True or an excuse?
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I have been there where the only thing I can afford is peanut butter, bread, and milk (about $5). (college) I'm thankful that I'm no longer in that position.
Yep, I've been there too! Dietetic student learning about healthy foods including budget friendly strategies! Still, a carton of eggs, a loaf of bread, a packet of pasta and a bottle of pasta sauce could last me for a whole week - total diet, $10 (Au) per week. And so I appreciate that sometimes people eat what they have to just to get by.0 -
Since I started cooking from recipes I found here and other places from scratch (or mostly) I have found that I'm spending a lot less on food, both going out to eat and buying groceries! If there is a pot of food sitting in the fridge, we won't go out because, well there's already food there.
That being said, I think it's an excuse for more than one reason:
1. People think healthy means organic. Yes organic is healthy, but it costs more, that much is true. You can still get those non-organic bananas for 26 cents a pound though.
2. The general (non-mfp) populous is lazy. Why spend 2 hours chopping, washing, crushing, slicing, peeling, sauteing, boiling, simmering, -insert other ways to cook food here-, when you can buy a can of spaghettios and call it a night?
Cooking healthy can sometimes be involved, but it can also be as simple as switching out that extra thick cut hickory smoked bacon for low-sodium turkey bacon (which is $2 cheaper than regular bacon where I shop!!!)0 -
If you menu plan and are an able cook, healthy food is just as cheap as processed. However, for most of us who go to the supermarket on the way home from work and pick up dinner its way more expensive. I love cooking and could feed us very cheaply if I bothered to plan so I knew I had to soak pulses etc overnight. I'm just not organised so I spend far more on healthy foods.0
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Eating healthy at a fast food restaurant is more expensive than unhealthy at a fast food resaurant. Eating healthy at a store can be more expensive than unhealthy at a store. In my experience and opinion. However, you also have to factor in whether or not you know how to cook, have the right equipment, how much time you have, and whether or not the rest of your family will eat it. I am cooking healthy more often now cause the kids are grown and we can afford a little more at the store.0
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It's absolutely TRUE! But it's also used as an excuse. So it's not an either/or! It's far cheaper to buy a huge carton of processed and bleached white flour based pasta shells for the family than health proteins/veggies, etc. It just is. But for me personally, it's a mixed bag. I eat healthy so it costs more to feed me. But the rest of my family? Not so much. I don't enforce my plant based diet on the rest of the family. They participate to varying degrees. My Senior daughter follows it a lot of the time, my teenage son does whatever the opposite of what I'm doing.
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I agree with this guy.0 -
Excuse. My family is on a budget of about $75/week for 5 of us. We eat healthy just fine but it takes work.
That's amazing! You should share some tips!
Yes...please do!! That's better than I can do!!!
I buy produce in season, stock up when I can and freeze. You would be surprised some things that freeze well. My kids just had cantaloupe frozen when it was Buy 1 get 2 Free. They see it like as much of as a treat as ice cream. Also use coupons matched to the weeks sales and again stock up when I can.
A lot is saved buying meat on sale, or marked down when close to sell by date. Meat is more of a side in my family which saves a lot of money there. I also stretch meats into multiple meals. A whole chicken will make 4-5 meals for us. I also bake a lot of things, and sometimes make our crackers, bread tortillas etc.
Like I said it takes work but can be done.0 -
This is a shopping/cooking guide put out by our social welfare agency.
http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/documents/the-great-little-cookbook.pdf0 -
For us, healthy food is more expensive because it's the junk food that has all the coupons. BUT, overall I think it's less expensive because we're healthier which, over time, equates to less doctor visits and less medications, plus less time at work and play lost to illness.0
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True.
Logically, it is true. It has been shown that purchasing fresh produce is far more expensive than buying processed crap.
You can eat 300 calories worth of CRAP a whole lot quicker than you eat 300 calories worth of produce.
By this you can infer that it would require MORE unprocessed foods to consume that same amount of calories, requiring more food.
This is why you see diabetes in a lot of minority/low income groups. It's not about the quality of a meal, it's about getting calories in the cheapest way possible.
