The cost of Healthy Food vs. Junk Food

I completely agree! They want to show all this concern for the problem of obesity in the US, but the prices are a big part of the problem! If they made "junk food" more expensive, then we would be more likely to eat better! I only have a house of 2 (me and my daughter) and we are both eating better mainly for my daughters health and it is so expensive. I try to make things healthy go a longer way but adding "fillers" to things...for example, rice or adding more veggies to dishes and making left overs. It is truly a challenge!

There are ways around it. Just like the battle of the waist line, there's a battle for the price. Buy in season, use coupons, and take advantage of weekly special offers. It can end up being less because you end up fuller faster on higher fiber foods. Google how to save money on healthy foods and that should help.

PS: Recent reports show that organic is not really much different than inorganic. People believe what they want to believe, but, long term, you probably don't need to worry which way you go. Save the money, I say.

Have you considered starting a garden? I know some people do that where they supplement the expensive stuff they need for their families in the garden. Plus, it burns calories and can be a family activity!

Thats completely untrue. Healthy food is cheaper. I dont know where this myth comes from and thats what it is.. a myth. Veggies are cheap so unless you are buying a fancy steak they will stay cheap. However, junk food tastes better.. I agree with that... but don't try to tell me its cheaper. Mcdonalds especialy is extremely expensive, where did they come up with this "cheap" idea

This is always silly to me.

Yes, 5 pounds of fresh chicken can cost $15-20 compared to a box dinner that cost $4, but the chicken can make 7 different meals for the whole week.

Talk to your congressfolks and senators. It's that way because of the farm bill.

My neighbors make more money on subsidies to grow corn and soy than they make selling the corn and soy they grow. Then, the transportation of said commodities to the CAFOs and food labs is also subsidized. Then the CAFOs and production of highly processed foods is subsidized.

Meanwhile, I grow my little 2 1/2 acres of veggies, and 10 of fruits, and receive nothing in the way of subsidies, but have to pay higher property taxes because the fruit trees and whatnot are "improvements."

The junk is not actually less expensive. It takes more energy (particularly fossil fuel energy) to produce the commodity crops that go in to the processed foods than it does to produce real food. Then it takes more energy and people to move it around, and to process it into the chemical ingredients for the processed food, then still more put them together into your pop tart or soda or wonder bread, then still more to package it, and still more to transport it a second (or more) time. The difference, however, is that everyone is paying the lion's share of the cost of those foods, whether they buy them or not, through taxes. When you buy a head of broccoli or a carrot, for the most part you're actually paying something close to what it cost to produce that, because the production and transportation of those items is almost completely unsubsidized.

Sad thing is, while you're paying more for the unprocessed food, the people growing it are getting paid less. Even more sad thing is that even when you stop buying the processed food, you're still paying for it. That's how you get Michael Pollan giving presentations where he tries to see how many calories you can buy for $1 (at the presentation I saw, it was 90 calories of broccoli for $1, or 1200 calories of cookies).

Our food industry is actually designed to make people unhealthy (it's designed to essentially addict people to "bad" foods, and making them eat far more calories with far less nutritional benefit than is healthy), and our government's policies are designed to support that industry. Your taxes at work.

In a perfect world, a shopping trip would consist of a woman breezing throuh the grocery store adding fruits, veggies, and organic stuff into her cart. Reality is a woman adding snack cakes, white bread, canned fruits, etc., etc. into her cart. because that it all she can afford. In order to eat healthy, you really have to starve to death because the prices make it impossible to purchase more of what you need. I have a family of 5, and it is so much cheaper to buy the bad stuff. They should lower the prices of healthy foods and increase the price of junk food so that it would help us all out.

I'm afraid I must respectfully disagree. While there are some items that are undoubtedly more expensive - whole grain bread versus store-brand white bread for example - for the most part I find loading my cart with unprocessed fruit, veg and meat to be comparably priced with, or cheaper than, loading it with processed convenience foods.

The trick is actually eating it when you get it home, and not deciding that it's too much work and ordering in pizza instead. That's what makes healthy grocery shopping expensive - waste.

Although in UK & not US I agree, buying fresh fruit,veg & non processed foods is relatively easy, may take a bit more time and thought than just bunging it in the shopping trolley, but that is life

I live in the US and junk food is wayyyy cheaper.

Agreed, and anyone who says different is lying through their damn teeth. I think some junk food (namely chips, cereals, and convenience meals) are more expensive, but the majority of it is ridiculously cheaper than fresh veggies and fruits and meats.

