Why is it cheaper to eat unhealthfully...

jammiemd

First off...im not sure that "unhealthfully" is a word...but, as the subject states: Why is it so much cheaper to eat crap than it is to buy healthy foods and prepare them yourself? You can go to McDonalds and buy a cheeseburger and fries for a lot cheaper than going to the grocery store and buying foods to make a meal. It just aggravates me...

ShaneOSX

More people want to eat badly. Supply and demand.

Also, the whole reason that those bad foods exist to begin with is because they're cheaper to manufacture than real, whole foods.

bulbadoof

When I visited America I found that grocery stores overcharge by a lot. $1.50 for a single green pepper? Yeah, ok, I got a 4-pack for $1.29 at home (Canada) yesterday! :grumble:

Try a farmer's market. You'll have to shop on pre-scheduled days, but you'll actually pay reasonable prices for good, wholesome food.

Maurice1966

$20 of veges and chicken will go a lot further at the supermarket than at MacDonalds.

neverstray

It's actually much much much cheaper to eat wholesome healthy foods. It will just take you a While to figure it out. It seems like a learning curve everyone has to go through.

RainHoward

So many reasons. Filler being the big one. Chemicals and things like resin of wood fiber are cheap. Also varies greatly depending on location. For instance you pay 6$ for a gallon of milk in Alaska and buy a 50lb fresh salmon for the same price.

So many things get factored into food cost. Manufacturing, shipping, storage, the list goes on. Remember, depending on location and time of year that "fresh" produce you're buying could have started life in South America or?

The long term benefit to eating healthy is well worth the short term price though.

ToughTulip

It's actually much much much cheaper to eat wholesome healthy foods. It will just take you a While to figure it out. It seems like a learning curve everyone has to go through.

I agree with this

Chicken breast, oats, rice, beans, lentils all cheap

RainHoward

It's actually much much much cheaper to eat wholesome healthy foods. It will just take you a While to figure it out. It seems like a learning curve everyone has to go through.

I agree with this

Chicken breast, oats, rice, beans, lentils all cheap

There are entire websites and blogs dedicated to learning how to shop and eat healthy, fresh foods from the local grocery store. Some of them are well worth reading.

nikki91950

cheaper in the beginning, yes, but not in the long run.

heybales

The cheapest I discovered - though I'll bet prices went up.

Oh, I could do this at healthy weight, after a big ride, and really needed it too.

4 Little Debbie's at convenience store, the 50 cent size. Almost 2000 calories. 2 bucks for day's worth of calories.

Energy was about all they gave. And high and super low blood sugar.

Dunkin sticks, oatmeal cream pie, fudge round, star, brownie.

Oh man, where's my car keys!

Debbe2

I'm sorry but I disagree with this. It is so much less expensive to eat well and take care of ones self. Medications and medical care for weight related issues far exceed the cost of buying decent quality food that is nutritious and delicious.

Pimpmonkey

When I visited America I found that grocery stores overcharge by a lot. $1.50 for a single green pepper? Yeah, ok, I got a 4-pack for $1.29 at home (Canada) yesterday! :grumble:

Try a farmer's market. You'll have to shop on pre-scheduled days, but you'll actually pay reasonable prices for good, wholesome food.

Thank you!! It's freaking ridiculous!

taunto

It's actually much much much cheaper to eat wholesome healthy foods. It will just take you a While to figure it out. It seems like a learning curve everyone has to go through.

I agree with this

Chicken breast, oats, rice, beans, lentils all cheap

This girl knows what she's talking about. A meal costs me less than $1 on average

filming_ghosts

It all depends what you buy. I can get enough beans, brown rice, and tofu to make lunches/dinners for a week for about $10. Then oats, bananas, and peanut butter for breakfasts/snacks for another $6. (I eat a lot more, this is just a general statement haha)

jbrann911

I went to a diet clinic when first looking into this "lifestyle" change $1000 got you 2 diets shakes daily for 6 weeks, 2 diet bars and a 550 calorie dinner pre-packaged daily. Well lets just say Math is my favorite subject $45 buys you months worth of 2 shakes a day at Walmart. The average price for a diet bar when bought in a box on sale with a coupon comes down to around $0.30 each I love Snickers Marathon or Energy Bars. I can pick a total daily calorie level and deduct the shakes and bars and eat the remaining calories from food. This simple Math has had awesome results - I went a bit quick because I gained 60 lbs in 2 yrs - I did 800 calories a day for 2 months with 1000 calorie workout lost 59 lbs. Too drastic for most people.

