Why Eating Healthy Isn't Expensive/Grocery Haul

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  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    We spend 200 Euro a week for two of us and our cat. This 200 Euro includes everything though: food, cat food, cat litter, paper products, the odd light bulb. and we have to buy bottled drinking and cooking water because tap water isn't drinkable safe. Not complaining though. Ordinary grocery store food here is good quality. Plus there are the fresh food markets every day except Sunday all year round.
  • upoffthemat
    upoffthemat Posts: 679 Member
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    diannethegeek wrote: »
    jwagner1204 wrote: »
    I live by myself and in the past two years of not eating healthy or working out I found that I was eating out or ordering in a lot. Even though I like to cook I just found that I didn't want to cook just for myself so I got into this habit. I came on this app to lose about 20 plus pounds and get back on my normal eating healthy kick. The problem I always seem to run into is grocery shopping and finding good deals, and also not wasting food because it goes bad in refrigerator. I don't get any newspapers or mailings for sales, so for someone in my situation does anyone have any advice for me on how to shop smarter and get good deals, too??

    Also, I'm brand new to this app, especially the community forums, so any advice or direction on how to maneuver through or make the most of my experience here. Thank you very much for any help!! :smile:

    Most stores post their sales ads online. You can check out your local stores and see if they do. If not, some stores have the ad available for you to grab as you walk in the door.

    A lot of the stores that post online ads also have the ability to create a shopping list based on those ads that you can print out or save. There really are a lot of ways to make your life easier if you look and there seem to be more every day.
  • LPflaum
    LPflaum Posts: 174 Member
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    endlessfall16 wrote: »
    Do you folks know and keep a budget on groceries? It's a sensitive topic in my family so I gave up even talking about it. I don't know how to respond to sayings like ... "well, we're not throwing away money. It's for the foods we eat. We're not wasting". Get this over that? "It's not the same".

    Is it also "false economy" to save on foods, only to overeat then exercise hard to "waste" the calories? Someone pointed that out to me.

    Yes. Religiously. My credit card company actually does it for me and it pops up as a little graph on their website. I used to recommend Mint.com to people religiously though. When we're overspending or strapped for cash, it instantly shows us where we're blowing the budget.
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
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    LPflaum wrote: »
    ronjsteele1 wrote: »
    One of my best friends has 12 kids. She shops what's on sale and then builds her menu around that. While I don't do that personally, it's actually a very wise thing to do when you're trying to save money. Person for person, they feed their family with about the same amount of money as I feed my family of 5.

    I don't have kids and I do this. If you live in the Southeast IHeartPublix.com releases the publix flyer 3 days early (monday instead of thursday). Every monday morning i log on, take stock of everything that is super cheap/on sale/bogo and add it to my list. I menu plan my entire week around that list and my macros, and then go to the grocery the following Sunday. So I effectively have a whole week to menu plan, which was really helpful with coupon releases. I kept a whole coupon folder on top of shopping the flyer

    We started doing this back in 2009 when I couldn't find work and we were living paycheck to paycheck and filling the gap with credit card debt. Our household income has quadrupled since those dark days, our grocery bill hasn't budged because I can't bring myself to stop shopping like this. Now I know why my grandmother (raised in the great depression) saved cottage cheese containers her whole life.

    I think a lot of us got a wake up call that our grandparents generation may have been right about a few things. Aldi is also in Florida and they do a great job with meats.
  • findingro
    findingro Posts: 18 Member
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    It all matters where your priorities are and how long your list of excuses are. Your groceries just prove that when you're determined you find a way!
  • BranwynTaffy
    BranwynTaffy Posts: 23 Member
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    We all differ on what is considered healthy & fresh. From the OP's pics of frozen & packaged food with tons of GMO laden ingredients & preservatives... not to mention that anything frozen depletes vitamins & minerals by at least 40%... I don't eat anything but fresh & that isn't cheap anywhere.

    Despite cost, I still do fresh & almost all organic, but... I live alone & pay 2-4 times what a family of 4 lives on, based on what others have revealed about their food bills. If we want to eat healthy (organic & fresh, in my book), it's a huge % of our monthly expenses, unless you make far more $ than I do.
  • LPflaum
    LPflaum Posts: 174 Member
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    Someone was telling me about Aldi last night at a game of thrones watch party. I haven't been since the late 1990s and back then it was decidedly not good- weird processed cheeses that don't melt, terrible off brand cereals, frozen veg that turned to mush. I am told that Aldi is now basically amazing and has food that is equal to or better than Publix for less money... So I am definitely checking that out!!

  • gramarye
    gramarye Posts: 586 Member
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    That said, thanks for sharing your insight! This is super useful information, especially for people who need a primer in grocery shopping. (I could have used some in my twenties, for sure.)

    The only problem I have with this post -- and I don't know if this has been addressed in the pages herein -- is that $122 is a lot of money to drop at once, even if it's going to last for weeks. For people who are living at poverty levels, they may not have the time, the kitchen space, or the chunk of change needed to buy at bulk and sale prices. There's also a lot of systemic issues -- a high weight is correlated with poverty, which often goes hand-in-hand with food deserts and scarce resources. For some people, this practical approach to grocery shopping really is out of reach.

    (I say that not to disparrage the OP; I'm honestly impressed with their effort and planning skills! But MFP users on the forums always seem to write off people's problems with groceries as laziness when there are a lot of other factors at play.)
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
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    AmazonMayan wrote: »
    expensive walmart or the likes - I swear I don't know why people still think it's cheap there nowadays. It's really not. I'd go broke shopping for groceries at Walmart.


