Eat Fewer Calories: Pay More?

I think it's more along the lines of people don't know how to cook things like vegetables or simply don't want to deal with the taste. Around where I live, you can get a loaf of bread without strange ingredients for $1.99 and a bag of apples costs you $3.00. So for five dollars, you can have more than a week's worth of breakfasts in the form of toast and an apple. Compare that to Pop-Tarts. Say that a box of Pop-Tarts runs you $1.50 for a box of eight...Nobody I know eats just one Pop-tart for breakfast, so you might get four meals from it. The prices really become comparable, but I still think people just want the very sweet foods.

I've noted several times that it's cheaper (per unit weight) to buy steak than asparagus in our local supermarket. Yes, many of the tasty and healthy options are expensive.

Yes, you can eat healthily and cheaply, but the options are pretty limited. I don't want an apple and toast for breakfast every day. I want variety.

On the other hand, we try to avoid the organic areas of the supermarket entirely. Anything there is going to be inferior quality and much more expensive. I know this is going against the conventional wisdom, but I've never found organic food to taste any better than good quality non-organic food. I'd rather my food have traces of pesticide than traces of organic contaminants, thank you very much.

I agree wholeheartedly. I've made radical diet changes over the last three months to include much more fruit and vegetable, and I sure notice it in the grocery bill. I had some fennel at my son's house last night, and I was a little shocked when I saw how much it cost at the store. For the same amount I could eat live of cereal and milk for a week. But I've lost 30 pounds in three months and feel great so my cereal bowl will remain empty.

And I'm not sure I'd agree that the only affordable foods we have left are "grains, sugars and fats."

I think that when you consider that the vast majority of our diet in the US is made up of these very three ingredients, it tells you something. Add to that the fact that the US does NOT have in its food supply the recommended five servings per day per person for fruits and vegetables - well, that tells you something too, doesn't it?

If you walk through any grocery store, even the "health food" grocery stores, you'll find the vast majority of offerings are indeed grain, added sugar and fats/oils...packaged foods demand such ingredients and they, unfortunately, make up the majority of the diet of way too many people.

Food is the one thing where people pay more for less! It's so stupid. Companies create food that is less filling, and therefore, charge MORE for it because it's healthier. Is is healthier if you eat more of it? No. Perfect marketing scam for health food companies.

i agree with Katie. Since I stopped buying the expensive processed and packaged foods, my grocery bill has actually decreased. Also, meat is much more expensive than beans, so by eating less meat and more beans, I'm also paying out less at the store. I don't know how it works in the US, but in my province (Ontario), we don't pay sales tax on things that are basic ingredients (i.e. produce, canned beans, milk, eggs) but we do pay tax (14%!)on packaged or processed foods (like chips, crackers, or ice cream). Therefore, I also pay less to the government when I eat healthier.

That said, I agree that this is a complex issue, that cannot be simply blamed on economics. I had the time and resources to learn to cook healthier foods when I decided to eat better (at a time when I had the smallest budget of my life).

I think its a good point that we shouldn't necessarily compare the cost per calorie-perhaps it would make more sense to look at a weeks worth of menus of healthy food versus processed food and see how that compares for cost. Just a thought...

I have to agree that the cost of eating healthy is more expensive that I thought it would be. I am losing weight for medical purposes and am sticker shocked at the checkout counter. Damned if you do and damned if don't. Moderation is the key to the wallet and scales.............Fresh foods must be fixed sooner than processed foods and if you have time to enjoy cooking, I believe it all comes out even in the wash.

We shop at Whole Foods every week, and we decided to cut back on our food bill. The most successful changes we've made: only 1 meat entree during the week (or 1 meat entree with enough leftovers for another meal), swap fresh fish for frozen (cheaper and just about as good, and more convenient because we can defrost it whenever we want), and more vegetarian foods like beans, peas and lentils. It's cut our average food bill by $40 a week or so. We also buy as much from the bulk department as we can. Oatmeal in the bin is as little as 69 cents a pound! That's enough breakfasts for us both for a week.

Since I have changed my grocery shopping habits (nothing boxed, fresh and some frozen, whole grains etc) I have watched my grocery bill skyrocket. in 2001 $100 bought me 4-5 full TALL grocery bags (not the short ones they give you now). Now in 2007, $100 buys me two full short grocery bags - about 1/4 of what I used to be able to buy. Admittedly I am eating less, and buying fresher, buying less meat, but honestly the prices for fresh food are out of control. Bell pepper, as an example, used to drop to $1 per pound in the summer. This year the price stayed between $3 and $4 per pound. Parsley used to be 2 bunches for $1 - now they are $1.50 per bunch. It is FAR more expensive to eat healthy! It is so frustrating for us - I can't imagine what it must be like for someone living on minimum wage jobs! I make more money now than I ever have and I am still running out of grocery money each month - and buying less than I did when I made half what I make now. This is truly frightening. I find myself tempted to buy the ramen noodles again...

