The cost of Healthy Food vs. Junk Food

Mcmilligen · February 2013

A lot of the problems lie within the grocery stores themselves. They only purchase fresh produce that is visually appealing, thus 1/3 of the crop gets tossed out because it has been deemed 'unworthy' based on superficial means alone. There may be a brown spot on an apple, a misshapen onion, an extra eye or two on a potato etc. Most of the time, all of these 'unappealing' products are perfectly fine to consume... But yet it all goes to waste. Of course the farmer can eat from that pile or rejects, but really you can only do so much.

So, imagine when 'organic' farmers (which are ironically in high demand) are trying to sell to these bigger grocery stores. Their product usually has many more blemishes etc, since it isn't sprayed heavily with pesticides to avoid these from occurring. But of course, the standards for attractive food is the same. That is why they are so much expensive; more, if not most, of their crop is being tossed. So understandably, prices are much higher as they can't afford to sell things as cheap as their non-organic counterpart.

Sad thing is, if these restrictions were merely on the freshness rather than the appearance of our local produce... Buying fresh and healthy foods would be dirt cheap.

supergirljen · February 2013

I agree, and I always will...I'm not sure that most of the people on here understand when some people say "junk" food is cheaper, they mean JUNK food.

When I say cheap food I am talking about ramen for 10 cents, a whole (totinos type) pizza for 1.00, a box of mac n cheese for 35 cents, a pack of bologna for 1.00, white bread for 90 cents, a bag of pasta and a can of tomatoe sauce for 1.39, a pack of hot dogs for 65 cents, generic canned soup for 49 cents, fake cheese slices are 89 cents, generic chips and snacks (a whole bag/box) for 1.29, 2lbs of chicken nuggets for 3.00, 16 oz sugar cereal for 1.00, generic rice a roni or hambuger helper for 1.00, and less quality meats are always cheaper....I could go on but you get my drift.

There is NO way your beans and chicken are cheaper for my family of 6 than thost things! Some people do not understnad what being poor is..

LauraDotts · February 2013

Part of learning to eat healthy is learning portion control. Yes, we now spend more upfront for meat since we started purchasing our meat from a local butcher. To get a cheaper per pound price for ground beef we have to buy 10 lbs. In the past I would divide that up into maybe 4 packages making 4 meals for 2 people... occasionally a couple more people. Now, I divide that 10 lbs into 20 1/2 lb packs because we only need 4 oz of meat per person for a healthy meal. That's 20 meals for 2 rather than 4 (maybe 5) meals for 2 out of the same amount of meat. I bought a chuck roast last week. In the past that would have been one meal. I had the butcher cut it in half. It became 2 meals prepared and once I weighed out a proper portion, 1/2 the original roast became 6 servings.

LzL1958 · February 2013

It's a real debate on costs of fresh or whole foods, vs. packaged or convenient foods. My take on this is two fold. Healthy foods, and healthier life. If it's healthy and in a package (i.e. canned fruit packed in its own juice, or fresh frozen skinless chicken breast), that's a great way to get around the expensive issue. Also, I take advantage of every 2 for 1 sale I can. So if I have 10 lbs of chicken in my freezer, that means I probably won't have to buy any the next shopping trip.

Since I am more conscious about my health and have now lost a significant amount of weight, I also watch my portions. I watch how I bring my groceries home and how I immediately store these foods so I can get the biggest bang for my buck. Even though I am single, I buy many things in bulk and freeze in individual serving sizes so I don't have to waste any excess I won't eat right away.

I find I save quite a bit these days. I go to the store only twice a month. I go with a list and don't impulse buy. And I stay away from as much sugar, salt and additives as possible. Even if you may think it is a bit more expensive to keep this kind of goal, the benefits far outweigh the cost. My HEALTH! This is my reward, my shinny star on my report card.

As a result, not only do I save on my groceries by eating more sensibly, I also have saved in my healthcare costs. My doctor bills are way down. My medications are down from 7-10 prescriptions a month down to only 2 (and almost ready to go to only one scrip). I can walk better. My chronic back pain is not a big deal any more. My hypertension is so under control, and my type 2 diabetes is now in remission.