As a society we need to define the value of our well being over the value of money. If that ever happens, you would start seeing a reversal, wherein processed foods are more expensive than fresh food. I just caught the tail end of a radio program about this today. I wish I could remember what they said, but they did mention that in places where they eat more produce than processed foods, the process foods are much more expensive.
If you look at these "healthy" diets that are low in cost, you will see A LOT of wheat... or as the USDA loves to put it "whole grains". Wheat is the single worst thing anybody can consume-- and it's in everything-- and is promoted as being healthy-- when in fact, it is not. Wheat especially exists in cheap foods, because... well, it's cheap.
Produce is not the only healthy thing out there. When I said healthy I mean all healthy foods, produce is part of it, but doesn't completely make up a healthy diet. You can get fresh produce for a good price when you get what is in season and on sale too. And there are canned/frozen options as well.
And what exactly makes wheat the worst thing you can consume? That is a very bold statement.
Not all staples of a healthy diet include wheat anyway. The ones I listed already: eggs, beans, lentils, oats, rice, potatoes, meat in bulk, yeahhh not a ton of wheat there. Not that it really matters. I can get a loaf of wheat bread though for $1 on sale and a jar of PB and could be set for a while.0 -
It is more expensive but worth it.
The reason it's more expensive is because I'm something of an extreme couponer and the items you can usually get for free are prepackaged name brand foods.0 -
It costs more in my opinion. Buying fresh fruit and veg and organic meats is more than frozen or canned foods.0
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Healthy Dinner for 3:
Flounder, steamed broccoli, baked potatoes - $12
Unhealthy Dinner for 3:
Two Papa John's Pizzas - $28
It all depends on what you're eating either way. There's lots of expensive unhealthy dinners and lots of expensive healthy dinners. Sure, Mac & Cheese is cheap, but pub burgers with bacon, thousand island and mozzerella (how I miss our homemade MozzaBurgers!) definitely ain't cheap. Our healthy dinners have smaller portions of meat, or sometimes no meat at all, which cuts the costs. So some meals cost more now that we're eating healthy, some meals cost less.
Overall my grocery bill has stayed about the same, a tiny bit less (we're actually eating the produce now instead of pitching it after it wilts). However my dining out bill has been cut by half. We still go out to eat, just not as often and we're not getting as much food when we do eat out. We don't get appetizers or dessert, we drink water instead of soda, I split a plate with my 8 year old, etc. Husband and I take our own lunches now, which is way cheaper than going out.
For us it's been cheaper. I can see though for some people how it would not be cheaper.0 -
I think it's an excuse because I myself used to use it.
I find planning every meal and only buying what you need means a shop is cheaper and you're not tempted by offers on junk food in the shop thinking you might need it.0 -
It costs more in my opinion. Buying fresh fruit and veg and organic meats is more than frozen or canned foods.
Non organic meat is still healthy though. And canned/frozen veggies can be just as good as fresh :]0 -
Well so far I am spending a lot more money at the grocery store ever since starting this weightloss journey. I'm eating a lot more protein and veggies and a lot less carbs. I used to be a hardcore couponer and basically bought whatever I could get for free or super cheap - which meant lots of pasta, random treats, prepackaged meals, etc. Now fewer of the things that I stock up on have coupons to go with them so I find that I'm spending sometimes double what I spent before. It's a shock to the wallet but I still watch for free/cheap deals on the things that I use NOW, and stock up when I get the chance (pasta sauce, frozen/canned veggies, whole grain pasta, tortillas, etc). I'm just not able to get my grocery bill down quite like I used to since I look at a lot of the freebie deals now and think 'that would really not help me toward my goal'.
We are also eating a lot less fast food and takeout now though so that probably helps balance the overall food costs out a little bit.... Although when we DO get fast food for whatever reason, I don't just live off of the Dollar Menu anymore so my fast food is actually more expensive when we actually get it.... LOL0 -
It's more expensive. I have tried the numbers it is terrible and I hate it but I am worth it.0
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Excuse. My family is on a budget of about $75/week for 5 of us. We eat healthy just fine but it takes work.
That's amazing! You should share some tips!
Yes...please do!! That's better than I can do!!!
