Why is healthy food more expensive?

My idea of why expensive food costs so much more here in America:

Unhealthy, cheap food leads to health problems. Health problems lead to doctor/hospital visits and Rx revenues.

Healthier food is less likely to lead to such instances. Medical industry is like the single biggest money engine in the US. They gotta make up the windfall somewhere.

I'm sure there are other and far more logical explanations for it, but just one possible take on it!

(note: not all healthier food is more expensive - some of it is, like Greek versus standard yogurt, but unless you're going for the specialty items, it seems to be more often the exception than the norm)

My idea of why expensive food costs so much more here in America:

Unhealthy, cheap food leads to health problems. Health problems lead to doctor/hospital visits and Rx revenues.

Healthier food is less likely to lead to such instances. Medical industry is like the single biggest money engine in the US. They gotta make up the windfall somewhere.

I'm sure there are other and far more logical explanations for it, but just one possible take on it!

(note: not all healthier food is more expensive - some of it is, like Greek versus standard yogurt, but unless you're going for the specialty items, it seems to be more often the exception than the norm)

we have a winner.

Healthy Food IS CHEAP....Fruits Veggies beans and whole grains are not costly ...Tuna chicken and lean beef is cheap!!!

you were doing well till you said beef is cheap.

although to be fair, to get the same amount of calories from vegetables as fast food, you'd need to eat a LOT more vegetables, thus making them more expensive from a cost/calorie standpoint.

Healthy Food IS CHEAP....Fruits Veggies beans and whole grains are not costly ...Tuna chicken and lean beef is cheap!!!

you were doing well till you said beef is cheap.

although to be fair, to get the same amount of calories from vegetables as fast food, you'd need to eat a LOT more vegetables, thus making them more expensive from a cost/calorie standpoint.

extra lean ground beef is not that pricey . but I get it

I have to agree with this! Worked in a daycare for 15 years and what they pass for healty is really bad.. One of the "Healthy" meals was reconstituted mashed potatos with chopped up hotdogs in it and slathered in tons of shredded cheese.. as long as they served something like applesauce (they kind full of sugar) on the side it covered the state guidelines. : \
I am guessing the programs you are speaking about are probably similar.

I get most my items from Adli's and my grocery bill has actually gone down

Because corn and wheat are heavily subsidized.. then processed to make cheap junk for you..... so that Mrs Obama can battle Obesity... when I dunno, it seems like subidizing the very foods that are getting processed, only encourages more processed foods.


Also, eating healthy is not really that much more expensive. A big bag of apples costs the same as a big bag of Doritos I'll bet the apples last a lot longer than Doritos. WATER is free... that is cheaper than soda. buying a whole chicken is less per pound than buying processed chicken nuggets. People always make crazy comparisons.. " a pound of cherries cost $6.00 but I could have gotten FOUR boxes of Dolly Madsen/Little Debbies for that price"..... Uh yeah.. cuz you're comparing the MOST EXPENSIVE produce against the CHEAPEST junk. duh. There are a lot of things in the produce aisle cheaper than freaking out of season cherries! I just got back from the market. A pound of carrots was 79 cents, a pound of kale was 99 cents, a huge romaine lettuce was 1.49, onions were 49 cents a pound, cucumbers were 50 cents each. a pound of red lentils 1.49... This stuff is NOT expensive. Could I afford the beautiful rainbow chard that I was admiring? no, I couldn't, it was $2.49 a pound and out of my price range, I'll have to wait for it to be in season cuz I buy what I can afford. There are plenty of inexpensive healthy options. If something is cheap and healthy, buy it and learn how to cook it.

You have to think from a business perspective:

1) Healthy food is generally fresh food (frozen is great too)
2) Fresh food goes off much faster than canned food, food in jars and packets, containers etc
3) Food that goes off before being sold has to be thrown away
4) Food that is thrown away causes a loss to the shop that sells it
5) Therefore, in order to minimise loss, the shop has to increase the price in order to have a wide margin between cost of production and and sale price. For example, I work in a coffee shop and it costs 38p (British money) to make 1 double espresso. A regular black coffee costs £1.80. The increase in price has to be large enough to cover general bills like staff wages, cleaning products, electricity, gas, supply costs etc.

There is of course the argument that if you decrease the price, more people might buy it, but this reduces the profit margin.

I don't find healthy food to be that expensive. You can get a lot of fruits and vegetables for cheap. Tuna and chicken you can get for cheap. A lot of times grocery stores will have deals. I just got a bunch of salmon and avocados at my supermarket at a great price. It's also how you prepare it the food as well, what you chose to buy, and what you need versus what you want. Also, the cheap crap food is going to be more costly in the long run. It's going to cause deterioration in health.

Don't be too angry Iceman. I recently went shopping with my mom. She likes to go to this hispanic market where the "less then middle class" go. My mom is from Ecuador and we've been here like 50 years but she still gravitates to these little supermarkets that are not national health "whole" food chains if you know which one I mean. I was blown away by the low low prices of these fresh veggies and fruits as swell as the poultry and red meats. I've gone to the chain healthy "whole" food supermarkets and they are expensive. Now I know they promote and push organic but if one is just starting out to eat right organic is not that much of a concern. I mean if your now avoiding DEEP FAT FRIED foods your off to a good start if your going fresh veggies and fruits even if they are not organic or bought at those big chain stores. Hope that helps.