Expense of eating well

I don't find that in Scotland to be honest! When I'm feeding myself and my family processed foods with treats my weekly shopping bill can be 50% more than when I make a shopping list, buy only what I need, make everything from scratch and snack on fruit. I don't buy organic admittedly but I buy what's in season from local suppliers to minimize the nasties used.

I am! I have three kids and want to feed them well. Organic milk since birth but man is everything getting expensive. I used to buy organic apples last year because they say that apples are the most polluted and necessary to buy organic. Last years price was $1.49 lb which was pricey but the same produce market now sells them for $1.95. My family eats a lot of apples!

Also, when you buy healthy foods, make sure you are not buying anything pre-packaged. Look at the price per ounce of different brands of the same food and youll realize (like if you tear and wash your own lettuce) you can save a lot.

I can't find organic heads of lettuce in the winter here

I too can't afford organic meat, so even tho chickens are usually treated really badly they have less chemicals in them than beef does-therefore I only buy chicken or turkey.

It does save money to tear and wash your own lettuce plus I dot totally trust that pre washed stuff anyway. Remember this ecoli outbreaks a few years back. I think it was pre washed spinach but they fiu d the washing process was flawed
I buy bulk snack bags and just start filling them up when I get hone from store.

I find a lot of it is a rip-off. Organic canned chickpeas for $3.00? Come on...

Healthy food is inexpensive. I can buy a 1 kg bag of dried black beans or lentils for a couple of dollars, and that lasts us for ages. Fresh fruits and veggies are dirt cheap compared to cookies and meal-in-a-box.

It's the organic food that's expensive. Most of the time, you're not getting any health benefit from it, anyhow.

I spend more on gorceries but less on eating out. I spend more on fruits and veggies and nuts but less on chips and crap. I don't buy organic very often and I wish I could . Organic is a very important concept to me but feeding 4 active kids is more important so the 5 gallons of milk they drink a week come from ALDI...I wish they were from an organic dairy but alas..not possible. We are also learning the fine art of how to prepare 3 pounds of chicken to use for 2 1/2 meals. We are learning how to plan meals around sales and the fine art of couponing...I am not very good at it yet but if I can find cereal coupons then woooo hooo watch out sister. The fact of the matter is that I don't prepare my foods 10% from scratch..never will as truly don't enjoy the kitchen but I find the most healthful foods I can within my budget...ALDI is my best friend as they have they fit n active brand so I can often still get whole grain pasta, brown rice etc. I do the best I can with my personal and financial limitations. Could I do more with $400 more a month to spend on groceries...you bet. Could I do better if I had a freaking dishwasher thus I would use a blender or food processor without the dread of washing it by hand..sure...do I feed my kids as many fruits and veggies I can and expose them to as many different kinds of food as I can...you bet I do

I do OK on getting fruits / veggies because I don't buy organic and I get whatever's on sale. I also don't buy the leanest meat because it's so much more expensive - I get whatever is on manager's special. Ie, $2.99 - $3.99 for lean ground beef or ground turkey vs 99c for the not so good stuff. We don't get a lot of ground beef though or turkey, because of the price. Even whole wheat bread. I sometimes pay up to $2/loaf for it now, but that is even a stretch and there was a long time where all we could afford was the 77c store loaf. Some of the really good fruit that I love is out of the question - strawberries, blueberries. Once a year I can get them at Aldi when they are 99c. Nuts, WW tortillas, greek yogurt... that is all out of the question as well or in very very moderation.

When you look at being able to do Hamburger Helper and feed a family of 3 for about $2 that meal vs eating something healthier.... I can usually manage just a couple bucks per meal, but it's still not the best stuff - chicken, white rice, veggies. Not too bad, but not as good as I would eat if money was not such an issue.

That is the big thing...do the best you can...if you consciously make the best decisions and choices you can and the family watches you try to make the most nutritional choices within your budget they will still learn valuable lessons. Chicken and white rice and aldi cream of chicken soup with some frozen veggies might not be "as healthy" as organic free range chicken, organic brown rice and a low sodium low fat gravy...but it is pretty balanced, hearty and tasty...and like I said sometimes the lesson is the most important thing...doing the best you can within your limitations is a great lesson

I understand that for the people that prefer to purchase organic as much as possible, the price of groceries is outrageous. Personally, I don't buy organic and my grocery bill is super cheap, especially since I cut out a lot of processed food and since I'm vegetarian I don't buy meat. farmers markets are a great place to buy produce if you have one around. many times the farms are organic and you can even go see the farm in many cases. local produce is WAY less expensive than fruits and veggies shipped into your grocery store from thousands of miles away. customers are the ones paying shipping costs..

I want to know what farmers markets people shop at where produce is CHEAPER than in the grocery! Here the local / FM are all like, $5 for a small basket of tomatoes or $6 for 8 peaches $1 for a bundle of carrots 1/2 the size of the $1.50 grocery store bunch, $2/lb apples.... it seems they are always twice the price of the grocery. Maybe it's because I'm not in a big city? Don't know. I grow my own wherever possible though - tomatoes, zucchinis, beans, and peppers. Then I know just what went in them and they're cheap. I don't always have the patience for them! And if we hit a good drought then they get expensive!