Why is it cheaper to eat unhealthfully...
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I also live in Ontario. They never go over a dollar a pound at my local No Frills, and when they're super cheap they're grown in Ontario and consequently super fresh, too! Do you live in Toronto and/or shop at high-end grocery stores? :noway: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:
WOW! Where the in Canada did you get that? OMG, a 4 pack of peppers is 6.99 here in Ontario (not even organic), & if you buy them individually it's approx., 2.50 per pepper.0 -
If you have a Trader Joe's near you, shop there. Their produce does vary from store to store, but the rest of their stuff is pretty much standard. They have lots of organic products and their name brand items are generally very inexpensive. They also make sure to not use any GMO ingredients in their name brand stuff. If you're lucky enough to have a store with great produce, you will save a ton of money over "regular" grocery stores.0
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I actually found that's its much cheaper to eat health. I used to eat out all my meals, my stove had been collecting rust lol. In the past a typical day would cost me anywhere between $30 -35.This included coffee, no breakfast, lunch from the food court and Chinese take out ... wow no wonder I gained all that weight. Now I maybe spend 15 a day and most of that's is still for the numerous cups of coffees. So not giving that's up.
I'll make a few dishes on Sunday and they last me for most of the week. Now my grocery bill is less then 100 per week and I try to look at the flyers to see what's on sale & use that. In the summer I go to the local market for Vaggies
& fruit, tast better and cheaper also.0 -
To prove a point, from my local grocery store:
1/2 gallon of Skim Plus - $3
Gallon of Whole Milk - $3.99
loaf of 100% whole grain bread (Arnold's) - $4.49
loaf of white bread - $1.99
75% lean Ground beef (value size pack) - $3.89/lb
93% lean Ground beef (not available in a value pack size) - $5.79/lb
These are way more than a 30 cent difference. Again, this has nothing to do with the costs of long term health, etc.
I am just comparing apples to apples here, and the price differences are very obvious. But yet people keep saying this isn't true. Maybe it isn't true for you if you have access to farms and who knows what, but for many people, this is reality.
Whole milk is healthy. It has more calories, so drink less. That makes it even a better deal.
What brand is the white bread you compare to Arnold's? I see plenty of whole wheat and white cheaper brands in the 1-2 range. I don't have the money for a 4.50 loaf of bread, but I can still get healthy bread cheaper.
You need to compare the same size packs of ground beef. Did you ask anyone in the butcher area if they could pack the more lean meat in a value pack at a discount? A lot of times they will do stuff like that. Besides, eating healthy doesn't always mean you get to eat the exact things you used to eat. We swap all the time. Bottom line is, with careful shopping, we spend much less than when we get the pre-packaged foods.0 -
a plot by the man not only to hold you down but give you poor health to buy the script drugs they make bazillions on ..... its not really that hard to fathom if you think about it0
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Eating healthy can be cheap, but it does take work and extra time. To me its worth it but believe me, I can understand why people go through drive thrus or eat lots of banquet pot pies, hot dogs, ramen, chips, etc. Grab heat then eat. Then there's the clean up....I make all my meals and even most of what goes into my daughters' lunch bags. Graham crackers, protein bars, yogurt, pancakes etc. My freezer is over-flowing! And I don't even have a dishwasher!
But my food tastes way better, I use less ingredients(fillers) and make them my way and many times it is cheaper. For example, I make enough plain organic yogurt that I eat 5-6 days per week, plus my kids and my daycare kids eat at least twice a week all for $3.58. It takes me 13 1/2 hours to make it though (I don't have a yogurt maker) and then I drain it in small portions for me to make thick Greek yogurt. Not everyone is willing to put in that much time and effort into saving some bucks but it taste amazing and I can make it any flavor I want!0 -
The farmers market, Aldi's, and Walmart actually make it cheaper to eat healthy than to eat unhealthy. And not feeling like my stomach is going to drop out of me, like McDonalds does, kind of makes it an even bigger bonus!0
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I hate, HATE this excuse. It's not true. A family of 4 eats at McDonalds for, what, $15? I made grass-fed beef shortribs braised in red wine with barley, asparagus and artichokes for $4.75 per serving last night: $6 bottle of table wine, $7 chuck roast on sale, $1.50 barley, $2 asparagus, $2.50 artichokes. So $0.75 more per person AND we had 2 servings of veggies. This is one of the most expensive dinners in my regular rotation.