I buy produce in season, stock up when I can and freeze. You would be surprised some things that freeze well. My kids just had cantaloupe frozen when it was Buy 1 get 2 Free. They see it like as much of as a treat as ice cream. Also use coupons matched to the weeks sales and again stock up when I can.
A lot is saved buying meat on sale, or marked down when close to sell by date. Meat is more of a side in my family which saves a lot of money there. I also stretch meats into multiple meals. A whole chicken will make 4-5 meals for us. I also bake a lot of things, and sometimes make our crackers, bread tortillas etc.
Like I said it takes work but can be done.
I am really happy that you can do this and well done for making all that effort. I myself have done that when I lived in Australia. What would you suggest however for someone like myself, who lives in a tiny London flat that barely has a freezer at all? And definitely wouldn't fit one. Surely that puts a cramp in those plans? Perhaps it isn't so easy for every person/family out there? I have friends that live in a flat the size of ours with a family of 4! I have plenty of money to buy healthy food. Just saying, I can see how that wouldn't work for a lot of people.0 -
And what exactly makes wheat the worst thing you can consume? That is a very bold statement.
If you are truly interested in how wheat affects your health, I suggest reading the book Wheat Belly.
I do not consume wheat for reasons other than weight loss, which is mainly what this book is geared towards, but it is EXTREMELY informative on how it affects every system in your body.
You can check out their blog here: http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/
In a nutshell, a slice of bread has a higher glycemic load than a spoonful of sugar.
When you eat wheat, it causes your blood sugar to sky rocket.
60-120 minutes later, your blood sugar plummets.... then you eat more wheat, and the roller coaster starts again.
Physiologically over time, this causes your A1C to become higher. A high A1C can lead to pre-diabetes and diabetes.
People who cease their consumption of wheat have been shown to not only lose weight, BUT REVERSE their diabetes (as well as a host of other unsavory health issues.)
There is A LOT of information on this out there, not just this book. I think this particular book is a good place to start.0 -
It all depends on what you ate before and after.
Cheapest:
Locally, I can buy 1 Little Caesars large pepperoni pizza for $5. It is enough food for 1 person for day (Over 2400 calories).
Realistically, when you go on a business trip with your co-workers, you aren't fixing your own food. You're eating out and probably getting some kind of fast food item. Do you take the $4 grilled chicken salad that has 300 calories, or a $1 McDouble that has 500 calories?
Fast, frozen food at home? Party pizzas are like $1.50 and 800 calories. Lean cuisine frozen meals? $2.00 for 300 calories if they are on sale.0 -
Well if you are eating healthy it might be more on the pocket book when you go to the store, but if you eat unhealthy it is more in doctor visits, gym memberships, clothing, and so on. So really it is better to eat healthy even if it is expensive when you are at the store.0
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This is the ting though - healthy food does not have to be organic. It doesn't have to be steak and chicken breasts.
Lean ground beef and chicken drumsticks (remove the skin) are just as good.
Also, I think a lot of people put too much meat on their plates - about 120 g raw weight meat is an adequate serve for most people, not a half chicken breast at around 250-300g.
Produce - fresh when in season, but actually eat it FFS. Of course it costs more if you just hiff it out. Be realistic and buy less of it, or actually eat what you've bought. A head of broccoli here, in season, 49c. out of season? $3.49 and 1/3 the size.
If that's not possible, buy frozen - but don't buy fancy steamfresh gimmick frozen vegetables - buy bags of frozen peas or or cauliflower or beans or corn or whatever you fancy, and a microwave steamer bowl.
Got a yard? Grow your own. things like squash and courgettes you really have to try super-hard to kill. Got a balcony in an apartment? You can still grow stuff like lettuces, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, beans in planter boxes and they look pretty : )
bulk casseroles, spaghetti sauces meatloaf and so on out with lentils or other legumes, or grated vegetables.0 -
My grocery bill tells me it is way more expensive. I still shell out the money for healthy stuff, but it seems really pricey.0
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It all depends on what you ate before and after.
Cheapest:
Locally, I can buy 1 Little Caesars large pepperoni pizza for $5. It is enough food for 1 person for day (Over 2400 calories).