As others have said, there ARE ways to eat healthy on a budget. Beans are very very cheap, and although the initial cost for spices is high, once you have them they last a while. Frozen fruits and veggies are a lot less expensive than fresh, and sometimes more healthy. A great alternative for people who don't have access to fresh, or can't go to the store frequently.

Also, when you take into account the impact that what we eat has on our current and future health, and that if you eat a good healthy diet now you can avoid a lot of the medical problems that are diet related, you'll see that you might just be balancing it all out in lower medical costs now or in the future.

I'm always amazed at the number of people who are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money popping pills to "stay healthy" or will spend lots of money eating out on junk food, but who can't believe it when we buy our sons a $4 carton of strawberries (only once a week at that price) and lots of other fresh fruits and veggies. Yes, it's a lot of money, but I don't see the need for any daily maintenance medications in our near future either.

IWBO said:
I've noted several times that it's cheaper (per unit weight) to buy steak than asparagus in our local supermarket. Yes, many of the tasty and healthy options are expensive.[...]

You are right. A red bell pepper can be priced at $4.99/lb which I've seen Porter House steaks for the same price.
Fish has become very expensive. Salmon can be up to $6.99/lb.

Fresh vegetables on sale hardly live up to the name "fresh". If one is willing to eat canned vegetables, you can save money. There are studies that claim canned vegetable are just as healthy.

The "health food" market is a big monopoly. They profit on selling fear. Look at how many things that are "good" for you and then they split hairs with that. It's a monopoly.

I've noticed higher bills at the store since eating more lean meat and vegetables. I think it's due in part to the types of the food I'm eating, but also a rise in food prices in general. I'm sure it's due in large part to rising gas prices. I'm trying to be more aware of where my produce comes from and plan to shop more farmers' markets next year. And I plan to finally plant a garden of my own in the spring.

Healthy is definitely more expensive. Try giving berries (fresh or frozen) to a family of six! Don't forget to add some freshly ground flax to your steel cut oats! Five servings of veggies per child,per day, plus me??? "Toast and an apple" for breakfast?? Where's the protein? How about buying Orville's healthy popcorn (or whomever's) compared to the next to nothing price for Aldi's ultra super fat laden kind? And no fair comparing not-from-scratch less healthy to from-scratch healthy...we need to compare apples to apples here. (so compare an Amy's or Seeds of Change frozen entree to a Lean Cuisine or an ultra-cheap no-name...the one with wholes grains and veggies and tofu are WAY more expensive)
And p-l-e-a-s-e, no one wants to live on flippin' beans and rice everyday!

Probably true that some produce has gone up in price, and organic ain't cheap. But I'm not in agreement with the comment that organic doesn't taste better. That might be true about the mass produced and distributed organics - they still have to pick the variety that ships and keeps best, not the one that tastes best. However compare it with local organic produce at a u-pick or your farmer's market and you'll remember what veg and fruit are supposed to taste like. And there are more nutrients in the organic, so you're getting more bang for your buck there.

Anyhoo, I think that the biggest cost is in the prepackaged convenience stuff, and if you stay out of those middle aisles of the grocery story as much as possible, your bill won't get out of hand.

I've had friends say, for instance - "oh, I don't buy (strawberries, pomegranites, blueberries, asparagus, whatever) because it's too expensive", and yet I notice they have a freezer packed with convenience stuff full of god knows what fat, chemicals, etc. Where's the logic in that?????

Buying produce in season and canning or freezing it is an economic solution - freezing berries doesn't require any preparation, and we get a lot of smoothies out of the fruit we saved from summer.

I find it much cheaper to eat poorly. I pay more because it is worth it.

Sure, you can work around it.. but it takes more work-- and more time.
I did it even before I had money, but not everyone is so inclined.

I will say my grocery bills for my SO and I -- with plenty of fruits and veggies and lean proteins-- are much more expensive than that for my father and brother who live on Ramen Noodles, Those 4/$1 pizza and boxed corn dogs.

Go for quality food means spending more to eat better for the sake of health.I think it makes sense to be selective in our food choices and our body will reward us back. Whichever way we have to spend - so paying more for organic vegetables is still better than to suffer ill consequences later in life.

To me, it depends. In a way, I find it more expensive to eat in a healthier way, but when I look to it more closely, it's not so much cheaper to eat crap either. If I buy a pizza for lunch, it costs me about 3 euros. For 3 euros, I can have a protein, a vegetable and a starch (rice...), provided I choose well and shop intelligently (buying in-season foods, for instance). Once this is set, whether I want the healthy food or greasy pizza is only up to me. And I won't even mention how high my bill is when I give in to real crap, such as going to McDonald's (for comparison purposes: 1 cheeseburger, 1 medium fries and 1 dessert amounts here to something like 5-6 euros--which I find pretty expensive!).

