People who say "I can't afford to eat healthy" or "Healthy e
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Excuses are just that- excuses. Some people hide behind being heavy and eating all the wrong things- it's a little blanket that hides them from the rest of the world. Eating healthy opens doors- some people have anxiety not knowing what's on the other side of that door. Eating healthy can be expensive, but that's because you're buying your groceries all at once, so a $200 grocery bill may seem expensive. BUT... if you add up a $75 grocery bill along with 3 nights of pizza, one night at a restaurant and then frequent convenience store stops, that is ALOT more expensive!0
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The real issue is that people overeat. I would bet that before most people started on their 'lifestyle changes', they never really experienced truly being hungry. We don't need all the food we eat and that shows in the fact that Americans have the highest rate of obesity in the world.
You are right in that those snack foods are gone in a jiff, mainly because they are made to taste good. The whole thing is about sales. The food industry wants us to keep coming back and buy, buy, buy. So they make their foods irresistable. These means that we are mouth eating more than really eating because we are truly hungry. (Mouth eating is when you are just satisfying your desire for a particular taste, such as crunchy, salty, sweet, etc.)
The thing is that we are spending so much money to feed our mouth eating that we really would be spending about the same amount if we would just choose healthier foods all the time.
I picked up a book yesterday called The Raw Diet. It is really interesting what the author has to say. Essentially, his point is that we can live quite well just on organic, raw foods. No cooking, no packages of processed foods, etc. Just raw vegetables and fruits.
I am realizing that I have been moving in this direction very slowing. My snacks are becoming apples and oranges, carrots and broccoli. These are things that I like the most. I had a piece of blueberry pie yesterday and afterwards I felt yucky, both physically and mentally. It wasn't guilt because I ate it. It was more like, "That didn't taste all that great afterall. Why did I want it? I really would have enjoyed an apple more." And that apple would have been half the price of that piece of pie.
As an experiment, I think that I will do a weekend of only raw food and compare it to a weekend of my regular fare and see how the costs compare.0 -
I don't know if this is entirely true. At least not where I am. If you compare it to eating junk food at fast food places then yes, I can see where buying good food can be cheaper - but not always. I just went to the grocery store last night. A large bag of chips is $2.50. That would last about 10 snacks. I bought 3 apples and it cost me $3.00. A pack of hot dogs and a pack of buns is a total of about $3.00. That's 8 lunches. I bought 2 bags of salad - 5 lunches - and it cost me $6.00. A box of regular pasta is 88 cents. A box of whole grain pasta is almost $3.00. I could go on.
Here was my shopping list:
2 bags of salad
2 bags of butternut squash
4 cups of skinny cow ice cream
1 pound of fat free turkey
1 jar of almonds
1 6-pack of V8
A loaf of wheat bread
bananas
apples
1 box of corn flakes
4 cans of tuna
1 jar of peppers
Grand total: $48.00. And this is just an in-between week.
I could eat off the dollar menu at McDonald's (burger, fries, soda) 14 times for that much money. What I bought will be about 8 meals. I remember a time when that same list would have cost me half that.
I also know that if you buy in bulk, it works out cheaper. But some folks, myself included, even though it's cheaper in the long run, can't afford to buy 40 pounds of chicken at $1.29 a pound. That would be half of my budget for the week.
Where I am, chicken breast is close to $4 a pound. Fresh peppers are $6.00 a pound. And fruit? Most of it is between $1.50 and $2.00 a pound. Veggies are often a lot more. I'm also a smart shopper, and buy things when they are on sale and look for the best deals and cut coupons, etc. But for some people, perhaps depending on their location, it's MUCH cheaper to buy junk food. I'm not saying it's a good excuse, but it is a reason. Don't be so quick to assume. Prices aren't the same everywhere you go.
i was coaching these two woman on buying food and they are sharing the bulk food costs now .. you can share the cost with whoever and with what ever you would like. i dont know where you live but those prices you mentioned are really expensive. i feel fortunate there are choices of different stores here .. i get a big bag of baby green spinach leaves for 1.50 and it lasts me the whole week, a bag of apples for 3.00, you can buy a box of whole grain pasta at an aldis for under a 1.00 .. the higher end is 1.99 at another store ..so far as chips go.. i dont think i ever measured out chips from a bag to make it last for ten snacks.. probably more like two for me which is why i wont buy it .. i took a day one time and shopped around in different markets and stores. the prices vary big time0 -
One of the best posts I've read in a while on MFP. Very clear message based on healthy principles and own experience. It comes with examples and comparisons. I really liked it.