Realistically, when you go on a business trip with your co-workers, you aren't fixing your own food. You're eating out and probably getting some kind of fast food item. Do you take the $4 grilled chicken salad that has 300 calories, or a $1 McDouble that has 500 calories?
Fast, frozen food at home? Party pizzas are like $1.50 and 800 calories. Lean cuisine frozen meals? $2.00 for 300 calories if they are on sale.
Fast food at home? Can spread some peanut butter on some wholegrain bread and grab an apple out of the fridge faster than you can heat any frozen meal, and for cheaper. You can poach an egg in a cup in the microwave in 30 seconds.0 -
In the UK it is far more expensive to eat healthier than convenience foods. The government are aware of this yet do nothing about it. There was a proposal to junk food but it never happened.0
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I think it's an excuse. If people are smart about it, it can definitely be cheaper to eat healthier and at home too. Boxed and frozen dinners are often expensive and last one meal. A bunch of different healthy ingredients can be cheaper and make a filling meal plus leftovers. Our grocery bill dropped when I started buying whole foods, cooking more from scratch, and we stopped eating out/ordering in.
One big thing that helps that most people do not bother to do is meal planning. I sit down every Sunday and plan out our meals for the entire week. My fiancee and his daughter both get to have a "pick night" where they choose what they want me to make, and then I pick out the rest of the week. I try to use recipes that are using the same ingredients or use up stuff we have in the pantry and then make out my grocery list. Eventually I want to be a "couponer" and try to save even more that way. There are some weeks I've gone to the store for just a handful of items and we've eaten big meals all week. I also stock up on healthy (non-perishable or frozen) items when they go on super-sale. It's do-able, you just have to plan and be smart about it instead of throwing a bunch of $1 frozen pizzas in the cart on a whim.0 -
"I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves." - Ronald ReaganIn the UK it is far more expensive to eat healthier than convenience foods. The government are aware of this yet do nothing about it. There was a proposal to junk food but it never happened.0 -
Isn't that dependent on their macro/calories goals, which is largely outside the scope of this conversation?Also, I think a lot of people put too much meat on their plates - about 120 g raw weight meat is an adequate serve for most people, not a half chicken breast at around 250-300g.
Your suggestion is roughly, what... 4 oz? That's a typical service according to manufacturers. At ~20g protein per 4oz serving, I'd have to eat 10 of your meals per day to hit my protein mark (obviously that takes away protein from other sources, but I'm oversimplifying for the sake of this conversation). That ain't going to happen. So while you don't have to agree with me eating 8oz of chicken breast or a 12oz steak, for those of us with higher calorie/protein goals a traditional serving just doesn't cut it.0 -
I think it's neither. It's a lack of education or time in many cases. My mom managed to feed 5 us well and healthy on a VERY tight budget. She also made her own tortillas, pinto beans, biscuits (from scratch not BisQuick), etc. We ate a lot of white flour but our foods didn't have a lot of chemicals and such added. We also lived in Northern California where product is cheap in season. The thing is she knew HOW to cook and how to shop, looking at more then just the price per jar of peanut butter but how much it cost per ounce. She also had my dad to help out. Not everyone was taught to cook or how to shop. I have multiple friends that can not cook because their parent didn't want to take the time to teach them and now they are a single parents with small children that work full time. It's easy to say "You're making an excuse" but some time the possible just isn't feasible because the knowledge isn't there.0
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the idea that it is more expensive to eat healthily has always annoyed the hell out of me. Since when was a 1 kg bag of oatmeal expensive? or a bag of carrots? frozen veges? apples? chicken is dirt cheap in the UK anyway. eggs are cheap (the barn kind particularly if you have no conscience). Peanut butter? Bag of potatoes, dirt cheap. Baked beans. cheap.
It is easier to eat cheap and healthy in my book then cheap and rubbish.0 -
For me, eating healthier is way more expensive! The lean cuts of meat, the fish (salmon, Talipia, etc) are much more. Fresh veggies, and fruits....yes, I pay more. But I don't care, because this is what i have to do. The BS foods are always on sale....you can go to fast foods and eat off the $1 menu....and if you go out to eat, the healthier foods are always more than the not so healthy.0
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