Why eating healthy is cheaper :)

Options
eisterunicorn
eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
edited August 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi I just wanted to say something to everybody that I think it is cool :)

I see a lot of people in my life at least who say healthy eating is so much more expensive because junk food and drive thrus are cheaper quicker etc. but I've realized that while maybe some of the foods are more expensive (maybe) to eat healthy than quick fast food, it is still less money to eat healthy than to overeat and keep going out for junky snacks and eating out all the time adds up. :) Just wanted to share because I think it is interesting. When I was eating very poorly and overeating a lot, I spent so much more money chasing fatty foods and indulging all of the time, even though my grocery trips were a little lighter. :) neat
«1

Replies

  • eisterunicorn
    eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
    Options
    lorriemb wrote: »
    Folks who say eating healthy is more expensive only look at the food cost and not the long-term negative impact on health that the typical diet of processed foods, snacks, and fast foods cause. Obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension--to name a few.

    yes that too (:
  • eisterunicorn
    eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
    Options
    MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »
    Depends very much on the circumstances. Some people do have a hard time affording to eat healthy if say they live in a food desert, or work jobs that don't pay enough, and for many of them going out to eat isn't an option either. What's true for you isn't necessarily true for someone else.

    I was speaking from my experience ^-^ nothing applies to everyone!:)
  • eisterunicorn
    eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
    Options
    katadx wrote: »
    I find this to be the case as well. A big bag of frozen chicken breasts where I live is 3.99 and veggies are also around 1.50 / lb. I can get a lot more food with a lot less buck. I suspect this may be due to living in the farming center of america, but I also feel like these are some of the options some people overlook. A lot of people think healthy and assume it means the organic/natural foods aisle and a lot of trendy foods (kale, paypayas, etc). Hopefully healthy eating will become more mainstream and the foods will be cheaper for everyone due to higher scale production eventually!

    Right :):) stuff isn't that cheap where I live and I don't buy into eating clean all the time so I do eat other stuff in moderation but I find that when I'm eating generally healthy anyways I don't eat out so much ^-^ it saves a lot for me
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
    Options
    Healthy eating is cheaper IF YOU PLAN AHEAD. If you don't plan and prep and have your snacks on hand, it's NOT. If I don't plan my lunch, it's either a $9 salad or a 2 for $2.50 McDouble and chicken nuggets.
  • CyeRyn
    CyeRyn Posts: 389 Member
    Options
    My bf and I recently chose a vegetarian lifestyle. We compared our grocery bills before and after. The cost didn't change much but we filled our cart with healthy foods while our unhealthy choices would offer up a half cart. Both fed us for a week, however we physically feel much better over all. More energy. In 5 weeks he has lost 15lbs and I have lost 4lbs (he has like 100lbs on me). I'm sure becoming vegetarian didn't cause us to lose weight, rather eating better foods has probably caused us to stay fuller longer than junk foods. CICO
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
    Options
    My husband and my grocery bill was $300 for the month, which works out to be less then $2 a meal. This includes snacks as well.
  • Strawblackcat
    Strawblackcat Posts: 944 Member
    Options
    The way I look at it is that food can be three things -- cheap, healthy, and easy. BUT, it can usually only be two of those things at once. In the case of most fast food, a meal can be quick and cheap (think McDonalds dollar menu type fare), but those meals aren't often healthy. Healthy meals out of the house are usually easy, but they aren't cheap. Lastly, meals made at home are often cheaper to prepare and healthier to eat than meals out of the house, but they aren't exactly easy. As in, people actually have to prep, cook, and clean up after the meal.

    That's where the problem lies. Most everyone that can afford to eat crappy food at cheap restaurants can afford to cook healthy meals at home. They just don't find budgeting the time to do so important enough, or there's some kind of secondary issue that's making cooking inaccessible to them.
  • MeemawCanDoIt
    MeemawCanDoIt Posts: 92 Member
    Options
    As my family has shifted to a healthier diet, including more (and varied) fresh fruits and vegetables, leaner cuts of meat, whole grains, fewer processed foods, etc., our grocery spending increased quite a bit.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    Options
    msjennigirl wrote: »
    As my family has shifted to a healthier diet, including more (and varied) fresh fruits and vegetables, leaner cuts of meat, whole grains, fewer processed foods, etc., our grocery spending increased quite a bit.

    Same here. Then again we never ate at Macca's for a cheap meal beforehand anyway. It has always been homecooked, just that now the majority of the cost is fruit and veg rather than refined carbs.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited August 2017
    Options
    Strawblackcat wrote: »
    The way I look at it is that food can be three things -- cheap, healthy, and easy. BUT, it can usually only be two of those things at once. In the case of most fast food, a meal can be quick and cheap (think McDonalds dollar menu type fare), but those meals aren't often healthy. Healthy meals out of the house are usually easy, but they aren't cheap. Lastly, meals made at home are often cheaper to prepare and healthier to eat than meals out of the house, but they aren't exactly easy. As in, people actually have to prep, cook, and clean up after the meal.

