Junk Food cheap and Healthy food expensive?
Options
Replies
-
Oddly enough, I sometimes find that organic versions of the same produce are cheaper. There are also a few vegetables and fruits I buy organic because I like the taste better (celery, baby carrots, and strawberries). Not sure why they taste better, but they do.sheermomentum wrote: »And I absolutely agree with avoiding organic produce. There is no health or environmental benefit to it at all. Its basically there to make money for a luxury food industry.
y'know, I have found that a few times, myself. Not often, but I have seen it.1 -
cmriverside wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I eat on $120 per month and I eat very well including steak, shrimp, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. This topic comes up five times a week, there are plenty of solutions if you look for them
wow, HOW?! I spend that weekly, minimum. I need to get my kitten together lol
Nope. I've typed out that long reply more times than I should have,
Like a previous poster mentioned I'm sure this varies by where you live. I live in Toronto and I'd have to eat ramen all month to live on that. I'm fairly certain you are an outlier.
0 -
The only thing we buy since changing our dietary habits that I find to be expensive is fish...we eat quite a bit of it...but that is also offset by the fact that we don't eat as much red meat (also expensive) as we used to. Other than that, whole oats, beans, lentils, potatoes, etc are pretty cheap. We buy most of our fresh produce at Costco (we buy most everything at Costco). We plan the meals we are going to eat on the weekend and shop accordingly.
Our food budget has actually gone down...we don't eat out as often as we used to, and because we're better at meal planning and following through so less food goes to waste than it previously did.2 -
It's actually cheaper in the long run to buy ingredients to make food than buy processed food, which can be pricey, or spend $8 on fast food several times a week which adds up. You just have to buy in season and watch prices.3
-
I am kind of tron on this healthy is so expensive thing. I gave up buying combo meals and usually make a sandwich using leftovers for lunch. I eat regular oatmeal for breakfast which is cheap but I add fresh fruit & walnuts to it. Dinner is a piece of fish or meat and produce, not real cheap or expensive when bought at wholesale clubs. When I look at my employees drinking $2.00 energy drinks and $6 - $8 lunches I think it kind of balances out.1
-
OP probably wasted all sorts of money on overpriced "organic" "superfoods".1
-
I am kind of tron on this healthy is so expensive thing.
I agree. Buy a bag of pinto beans for $3 and you're good to go for a week. However, do you know what? I wouldn't respect Food Inc. (or any pusher/dealer) that didn't offer their junk for a pittance. It is just good business to get the junkies hooked. And they are hooked. Look at this site. The pivotal word is fitness, and even here people will fight to the death their right to have pizza and cheese fries. Well played, Food Inc.
1 -
I am kind of tron on this healthy is so expensive thing.
I agree. Buy a bag of pinto beans for $3 and you're good to go for a week. However, do you know what? I wouldn't respect Food Inc. (or any pusher/dealer) that didn't offer their junk for a pittance. It is just good business to get the junkies hooked. And they are hooked. Look at this site. The pivotal word is fitness, and even here people will fight to the death their right to have pizza and cheese fries. Well played, Food Inc.
Pinto beans taste good to me. Pizza tastes good to me. Both help me meet my nutritional goals and I don't consider myself "hooked" on either one (except to the extent I require some type of food to continue living).2 -
I am kind of tron on this healthy is so expensive thing.
I agree. Buy a bag of pinto beans for $3 and you're good to go for a week. However, do you know what? I wouldn't respect Food Inc. (or any pusher/dealer) that didn't offer their junk for a pittance. It is just good business to get the junkies hooked. And they are hooked. Look at this site. The pivotal word is fitness, and even here people will fight to the death their right to have pizza and cheese fries. Well played, Food Inc.
I like pinto beans with some smoked turkey inside... and I am hooked. What does that mean?
0 -
I must agree. I live in a part of Ohio where they only ways of fresh local produce is corn and maple syrup. For those of us that are on medically necessary specific diets, we tend to spend a lot more on groceries. For my household I spend almost 100 on meat alone for two weeks and thats for a family of 2 and a toddler and shopping at Aldi. In rural America eating healthy can and will break the bank. Most of the stores (at least around me) don't send out regular coupons and the ones that do still have unaffordable prices.
