Why is it cheaper to eat unhealthfully...

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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!

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)

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.

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.

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

$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.

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

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.

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.

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.