There's a major misconception that "healthy" means only the best, most expensive, organic-free-range-massaged-twice-daily-sung-lullabies-at-night products. Sure, grass-fed beef and organic chicken are more expensive, but that's not the only route to healthy. Basic dry beans & legumes, grains, and local produce, while not as trendy as some of the expensive stuff, is just as good for you. Even organic meat goes on sale occasionally.
There are a million resources here and elsewhere on the internet that show how to eat healthfully on a budget, even if you're short on time. People who cling to "it's too expensive to eat healthy" or "I don't have time to cook" are just not willing to make the change for their health.0 -
It is simply not cheaper to eat unhealthy food.To prove a point, from my local grocery store:
1/2 gallon of Skim Plus - $3
Gallon of Whole Milk - $3.99
loaf of 100% whole grain bread (Arnold's) - $4.49
loaf of white bread - $1.99
Any reasonable person would just buy the cheaper version of those products, as the variation in nutrition is minimal and not worth the price differential. What should be compared instead is the price and nutritional value of a meal made from scratch versus prepackaged/takeaway food.
If you make all your meals from scratch, they work out significantly cheaper than unhealthy food!
What I do every Saturday morning is work out every meal I'm going to eat for the week. Then I go to the market (great quality and half the price of a supermarket) and buy all the raw ingredients to make those meals. I normally spend about AUD$100 which gives my wife and I 6 dinners and 6 lunches for the week (and the buying power in Australia is a lot less than the US). For example, minestrone soup is a regular at our table; it's really tasty, nutritious and it costs about $5 to make 6 serves!
If I bought a takeaway meal for my wife and I here, it would cost $25 for one meal and I'd be hungry in an hour.0 -
The farmers market, Aldi's, and Walmart actually make it cheaper to eat healthy than to eat unhealthy. And not feeling like my stomach is going to drop out of me, like McDonalds does, kind of makes it an even bigger bonus!
Wal-Mart gladly sells GMO corn. That's not healthy.0 -
Interesting link about regular burger meat vs super lean
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/reducedfatgroundbeef.htm
We shop bulk for our meats, frozen veggies, fresh veggies, and eggs which are all staple foods in our diet.
Fresh meats are butchered and portioned by us. A large pork loin can be sliced into chops, roasts, and cubed and it costs under $20 and makes multiple meals for a family of four (also left overs go into lunches).
Ground beef can be processed into patties and 1 lb portions to use for chili and such, a pack of 90/10 costs around $13.00.
At my local super market 2 bags of chips costs $7.00, that's crazy! There is no way eating unhealthy is cheaper.
Of course eating healthy could be more expensive if you go all organic or eat exotic fruits and veggies. Normal foods are very affordable and versatile. There are so many every day foods that have been made into devils when they really aren't.0 -
To prove a point, from my local grocery store:
1/2 gallon of Skim Plus - $3
Gallon of Whole Milk - $3.99
loaf of 100% whole grain bread (Arnold's) - $4.49
loaf of white bread - $1.99
75% lean Ground beef (value size pack) - $3.89/lb
93% lean Ground beef (not available in a value pack size) - $5.79/lb
These are way more than a 30 cent difference. Again, this has nothing to do with the costs of long term health, etc.
I am just comparing apples to apples here, and the price differences are very obvious. But yet people keep saying this isn't true. Maybe it isn't true for you if you have access to farms and who knows what, but for many people, this is reality.
The milk thing sucks. Prices are geographic and have a little to do with farmer subsidies. Powdered lowfat milk always stays about the same price and, as someone who uses it, it's pretty good as long as it's really cold. It's fine for cooking.
