The cost of Healthy Food vs. Junk Food

I agree and my kids eat the healthy stuff when I have it. I really am a frugal shopper by force, and have to say no to snacks because of the cost. I buy only things on sale.

it is crazy the price to be healthy, i must agree. It is however cheaper to buy fruits and veggies than eating junk food out all the time like we were doing

I have no idea where you live but in Canada, eating healthy is cheaper.

This is true for where I live. The cost of food is insane for all food, and organic is not an option here (we can get apples and a few veggies, thats it), but I can buy a bag of chips for $4, or a I can buy a bag of apples for $4. The apples will last longer and be far better for us. A frozen pizza, not on sale, costs almost $10. I can buy a package of chicken legs that will last for 3 meals for the same price. Large Chocolate bar: $2.99 (on sale) 5lbs carrots: $2.99.

I shop at 3 different stores to maximize my food budget, we eat VERY seasonally and we use bulk goods like rice, beans and lentils to stretch our $$.

Now if you don't like beans and lentils, that's not my problem - but that doesn't mean that eating healthier MUST cost more. That means that your particular preferences are driving up your grocery bill.

Y'all must not obsessively figure out ounce weights or look at the label for them because most packaged/frozen/chips/cookies/candies are 35 cents or more per ounce. Aldi's artisan lettuce which is like 28oz or something is 13c /oz equivalent.

I'll break it down.
> Under 10c an ounce, very cheap veg, grains
> 11-15c an ounce, usually fancier fruits and veggies
>16c-22c an ounce is usually the price for meats and low end/cheap brand packaged foods
> 22c-30 fancier meat, fancy produce like poms and winter citrus, organic grains, breads, butter, pb, some cheese
> 30c + convenience meals, fast food, junk food, frozen family meals , really fancy meay/deli/cheeses

Most ice cream is under 10c an ounce, it's crazy. So chips and things really are not cheaper if you compare weight/volume to price, and that's not even considering quality if food and actual edible portions compared to entire weights.

But the lower priced stuff generally always needs to be cooked, and most people won't always have the time to do that, plus most people arent willing to give up their chips/crystal light/oreos.

But what you have to realize is how incredibly, insanely more expensive a bag of doritos is compared to a 2lb bag of carrots or 3lbs of apples. Cheap food is cabbage, onions, potatoes, carrots. I then buy slightly more expensive green peppers, green onions, celery, and mushrooms. Fruit is cheapest apples, bananas, and blueberries/citrus if on sale.

Luxury items for me are bacon/pb/butter/cheese. Beans and grains like barley and bulgar as well as lettuce/bok choy are generally my filler foods, and it's cheap.

You can eat well, and you can eat cheaply, and you CAN eag a LOT, but you will basically have to cook everything all the time, and give up anything with a recognizable name brand.

I really recommend bulgar. 1/2 cup dry is 300 cals and it expands to about 4x the size with cooking. Great with 1/4 cup cheese, green onions, and garlic. Being forced to be really frugal for the past few months made me really learn how much of a ripoff nutritionally and amount wise frozen/prepared stuff is. But you have to put in that extra effort to prepare everything.

I gotta add I shop at walmart/trigs/copps/aldi's/coop/kwik trip/big lots/asian food store/farmer's market and I pretty much know the prices of everything I eat in any store so I always know if a sale isnt really a sale compared to another store and general comparison prices of most anything I find worth it to buy all around town which is knowledge that takes time and effort to acquire.

In the end eating healthier is like going without a car, it might be cheaper and healthier, but it takes a hell of a lot of more time to make plans and get to anywhere.

It would be interesting to see the actual choices.

My partner buys chicken breast chunks to heat up and eat when I am not home to cook. They cost about $5/ pound, which we would never spend on chicken. Rotisserie chicken is the same price, and you end up with more meat. Even when we get BOGO coupons, they come out to just slightly under what we pay for organic chicken tenderloins, we could get whole chickens for much less.

Snack cakes are cheaper than what?

I think it has A LOT to do with where you live and what fruits and veggies are in season. I have a family of 5 and we eat off of $300 a month. Lean meats, turkey and chicken, lost of fruits and veggies, plus all the snacks and extras that come with having little kids.

You have have HAVE to shop sales, discounts and coupons. Do not be brand loyal, and buy with in season. Sometimes it means going a few months without having your favorite thing just to save a few bucks. Also don't just shop at one store, you have to look for sales at stores near you.

Also being able to do Math is very important. Sometimes something looks like a deal but it's really not compared to another store. It's possible to shop healthy, but once a person finds out that it takes work, they don't want to try.

Also if you are paying attention to serving sizes and eating those serving sizes you will be going threw A LOT less food!

I agree I think it does matter what part of the world you are at. I live in the Chicagoland area, and I eat mostly all wholesome homemade dishes and I have been spending less than I did when I was going more in the aisles. When I do go in the aisles for things it raises my bill. A can of beans can be around 1.50 or so, where I can get a bag (160z) of beans for the same price or a few cents more and get way more servings.

I find that a lot of people also find it way cheaper because they don't really cook. When you cook dishes, you usually get quite a few servings out of them as opposed to boxed things that may have four servings and usually very small servings because of what they contain. When I make home cooked meals, I get a lot of servings and pretty hefty ones at that.

I agree with a lot of others, it all comes down to planning and shopping smart. Veggies and fruit that are not in season are going to be more money, I do tend to spend more on them in the winter months. Check the sales at the stores around you, see if you can get any kind of coupons, they do really help though I know there are not too many for fresh stuff, but there usually are sales at one store or another throughout the week.

Good luck to you!! :flowerforyou:

I completely AGREE with you! I'm feeding a family of 4 and it's nearly impossible to shop healthy. I shop sale items and use coupons but it's a huge challenge! I think the people who believe it's as cheap to buy healthy are maybe working with a better budget than some of us others!

I once made a $120 weekly food budget for a family of 11. Try me.

Impressive! You should maybe blog some of your recipes or what worked... seriously. Maybe make a community post?

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

I think the problem is that when people think of "healthy" they are looking at the light, lean, low-fat, and fat-free versions of stuff - which are more expensive. It's also not the healthiest option. Most of these items are loaded with sugar and sodium to make up for the lack of fat flavor. Some fat is ok in a diet. So, getting fresh produce for a week and lean meat (chicken, pork) really isn't that expensive if people would stop buying this frankenfood stuff and eat whole, real foods.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. Eating "healthy" convenience food is more expensive for sure. Eating healthy, home prepared food can be cheaper than unhealthy convenience food, if you are prepared to put in the effort, do a little planning, and shop well. Unfortunately in today's convenience driven society no one believes they have the time. I personally see it as a matter of priorities - I choose to prioritize food preparation over other areas of my life like watching television or playing video games.

At the end of the day "I don't have time" really means "I choose to spend my time doing something else".

I once made a $120 weekly food budget for a family of 11. Try me.

Impressive! You should maybe blog some of your recipes or what worked... seriously. Maybe make a community post?

I agree! It would be a great service to the community to share! That's very impressive.

I actually saved about $200 a month buying eliminating junk food. We eat plenty of fruits and veggies (either in season, frozen, or canned) and I cook from scratch. It's much cheaper to eat "healthy" than to eat junk.

I completely AGREE with you! I'm feeding a family of 4 and it's nearly impossible to shop healthy. I shop sale items and use coupons but it's a huge challenge! I think the people who believe it's as cheap to buy healthy are maybe working with a better budget than some of us others!

My budget is $100 a week for a family of four.

Find out what day your grocery store usually pulls the veggies for freshness dates ("use by" or "sell by").
Mine (Kroger) does it every Saturday BUT they mark the stuff down on Thursday -- Sometimes I buy my veg on Friday night when it's on SALE and use it the weekend into early next week.

You could even cook and freeze it in recipes and it's great! Its fun & the savings that makes you get creative/ or buy veg you normally would not.

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.

I don't even know what a lentil is. And my husband can't eat beans because he has Crohn's, so nope, none of those. It's just a matter of making things from scratch rather than paying a company to prepare your food for you. It's almost always going to be cheaper to prepare your own food than to pay a company to prepare it.

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.

Eating healthy really isn't all that expensive compared to pre-packaged processed junk foods. If you can't afford to eat healthy, then you really can't afford to eat snack cakes. Those things are expensive for what little bit of food you get! An ounce of cheese and an apple is a much healthier snack than a Ding-Dong and costs about the same.

Frozen pizzas, chicken nuggets, Chef-Boyardee, Fruit Loops, etc. all cost more than their healthier homemade counterparts.

Go to a Walmart or Aldis or a local discount store and buy store brands. 100% whole wheat bread costs about $.10-.20 more than white bread. Yeah, it's not the name brand stuff, but it's healthier. A cheap can of fruit can often cost more than a pound of carrots or whatever other fruits and veggies are in season and you get fewer servings. If canned fruit is really cheaper, then get the no sugar added /canned in juice stuff and canned veggies are okay. Buy frozen or whatever is cheapest at the moment.

Where I've found eating healthier to be expensive is on the time front. It takes time to plan healthier meals and make sure that enough food is on hand so that we're not tempted to run out for a quick meal of "cheap" fast food. It also takes time to look over the sale ads and plan our weeks/months based on these, but it's worth it. Most of our lunches and dinners come out to about $1 - $1.50 per serving. We buy a lot of boneless, skinless chicken breasts when they are on sale very cheap and use it in a lot of meals; we do the same with lean ground beef. When canned or frozen veggies are on sale really cheap, we buy a ton.