Eating healthy costs more

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BogQueen1
BogQueen1 Posts: 320 Member
in Food and Nutrition
You know one of the things that everyone always says is 'eating healthy costs more' and then they point to the price of lean ground meat as compared to the more fatty stuff, and say look! Lean meat is almost a whole dollar higher per pound then the fattier stuff! I can't afford that!

I propose to you that in fact, the two types of ground beef cost nearly the same price and the grocery stores have us all buffalo'd.

Take your standard cheap meat, we will call it a 75/25 ratio of meat/fat, which is sold for $2.99 a pound. In that pound of 'meat' you get 12 ounces of meat, and 4 ounces of fat. If you are like me, you drain your meat multiple times to get all that fat out of there, which mean in order to end up with a pound of 'meat' you need to start with 21.33 ounces of the mix. What's the cost of 21.33 ounces of the meat/fat blend? $3.98

What about the better quality meat? Lets go with a 90/10 blend. In this scenario, you probably are paying $3.69 or a little more for this meat, but what you are getting is 14.4 ounces of meat and 1.6 ounces of fat to pour down the drain. In order to end up with a pound of meat only, you have to start with 17.78 ounces of meat, which will cost you $4.10.

So in reality, the expensive ground beef, is only about ten cents more per pound then the really cheap stuff. And granted, my prices might be skewed.

I guess if you eat the fat that I drain off, then yes, your price would be much lower to mix in that much fat. But yet again, it just goes to show that it really DOESN'T cost more to eat healthy. We just want to think it does.
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Replies

  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    I agree exactly with this. I find with healthy food that it is actually cheaper because it has so much more quantity. If you buy a frozen dinner for say $1.99 you get only one meal, but if I buy the same things for that frozen dinner I can feed my little family and have left overs! Along with other ingredients for more meals.

    The thing about eating healthy is it's not easy. You have to prep your food, but it is cheaper due to the amount of food you have and how much less you go out to eat.
  • Crystle85
    Crystle85 Posts: 48
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    Very good point, and ground turkey is even cheaper, at least it is where I live, my boyfriend can't even tell the difference when I sub ground turkey for tacos or spaghetti, or other things that usually call for ground beef.

    edited for typo
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    It's like the woman who said she can feed her kids cheaper by going to McD's because it's $2 for a Happy Meal. Assuming she has 3 children and herself at a minimum that's $8 she could have spent if she also ate a Happy Meal. I'm thinking for $8 I could make a fairly decent meal with a lot more nutrition than anything McD's is serving!

    A lot of it comes down to laziness (expecting everything to be prepacked and convenient) and the false impression that you need to only buy organically grown, hand harvested by Tibetan monks on the rising of the full moon fruits and vegetables.
  • __RANDY__
    __RANDY__ Posts: 1,036 Member
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    cost/serving usually is pretty balanced
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    I'd like to take issue with 90/10 ground beef being "better quality."
  • yo_andi
    yo_andi Posts: 2,178 Member
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    You know one of the things that everyone always says is 'eating healthy costs more' and then they point to the price of lean ground meat as compared to the more fatty stuff, and say look! Lean meat is almost a whole dollar higher per pound then the fattier stuff! I can't afford that!

    I propose to you that in fact, the two types of ground beef cost nearly the same price and the grocery stores have us all buffalo'd.

    Take your standard cheap meat, we will call it a 75/25 ratio of meat/fat, which is sold for $2.99 a pound. In that pound of 'meat' you get 12 ounces of meat, and 4 ounces of fat. If you are like me, you drain your meat multiple times to get all that fat out of there, which mean in order to end up with a pound of 'meat' you need to start with 21.33 ounces of the mix. What's the cost of 21.33 ounces of the meat/fat blend? $3.98

    What about the better quality meat? Lets go with a 90/10 blend. In this scenario, you probably are paying $3.69 or a little more for this meat, but what you are getting is 14.4 ounces of meat and 1.6 ounces of fat to pour down the drain. In order to end up with a pound of meat only, you have to start with 17.78 ounces of meat, which will cost you $4.10.

    So in reality, the expensive ground beef, is only about ten cents more per pound then the really cheap stuff. And granted, my prices might be skewed.

    I guess if you eat the fat that I drain off, then yes, your price would be much lower to mix in that much fat. But yet again, it just goes to show that it really DOESN'T cost more to eat healthy. We just want to think it does.

    What makes 90/10 a better quality ground beef?
  • escloflowneCHANGED
    escloflowneCHANGED Posts: 3,038 Member
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    You know one of the things that everyone always says is 'eating healthy costs more' and then they point to the price of lean ground meat as compared to the more fatty stuff, and say look! Lean meat is almost a whole dollar higher per pound then the fattier stuff! I can't afford that!

