Impossible to eat healthy when in debt

I found a Groupon one day that helps you stay on budget and make tasty meals for a family of 4 or 6. I'm not sure how much it costs regular price, but it's nice. Emeals.com is where I go. You can pick meal plans specific to your diet needs and each week, the recipes and grocery list are made for you. If you pick a particular store, it even estimates the cost. We've spent anything from $80-100 on 7 home made meals. You might wanna check it out. Eating healthy on a budget doesn't have to suck...

My beef is that I can go and spend $125 at the grocery store and then my husband calls me to pick up fast food for dinner. And, sad to say, I usually do it. I guess the old saying is true -- you really are your own worst enemy. I don't need anyone to sabotage my plans because I do a pretty good job on my own.

All 4 of us in the family have dietary intolerances too so it's not like we are eating this way to be fiscally irresponsible; we are eating this way because this is the diet that our body does not manifest any cognitive or physical symptoms for!

My wife too would rather have random ground beef in a processed box mixture (containing gluten which I have issue with and no nutritional value) than a homemade meal (full of nutrition and not gluten!). She would rather spend her money on exotic trips around the world than healthy food so she and her kids can be healthy (oh and her husband can be alive too).

Seriously, if I had the choice of dying at 50 and being debt free while seeing the world but being fat and full of disease and dying at 80 and still paying my debt off and rarely leaving my house but being slender and disease free and have healthy children and grandchildren, I'd choose 80....

It doesn't take a psychologist or a genius to see the blame shifting going on here (although this doesn't apply to everyone whose mentioned a spouse with financial control of the food in this thread).

It's probably best to address your issues with your spouse. Yes, I know you are a team, and she's been assigned certain roles. Yes, I know she controls the finance. But these are excuses, not legitimate reasons. Discuss. Talk. You know the deal. Converse about your issues with your wife in a healthy and constructive way. Or offer to go out and buy the groceries this week and offer to cook all week. Get her in on the deal and make her think it's her idea. You are in control of your body and what you put into it, not your wife. You could offer to make everyone dinner, or make yourself a separate meal. You are simply being lazy by assigning the blame to her because you've designated her the duty of feeding you. Reclaim that aspect of your life back.

"Healthy is not expensive." Don't buy into a fake dichotomy that you either eat junk food, or eat expensive "health foods". Yes, food such as chia and quinoa that have been heavily marketed as super duper "health" foods are more expensive. But this is a marketing ploy. There are also carrots (which can be as little as $1 a kg and can be used as padding) oats (also extremely cheap), eggs, kale, potato and apples (natures perfect "on the go" snack). All the more "common" fruits and vegetables generally eaten are still good for you, despite the lack of marketing spin.

Learn maths, or teach your wife maths- whichever one thinks that your eating habits are actually financially valid. Yes, a hamburger for $1 may seem cheaper than a $3 bag of vegetables or oats but the oats and vegetables, when bought and added together last longer and can end up making cheaper meals. They also fill you up better- you eat a bag of chips as a "snack" and go back for more, it leaves you feeling addicted and gives you further food craving, perpetuating an avalanche of bad eating. You'd never do that with a bowl of lettuce- because the lettuce fills you up better and isn't addictive. Eating better foods also programs you to veer away from "comfort eating". You're eating for your body, not your emotions and the feelings that eating certain foods evoke, and so you ultimately end up eating less. Which means less money. Sure a $60 grocery shop (for two people) seems more than a $5 meal (fries, chips, burger) but at 3 meals a day $5 a meal (for two people) ends up being $210. Even assuming you only eat two meals a day (realistic if you consider the calories) that's still $140.
$60 can also buy you approximately 3 meals, and 2 healthy snacks (such as an apple or a carrot and hummus or yogurt) every day. So you're eating more frequently and getting more "bang for your buck" because you are getting more nutrients.