White bread is basically sugar and cheaper than wheat because of the last 80 years of demand for bread that doesn't look or taste like bread. Baking your own bread is time consuming but much cheaper and about as healthy as bread can be.
Regarding beef: First off, lean meat is more expensive because you get more actual meat with it. Ever notice that 1/4lb burgers made from 93% lean meat stay significantly larger after cooking than those made with 75% lean? That said, meat is incredibly expensive in this country in general because of the costs of production, whether it's grass or grain fed. If you want to eat beef, most people have to budget for it, buy it on sale, buy it in bulk, forego convenience packaging, and generally cut down on their consumption. If you expect to pop into the market and buy beef without planning ahead, expect to pay a premium (especially as corn prices continue to rise).
Not meaning to be rude, but I have a really hard time believing that in the U.S. in the summer you have zero access to a farmer's market, a Ralph's, Sprouts, Trader Joe's or any other grocery store that sells local produce. You may have to go to more than one store.
I get the point you're trying to make by doing a price comparison, but the common theme is that CONVENIENCE, not "healthy eating," is what is more expensive.0 -
I give up, you can't talk sense to a bunch of closed minded people.
Yes, these prices are valid where I live, as well as MANY OTHER PEOPLE. All of you saying "the low fat items don't cost more" are basing that on WHERE YOU LIVE and you are disregarding the fact that doesn't apply to EVERYONE.
As far as the Arnold's brand versus store brand, I was just posting an EXAMPLE. of course store brands would be cheaper than a brand name, but they aren't ALWAYS AVAILABLE everywhere. Finally, I listed Meat, Milk and bread - these are not processed foods. So I don't know what H*LL you are talking about.0 -
I have never heard of Ralph's or Sprouts. Trust me, in Northern New Jersey we DO NOT have Farmer's markets like that. We have Trader Joe's (about 15 miles away from me), which does sell produce, but it is MORE expensive than the grocery store.
Not meaning to be rude, but I have a really hard time believing that in the U.S. in the summer you have zero access to a farmer's market, a Ralph's, Sprouts, Trader Joe's or any other grocery store that sells local produce. You may have to go to more than one store.
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And for the amount that gas costs, I'm not going to drive all over the state to save money on groceries, because that would defeat the purpose.0 -
It is simply not cheaper to eat unhealthy food.To prove a point, from my local grocery store:
1/2 gallon of Skim Plus - $3
Gallon of Whole Milk - $3.99
loaf of 100% whole grain bread (Arnold's) - $4.49
loaf of white bread - $1.99
Any reasonable person would just buy the cheaper version of those products, as the variation in nutrition is minimal and not worth the price differential. What should be compared instead is the price and nutritional value of a meal made from scratch versus prepackaged/takeaway food.
If you make all your meals from scratch, they work out significantly cheaper than unhealthy food!
What I do every Saturday morning is work out every meal I'm going to eat for the week. Then I go to the market (great quality and half the price of a supermarket) and buy all the raw ingredients to make those meals. I normally spend about AUD$100 which gives my wife and I 6 dinners and 6 lunches for the week (and the buying power in Australia is a lot less than the US). For example, minestrone soup is a regular at our table; it's really tasty, nutritious and it costs about $5 to make 6 serves!
If I bought a takeaway meal for my wife and I here, it would cost $25 for one meal and I'd be hungry in an hour.
Ok, you eat white bread and drink whole milk everyday and we'll see who loses weight.0 -
I give up, you can't talk sense to a bunch of closed minded people.
Yes, these prices are valid where I live, as well as MANY OTHER PEOPLE. All of you saying "the low fat items don't cost more" are basing that on WHERE YOU LIVE and you are disregarding the fact that doesn't apply to EVERYONE.
As far as the Arnold's brand versus store brand, I was just posting an EXAMPLE. of course store brands would be cheaper than a brand name, but they aren't ALWAYS AVAILABLE everywhere. Finally, I listed Meat, Milk and bread - these are not processed foods. So I don't know what H*LL you are talking about.
And we've said repeatedly that this thread isn't about better quality foods costing more than lower quality foods. It was about the cost of fast food vs grocery food.