    I propose to you that in fact, the two types of ground beef cost nearly the same price and the grocery stores have us all buffalo'd.

    Take your standard cheap meat, we will call it a 75/25 ratio of meat/fat, which is sold for $2.99 a pound. In that pound of 'meat' you get 12 ounces of meat, and 4 ounces of fat. If you are like me, you drain your meat multiple times to get all that fat out of there, which mean in order to end up with a pound of 'meat' you need to start with 21.33 ounces of the mix. What's the cost of 21.33 ounces of the meat/fat blend? $3.98

    What about the better quality meat? Lets go with a 90/10 blend. In this scenario, you probably are paying $3.69 or a little more for this meat, but what you are getting is 14.4 ounces of meat and 1.6 ounces of fat to pour down the drain. In order to end up with a pound of meat only, you have to start with 17.78 ounces of meat, which will cost you $4.10.

    So in reality, the expensive ground beef, is only about ten cents more per pound then the really cheap stuff. And granted, my prices might be skewed.

    I guess if you eat the fat that I drain off, then yes, your price would be much lower to mix in that much fat. But yet again, it just goes to show that it really DOESN'T cost more to eat healthy. We just want to think it does.

    What makes 90/10 a better quality ground beef?

    Dietary fat = fat in body!? That's the only thing I can think of...It's wrong but still...
  • T1mH
    T1mH Posts: 568 Member
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    I think it costs less to eat healthy. Cut out the $4 for the 12 pack of coke, $3.50 for a bag of Doritos, $2.99 for Twinkies. Spend that money on fruits and veggies. Low fat versions of dairy products are usually the same price. Buying lean meats on sale is cheaper than frozen meals.
  • T1mH
    T1mH Posts: 568 Member
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    What makes 90/10 a better quality ground beef?
    Less fat = more meat, most people view the fat as waste.

    Edit: There is also a perception that less fat = healthier/better therefore they charge a premium for it because people will pay it.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    I'm currently shopping on a budget. By buying cheaper and less pretty vegetables, I'm saving a lot of money. The bog standard tomatoes from Saudi were less than half a dinar a kilo, while the fancy ones (didn't catch where they were imported from) were over 4 dinars a kilo. Also, by buying locally produced meat, I'm saving a lot of money. By buying Arab brands rather than western brands, I'm saving a lot of money. Pasta and rice are extremely cheap especially if you get them on special offer, i.e. several packs together for a reduced price. They last a long time so it's worth it. If you can find a farmer's market here, that's even better. Traditional markets are way cheaper than supermarkets.

    Having a fairly high protein diet bumps up the cost of my food, but then by shopping around I can get high protein foods cheaper.

    I have to say though, it really depends a lot on where you live. Every local economy is going to be different. You go to some really off the beaten track places in the world and you can buy organic, traditionally farmed, locally grown meat and vegetables and locally caught fish for way, way less than what you'd pay for them in a big city or in a more industrialised country. I can tell you lots of tips for saving money on healthy food if you live in a rich Arab country, but they probably won't work in the USA or UK
  • BogQueen1
    BogQueen1 Posts: 320 Member
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    Hah. Make a point with numbers and people debate your semantics. It is public perception that less fat = higher quality. The only point I was trying to make is that regardless of the per pound price, you are actually paying roughly the same amount for the meat (protein component), the only difference in the prices is the amount of fat they add to the ground meat. So if you drain all your fat off, which I tend to do, there's really almost no difference in the final price of the 75/25 and the 90/10, and so the argument that people make that they can't afford to buy the more expensive, less fatty packages of ground beef is invalid.

    Not getting into the whole grass fed organic debate here, or even talking about pink slime or whatnot. That wasn't really my point.
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    Good post....I always call bull**** on the "I can't afford to get in shape or eat healthy", or the "I don't have time to exercise " excuses.... They're all just lame excuses made by people who aren't willing to try!
  • Riemersma4
    Riemersma4 Posts: 400 Member
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    Even if eating healthy DID cost more. Dying is free.... I am not interested in saving money THAT much!

    Oh, right, dying a SLOW death because of obesity and all of the derivative problems is INCREDIBLY expensive.

    See you at fresh veggies and fresh sections of the grocery!

    Have a great day!
  • aero0811
    aero0811 Posts: 30 Member
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    I was about to ask a similar question.

    Im from the UK and cook for 2 of us but was wondering is it cheaper to cook from scratch or not? I don't mean buying ready meals that you stick in the microwave or anything like that, just things like the Birds Eye chicken fillet things for example, or stuffed mushrooms Tesco sell.