So for those who debate the expenses of fresh healthy foods vs. junk foods, think of this... Healthy foods, healthy body, healthier life and a much happier me.

LauraDotts · February 2013

I've told lots of people that you either spend the money on good food now or on medical bills later.

phergert55 · February 2013

If you shop what is in season this is helpful. Also you will find that once you stop eating the cheap stuff and start eating the good stuff your appetite will decrease. This is because your blood sugar is not plummaging. Also when your looking a veggies, buy frozen. Not the kind that has seasoning added, because you can do this for yourself with near the cost. Good luck.

phergert55 · February 2013

I just finished reading your healthy food vs junk food. Congratulations! You have lost a wonderful amount of weight and cut back on meds. I am so in agreement with you and love the fact that you are proof that eating healthy is so much better then eating junk.

mojohowitz · February 2013

Can of spinach w/added sodium. $.89. Fresh spinach 2.99 for an equivalent amount.
White refined rice $1.49 pound. Whole grain rice (brown is not whole grain) $3.99 pound.
"Fresh" Unfrozen Chicken breast. $5.99 lb. Frozen processed chicken with water and salt added $4/lb.
Lean 90% ground beef is $5.99/lb. Pink 75% ground beef is $3.99.
Low sodium hamd or turkey lunch meat $7.99 a pound!!!! Bologna $3.49/lb.
Running shoes $99. Heart surgery. $133,355.

This is Indiana.

MorgueBabe · February 2013

The store I shop at is cheap.
I just got a:
Bag of baby carrots 88 cents
4 Large Vine Tomatoes - 1.10 a lbs
2 cucumbers for $1.00
a head of cauliflower - $1.25
3 heads of broccoli - 1.20 a lbs
a bag of three organic romaine hearts - $1.25

Eggs are fairly cheap aren't they?

Healthy eating is cheaper for me. This will last me a while.
Buy in bulk (not even like Costco, but like where can go scoop and weigh your oats, grains, lentils)
Use coupons
Buy in season
Buy local or use a farmers market or co-op

IMO processed foods cost more. There's been breakdowns of a healthy grocery trip and not, and how long they both last.

There's that whole opinion of only shopping the perimeter of the grocery store. The aisles are full of junk normally.

cjsacto · February 2013

Buying "good" food can seem quite expensive compared to, say, mac and cheese, but when you think about how many meals you get out of them, it's reasonable.

When I'm not buying healthy food and cooking it, I either eat out or buy packaged frozen meals - both very expensive!

On Biggest Loser last week they had to spend $10 each per day at the grocery store to practice buying healthy food on a budget. That actually seemed a bit high to me. I spend about $100 for a week's groceries for two people. While that seems like a lot at one time, and it's a huge part of my monthly budget, that's a little over $7 per day per person. I eat 6 meals a day, so that ain't bad.

The challenge for me is buying just the right amount so I don't have to make several more trips to the store AND I'm not throwing away spoiled food. I hate to waste it.

I absolutely skimp on non-food items (generic household cleaners, don't go to Starbucks, don't have cable TV, buy clothes at thrift stores, etc.), but I like to get good quality food.

If I had a family of four on my current income, it would be tough no matter what. I'd buy more frozen veggies instead of fresh, more rice and beans, I guess. Good nuts and dried fruit are very pricey, I guess I'd have to skip them. Good pasta sauce with low sugar and low sodium is more expensive than the other kinds, etc. I really sympathize for those on limited incomes with kids.

caffeinated_frog · February 2013

Sadly, in our case there is also the question of food allergies. Many of the less expensive additions that are healthy, i.e. eggs, whole wheat, rice, many of the fruits, we are allergic to. In our case, yes, eating 'healthy'is going to cost me more than what many are willing to pay for their weekly grocery bill. However, I utilize my chest freezer as much as possible, and Costco is great for bulk veggies. You just have to be willing to eat 3 pounds of broccoli in a few days. I :laugh:

Oddly, the farmer's market nearby is more expensive than the grocery stores for much of the produce. And, it's not worth time/money to drive to 5-6 different stores to get groceries. That must also be factored into the budget. 2-3, sure. If they have good deals, but I've talked this over with my co-workers and the college students are much more willing to pay for ready-to-eat food than they are for something they will have to cook.