Also, low fat doesn't mean healthier, and bread is most certainly a processed food. Milk might be considered one too. If you're really nit-picky... so is meat, unless you're buying an entire cow.0 -
I give up, you can't talk sense to a bunch of closed minded people...................................So I don't know what H*LL you are talking about.
And we can't explain things to someone whose learning curve is a straight line.0 -
Trust me, in Northern New Jersey we DO NOT have Farmer's markets like that.
Bullcrap. I lived in Jersey for 32 years.
Here is a nice list to help you shop (This is just for Sussex County, you can choose any county from the state's main page).
http://www.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/agriculture/jerseyfresh/search.pl?type=roadside&county1=sussex0 -
I went to the grocery store yesterday and I spent $10.99. I bought:
a green pepper (39 cents)
steak (1.30 a serving - 3 servings - about 3.90)
corn tortillas (less than 3 cents a serving - 45 cents)
sour cream (about 10 cents a serving - 1.59)
butter spread (about 10 cents a serving - 1.49)
two cans of tuna (2 servings a can at 79 cents can)
store brand Miracle Whip (less than 10 cents a serving - 1.59)
My dinner last night cost me $2.69 which consisted of steak fajitas. Order steak fajitas at a restaurant and you're easily looking at $10.99.
With everything I have purchased and the things I have on hand (bread, mustard, salsa) and picked up more peppers today: I had enough to have steak fajitas 3 times and 4 tuna salad sandwiches.0 -
Let's do a comparison like fuel economy for cars and compare this to other foods. Instead of Mpg (Miles per gallon) we will use Cpd = Calories per Dollar. This is just a rating for what fuel you get for your buck and nothing else. And let's do all our shopping at Walmart web page and if price is not available use prices from groceries2gonow.
How does this particular fast food compare to grocery foods from Walmart:
First we get the Cpd for MCD
If you get all 11 items from the dollar menu the McDonald web page tells me 2610 calories total (Total Fat: 116g btw – so half the calories are from fat!)
2610 calories / 11 = 237.272727273 calories per $1 spend.
As higher the Cpd as better and a lower Cpd indicates not a good deal...
McDonald dollar menu = 237 Cpd
Great Value: Vegetable Oil, 1 Gal = 4668 Cpd
Great Value: Enriched Hamburger Buns = 564 Cpd
Great Value: Buttermilk Frozen Biscuits, 41.6 Oz = 448 Cpd
Great Value 75/25 100% Pure Beef Burgers, 32ct = 660 Cpd
Great Value Sweet Iced Tea, 1gal = 516 Cpd
Great Value Deluxe American Cheese, 48 oz = 381 Cpd
Great Value Southern Fried Chicken Breast Patties, 23.84 oz = 293 Cpd
From this I conclude that MCD is not even that good compaired to other “unhealthy” foods.0 -
It is simply not cheaper to eat unhealthy food.To prove a point, from my local grocery store:
1/2 gallon of Skim Plus - $3
Gallon of Whole Milk - $3.99
loaf of 100% whole grain bread (Arnold's) - $4.49
loaf of white bread - $1.99
Any reasonable person would just buy the cheaper version of those products, as the variation in nutrition is minimal and not worth the price differential. What should be compared instead is the price and nutritional value of a meal made from scratch versus prepackaged/takeaway food.
If you make all your meals from scratch, they work out significantly cheaper than unhealthy food!
What I do every Saturday morning is work out every meal I'm going to eat for the week. Then I go to the market (great quality and half the price of a supermarket) and buy all the raw ingredients to make those meals. I normally spend about AUD$100 which gives my wife and I 6 dinners and 6 lunches for the week (and the buying power in Australia is a lot less than the US). For example, minestrone soup is a regular at our table; it's really tasty, nutritious and it costs about $5 to make 6 serves!
If I bought a takeaway meal for my wife and I here, it would cost $25 for one meal and I'd be hungry in an hour.
Ok, you eat white bread and drink whole milk everyday and we'll see who loses weight.
