and money which I don't want to do either.

Sometimes I just resign myself to the fact that it's much cheaper and less wasteful to buy a pack of instant noodles for lunch than it is to make myself a salad or a sandwich.

tadpole242

Buy a blender, put in your extra fruit/veg, add a small amount of juice, add ice. blend, and blend again. Drink or freeze.
nuff said

Edit to add veg
peel and de-stalk the veg before blending

torygirl79

Yes it is more expensive to buy healthy, particularly if you go down the organic route.

But even non organic, Say for example I want pasta. I can buy basic white value pasta, but if I want the less processed brown / wholemeal pasta it costs me nearly double a bag. Same with rice.

If I want soup I can buy it for pence a can, full of sodium or I can buy ingredients and make my own. Value soup is significant cheaper.

If I want lighter bacon, it's double or even triple the price of fatty value bacon.

And don't even get me onto the price of buying fresh fish....

salgalruns

Here's my thought...I can either spend $ and eat quality, fantastically healthy food (which turns out to be more for me), or I can use that money to pay for medical/health problems later. I am avoiding surgery this summer on a foot issue which has all but disappeared due to my weight loss. In my mind, it's all about priorities - healthy food wins over medical problems.

lyttlewon

I went to Mcdonalds a few days back and ordered a medium meal....almost $7.50....So it really bugs me when fat people (i'm fat myself, so nobody freak out) use the excuse they can't eat healthier because it costs too much. Also, before i started measuring my food, I would use a whole chicken breast as my portion size. Now i cut one in half and me and my dad share it, so there is cost going down just from portion control too. And I also have gotten a lot of "scratch" foods instead of already packaged things, which is cheaper as well. Is eating healthy more time consuming? sure....you have to plan out your meals and actually go grocery shopping and prep/measure your foods....is it more expensive? To me, not really. Also, for the financial struggling people out there I LOVE this website!!! You should def check it out!


http://www.5dollardinners.com/

You can get McDonalds for cheaper than that. A hamburger is $0.79 (regional example) so even if I ordered 4 hamburgers and a $1.00 value drink I have only spent $4.16.

shaynak112

Healthy lifestyle is sooooo much cheaper. Fruits and veggies when they are in season. Soooo cheap! My boyfriend and I spend like $30 a week on fruits and veggies for the two of us. Keep in mind this is the majority of what we eat. We have a bit extra to spend on things like beans, diet pop, veggie burgers/dogs, or other things. THOSE things are more expensive, yeah.
But then I look at how much a huge bag of rice or chickpeas or oats costs. Sooo cheap. And it lasts a long time too!!!

ash12783

I lean toward the idea that it's cheaper to eat healthy...but then again I know everyone's bad eating habits are different- so someone's unhealthy eating habits may have been much more expensive than that of another bad eater.
For me, It seems like a lot just because we are going to the grocery store more often- but it's just in my head. We don't really eat out anymore which saves tons when we ate out all time, and we buy less on each trip to get groceries as it's mainly fresh food to make dinner for the next 2 days. Having a pantry and fridge full of unhealthy things filled with preservatives that make it last for an eternity just makes it seem like you always have food on hand therefore don't need to go shopping because you'll "make do" and find something to eat. When you're out of your 2 day supply of fresh food, you HAVE to go to the market or you don't eat lol.

Easywider

No. Absolutely not. Stay informed on your meat sales!

Nataliaho

Its a bit confused to compare the cost of unhealthy vs healthy, when you also throw in eating out vs eating at home.

Sure you can make a homecooked meal cheaper than McDonalds, but can you buy a cheaper healthier lunch while out?? I travelled though the US (I am from Australia) a couple of years ago and I found it nearly impossible to find healthy fast options for lunch. Particularly when I was travelling through the south, we couldn't find anywhere that just had normal sandwiches or salads. Maybe we just weren't looking in the right places, but I was pretty amazed. Here in Australia there is generally a salad or sandwich bar in every food court...

caraiselite

i eat low carb. i spend WAY less money than when i eat all frozen/convenience crap.

caraiselite

on the other hand, if all i ate was ramen, that would be cheaper obv.

even with buying mostly protein and veggies, i still spend far less.

wolfi622

We would solve the obesity crisis overnight if we just started charging by the calorie for food.

brittigno

I disagree with everyone who disagrees that eating healthfully is cheaper.

At least where I'm from, if I try to buy "healthy" food for a few days, like fruit, meat, vegetables, whole grains, my budget is gone before I know it. This isn't from Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers, etc. It's from buying whole foods to cook and prepare at home (which also costs a lot--in time, and in money to buy the equipment, not to mention the gas and electricity to cook). Unhealthy stuff is so much cheaper, and there's a simple reason: because our government subsides corn, wheat, and soy, while fruits and vegetables are considered specialty items that cost a lot more to grow, and then to buy.

It's not a myth that junk food is exponentially cheaper--it's a fact.

And for many people who say that healthy eating is more expensive, they're not ordering a whole meal.

Poor *kitten* family perspective as a kid: 4 hamburgers off the dollar menu. Medium fry. Bam. Just fed a family of 4 for under $6.

ladybarometer

I think it's more referring to the cost of groceries, eating out is almost always unhealthy it seems.
I think frozen veggie mixes are cheaper than buying the fresh ones, and you avoid waste. Also, I buy frozen chicken breast in the big bags, and things like that. It just depends really. Also, I'm big on portion control as well. I can cook anything at home, and it still be okay. I still buy my fair share of paste (whole wheat), sandwich stuff, and hamburger helper.

mcjmommy

It is much more expensive for my family, BUT it is also worth it!

croberson8711

I find it's cheaper, because it's more satisfying and fills you up easier/longer. So you don't go through food as quickly, therefore you don't need to constantly go shopping. Cutting back on the dining out helps also, as we all know.

ladybarometer

and yes, on a budget, you learn QUICK that $4 for a bag of apples isn't worth it when you can get 2 homestyle bake boxes for two entire meals for up to four people for the same price.

I'd love to have fresh veggie sides, it's just tough!