I find if my son and I go to McDonalds or out for a pizza its about $10-15 easily. If we stay in a meal costs about $4-5 just need to be frugal. My market marks down its meats Monday and Friday am s on average so I shop on way into work spend $15-20 at a time but get turkey breast, chicken, pork, sausage sometimes for a treat lean, ground chicken and turkey. I don't eat steaks that often, have even gotten lamb once marketed down from $11 a pack to $4. I plan meals around what I find on sale - we have 3 main markets here and in neighbooring town they are all in a triangle next to each other so I shop there leave car in one spot and walk between them all buying the sale items. My $1 store has a frozen section has mixed bags of fruit 45 calories / serving 1/2 a bag I add this to the diet shakes in blender with an ice cube to make a smoothy every morning - was never a breakfast eater this helps get going right.

DakotaKeogh

I hear what you're saying. I think you just didn't state it well with the McDonald's reference.

Yes, if you're struggling to get by it's a lot easier and cheaper to make a family meal from a 99 cent box of mac and cheese then it is to work the produce section, let alone the organic part.

However, if you learn to shop in bulk instead of on demand, learn to cook in bulk and preserve, it gets easier. But, more importantly, if you can break away from the cravings for the bad stuff completely it gets even easier. I don't want the mac and cheese cuz it's crap. But even more important, I don't want the cheese - mac or not - cuz it's major crap. So yay! I can now leave the dairy behind. More money for the good stuff.

But even beyond that, if you truly, truly want to advocate for your own health and your body - and your family - stop even considering things like McDonalds. If you truly want to advocate, don't eat anything you didn't make yourself. Drive through is for banking, not nutrition.

gdbadass

Big agriculture companies and chemical/pesticide companies get huge government subsidies to keep their products cheap, plentiful and profitable.

Corn, soy and dairy, for example, are HEAVILY subsidized. That's why you get asked if you want cheese on your burger, that's why there's high-fructose corn syrup in everything, and that's why people aren't aware of the ACTUAL cost of their food and are surprised and daunted by the costs of organics.

Fast food ingredients (including all processed sugars, wheat, corn, and factory-farmed meats) are kept artificially cheap for the consumer because our taxes support government subsidies that keep them that way.

RainHoward

It all depends what you buy. I can get enough beans, brown rice, and tofu to make lunches/dinners for a week for about $10. Then oats, bananas, and peanut butter for breakfasts/snacks for another $6. (I eat a lot more, this is just a general statement haha)

And how much do you spend on toilet paper in a month?? Ha, I jest, sort of.

milkandtea

I've found that it's cheaper... I bought a $12 pack of organic chicken which is enough for at least 4 meals. I would've spent that on ONE large meal of fast food.

shabaity

in the long run it is actually cheaper to cook at home take where i work for instance for $32 that will generally feed a family of 3-4 depending on whether its breakfast lunch or dinner and what you drink where as at home i can feed the same number of ppl for $20 or less and usually there are left overs it just seems like its more expensive at the grocery store

NeverGivesUp

taking good care of yourself and your body is priceless. I no longer eat fast food because my body feel terrible after I eat it. Quality of life in the long run. Cooking your own food also goes a very long way towards your health and nutrician, and knowing what is actually in your food is also important. I don't buy that people don't have the time. You can prepare food for a week in one evening if you are organized enough. If it matters enough to you, you will find a way.

foxyforce

$20 of veges and chicken will go a lot further at the supermarket than at MacDonalds.

this.

buy veggies, and freeze the ones you can't eat right away. simple.

misao1994

First off...im not sure that "unhealthfully" is a word...but, as the subject states: Why is it so much cheaper to eat crap than it is to buy healthy foods and prepare them yourself? You can go to McDonalds and buy a cheeseburger and fries for a lot cheaper than going to the grocery store and buying foods to make a meal. It just aggravates me...