I drink whole milk. It hasn't stopped me from losing weight. White bread won't automatically halt weight loss either.0 -
Everybody (or most) are missing the point!
A package of 93% lean ground beef is MORE EXPENSIVE than the same size package of 80% lean beef.
A package of multigrain or whole wheat bread is more expensive than a loaf of White wonder bread.
A gallon of skim milk is more expensive than a gallon of whole milk.
These are straight up facts - same package sizes, but cheaper for the "less healthy" items.
How can you say that isn't true??
I am not talking about how much it costs overall to feed my family with healthy foods, vs. fast food.
I'm talking about the one-to-one comparision of buying these healthy items vs. unhealthier items.
That's nowhere near the original comparison, but I'll bite.
80% vs 93% ground beef - drain it, or cook it in a way that the fat can be removed (skillet cook it before putting it in baked dishes, grill it, etc). Also, if you're in an area with (non-factory) farms nearby, you can get far, far better meat (in fat content and quality), for cheap, because you can buy it direct from the farmers or butchers.
Multigrain vs White - I'm not sure I'd even classify Wonder bread as actually being food, but aside from that... last time I was at Aldi (which, granted, has been a while), wheat bread was only about 10-20 cents more than white bread. There's also the option to make your own. Seriously, bread is dead simple to make - yeast, sugar, flour, water - mix together, let rise, bake. Want whole wheat bread? Buy whole wheat flour.
Skim vs whole milk - again, I've never seen more than about a 30 cent difference. And that depends on the state (in some states, milk prices are regulated; in PA, skim milk ($3.27-$3.48) is cheaper than whole milk ($3.64-$3.85) - http://www.mmb.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/pricing_information/4744 ). If you're so poor that you're sweating over a 30 cent difference on milk, then perhaps you should be looking at canned or powdered milk (or rethinking your milk usage altogether; the same goes for bread).
And yep, I've been there. Most of my family is still there (my mom, as well as my aunt and uncle, hover in that no-man's land where they make too much for assistance programs, but not enough to really get away from living paycheck to paycheck). They've handled it by cooking at home, growing their own stuff and/or getting food from other growers, and doing crazy things with coupons (my aunt is borderline extreme couponer; most of the stuff, I personally wouldn't eat, but I can't deny her effectiveness on getting stuff that they eat for literally next to nothing).
80% lean beef is DISGUSTING. If you are trying to eat healthy, draining the fat from it is not enough. And who is going to start making their own bread every week? Should we buy cows and make our own milk and butter too??
I'm not saying that there aren't ways around the price differences, I am just trying to point out that there are clear differences in price between the healthy and unhealthy food options in the GROCERY STORE. I'd say the majority of people don't have access to non-factory farms or cheap farmer's markets. We have to shop at the local grocery store chains, and have no choice on the prices. Sure, I could drive 40 miles to a farmer's market, but I'm not saving money when I need to pay for my gas.
The store brand breads go on sale for the same price for the healthier or less healthier. Whole milk isn't less healthy than skim, in fact, many people would argue the opposite of that, you just have to portion properly for the calories. The 'healthy' vs. 'non-healthy' snack packs just switch out chemicals for chemicals. You are just lowering the amount of calories. There are many options throughout the store to make the same foods you enjoy without paying more.
Call me stupid then, I make my own bread because the bread aisle is one of the most disturbing aisles out there, you think a bread is healthy and then you read the ingredients.0 -
Interesting link about regular burger meat vs super lean
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/reducedfatgroundbeef.htm
We shop bulk for our meats, frozen veggies, fresh veggies, and eggs which are all staple foods in our diet.
Fresh meats are butchered and portioned by us. A large pork loin can be sliced into chops, roasts, and cubed and it costs under $20 and makes multiple meals for a family of four (also left overs go into lunches).
Ground beef can be processed into patties and 1 lb portions to use for chili and such, a pack of 90/10 costs around $13.00.
At my local super market 2 bags of chips costs $7.00, that's crazy! There is no way eating unhealthy is cheaper.