:flowerforyou:You hear it so many times, people saying that they can't afford to eat healthy, it's too expensive. I've even heard it on here, someone saying that healthy eating is too expensive because a bag of apples is 3/4 times the price of a bag of chips/crisps and it's not the only time I've heard people one here say it. Nevermind the fact that that $1 bag of chips is gone in one sitting whereas that $3.50 bag of apples lasts maybe 5 or 6 snacks.
Usually I buy all my shopping in bits and pieces throughout the week but today I sat down and planned out my meals for the entire week - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then I wrote a shopping list so that I'd make sure I got absolutely everything I needed for the week. I partly did this as I'm a trainee teacher and I start my school placement again this week which means I'm pretty busy so don't want to have to keep popping in the shop but also, I wanted to see what it costs me for an entire week. To give you an idea of what I bought, here's my meal plan for the week.
Breakfast is cereal or fruit smoothies, weekend poached eggs.
Lunch is cous cous salad with tinned tuna or sliced up chicken, humus and veg or soup.
Dinners are chickpea curry, chicken fajitas, sausages and roasted vegetables, battered fish with sweet potato chips (fries to you americans!) twice this week, chicken stir fry and burgers with sweet potato chips/fries. Plus veg like peas, carrots etc.
Snacks are yoghurts and fruit. I've also got some nut bits already. I didn't have to buy the cous cous as I've got a pack but that's £1-2 and lasts me about a month.
So I went shopping and bought everything that I needed for all of that, plus there'll still be some left over (like a pack of 8 sausages when I only need 4, or 4 bits of chicken when I only need 2, 4 tins of tuna when I only need 3, 8 sweet potatoes when I only need 3 etc) that I can freeze or keep for next week. I spent a grand total of £23.50, so just under $37. That's £3.36/$5.28 a day. I can't even go to McDonalds and buy ONE meal for that. I really hope that this helps show those people who say that they can't afford to eat healthy or that healthy eating is more expensive that it really doesn't have to be, at all. Healthy eating is not only far better for you but with planning, it's even cheaper.0 -
My grocery bills are definitely more expensive now that I'm eating healthy but it's worth it. I think it's sad that someone would use that as an excuse to eat unhealthy. You can't put a price on your health. There are usually other areas in your life where you can cut back if you really look at where your money is going.0
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Here was my shopping list:
2 bags of salad
2 bags of butternut squash
4 cups of skinny cow ice cream
How about getting a head of lettuce and a whole squash instead of the pre-cut bags? I don't like paying money for someone else to cut my food. For instance, broccoli florets are $3.99 a pound, but broccoli crowns are $1.49 a pound.
And for the ice cream, I just get store brand ice cream sandwiches. The calories and fat weren't THAT far off from the name brand diet ones, and since one sandwich is a serving size, I feel more satisified (emotionally) than if I spooned a half a cup of ice cream into a bowl. To be honest, I don't track sugar, so that might make a difference. Turkey Hill and Wegmans (since I see you're in PA) both have very tasty frozen yogurts or lower calorie ice creams, too.
Because a small head of lettuce is $1.50 - $2.00, depending on where I shop. The giant bag of salad mix is $2.74. And I would get maybe 1 and a half meals out of the head of lettuce. The giant bag gets me 3 to 3 and a half. A whole squash is $1.50 per pound. To buy a whole one is about 6 bucks. The bag is only $2.00. By the time you cut up the whole one and peel the skin off and take out the mushy center, it works out to be about the same. And I buy the individual servings of skinny cow ice cream. If I have ice cream sandwiches in the house I will eat the whole box. If I buy half gallons of ice cream or yogurt, my husband will eat them in 2 sittings. That's why. Trust me, I've done my homework.0 -
As every family, we sometimes faced rough economic times, where money was really counted. Though my dad taught me a good philosophy: we might be short, we might have to concede on most things but that is not a reason for not spending money at all. So in such case, if you feel like eating grapes or strawberries (they are very expensive out of season in my country), buy them and forget about a cinema or a magazine. In other words, I always check every single price in a supermarket but I often behave like a billionaire in fruits and vegs alley. In this alley, I eat with my eyes and take EVERYTHING
that seems good quality, like women with fll wallet during 70% sale in a shopping mall when all her monthly bills are already paid
When I tell people I eat salmon twice a week, people stare at me like I am rich...but when I check how much money they spend on soda, biscuits and red meet (beef or salmon are about the same price) I spend 2/3 of they food monthly bill. In essence, I admit my fruits and vegs bill is a bit excessive (70 euros/week, up to 100 during summer, for 2 adults) but I prefer to spend my money on my health and security than offering it to chemistry industries. By the way, I can not even remember my doctor's name when I fill in travel documents...long time no see:bigsmile:0 -
Because of meal planning, I feed a family of 6 on $7/day per person and we eat healthy. I buy a lot in bulk and cook every night but it can be done.0