Starting on the path to healthy eating is the most expensive part- you need to buy sauces and herbs and spices to make your food tasty, which will only fuel your wife's fire and give her ammo on "see? eating my way is cheaper!". But after this first step is done eating healthy will end up being more financially sound. And anyone who says that is just letting their emotions cloud their logic. I have to admit there are times when I do a "fresh" shop and McDonald's starts to look alluring, but I know that this is just consumer dissonance and my brain being horribly addled by marketing. When I think about it I think about how you go to McDonald's to get a burger and end up with a meal, because you're "saving money" and then the whole premise of it being "cheap" falls apart.

You could sit down and do a proper food budget with your wife and realistically look at how much you *actually* spend on food a week eating fast food, including candybars and sodas. You'll find that any thoughts about eating unhealthily being cheaper will fade. I look at fast food as an expensive luxury, even the cheap kind.

If a person can't put enough long-term planning and thinking in to see that buying groceries for a week is actually more financially sound than buying fast food and foods marketed as cheaper options, then how can they properly manage lateral thinking in other aspects of their life? There is a link between poor nutrition and bad diets and low socio-economic status. I think that sometimes people con themselves into thinking that they are "too poor to afford to eat healthy" when really it's the other way around- you're too unhealthy to be wealthy.

I'm doing Dave Ramsey and losing weight. Frozen meat and veggies!

I'm in NZ so the price comparison probably not very accurate, but my flat of 4 does a shop for about 100 dollars NZ approx 60 dollars US??? for 5 nights of dinners, breakfast and lunch not counting snack food. Some things that help us are getting the budget brands of rice and pasta in bulk because you know you will use them. Budget brand of beans, chickpeas, canned tomatoes and what not. And buying in season vegetables. We aren't lucky enough to live somewhere with fancy asian/mexican markets but manage to find all we need at a vegetable store and the supermarket.

Pay your bills dude

Look for a community garden to grow food in (if there isn't one harrass your city hall to start one, they will). Buy a pressure cooker, even from Goodwill (allows you to quickly cook dried beans and grains). Always freeze extra veggies when you have them to use later for soup stock. If you have land, try a kitchen garden. Six chickens will give you a dozen eggs every other day, they require very little space and you can feed them scrap food.

In my town, a bunch of community organizations are growing organic produce on state and city property for the food bank. Volunteer for an organization and set this up - it works wonders. If you have food assistance, use it to buy whole foods and get the processed stuff from the bank.

I think you have more of a problem of "wife doesn't want what I want to cook" than a monetary problem here. I have the same problem too somewhat. However if I plan ahead, cut cupons, buy what's on sale it's normally all good. I also have a gluten problem (Celiac) and I just tend not to buy the fancy gluten free foods (except the occassional cookies, OMG I love cookies). Like, for example, I wrap my burgers in lettuce instead of buying the buns.

Oh, and figure out what the things are that the whole family can agree on and buy them in bulk.
I cannot stress enough the importance of soup for this situation. Make a huge pot on your day off. When people are sick of it, you can freeze the leftovers for when they like the taste again.
Oatmeal is very inexpensive when purchased in bulk and a great breakfast with just the right amount of protein. Dried goods are your friend.

I don't know why this irks my nerves so much but it does... I'm not trying to come off mean and annoying like a lot of other posters on here saying "my way or the highway" kind of deal.

But the whole "eating healthy is expensive" is a load of crap.
I'm a college student and am dirt poor. It's CHEAPER to eat healthy.
I just made a homemade soup with vegetable broth, spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes that costed me a grand total of $8 to make. And that will last me 2 weeks worth of lunch or a snap. Doesn't even break 50 calories per serving.
It's making both healthy and fiscally responsible decisions.
You can eat healthy without going broke.
But beans in bulk.
Buy meat in bulk (just bought a bag of chicken from walmart that has 10+ breasts in it for $6)
etc, etc.

It is cheaper to eat healthy... IF YOU CAN COOK!
if you do not cook... IT IS NOT CHEAPER TO EAT HEALTHY.