Of course eating healthy could be more expensive if you go all organic or eat exotic fruits and veggies. Normal foods are very affordable and versatile. There are so many every day foods that have been made into devils when they really aren't.
My family is greek so we eat a lot of Lamb. My parents bought a lamb from a local farm, it was about 200 bucks, enough meat for the entire year. Since most lamb comes from New Zealand and is quite expensive in the store, it was a lot cheaper going this route and we supported our local farm.0 -
My family is greek so we eat a lot of Lamb. My parents bought a lamb from a local farm, it was about 200 bucks, enough meat for the entire year. Since most lamb comes from New Zealand and is quite expensive in the store, it was a lot cheaper going this route and we supported our local farm.
:gasp: !!!! I'm jealous. I'm still looking for somewhere close by that has lamb (not to mention remembering to do so when it's "in season"). I love me some lamb when I can find it, though. nomnomnom0 -
My family is greek so we eat a lot of Lamb. My parents bought a lamb from a local farm, it was about 200 bucks, enough meat for the entire year. Since most lamb comes from New Zealand and is quite expensive in the store, it was a lot cheaper going this route and we supported our local farm.
:gasp: !!!! I'm jealous. I'm still looking for somewhere close by that has lamb (not to mention remembering to do so when it's "in season"). I love me some lamb when I can find it, though. nomnomnom
Dragonwolf how about 15 miles away?? http://www.jorgensen-farms.com/0 -
I remember in college a friend of mine had a family farm and we'd all rented a condominium. I live downstairs (bedroom + bathroom) while my two guy friends shared a bathroom upstairs and had their own separate area. It was like living in a dorm. Their girlfriends were friends of mine so it was relatively fun. Well, he basically bought us a cow (1/2 went to parents) and we helped pay the cost. We had a deep freezer and meat enough to last the whole school year. It was insane. It was way cheaper than going to the store. You have to find someone who sells and butchers them too though.0
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This is the sort of mentality that gets people fat and keeps them fat! It's LAZY! It's SO much cheaper to make your own batch of healthy turkey burgers for your family with a side of salad than it is to buy them Big Macs and french fries!
When it comes to convenient food, sure, it is easier to be unhealthy (that's the word you are looking for btw)... not many salads or grilled options on the dollar menu.
Make your own food, make it from scratch from healthy, fresh ingredients. I think you'll find with a little effort, you'll easily be able to budget fantastic meals for your family for much cheaper than the family meal at KFC will cost you.
If you are truly struggling, here's a great place to start: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com.au/ (Yes, it's an Australian website, but I'm American and have lived in both countries... you probably wouldn't be too surprised that a lot of the food is the same and it's actually MUCH cheaper in America). Anyways, a vast majority of these meals are healthy and delicious and they wont cost you much at all! This is just one site of many... there are so many penny saving blogs from hard working moms trying to save a buck and still feed their family well.
I'm sorry, I'm just so very sick of hearing people say this. It's an excuse to stay fat, don't fall into this false belief!0 -
To prove a point, from my local grocery store:
1/2 gallon of Skim Plus - $3
Gallon of Whole Milk - $3.99
loaf of 100% whole grain bread (Arnold's) - $4.49
loaf of white bread - $1.99
75% lean Ground beef (value size pack) - $3.89/lb
93% lean Ground beef (not available in a value pack size) - $5.79/lb
These are way more than a 30 cent difference. Again, this has nothing to do with the costs of long term health, etc.
I am just comparing apples to apples here, and the price differences are very obvious. But yet people keep saying this isn't true. Maybe it isn't true for you if you have access to farms and who knows what, but for many people, this is reality.
Seriously with the bread prices? You don't have to buy Arnold's whole grain bread, the store brands are MUCH cheaper. You've picked one of the highest prices wholegrain bread and compared it against one of the lowest priced white bread.
Light Milk and Full Milk cost the same where I come from.
As for meat, there are often specials on different types of meat, if it's on special, stock up! That's why some genius invented freezers! Prices fluctuate on a daily basis and I know I buy heaps of chicken breast when they go on special!0 -
80% lean beef is DISGUSTING. If you are trying to eat healthy, draining the fat from it is not enough. And who is going to start making their own bread every week? Should we buy cows and make our own milk and butter too??