I'm sorry, but no one wants to eat dry beans and lentils everyday! Shut up about the damn lentils. (I'm assuming that it's already been mentioned or will be mentioned in the next few minutes, because it ALWAYS is.)

I live in the US and junk food is wayyyy cheaper.

I too live in the US. I have lived in California and Missouri. Prior to that, I live in England. I have quite a number of data points.

Eating healthy is more expensive if you also wish to eat conveniently (barring an all raw diet). If you are prepared to put in the time to cook, eating healthy is not more expensive except in comparison to the absolutely most nutritionally barren diets.

Putting aside the "Is healthy more expensive?" question, you must also factor in %age of income spent on food. The developed world has been spoiled rotten with readily available food, and spends significantly less on nutrition as a %age of income. In short, even the base line by which you are starting to compare is horribly, horribly, skewed.

I can get days worth of food for two people from a chicken, say. I have been skint many times in the past.

Day 1: Roast chicken (eat both breasts if you must)
Day 2 : The legs make some kind of chicken risotto/stew etc
Day 3: The remainder of the carcase is picked as clean as you can (wings, oysters etc) and you make soup
Day 4: What is left is boiled with veg/water to make stock, with which you will strain and reduce and drink half as soup (add veg, barley etc) and use the remaining half to make your next batch of 'day 3' soup.

Normal veg is way cheaper than tinned here. Buy loose is always cheaper than packets.

I can make meals for pennies.

Edited to add: lentils are not as cheap as split peas. You can put them in soup.

If you buy 'proper' cuts of meat (as opposed to convenient ones, ie steaks etc) then they seem expensive up front but you have more meat and bones etc for stock making.

I used to get beef bones from my butcher (supposedly for dogs) had quite a bit of meat on em.

Offal is cheap - I love liver.

Talk to your congressfolks and senators. It's that way because of the farm bill.

My neighbors make more money on subsidies to grow corn and soy than they make selling the corn and soy they grow. Then, the transportation of said commodities to the CAFOs and food labs is also subsidized. Then the CAFOs and production of highly processed foods is subsidized.

Meanwhile, I grow my little 2 1/2 acres of veggies, and 10 of fruits, and receive nothing in the way of subsidies, but have to pay higher property taxes because the fruit trees and whatnot are "improvements."

The junk is not actually less expensive. It takes more energy (particularly fossil fuel energy) to produce the commodity crops that go in to the processed foods than it does to produce real food. Then it takes more energy and people to move it around, and to process it into the chemical ingredients for the processed food, then still more put them together into your pop tart or soda or wonder bread, then still more to package it, and still more to transport it a second (or more) time. The difference, however, is that everyone is paying the lion's share of the cost of those foods, whether they buy them or not, through taxes. When you buy a head of broccoli or a carrot, for the most part you're actually paying something close to what it cost to produce that, because the production and transportation of those items is almost completely unsubsidized.

Sad thing is, while you're paying more for the unprocessed food, the people growing it are getting paid less. Even more sad thing is that even when you stop buying the processed food, you're still paying for it. That's how you get Michael Pollan giving presentations where he tries to see how many calories you can buy for $1 (at the presentation I saw, it was 90 calories of broccoli for $1, or 1200 calories of cookies).

Our food industry is actually designed to make people unhealthy (it's designed to essentially addict people to "bad" foods, and making them eat far more calories with far less nutritional benefit than is healthy), and our government's policies are designed to support that industry. Your taxes at work.

QFT

I live in the US and junk food is wayyyy cheaper.

Agreed, and anyone who says different is lying through their damn teeth. I think some junk food (namely chips, cereals, and convenience meals) are more expensive, but the majority of it is ridiculously cheaper than fresh veggies and fruits and meats.

I'm sorry, but no one wants to eat dry beans and lentils everyday! Shut up about the damn lentils. (I'm assuming that it's already been mentioned or will be mentioned in the next few minutes, because it ALWAYS is.)

First, I don't appreciate being called a liar, even indirectly, and even on an internet forum.

Second, no-one said you must eat dried lentils everyday. My family eats extremely well, extremely healthy, and without breaking the bank by a long shot.

Third, have you actually tried lentils? I used to eschew lentils as "goddamn hippy crap" until I made lentil soup one day and it was frikking delicious. Now I make it up once every couple of weeks in a twelve serving batch and always have a few servings in the freezer for go-to lunches.

Perhaps you just don't know how to shop well, prepare good meals and minimize waste? I'm not saying that as a dig, there's no shame in it. Everyone has to learn sometime, and it's taken me ten years to figure it out. I'm sure in another ten years I'll be even better at it.