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i was coaching these two woman on buying food and they are sharing the bulk food costs now .. you can share the cost with whoever and with what ever you would like. i dont know where you live but those prices you mentioned are really expensive. i feel fortunate there are choices of different stores here .. i get a big bag of baby green spinach leaves for 1.50 and it lasts me the whole week, a bag of apples for 3.00, you can buy a box of whole grain pasta at an aldis for under a 1.00 .. the higher end is 1.99 at another store ..so far as chips go.. i dont think i ever measured out chips from a bag to make it last for ten snacks.. probably more like two for me which is why i wont buy it .. i took a day one time and shopped around in different markets and stores. the prices vary big time
That's the point I was trying to make. It's different for different people. I'm not saying it's a valid excuse. You can cut out other things and afford to to eat healthy. I'm just saying, some weeks, it's really really hard. My husband and I split the bills, and I am in charge of the groceries. I have a budget of 200 bucks every two weeks. And that budget includes things like paper products, laundry detergent, household cleaning products, etc. Plus, I'm living with a husband who eats 4 times the quantity I do. Different people have different lives. I have decided to make the change, I figured out my budget to make it work. It IS possible - no matter who you are or how much you make. I never said it wasn't. But it is absolutely more expensive for me now. And yes, where I am, prices are high, and they're getting higher. There's a city nearby who just decided to raise property taxes by 38%. Fortunately, I'm not affected - we rent. But could you imagine if you were living paycheck to paycheck and your taxes wen't up that much? Our money is budgeted down to the penny every month. We don't have any credit cards, so there's no wiggle room. So when I go the the store and see that Tide has gone up $2.50 since the last time I bought it - it's a huge hit! Now I have to figure out $2.50 worth of something to take off my list.
I am sure that there are people who just use cost as an excuse because they don't want to make the sacrifice. Others are still learning to make it work. But I'm sure there are some cases where people just can't afford it. I just get tired of broad generalizations.0 -
our food bills seem to have come down since we started eating healthy. I am cooking from scratch pretty much every meal and last week we spent about £55 on the five of us. No one went hungry and we still have food left from that shop. To some extent it's about planning, but I also feel it's about the ability to cook. There seem to be a lot of people out there who for one reason or another don't cook. (I don't mean the slamming something in the oven and putting a few veggies on to boil, that's bot cooking, just heating things through.)
We moved to our current town just over a year ago and my daughter has had a few friends over for tea, and I have been shocked by the lack of knowledge these kids have about food. One had never had pancakes! They had no idea of what went into things or even what some veggies were.
I came to cooking late (and portion control even later
) but I'm not bad and I do enjoy it and the more I cook the more that I find that our food bills get cheaper. 0 -
I see spending an extra $50+ towards eating right as an investment in my health.0
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In all fairness, there are cases of people on social assistance that live off of things like kraft dinner because feeding their kids a meal for 69 cents is all they can afford. There are cases of people who truly can't afford to eat healthy foods. They don't buy fast food and have very small grocery budgets. However, I do think those are extreme cases and don't necessarily apply to an average grocery budget. I knew a few people in that situation and it is real.0
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I think it's all in the "type" of food you buy though. I hole heartedly know that I spend MORE money eating healthy then I would if I hit up a dollar menu. However, it's money well spent. I would rather spend less money in the long run on health problems, doctor's appts, BIGGER clothes, etc. then food. I do however think that healthy food can be bought cheap, it's all in where your taste buds lie.... and in how well you shop.
A bag of dry beans is just as cheap as a box of mac'n cheese and it makes more. I think the government plays off of people's laziness. You don't see pinto beans advertised on TV.... but sponge bob's face is on the Kraft boxes.0 -
Definitely true. My breakfast (a yogurt with cereal, 1 tbsp of peanut butter, coffee) costs less than a dollar per day.
I find it's only expensive to eat healthy if you try to just eat "diet food" like frozen dinners, diet bars (Atkins, Special K, etc). While some vegetables are insanely expensive, like red and yellow peppers, most really aren't. Many people are just stuck on the idea of needing pre-portioned foods, like the individual chicken breasts, which are way more expensive than just buying a lot of chicken and cutting and bagging it yourself.0 -
Cook up a big serving and freeze the extra maybe?I think you bring up some very good points.
My biggest problem is that I'm new to eating "healthy" (I'm trying!!) and when I look at recipes they are for huge servings, but I'm the only person in my house that eats this way. I have to get more creative with single servings.