I'm not saying that there aren't ways around the price differences, I am just trying to point out that there are clear differences in price between the healthy and unhealthy food options in the GROCERY STORE. I'd say the majority of people don't have access to non-factory farms or cheap farmer's markets. We have to shop at the local grocery store chains, and have no choice on the prices. Sure, I could drive 40 miles to a farmer's market, but I'm not saving money when I need to pay for my gas.To prove a point, from my local grocery store:
1/2 gallon of Skim Plus - $3
Gallon of Whole Milk - $3.99
loaf of 100% whole grain bread (Arnold's) - $4.49
loaf of white bread - $1.99
75% lean Ground beef (value size pack) - $3.89/lb
93% lean Ground beef (not available in a value pack size) - $5.79/lb
These are way more than a 30 cent difference. Again, this has nothing to do with the costs of long term health, etc.
I am just comparing apples to apples here, and the price differences are very obvious. But yet people keep saying this isn't true. Maybe it isn't true for you if you have access to farms and who knows what, but for many people, this is reality.I give up, you can't talk sense to a bunch of closed minded people.
Yes, these prices are valid where I live, as well as MANY OTHER PEOPLE. All of you saying "the low fat items don't cost more" are basing that on WHERE YOU LIVE and you are disregarding the fact that doesn't apply to EVERYONE.
As far as the Arnold's brand versus store brand, I was just posting an EXAMPLE. of course store brands would be cheaper than a brand name, but they aren't ALWAYS AVAILABLE everywhere. Finally, I listed Meat, Milk and bread - these are not processed foods. So I don't know what H*LL you are talking about.
You're not comparing apples to apples. You're comparing brand name healthy foods with store brand cheap foods.
Go to Aldi, or Sam's Club, or Save-a-lot, or whatever very-low-cost store you have around you and look at the cost of the white bread and the wheat bread of the same brand. As I said previously, Aldi wheat bread is only about a quarter more expensive than Aldi white bread. On a side note, bread freezes very well. When it's on sale, buy a whole bunch of it and stash it in your freezer.
The same goes for the milk. You're comparing the store brand's whole milk to the name brand skim milk. New Jersey regulates milk prices. That means that milk prices should be predictable based on certain criteria. I'm not sure what that criteria is (since NJ doesn't make that information as easily-findable as PA does), but according to the Wegman's website, milk in Mount Laurel, NJ costs $2.99 for Whole milk and $2.51 for Skim (per gallon). Given that you mentioned that Whole milk in your area was $3.99, I'm willing to bet that the same brand of Skim milk will be around $3.50 a gallon. Depending on where, exactly, you're at in northern New Jersey, you could always just go over to PA, where you can find milk for around $2.75 a gallon (the Philly area isn't in the highest-priced zone for milk pricing in PA, if I remember correctly, so it won't be quite as high as the top-end prices I cited earlier).
And if you find 80% ground beef to be gross, then don't buy ground beef. Buy chicken instead. Or hell, buy unground beef and grind it yourself (as weird as it sounds, it may actually be cheaper to buy sirloin or a semi-premium cut and grind it yourself).
Don't forget, too, that eating healthier isn't an all-or-nothing thing. If you can't afford the pastured, grass-fed, 99% lean beef, but you can afford to upgrade from 75% to 85% lean, then great! Or you can't get the Arnold Dutch Country Premium 7-Grain bread, but you can upgrade to Schwebel's Whole-Wheat bread, awesome! That's the best you can do right now, and that's okay. The point is to make the healthiest choices that you can make given both your monetary and time budget, and be on the lookout for other ways you can save while still buying higher quality and healthier foods.