Americans supply and demand. And because we're allowed to here, companies I mean, they use cheaper and lower quality ingredients which actually cause more money for the individual in health costs later on. But if you go to Australia for example, it's much, much more expensive to eat unhealthy and they don't promote it either. Like, if you go to a restaurant you pay like $3.00 for a coke, no ice and no refill. Where here it's like $3.00 bottomless. And we also serve much bigger quantities of food because people consume much, much bigger quantitates here than over seas. Like, when my ex-boyfriend came here for the first time from England he was appalled at the size of the portions we were given at places to eat. And he was an 18 year old at the time. You can eat healthy for cheaper. But it requires more effort than a lot of people are willing to put in. It requires looking at the label, understanding the label, choosing grapes over oreos. The less people eat crap food, the more people demand better quality ingredients, then maybe it'll switch. Or the FDA puts higher standards, but I doubt that. American dream, my friend. American dream.

shorty35565

THIS IS WHAT I WANNA KNO! If you look at the store, the healthy stuff seems to always b more expensive than the junk lol

DakotaKeogh

taking good care of yourself and your body is priceless. I no longer eat fast food because my body feel terrible after I eat it. Quality of life in the long run. Cooking your own food also goes a very long way towards your health and nutrician, and knowing what is actually in your food is also important. I don't buy that people don't have the time. You can prepare food for a week in one evening if you are organized enough. If it matters enough to you, you will find a way.

Agreed

jasondcooper

Big agriculture companies and chemical/pesticide companies get huge government subsidies to keep their products cheap, plentiful and profitable.

Corn, soy and dairy, for example, are HEAVILY subsidized. That's why you get asked if you want cheese on your burger, that's why there's high-fructose corn syrup in everything, and that's why people aren't aware of the ACTUAL cost of their food and are surprised and daunted by the costs of organics.

Fast food ingredients (including all processed sugars, wheat, corn, and factory-farmed meats) are kept artificially cheap for the consumer because our taxes support government subsidies that keep them that way.

Ding! Follow the money. Corn (and therefore, high fructose corn syrup) is massively subsidized, which is why it winds up in virtually everything on the shelves. We even put corn (ethanol) in our cars! I also agree with those who pointed out that when one considers healthcare costs as a result of heart disease, diabetes, etc., it's ultimately much cheaper to eat healthily.

Pimpmonkey

I understand what you are saying. It is cheaper where I live to buy the unhealthy foods tahn it is the healthy. That just means we have to buy less food and make it stretch because we only have $200 a month for food. We are actually getting ready to evict someone because we are spending our $200 (for 2 people) on healthy stuff which she sneaks and eats when we are sleeping (night shifters) and then she spends hers on crap that is either unbelievably bad for you (4 cases of ramen noodles, a case of redbulls, mochaccino thingies, etc) or hides it in her room. I don't mind feeding someone, but not if they are intentionally eating my food so that I have to go without.

RainHoward

I wrote a paper several years ago on a subject I know way to much about. The slow but steady fattening of Americans. It started in the late 50's and early sixties when things like toaster ovens, microwaves, mixers, food processors, all the things that made cooking so easy. Even things you don't think about like refrigeration. Back in the day an ice box was exactly that. So people ate differently than they do today. You are fresh.

How common was it 50 years ago for people to have a garden in the back yard? Or some chickens? You bought meet at the butcher who in turn bought it from the local farmer. Things stayed local for the most part. And then urban sprawl happened. You couldn't have the chickens in the back yard because the city folk neighbor would complain. Small local farms started to vanish and large grocery stores became the norm. What has a longer shelf life? Things in packages, from factories. They stack neatly. They ship easily. And they cost less to make. So these became the norm. It's what many of us grew up on.

Fresh produce became more expensive because people didn't want it. It was cool to be able to pop dinner in the microwave. How many are old enough to remember the early 80s and the popularity of things like Hungry Man? If there is no market for produce then why grow it? Grow something you can get some money for. Corn. Supply went down, price went up.

With all things there is a pendulum that swings from one extreme to the other. Healthy food is in the process of swinging at the moment. If you learn to cook, learn how to use fresh produce, spend the extra money and buy local, eventually that pendulum will finish its swing.

Just a thought anyway.

sweetchildomine

Ok, the Chicken Breasts and ground beef part is totally wrong, they end up being around 5 dollars for me but still lol.

Alohathin

Ok, the Chicken Breasts and ground beef part is totally wrong, they end up being around 5 dollars for me but still lol.

I wish groceries were that cheap for me. All those groceries would probably cost me close to $50. No joke. It's stupid how expensive food is here.

RainHoward

Ok, the Chicken Breasts and ground beef part is totally wrong, they end up being around 5 dollars for me but still lol.

Amazing what a month of lifestyle change can do. That KFC looks straight up NASTY to me. And that corn, all I can say in ,,,nom nom nom nom nom