    Also, is it cheaper to shop at supermarkets generally or shops like fruit and veg, butchers... ?

    I LOVE the idea of cooking from scratch, eating healthy and being able to say "I made that" but we're shopping on a budget.
  • lina1131
    lina1131 Posts: 2,246 Member
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    I don't know, to me, it is less expensive to eat healthy. I buy all our fruits and veggies, meat and etc. and i'm out the door no problem. If add all that other stuff that isn't healthy (chips, cookies, whatever) I end up spending WAY more.
  • Gramps251
    Gramps251 Posts: 738 Member
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    Yes, this comes up every other week here and even though I know I get more for my money by prepping my own food I can't convince those who propose the drive thru $1 menu is the smarter choice for them so I fugure what the heck. Do what you want. I know what works for me.
  • luckyjuls
    luckyjuls Posts: 505 Member
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    I definitely used to think eating healthy cost more.

    When you compare all purpose flour with an almond or coconut flour, for example, the amount of almond flour you get is half, and costs almost double. However, it is so much more nutritious in the long run to cut out most white flour (not all) that it works out in the long run.

    The other day I bought some delicious cherries for about $3.99 a pound? I thought to myself while eating them, yes, these are expensive, but how much would I have spent on a wacky fruit bar that has half the flavor? For a box, probably the same $3.99.

    These days, packaged foods are giving fresh foods a run for their money, so the best choice is always fresh as long as it doesn't go to waste (and ugh, I have had a lot of fresh basil go to waste lately :( ).
  • eliseofthejungle
    eliseofthejungle Posts: 113 Member
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    First of all, I don't know where you shop but here there is a much bigger difference between those two types of ground beef. 75/25 might be $2.99/lb (on a good day) but 90/10 is at least $4.50/lb. Second, if I say that eating healthy is expensive it's because I can feed my family of 3 boxed pasta with jarred sauce for dinner for $2.50. We can not eat a lean meat with fresh vegetables (or even frozen vegetables) for that much unless there are some great sales happening. And organic is definitely out the window. It also is often more expensive to, say, make your own pasta sauce with fresh veggies vs buying it in a jar. A $2.00 box of cereal for breakfast goes much further than eggs and fruit and whole wheat toast. While the definition eating "healthy" can vary from person to person, it *is* very difficult to eat fresh and balanced meals on a super tight budget.
  • Topher1978
    Topher1978 Posts: 975 Member
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    It's like the woman who said she can feed her kids cheaper by going to McD's because it's $2 for a Happy Meal. Assuming she has 3 children and herself at a minimum that's $8 she could have spent if she also ate a Happy Meal. I'm thinking for $8 I could make a fairly decent meal with a lot more nutrition than anything McD's is serving!

    A lot of it comes down to laziness (expecting everything to be prepacked and convenient) and the false impression that you need to only buy organically grown, hand harvested by Tibetan monks on the rising of the full moon fruits and vegetables.
    I love you
  • Topher1978
    Topher1978 Posts: 975 Member
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    You know one of the things that everyone always says is 'eating healthy costs more' and then they point to the price of lean ground meat as compared to the more fatty stuff, and say look! Lean meat is almost a whole dollar higher per pound then the fattier stuff! I can't afford that!

    I propose to you that in fact, the two types of ground beef cost nearly the same price and the grocery stores have us all buffalo'd.

    Take your standard cheap meat, we will call it a 75/25 ratio of meat/fat, which is sold for $2.99 a pound. In that pound of 'meat' you get 12 ounces of meat, and 4 ounces of fat. If you are like me, you drain your meat multiple times to get all that fat out of there, which mean in order to end up with a pound of 'meat' you need to start with 21.33 ounces of the mix. What's the cost of 21.33 ounces of the meat/fat blend? $3.98

    What about the better quality meat? Lets go with a 90/10 blend. In this scenario, you probably are paying $3.69 or a little more for this meat, but what you are getting is 14.4 ounces of meat and 1.6 ounces of fat to pour down the drain. In order to end up with a pound of meat only, you have to start with 17.78 ounces of meat, which will cost you $4.10.

    So in reality, the expensive ground beef, is only about ten cents more per pound then the really cheap stuff. And granted, my prices might be skewed.

    I guess if you eat the fat that I drain off, then yes, your price would be much lower to mix in that much fat. But yet again, it just goes to show that it really DOESN'T cost more to eat healthy. We just want to think it does.

    What makes 90/10 a better quality ground beef?
    Try a mid-rare burger with 80/20. It is nasty. Try a mid-rare burger with 90/10, it is perfection!! Perfection is better quality, in my book!!

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