And did you seriously just comparing making your own bread to raising and milking a cow? Sadly, that explains a lot about your point of view. If you're so put off by making your own bread (here's a ton of recipes, by the way, you'll find that for most of them, the hardest part is mixing the ingredients together, and the most time-consuming part is waiting for the dough to rise - http://allrecipes.com/recipes/bread/ ) that you compare it to buying a cow for getting your own milk and butter, then you really need some help. I assure you, making bread isn't difficult, and it's loads better than anything you get from a store (because you have full control over what goes into it). It's a good thing I didn't suggest other things, like making your own applesauce.
Speaking of buying cows, if you can get access to raw milk and are willing to take the time, why not make your own butter and skim milk? You could get a cow, if you wanted and had the land. It might actually be cheaper, overall (and might even be able to make you some money, or at least break even for the cost of the cow). Let the cow graze (hey look! No lawnmowing!), sell the breeding rights, sell the calves (or have your own veal), and have fresh, pastured, free-range, no-hormones, unadulterated, fresh milk every morning. (Yes, actually getting a cow is a little extreme, but someone has to do it to get the milk you're complaining about. It's actually not much of a stretch, from there, to just cut out the middlemen. However, I'm being totally serious about making your own butter and "processed" milk if you can get your hands on raw milk. If you're willing to put in the work, it's so much better than anything you'd get in a store.)
But, back to being serious, if you're so concerned about the price of milk, then perhaps you should do without milk altogether. Milk isn't really necessary, and you can reallocate that money to buying a couple of bags of frozen vegetables (which are, in fact, as healthy as fresh, as long as they don't have anything added). If you get the right veggies, calcium isn't an issue. And look! You've cut out 100+ calories per serving.
Also, technically speaking, all three are processed in some manner. Do you really think the milk you get in the store is exactly the same as straight from a cow? Bread is flour, sugar, water, and yeast, which need to be combined, and the flour itself goes through a drying and milling process in order to be used as flour. Table sugar usually comes from sugar cane, which has to be highly processed to end up in the form you get it. The beef is probably the least processed of those three, and even that goes through some, if you count the butchering and...well...grinding process.
Um, northern New Jersey? You're like right next door to Pennsylvania Amish country. According to Google Maps, it's 2 hours and 45 minutes from Parsippany, NJ to Lancaster, PA. If you invest in a chest freezer and a couple of coolers, you can go there and probably buy an entire cow (or 1/2 of one) for a fraction of what even your ground beef costs at the grocery store, including the gas to get there. That much beef should last you 6-12 months or more, and it should be pastured, free-range, and very lean, not to mention cuts you wouldn't otherwise dream of getting (you'd be the envy of your neighborhood!). You can also pick up tens of pounds of cheese and slice it, chunk it, or shred it yourself. (I live about 2 hours away from the Ohio Amish community, and we do this regularly, though we don't get a cow currently. It works very, very well.)
Don't want to go that far out? Well, you're in luck! The New Jersey Department of Agriculture has convenient site for finding farmer's markets, pick-your-own farms, roadside stands, and much more! (All probably within half an hour of where you live.) http://www.jerseyfresh.nj.gov/ Oh, and on a side note, I can't speak for others, but in the continental US, I think you'd be hard pressed to find an area where you didn't have access to local farms that aren't within a couple hours driving for at least some of your food (considering nearly half of our land is used for farming, and 91% of the farms in the US are considered "small" farms - http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/United-States-of-America-AGRICULTURE.html ).0 -
My family is greek so we eat a lot of Lamb. My parents bought a lamb from a local farm, it was about 200 bucks, enough meat for the entire year. Since most lamb comes from New Zealand and is quite expensive in the store, it was a lot cheaper going this route and we supported our local farm.
:gasp: !!!! I'm jealous. I'm still looking for somewhere close by that has lamb (not to mention remembering to do so when it's "in season"). I love me some lamb when I can find it, though. nomnomnom
Dragonwolf how about 15 miles away?? http://www.jorgensen-farms.com/
I love you!
Granted, I hadn't been looking very hard (while it's one of those things of "I should find a place that has good lamb," it hasn't been the high priority things, you know?), so it's no surprise I missed it, and yeah, I know you probably took all of 30 seconds on Google, but this is even better than I expected! Honey, herbs, lamb, wool.... *drools*0
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