Pound for pound, fresh food is less expensive.

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olDave
olDave Posts: 557 Member
in Food and Nutrition
A frequent topic on MFP is the cost of eating healthy vs. eating processed foods. Many believe that eating healthy is more expensive. However, if you compare fresh food "pound for pound" with processed, fresh comes out cheaper.

Case in point....a pound of potatoes is MUCH less expensive than a pound of potato chips.

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  • nokanjaijo
    nokanjaijo Posts: 466 Member
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    Why would you compare by weight? Wouldn't it make more sense to compare by calories? I don't know if that makes a difference. I'm just saying it's not a very fair comparison, doing it by weight.
  • jmmcs
    jmmcs Posts: 46 Member
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    It would take way more than 1 pound of potatoes to make 1 pound of potato chips.
  • olDave
    olDave Posts: 557 Member
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    Why would you compare by weight? Wouldn't it make more sense to compare by calories? I don't know if that makes a difference. I'm just saying it's not a very fair comparison, doing it by weight.


    If I want to get full (and also eat less calories), a fresh potato will do the job cheaper than the same weight of potato chips. But...don't take my word for it. Give it a try.:smile:
  • nokanjaijo
    nokanjaijo Posts: 466 Member
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    If I want to get full (and also eat less calories), a fresh potato will do the job cheaper than the same weight of potato chips. But...don't take my word for it. Give it a try.:smile:

    This isn't about healthy vs. processed, then. This is about calories dense food vs. calorie sparse food.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    Why would you compare by weight? Wouldn't it make more sense to compare by calories? I don't know if that makes a difference. I'm just saying it's not a very fair comparison, doing it by weight.


    If I want to get full (and also eat less calories), a fresh potato will do the job cheaper than the same weight of potato chips. But...don't take my word for it. Give it a try.:smile:

    I don't remember the last time I had either, but I would think the chips would be more filling by weight - they are starch and fat, whereas the potato is just starch and a bit more water.
  • allshebe
    allshebe Posts: 423 Member
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    According to this site <http://www.shoprite.com/pd/Lays/Potato-Chips-Classic-Family-Size/14-oz/028400083102/&gt; a serving of potato chips (1 oz/28 grams with 1 gram of fibre) is a whopping 15 chips and those 15 chips will "cost" you 150 calories, A medium baked potato will "cost" you 170 calories, but you're getting 173 grams of real food and 4 grams of fibre. You can make a meal from the baked potato; not so much with the chips.
  • olDave
    olDave Posts: 557 Member
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    If I want to get full (and also eat less calories), a fresh potato will do the job cheaper than the same weight of potato chips. But...don't take my word for it. Give it a try.:smile:

    This isn't about healthy vs. processed, then. This is about calories dense food vs. calorie sparse food.


    It's a simple, demonstrable fact. "pound for pound", fresh food is cheaper than processed food. That's all I am saying. :smile:
  • nokanjaijo
    nokanjaijo Posts: 466 Member
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    It's a simple, demonstrable fact. "pound for pound", fresh food is cheaper than processed food. That's all I am saying. :smile:

    And I am saying that comparing by weight isn't telling or informative.

    Pound for pound, my dog has a higher IQ than I do.

    That's an extreme example but you must get my point.
  • olDave
    olDave Posts: 557 Member
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    It's a simple, demonstrable fact. "pound for pound", fresh food is cheaper than processed food. That's all I am saying. :smile:

    And I am saying that comparing by weight isn't telling or informative.

    Pound for pound, my dog has a higher IQ than I do.

    That's an extreme example but you must get my point.


    So...what is not "telling" about the fact that a pound of fresh potatoes costs WAY less than a pound of potato chips? It's just math.
  • olDave
    olDave Posts: 557 Member
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    So....I just did a local comparison. In my area, a pound of potato chips costs about 100 times as much as a pound of potatoes. I would be very surprised if this wasn't very close to the same in most U.S. locales.

    In other words, if it takes me a pound of potatoes to get full, I'm going to save lots of money if I buy fresh potatoes instead of potato chips.
  • luvBabybear
    luvBabybear Posts: 5 Member
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    What you save on medications and Dr appointments makes the cost very low.

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