Is it more expensive to eat healthy?

gfedex

I think I am a minority here. I am young, pretty much poor and living in a house with 4 other adults. I work a lot as does everyone else. I can tell you that the cost to buy and prepare all of our meals (Lunches/breakfast/Dinner) Is a lot more expensive with healthy food.

Buying lettuce/fresh veggies for a salad plus eggs or other protein to put in it for a lunch is a lot more expensive than packing a can of ravioli (knock off brand) or a pack of ramen.

I am trying to buy healthy food, but it is breaking our bank.

I'm in a similar situation. Do I eat healthy? Sure- but it's the same sweet potatoes, eggs, oranges and tuna on a daily basis. I do what I can- shopping the sales, not going out to eat- but it's hard when you're trying to exercise and get enough to fuel workouts. I can manage because it's just me, but I can't imagine trying to feed a family on a very limited budget.

I agree that to prepping meals from scratch is cheaper than takeouts and restaurants, *if* you already had the disposable income to go out for meals and are switching to homemade stuff. If not, it's a bit irrelevant- and the dozen hotdogs, boxed macaroni, white bread and cheap peanut butter could be a week's worth of breakfast and dinner for a low-income family. Eating healthy now has long-term benefits, but if the budget only calls for things that can keep your kids from going to bed hungry, I'd imagine that would take precedence over organic spinach.

CharityGC

I don't think it's more expensive to buy healthy foods. Since I started shopping and cooking more from scratch, my food bills haven't gone up. I just spend more on certain things which means I spend less on others. I also shop the sales, a lot. Whatever fruits and veggies are on sale this week are what we eat. I meal plan from the sale papers and, while it takes some time, it is better for us health wise and financially.

Curvynerdgirl

From what I have found, it really depends on what you are buying, where you are buying it, and how many you are feeding: For example, Organic will always cost more from what I have found. That is why I tend to only buy organic when it is on sale and I can get a good deal. Other times, I just scrub the heck out of what I am eating. Additionally, Meat also tends to be expensive, especially when you are buying lean or organic. I feed three people, not just myself, and get by approximately on 80-100 bucks a week. Granted, this is including non food items that are just basic necessities. Many studies have shown however poverty and Obesity are tied for a reason. For example, one person cited the list of vegetables they bought for 25 bucks, but those veggies alone would not feed my family. However, a few boxes of Kraft mac and cheese will feed my family for a week for five dollars, or less. Its about u picking and choosing what you are willing to spend money on. For example- bread. I love bread. My husband loves bread. But I hate wheat ( I know, I know, its healthier...but it's taste, no matter the brand, tastes harsh to me. I like white). We compromised and started buying a brand called Portland French Bakery. Very short list of ingredients, all things that look like they belong in bread and NO SUGAR!

Again, its doable, but yes, I think if you don't have resources to research and many mouths to feed, it can get expensive.

If you are looking to eat healthy, I recommend Cooks Illustrated Healthy Family Cook Book. Great, easy, doable recipes that do not skimp on flavor or quality. Also, the five dollar dinner mom is pretty good. The series EAT THIS, NOT THAT is excellent. Hit up your local library as there are a plethora of books to help you out in this area

c2111

im making carrot soup for dinner costing about $1.50 and serves 4 ! 500g carrots $99 cents 100 g red lentils 50 cents, stock cube, 20 cents, garlic ginger dash of oi, waterl and thats it.

Learn how to cook and manage your money.

Also 1 bag of corn kernals makes a he ll of a lot of popcorn costs $ 3.00 and makes a lot of serves probably 10
a bag of chips is $3.00 here

i save a lot of money approx 28 bucks by making my own healthy popcorn

raquel424

I guess it depends where you are in regards to availability of import vs local produce where prices make a difference between the two. I cook from scratch every night for a family of 4 but I haven't seen a dramatic expense increase since I started buying less canned/boxed/ready meals food and more fresh. Separate ingredients make you more than one meal. Planning i find is the biggest money savor, I make a menu for the week on the fridge, only shop for the missing ingredients I need and stick to that. When any meats are on sale, I buy an extra or two and freeze. Also because I don't want to be in the kitchen for hours every night, I tend to have 3-4 meal that take a lot of work and then simple quick meals that are cheap still healthy for the rest of the week.

Best of luck

NanaWubbie

I am finding it is NOT as expensive to eat healthy. With the junk, you tend to eat more....more food, more expensive.

SprinkledWithEmotion

I try to eat fruits and vegetables that are in season and that helps a lot. I make a lot of things from scratch instead of highly processed convenience foods. I think I spend less on food then I did before, maybe 'cause I eat less of it.

Lifting_Knitter

I spend less on healthy. even though I was shopping once a week for groceries and spent less at the time, we ran through the junk faster and I would make daily trips to the store so it ended up being more expensive.

jbonow1231

Part of this depends on where you live. If you live in a dreaded "food desert" in a big inner city, just getting to a place that sells produce of any kind can be a challenge, so you have to add transportation costs onto the cost of the food.

For me, one of the biggest changes in cost after switching to healthier eating and further being diagnosed as gluten intolerant, is that I am a big coupon fan - and while I still average about 30% savings with my couponing, it certainly isn't the cart-fulls of free food you can manage when you are eating lower quality food - as that what the most coupons are available for. I mean case in point - how often do you find coupons off fresh produce (though Earthbound Farms offers a coupon every other week or so.)

But - I'm still working on learning to cook more from scratch. I made my first batch of homemade gluten free muffins the other day. So - the price might drop more once I don't need to buy as many "convenience" foods, even if they are of a more healthy variety.

JaceyMarieS

I've found it to be MUCH cheaper to eat healthy - my grocery bill is 1/2 what it was. Much of the savings can be attributed to the fact that i actually cook now. I used to plan a menu, shop for groceries and then go out instead - lots of waste. And my food lasts longer - I don't sit down and eat a bag of apples ($2.99), but I used to routinely sit down and polish off a bag of potato chips ($2.89)

I do stock up as much as possible. A local butcher just featured boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.69/lb - $.30 cheaper than any weekly sale from any local grocery including Aldi's. the catch was that you had to purchase 35 lbs, which I was happy to do. the same butcher featured NY strip steaks for $3.99/lb - you had to purchase a whole loin, but the butcher cut to order and vacuum-sealed the individual steaks. I stock up on frozen veggies when they are sale for $1/bag.

bostonwolf

Dried beans (lentils, black beans, pinto beans, lima beans, etc) are the key to eating cheap.

You also need to buy a whole chicken and roast it instead of parts, then make stock/broth with the bones and carcass. That stock will be used to cook the beans and make them much more flavorful.

Once the farmer's markets start up again (I'm in the northeast US, so they only run June through October) you can find some good deals if you focus on buying seasonal. And once tomatoes come into season and they have more than they can sell, load up and make sauce with them and freeze it.

For those really interested in learning how to eat cheap, check out this blog:

http://thirtyaweek.wordpress.com/

hasn't been updated recently but the older posts have plenty of great tips on eating cheap and eating well.

kwagganin

In south africa fresh produce is cheaper. Farmers produce most of the veg, fruits, seeds and meats. High quality meats is obiously more expensive. We buy meat at a butchery. More for less. Grocery store meat is more expensive for less kg and the quality isn't so great. Electricity bill is killing us more (majority of south africans still use electrical stoves and electricity is VERY expensive). This is our veg, fruit and meat bill a month. fruit and veg - R(south african rand) 1500 . Meat - R 1500. R1500/R8.50(us dollar exchange rate $1 = R8.50) = $176.4 . So our fresh produce plus meat is $352.8 for a month and a half worth food.