Maybe you need to find cheaper places to shop? I'm from the UK but I've got friends in the US and I KNOW they don't have to pay as much as that for some of those things...I don't know if this is entirely true. At least not where I am. If you compare it to eating junk food at fast food places then yes, I can see where buying good food can be cheaper - but not always. I just went to the grocery store last night. A large bag of chips is $2.50. That would last about 10 snacks. I bought 3 apples and it cost me $3.00. A pack of hot dogs and a pack of buns is a total of about $3.00. That's 8 lunches. I bought 2 bags of salad - 5 lunches - and it cost me $6.00. A box of regular pasta is 88 cents. A box of whole grain pasta is almost $3.00. I could go on.
I'm like that now, a lot of things I just can't eat. McDonalds? No chance, feel so, so sick afterwards. I just can't take big greasy food anymore.It's funny how our bodies reject the "crap" food once you eat clean for a while. You always know when you mess up even if you try to justify it and eat it anyway. Your body definitely knows.
I love making my own soup. Need to get back into that really.i agree, in my house we but a lot of vegtables and make a big pot of healthy veg soup which can last for days
think got ingrediants for £5 and if made about 12 platefuls so thats 41p per plate...... try getting that in a restauraunt
Reduced food is great! There's nothing wrong with it, just needs to be sold then and like you said, it still lasts a few days. I often buy meat if I see it reduced and freeze it, then it'll still keep like you said. Buying things in bulk, if you can, definitely makes a big difference. I also just look around and see what's on off in the supermarket at the time. So I don't have a set apple that I'll buy, I'll buy the apples on offer. Or if apples aren't on offer but oranges are, I might get them instead.I shop right...and I go shopping just before dinner time as they reduce a lot of fresh produce which will last a couple of days but instead of paying £s, you're paying pence. Things that keep OK for a few days too like apples/whole cabbages/whole carrots/potatoes etc. And most of the meat was available at full price earlier in the day but gets reduced later on to sell it off because they can't sell it the next day... With that, I freeze it. No different to if I'd have bought it full price in the morning.
In addition, buy staple ingredients in bulk or the value version. Things such as porridge oats, honey etc
Thank youOne of the best posts I've read in a while on MFP. Very clear message based on healthy principles and own experience. It comes with examples and comparisons. I really liked it.
:flowerforyou:
I know that different people have different situations, experiences and opinions but all I know is that by eating healthy and doing all my own cooking I'm saving money, having a far better diet, my hair and skin are in far better condition, I have more energy, I'm losing weight and I'm actually having bigger portions for some things and feeling full more of the time. To be honest, I'd happily pay a bit more for all of that but I don't have to. I've probably halved my food bills because of changing what I eat and switching to squash/cordial instead of buying bottles of fizzy drink.0 -
I think a lot of it is just excuses. Even if it really is more expensive, if you really want to do it you can. Everyone has something in their life they can cut out if they really want to eat better.0
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This is so true. I went and bought of the market, then went to aldi. I spend £40 for a family of 4. There was even stuff in there for a treat chocolate cake I will make from scratch. I cook everything from scratch and healthily. 10 portions of soup for lunches costs lest than £5 cooked from scratch and its beautiful. I think its much cheaper to eat from scratch. This also included kids school dinners, eveverything. My mum also tells me she can't afford to eat healthily... The key is to definitely cook from scratch and large batches x0
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My husband and I have been eating in a focused, healthy manner since May, 2010. Our grocery bills are higher (we were buying processed food frugally), but we now are not only eating healthier, but we are eating wonderful food from wonderful recipes. We cook together, have begun growing herbs and experimenting with spicing up our menus; a wonderful new phase in our 36 year marriage. And the increase in our food budget is offset by the reduction in our prescription co-pays. I wish we had done this when the kids were young. Fortunately, they both seem to have much healthier lifestyles than their parents did at the same age. I think they may have benefited both from observing our health obstacles and the toil it takes to recuperate.0
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Don't forget, its not just as simple buying the healthy cheap things. It's also about buying things you actually like, can eat, want, etc.
Food isn't just nutrition for the body. You need that other vital ingredient...called Taste.
In that op the only thing in that post i would/could eat is Chicken.
And even then, mainly chicken legs. Fresh beef IS expensive, as is fresh chicken, here at least. Be far cheaper to buy breaded frozen chicken.
My grocery bill has gone up like £30, so its now circa £100 per week for me and the wife.
Worth it? Sure! But, in my experience, it IS more expensive.0 -
Yes & No from my view.
For my five a day, if wanted eat 3 oranges a day, got bag of 5/6 oranges for £2.50 a pop this would work out expensive for me to do.
Mean carrots on the other hand aren't an issue, but its 50/50 in my opinion.0
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