However, I do believe this country wants us overweight. If we are over weight we are subject to more doctors appointments, more tests, more prescriptions, and more time and money spent. All this money is funding big Pharma and the Insurance companies which play a major role in practically every aspect of our nations business and economic platforms (paling a multi billion dollar industry) so of course they want us overweight. The rich need to be richer, right?0 -
I like food.
Good thing, too.1 -
-
cmriverside wrote: »I eat on $120 per month and I eat very well including steak, shrimp, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. This topic comes up five times a week, there are plenty of solutions if you look for them
must be nice to have local markets and produce where you aren't being taking advantage of.0 -
wyatts_momma_1027 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I eat on $120 per month and I eat very well including steak, shrimp, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. This topic comes up five times a week, there are plenty of solutions if you look for them
must be nice to have local markets and produce where you aren't being taking advantage of.
There are plenty of vacancies, you can move here, too. It's actually one of the most expensive places to live (Seattle) - but that doesn't mean it's impossible to eat well on less.4 -
You can eat healthily on a small budget. You can go broke buying junk food. It's all about choices. If you choose out of season 'fresh' foods that have to be shipped from other countries where they are in season then naturally the cost of that transportation and import fees and whatever else is involved is going to be factored into the cost of the item. Or can choose more affordable healthy foods.4
-
I always want to cry when I see Americans share their meat and produce costs. Where I live in Canada the cheapest boneless skinless breast is like 10 dollars for 5 breasts at Walmart. SOMETIMES they go on mega sale for like 7 dollars for 5 breasts but not often.
Ironically its the produce that costs waaaay more than anything for us. We spend around 800 dollars a month for a family of three (Im also pregnant.) and MOST of that is fresh produce thats on sale.
I agree that the government wants us to be fat honestly. I also think thats why theres SO much misinformation out there as well. And yes I can load up my cart full of junk for way less money but it won't make me feel good so the higher cost of eating well for me is worth it albeit annoying.0 -
I'm actually spending less in general since I am buying less meat and have cut that drastically.
I spend less too, since the basics of what I eat (protein, starch, vegetables) are the same, I order in/buy food out less, I buy less treat-like stuff (and bake less), I still eat expensive cheese, but spend less on it since I eat less, and I eat less meat and more legumes. I've also become more open to including frozen out of season although I still splurge for the "fresh" in the stores now, often enough.
I'm also better about buying seasonally, so have been eating the cabbage, root veg, winter squash and the like more than I used to.0 -
What rural areas don't have fresh produce available in season? I live in a city in a farm state (Chicago) and am lucky at the options available here (and do as much gardening as I can -- which would be more if I had more land available, as with my grandparents who lived in rural WA). When I go to western MI I can always find much cheaper produce than here.0
-
I spend less than I used to now... because I spend less money on junk food... but I really mostly buy cheap stuff (like chicken breast only when it's at $1.99 a lb, rarely more expensive kinds of meat), buy frozen veggies more than fresh (I'm NOT spending $4 on a cauliflower or $2.99 a lb on broccoli) and stock up on perishables when they are on sale. I go to different stores too depending on the sale flyers and what I need.
I mean yeah, obviously if you're going to buy $13 a lb salmon and $2.99 a lb broccoli 5x a week, that's not going to be cheap.
2 -
I am kind of tron on this healthy is so expensive thing.
I agree. Buy a bag of pinto beans for $3 and you're good to go for a week. However, do you know what? I wouldn't respect Food Inc. (or any pusher/dealer) that didn't offer their junk for a pittance. It is just good business to get the junkies hooked. And they are hooked. Look at this site. The pivotal word is fitness, and even here people will fight to the death their right to have pizza and cheese fries. Well played, Food Inc.
And yet, it is possible to eat a diet filled with primarily nutrient dense foods, even processed ones, and still enjoy pizza or cheese fries in moderation... how does any of that negate fitness, or nutrition, or overall health?
And again, why is pizza bad? It is bread, tomato sauce, cheese, and meat/veggie toppings? I will never understand why pizza gets blamed as a "bad" food.
0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.7K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 395 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.3K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 960 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions