Is it more expensive to eat healthy?

I think it only gets a little more expensive having to constantly buy fresh fruits and veggies, but otherwise, not really.

I am low income and I live in a low income neighbourhood. I don't find eating healthier to be any more expensive. Part of that depends on what kind of grocery store you have. The last neighbourhood I lived in had a basic no frills grocery store. Prices there were cheap. It shut down (to open in the next neighbourhood) and the only option was a higher end grocery store. That's when it became expensive. I can get the same products at the no frills grocery store for cheaper than at the higher end store.

I think if you're low income it's easy to make healthy eating choices at the grocery store and not spend too much. I think what factors into the "junk food is cheaper" thing comes down to a lack of education about making good food choices as well as time. Households where the head is working two jobs have less time to spend preparing fresh meals.

As for fast food, here in Canada, it's expensive so I don't think it works as an excuse here. When we go we order 3 meals (my kids split an adult chicken nugget meal) and it comes to $25. I can make meals at home for a lot less than that. But when we're in the US, wow. I can see how that is cheaper than making a healthy meal at home.

I think it depends on a number of factors which a lot of people have already covered.

Its probably hard to compare before and after, because for me in particular, I used to consume far too much as well as it being unhealthy so you probably save money in general just from eating the correct portion size.

I also think supermarket deals pay a large part, chocolate always seems to be on offer in the UK so you could actually get 4 mars bars or big bags of M&Ms for a pound, where as a tub of blueberries cost £2 ( in my opinion, this is where the govt could do a lot to help obesity, especially in children but thats a whole other topic in itself!)

Also, I only buy for myself, so fruit and veg I have to buy fresh every two or three days (i know you can get frozen but I prefer fresh) where as families can buy in bulk amounts and not have waste.

So while I think fresh meat and fruit tends to be more expensive, my chilli or spag bol now goes 4 ways rather than 1 and 1/2 so I probably save money in that respect, fruit and veg I spend a lot more on but thats personal preference. Way down on the chocolate expenditure though, even though supermarkets are trying to sabotage us!

If you are a wise shopper its not an issue

Oh i think it's totally more expensive. but worth it. :bigsmile:

A lot of this discussion depends on what you are actually comparing. Are you looking at whole diet, single meal, portion. It also depends on where your diet is and where it's going.

For me personally, my goal is almost 2x the calorie intake as before so my food cost is going to go up regardless of most any other variable. Additionally, I came from a diet that was already made up of choices that were healthier than most of my friends/family. I bought and cooked healthy food, I just didn't consume it in a healthy way.

I would imagine that people coming from a diet of mostly Fast food/delivery pizza/hot pockets to one of home prepared food might see a decreased food bill. Same would hold true for people who are eating the same diet as before but are controlling portions now.

Cooking at home with healthy fresh food can be compared to cooking at home with mainly preprocessed and packaged goods fairly simply. Trying to compare home cooked to fast food takeout and even casual dining restaurants is a bit more complicated.

I have found it is cheaper but I buy raw ingredients and make everything from scratch. I cook large meals that can be devided into many meals such as spagetti sauce, soups, chili. Make bread, yogurt etc. from scratch. I try to buy my veggies in season from the farmers market or grow my own. Buying ingredients in bulk is cheaper also. Also don't waaste anything. If your apples are starting to get soft make apple pie, apple sauce etc. Keeping track of all your food inventory and using it will save money.

Didn't read the other responses, but just a thought to ponder-
Lean protein is expensive.
Fresh Produce is expensive.
Healthy fat is expensive.
Whole grains, not too bad.

Cheesecake is REALLY expensive.
Ribeye steak and filet mignon are expensive.
Booze is expensive.

IMHO-it's all about perspective.

Barb

I don't think it cost too much more. For me to save money it takes a little planning. I check the ads every Wednesday(thats when the new ads are out) and than I make out my menu for the week. I stock up on fruits for my smoothies when they are on sale. I wash, bag and freeze them. Now that I measure out all my food it last longer which saves me money. Veggies to me are not too expensive fresh. I also buy frozen which is pretty cheap. A big bag of rice is cheap too. Our grocery bill has actually been the same if not I been saving more since eating better.

On a calorie for calorie basis, it's cheaper to eat high fat, processed foods. So yeah, if you want to pack away 3000+ calories a day it's cheaper to go to McDonalds. However, I don't think it would be more expensive to eat a sensible diet of whole foods at a healthy calorie level. So maybe the reason poor people are fat isn't because they can't afford healthy food, but because they want to eat a lot of calories and that would be too expensive with healthy foods. It's sort of a "which came first?" scenario.