    Agreed! Im in the chicago burbs and walmart is significantly more expensive than aldi or trader joes!
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
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    LPflaum wrote: »
    Someone was telling me about Aldi last night at a game of thrones watch party. I haven't been since the late 1990s and back then it was decidedly not good- weird processed cheeses that don't melt, terrible off brand cereals, frozen veg that turned to mush. I am told that Aldi is now basically amazing and has food that is equal to or better than Publix for less money... So I am definitely checking that out!!

    Their brands are still weird. They do, however, have good meats and other basics for cheap.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
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    This food looks great and very healthy, but I'd be curious to know how many calories per day (roughly, on average) this works out for you. You've bought a HUGE variety of low-calorie vegetables and fruits, eggs, and about 8 lbs of fresh meat and a little bit of canned fish. But I don't really see ANY fat sources (beyond the ice cream). I personally don't think this grocery load would be sufficient for me to get enough calories and provide the necessary healthy fat in my diet.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    edited May 2016
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    BranwynTaffy wrote: »
    We all differ on what is considered healthy & fresh. From the OP's pics of frozen & packaged food with tons of GMO laden ingredients & preservatives... not to mention that anything frozen depletes vitamins & minerals by at least 40%... I don't eat anything but fresh & that isn't cheap anywhere.

    Despite cost, I still do fresh & almost all organic, but... I live alone & pay 2-4 times what a family of 4 lives on, based on what others have revealed about their food bills. If we want to eat healthy (organic & fresh, in my book), it's a huge % of our monthly expenses, unless you make far more $ than I do.

    ... this isn't true at all. Frozen veggies don't use preservatives (unless they come with sauce, which I usually don't buy) and no, freezing doesn't deplete vitamin and minerals.

    UpEarly wrote: »
    This food looks great and very healthy, but I'd be curious to know how many calories per day (roughly, on average) this works out for you. You've bought a HUGE variety of low-calorie vegetables and fruits, eggs, and about 8 lbs of fresh meat and a little bit of canned fish. But I don't really see ANY fat sources (beyond the ice cream). I personally don't think this grocery load would be sufficient for me to get enough calories and provide the necessary healthy fat in my diet.

    Assuming that OP has oil and butter and other staples like that already. And there's pork in there too (and protein bars, which often have nuts in them).

    I mean, it's not that different from my diet. I get most of my fat from dairy and meat, which isn't exactly 'healthy' I guess. Bit of nuts and oil and avocado too but it's definitely not my staples. Avocados are expensive.. but I'd definitely have some cheese or yogurt in my grocery list.
  • CoffeeNCardio
    CoffeeNCardio Posts: 1,847 Member
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    sunnybeaches105 wrote: »
    CoffeeNCardio wrote: »
    This. Entire. Thread.

    ghycwvd3pt29.jpg


    It's blue, damn it . . .

    Agreed. But trying my damndest I cannot convince my sister in law it's not white and gold. Anymore than I could convince someone of wealth and geographic luck that eating healthy is sometimes more expensive than not dollar for dollar, or that anyone could convince me that $45 a week is enough to feed healthy food to 2 adults in a grocery desert.

    Seriously cannot even describe the depths to which a conversation about something so inherently personal and individual with so many variables it's not funny is a waste of time.
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
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    CoffeeNCardio wrote: »
    sunnybeaches105 wrote: »
    CoffeeNCardio wrote: »
    This. Entire. Thread.

    ghycwvd3pt29.jpg


    It's blue, damn it . . .

    Agreed. But trying my damndest I cannot convince my sister in law it's not white and gold. Anymore than I could convince someone of wealth and geographic luck that eating healthy is sometimes more expensive than not dollar for dollar, or that anyone could convince me that $45 a week is enough to feed healthy food to 2 adults in a grocery desert.

    Seriously cannot even describe the depths to which a conversation about something so inherently personal and individual with so many variables it's not funny is a waste of time.

    This is one of the least time wasting threads on MFP. OP was giving comparisons and it has resulted in a discussion about saving money. Sort of like comparing dry cleaners in different cities for a stain on a blue dress. Wait. Different blue dress. Never mind. What were we taking about again?

    Oh yea, waste of time threads on MFP. Would you sleep with the above poster? Kiss, bang, marry, or twaddle? Do clouds really always have a silver lining?
  • CoffeeNCardio
    CoffeeNCardio Posts: 1,847 Member
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    sunnybeaches105 wrote: »
    CoffeeNCardio wrote: »
    sunnybeaches105 wrote: »
    CoffeeNCardio wrote: »
    This. Entire. Thread.

    ghycwvd3pt29.jpg


    It's blue, damn it . . .

    Agreed. But trying my damndest I cannot convince my sister in law it's not white and gold. Anymore than I could convince someone of wealth and geographic luck that eating healthy is sometimes more expensive than not dollar for dollar, or that anyone could convince me that $45 a week is enough to feed healthy food to 2 adults in a grocery desert.

    Seriously cannot even describe the depths to which a conversation about something so inherently personal and individual with so many variables it's not funny is a waste of time.

    This is one of the least time wasting threads on MFP. OP was giving comparisons and it has resulted in a discussion about saving money. Sort of like comparing dry cleaners in different cities for a stain on a blue dress. Wait. Different blue dress. Never mind. What were we taking about again?

    Oh yea, waste of time threads on MFP. Would you sleep with the above poster? Kiss, bang, marry, or twaddle? Do clouds really always have a silver lining?

    The argument about the money is the waste. The information OP posted was very cool.

    1i61szcejlat.jpg

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