    That's where the problem lies. Most everyone that can afford to eat crappy food at cheap restaurants can afford to cook healthy meals at home. They just don't find budgeting the time to do so important enough, or there's some kind of secondary issue that's making cooking inaccessible to them.
    I think this too, but also that it's important to differenciate between easy and fast, so that the three things are cheap, healthy or fast. And to have tasty as part of the equation as well.

    I used to think about healthy food as boring and horrible, much more than it being expensive. Giving up pleasure is an expense too. In reality, after I got more insight, I realized that tasty and nutritious is one and the same, and that nutritious doesn't have to be elaborate or fancy, and thus not expensive either. I plan and prepare, and buy simple real food ingredients, and that's actually fun, because it's flexible, so I can make and eat everything I like, and I like a lot more now that I'm not afraid of any food. A lot of that "prep" isn't even actual work, it's just time - soaking and thawing. So now I cook and eat healthy, cheap and easy. I have finally found my enjoyment of food and eating, I am normal weight, I am strong and fit and happy and relaxed.

    ETA because I forgot: I used to buy a lot of "healthy" food that just went to waste, because of "good intentions" and no plans and no real intentions and no way of translating my knowledge of nutrition into practical, delicious cooking. I just bought what I thought I was supposed to and "tried" to eat the way I believed I was supposed to. This resulted in a constant conflict that just made me crave junk, and so I just bought and ate junk, and lots of it.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,481 Member
    edited August 2017
    Options
    Is it really so much more expensive to eat healthy in the US? My dinners are usually about £1-1.5. I buy the seasonal fruit and veggies on offer at Aldi and Lidl. A big pack of broccoli and cauliflour costs maybe £0.5, a pack of green beans at the moment about 0.6, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta and rice are cheap. If I don't feel like cooking I put a good quality sausage or a piece of (breaded) fish in an oven dish, some of my veggies and potato or sweet potato, and some cherry tomatoes (about 0.45), serve with tsatsiki, humus or feta. if I was really dull I could eat this for nearly a week before I run out of veggies. My whole groceries bill per month is usually around £90-100, and that's including an expensive artisan bread every weekend and a few other posh things.
  • ruffalicious
    ruffalicious Posts: 799 Member
    Options
    i go to aldi and walmart for produce and its not bad at all. i spent $50 for 2 weeks
  • eisterunicorn
    eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
    Options
    Cool insights! :) I didn't mean so much to make a statement of what is more expensive, healthy food or junk food :p
    Just that I actually end up saving money when I'm eating healthy if only for the fact that I don't eat out all the time and buy excess food to stuff my face. So it saves money. ^-^
  • drgnfyre
    drgnfyre Posts: 45 Member
    Options
    I find that I naturally eat less food eating healthy, and so it is actually cheaper for me. I am not sure what it is exactly but I feel more satisfied and have less cravings.
  • Laughter_Girl
    Laughter_Girl Posts: 2,226 Member
    Options
    Since switching to a plant - based diet, my savings have been quite noticeable. For one thing, I'm not eating out as much, which is a true money saver. Secondly, beans, lentils, pasta and most vegetables & fruits are lot less expensive in my area than processed foods. My local fruit/veggie market always has what's in season, and I don't feel compelled to purchase organic goods unless they are priced right, which can be a huge savings too.

    I think for many (not all), saying healthy eating is expensive is just another excuse to justify a poor diet and/or poor health.
  • ActiveMinutiae
    ActiveMinutiae Posts: 11 Member
    Options
    Oh, yeah. Good point. I forgot about the snack runs.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    edited August 2017
    Options
    msjennigirl wrote: »
    As my family has shifted to a healthier diet, including more (and varied) fresh fruits and vegetables, leaner cuts of meat, whole grains, fewer processed foods, etc., our grocery spending increased quite a bit.

    It will vary greatly on what resources someone has available. I shop at Aldi, which has loads of 'healthy' foods for cheap. I also live in a big farming area and you can't drive a mile down the road without passing road side stands from hobby farmers and usually their prices are very reasonable. One of our neighbors sells veggies, fruit, raw honey and eggs from his free range chickens-all for really cheap, (it's a hobby for a retired guy). My daughter works for a local farm that does the farmers market circuit around here, and I walk out of her road side stand with 2 bags heaping full for around $10. U-pick farms are also a big thing around here-I just got done picking 30lbs of blueberries, (I flash froze them and will use them in my green smoothies and in baking), and I paid $1.30lb. Same with strawberries earlier in the season. You can buy beef shares from local farmers and pay around $3 for local, grass fed beef (that includes processing). Our local Dollar Tree sells frozen veggies and fruit for $1 a bag. And the list goes on. But, someone else in a different area will have completely different resources, so the key is just to explore the different options in your area and see what's available!

    Op-I have a grocery budget of $100 a week, for a family of 5 (and 2 cats), and that also includes non-food items like paper goods, cleaning supplies, feminine hygiene products etc. I follow the DASH diet protocol, which is one of the 'healthiest' diets you can go by according to the experts in the medical field, and then my family doesn't follow a set plan and eats a wide variety of things. I'm big on menu planning, using the local resources we have around us, focus on what's in season and supplementing with frozen, and then not wasting food (leftovers are always used/I don't buy what we won't eat etc). Since I buy a lot of fresh veg/fruit I've gotten really good at storage/freezing things, to make it last longer :)

Categories