Regarding the % that we are willing to spend of our monthly budget on food, I must say that it is my second biggest expense, after rent. I would rather my kids eat healthy and well. Plus, I like eating.

concordancia · February 2013

Bologne, Hot dogs and chicken nuggets are your only proteins. I stock up on sales so that I often pay $1 per lb of boneless chicken breasts, but thighs and drumsticks are regularly under that and still healthier than the nuggets.

A package of hot dogs or bologne is usually less than a pound, but is the same price as a pound of beans, which will actually go further when cooked.

Oatmeal is often available bulk for $1 a pound, just like the sugary cereals.

Brown rice is often cheaper than pasta.

WendyTerry420 · February 2013

My husband is disabled. We have been on food stamps before, so yes, I know *exactly* what it's like to be poor. That's *exactly* how I figured out how to shop/eat on a budget!

jbug100 · February 2013

I totally agree with this. It's one thing to buy the healthy good stuff and quite Another to actually eat it. This was hard for me at first, and I did waste a lot. Now I get a kick out of how far I can stretch my good food. It feels great when you can transform leftovers into something healthy and yummy. Cooking/ preparing good food does take some time and planning, but it is well worth the effort.

weird_me2 · February 2013

Sometimes you really do have to sacrifice and pick and choose where you spend your money, but sometimes you can do better with more effort. How man of those $1 pizzas do you need to feed 6? I know that my 6 year old can eat a whole one on her own, so I'm guessing that you're looking at at least 5 pizzas if not more to feed everyone (if you don't have any sides). So, yeah, $1 is cheap, but there are tons of meals I make that are less than $1 a serving. There's nothing wrong with a pot of spaghetti for dinner. Buy some cheap veggies and it's even better.

At Aldi's you can get a 2 lb bag of carrots for the same price as a bag of their potato chips ($1.29). I can guarantee you that the 2 lb bag of carrots will go A LOT further than the chips. You can snack on the carrots, you can chop them up and steam them and add just a bit of seasoning for a side, you can add them to your spaghetti or lots of other meat dishes to help bulk them out without adding too many calories or too much cost. At our Aldi's, you can also get a bag of russetts and sometimes sweet potatoes for the price of the chips. I'm pretty sure that 5 lbs of potatoes will feed a lot more than 1 pound of potato chips will.

How many servings do you really get out of the $1 bag of cereal? I would guess 6-8 at most since a single serving is not enough to fill up pretty much anyone. So, if you are getting 8 servings, that's 12.5 cents per serving. You can get old fashioned rolled oatmeal for about $2 for a 2 lb cannister that has about 30 servings. That's about 6.7 cents per serving, or almost 1/2 the price. This will leave you a little money to get a couple pieces of in season fruit and spread it between the servings. Or, you can probably get a dozen eggs for about $1 (assuming here since you seem to live somewhere that's even cheaper than me) and each person can have an egg + some fruit or something.

When you shop sales and stock up when stuff is on sale, you really can make it work. I bought ham's at my local Aldis when they were marked down and paid about $.80 per pound. I cooked a ham for dinner one night, we had leftovers for lunch another day, then I used the leftover bone and meat to make a big pot of ham and bean soup. I would say we got about 10 servings of ham/sides for meals and the soup made another 14 servings. Total cost for the ham, sides and all the soup ingredients was $16 and we got about 24 servings out of everything and got lots of protein and veggies and everything. That's because the veggies I used as sides were canned goods bought on sale for $.29 a can and fresh sweet potatoes bought on sale and the soup ingredients were also bought on sale and saved for the time they were used.

The truth is that for the "average" person, it's just not that fun to eat completely home cooked meals all day every day. We like to eat our junk and we like our convenience, and when you are talking junk and processed foods, yeah, unhealthy is way cheaper and easier than healthy. If your budget only allows so much for groceries, yeah, it's more fun to buy the junk that might cost the same as or just slightly less than the healthy stuff because if you spend your $$ on the healthy stuff, then you have nothing "fun" to eat and who wants that?

By the way, my family eats hot dogs occasionally and sugar cereal and other junk, too, but we maintain balance and have found plenty of ways to do this on a budget.

wmoomoo · February 2013

Mmm...... I live in California and go to Asian/Chinese supermarket..... Fresh fruit/veggies and meat are cheaper than junk food. 1lb of chicken costs the same as 1 bag of the smallest potato chip in the store. But I think it could be because most junk food in Asian supermarkets are imported. >_>

stumblinthrulife · February 2013

I grew up in a household where on many nights my mother's dinner was whatever I left on my plate. The first time I proudly presented a clean plate and said "look mummy, I ate it all!" my mother went without dinner. She made ends meet by growing our vegetables in the garden. She made up for lack of money with increased effort.

I'm now lucky enough, due to her excellent stewardship as I grew up, to not have to worry about my grocery budget. If I want it, it goes in the cart. But I still remember the effort she put into my nutrition, and I do the same for my daughter. I've had times when I fell into convenience food, I must confess. But currently we eat extremely healthfully. And regardless of extravagances I throw in the cart, my weekly grocery bill is rarely more than $150 for a family of four.

bunyapine · February 2013

We've started growing some of the basics ourselves and it doesn't need to take up much room. Zacchini, beans, tomatoes, capsicum, cucumber, radishes - they are big fruiters and surprising for a few plants what they produce. At present 4 tomtato plants and we are giving them away cause we cant eat quick enough. It isn't a big committment, just time to get it started and very relaxing to maintain.

MaraDiaz · February 2013

Calorie for calorie everything you listed healthy that supposedly costs the same costs more. It's per calorie, not per meal or serving.

For example, for around $1 I can buy three days worth of calories of snack cakes. Or I can buy three days worth of calories in steak for $30. We can all see which is cheaper.

concordancia · February 2013

Snack cakes don't compare to steak, they compare to rice. I don't have any info on your snack cakes, so I can't work out the math.

Hot dogs compare to beans. The average package of hot dogs has six 180 calorie dogs. A pound of beans makes twelve 100 calorie servings so assuming they are the same price, you have gotten slightly more calories out of the beans.

I doubt that your two pounds of nuggets has more calories than my six pounds of whole chicken, but they could be that bad.

stumblinthrulife · February 2013

And the beans will keep you full for longer than the hotdog.

WendyTerry420 · February 2013

Or you could buy a week's worth of potatoes/rice.

fitnwhole · February 2013

Yep!

WendyTerry420 · February 2013

I am just the opposite. I grew up suburban middle class. We used to sneak things in the cart when Mom wasn't looking, and while we got an earful, she bought it anyway. We used to throw away a TON of food. It is *very* rare today that my family will throw away anything. I have learned to remake any leftovers into something new, or take them to work for lunch. I have learned to buy in bulk and pre-plan everything.

We spend about $100 a week for the four of us, but when we buy what we want, such as when we get our tax refund, we will easily spend several hundred dollars stocking up canned goods and such that will last us a year.

Food4Fuel · February 2013

I had to change my mentality about food. Eating shouldn't be viewed as an arbitrary act of putting something edible in your mouth because it's time to eat, you're bored, sad, or celebrating. Food's primary purpose is to provide energy for your every day activities and allow you to be the best you can be. If you change the way that you view food, you will no longer view 2 dollar brownies or heavily processed pre-prepared dinners as an option because they aren't serving your food's primary purpose. It's not even a competition. Hence my username "Food4Fuel."

fitnwhole · February 2013

I have a family of 5 and when I need extra money for expenses that are not typically budgeted I usually hit my grocery budget first. Why? Because I've learned tricks that will allow me to feed my family of 5 for $100/week if I need to. When I shop I normally don't buy convenient food unless it's Digorno pizza (for Fridays or a sweet that I'm desperately craving). Typically I cook from scratch, avoid buying a lot of convenience food, and check the circulars for the meat that are on sale for the week so I can menu plan for the next week with that as a guide.

Here are a few staples that are fairly cheap and last a long way and I included in parenthesis some ideas for each item:

Oats (Oatmeal, baked oatmeal, cookies, bread, add to smoothies
Bean ( Rice & beans, add to soup, use in casseroles)
Rice
Whole Chicken (Roast it one day, Leftovers or make soup with the leftover meat/carcass, use leftover chicken for chicken salad for lunches, one pot chicken and rice meal with leftover chicken)
Whole Wheat flour (I make all of these from scratch: pancakes, waffles, bread {banana, applesauce, or pumpkin}, rolls, Sunday morning biscuits)
Cheap cut of beef (throw in slow cooker for a roast use leftover to make soup)
bananas ( cheap fruit!!! I never waste any because I can freeze for smoothies, use in banana bread for breakfast or snack, and of course a grab and go fruit)

To sum it up eating healthy becomes expensive when you try to maintain a diet of process foods IN ADDITION to healthy foods.

blu_meanie_ca · February 2013

It is true, ramen noodles are cheaper than brown rice. I don't know where some one get's canned spinach, but, I would guess it's cheap for a reason (eeewwww... soggy).
The whole point of side "B"s point of view isn't really an item for item break down. There are costly, and cheap items on both sides. THe point is , it's do-able, IF you willing to be creative, and sometimes repetative, to eat healthy on a budget. My grocery budget at it's lowest was 100/week (including diapers, ect). It's not always easy, it's not always fun, and you will get dish pan hands... but you also will get to eat.

Andrew_peter · February 2013

Healthy food is more expensive than junky food.
But cooking from scratch (with healthy base ingredients) which does take time and some skill is cheapest out of the bunch.

chadgard · February 2013

Unfortunately, you need to qualify that statement. Feedlot and grain-fed beef is very heavily subsidized. Grass fed beef is usually not. The latter, though, when done right is much better for the environment (can actually have a negative net carbon production and all but no runoff if pastures are managed properly, all without any synthetic fertilizers), and is nutritionally superior. Some folks don't think it tastes good, but I'm in the group that thinks grass fed tastes much better. I'm not sure if that's my knowledge of what a CAFO and slaughter house is like vs. watching my neighbor raise cows and having them processed at a local processor skewing my tastes, of if I would think the same in a blind taste test (it would have to be blind, though, 'cause it does look different)...

The trick there, though, is that you can't affordably buy it by the single cut. Often, you can't buy it at all by the single cut! I usually buy (or barter...) a half beef, which lasts about 2 1/2 years. Some farmers will offer it by the quarter as well (mine doesn't). 2 1/2 years of outstanding beef ends up costing about $600, including processing, but you do have to have quite a bit of freezer space. Now, the hamburger is more expensive than store bought. On the other hand, a ribeye or t-bone is the same price as hamburger, and you get the bones for making stock, tounge, heart, liver, etc. that are hard and expensive to find otherwise. The last two times I actually got the whole cow's worth of soup bones, because the person purchasing the other half didn't want them.

Oh, and if you like stew... Have them cut stew meat from the shin. Commercial stew meat is a "parts is parts" kind of thing, and generally doesn't have enough connective tissue and too much fat to make good stew. By default, shin is thrown away or made into hamburger by most custom processors (in this area, anyway) as well, so you have have to ask. But the results in your stew are well worth the question!

mojohowitz · February 2013

Don't forget to factor in the sodium and fat content.. Hot dogs have much more salt/fat than beans and thereby drop the nutritional value. Same goes for chicken nuggets.

The cost of Healthy Food vs. Junk Food

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