More expensive... yes, in a way. But from personal experience, part of this is due to the fact that we (people in general) don't pay as close attention as we should. It takes some work to compare prices and such, allright. But it's doable, at least partly (better have 2 veggies/fruits a day "only" than 5 a week, huh?).

And I will "sacrifice" my money any time for the added benefit of not having been sick for almost one year, when I was used to catch the mother of all colds once every winter, along with another cold every 6-8 weeks on average.

two more things I want to add...

I agree with a previous commenter who said if you pay more for healthy food now, you'll probably pay less for medical bills later.

Secondly, to the person who mentioned the price of the "healthy" versus fatty microwave popcorn... if you buy plain old popcorn kernels and air pop them, it is very cheap and a whole grain to boot!

I have no choice but to shop 'healthy'. My husband and one son have serious food allergies, so convenience foods are right out. As their allergies have worsened, the grocery bills have gotten higher. Believe me, it's much cheaper to open a jar of Ragu than cook sauce from scratch, even if I'm using frozen tomatoes from the summer.

We've all trimmed weight on this regime, which is good. But for a family of 5 (OK, 3 of them are boys 13 through 18 who can polish off a gallon of milk in an hour) our grocery bills are often $200 per week, and we don't eat much red meat, and try to do poultry on sale. Ever notice how much cheaper pork is when it's full of "up to 15% basting solution"?

In a way, the price of the fresh stuff has creeped up on all of us. We have forgotten how cheap it used to be to buy fresh - now it's seen as a luxury to buy fresh when it should be the first thing we buy! That's where the frustration comes in at least for me - I have always bought large amounts of fresh fruits and veggies (I was raised on local farm fare and can't tolerate artificial anything) and I have been watching the amount I can afford slowly erode. I have also noticed the gap in price between organic and conventional has been closing - conventional has gotten more expensive.

The main point is the populations that are at the highest risk - low income, even middle income with children, are the ones that can't afford an all fresh diet. How can we expect people to combat the obesity epidemic if they can't afford to?

Put some peanut butter on that toast with the apple on the side and you're golden. I think part of the problem is that people aren't willing to give up the huge variety of foods they're used to to eat healthily. My husband and I don't spend huge amounts on food, but we enjoy what many people would call an extremely monotonous diet. We buy the fruits and veggies on sale and supplement that with plenty of no-sodium-added canned and frozen produce.

Sure it's cheaper to buy Ragu than to make sauce from scratch, but it's even cheaper to buy the fifty cent big cans of plain chopped tomatoes and make sauce from that! You can make a big, cheap stew in a crock pot with a tough cut of meat and your veggie craps for way less than the cost of buying five frozen stew dinners.

Eating healthy foods while saving money requires work that some people are unwilling or unable to do. You need to know what's in season, use a price book, and follow sales. Go over and look at sites like the Dollar Stretcher or read the More With Less cookbook--both advocate eating healthily while using less and spending less. It can be done, but it's definitely not as easy as grabbing a few frozen dinners off the shelf.

You can eat healthy without spending a fortune, but it requires a little bit of thought and planning. The cheapest foods are usually things like potatoes, rice, pasta, flour. Eating whole potatoes as your main source of carbohydrate is a lot healthier than choosing, say, white bread. Beans are also cheap and nutritious, as are eggs and canned veggies. If you buy most of your food from a coop type store, like Aldi, you can save a lot of money (of course, you get less variety, but the prices are usually dirt cheap). And if you buy cheap cuts of meat and learn how to cook them properly, you can definitely stretch your dollar.

Compare that to your average "cheap food" diet of mainly processed foods like Ramen noodles and pizzas and other such foods. Most people that are on a tight budget actually probably spend more than they need to on foods...pizza, fast foods, convenience foods (boxed dinners, pre-packaged foods, etc.), soda, alcohol, etc. It's all a matter of learning what to shop for.

That being said, I do wish that fresh produce was cheaper. Produce farmers get almost no government subsidies, as opposed to corn, wheat, and dairy farmers. I still choose to spend my money on fruits and veggies instead of junk food, but it would be nice if stuff was more affordable.

Yes, they should remove the subsidies for grains, and allow supply and demand dictate the market price for food. Believe it or not, just those subsidies are a big part of what is making America fat.

And, as others have mentioned, frozen produce is cheaper than fresh. This is very good advice.

Let's face it, if you want a really cheap diet, you can just get a two gallon jug of Wesson oil and chug it every time you get a hunger pang. But that might have some long term costs, wouldn't it? Calories are not the only nutritional value that matters unless you're stranded on an ice floe in the arctic for months on end. People get sick if they don't get vitamins and minerals, fiber and protein. They are unsatisfied if they don't have food that they can chew and taste.

i used to think the cost of eating healthily wasn't that much a few years ago. now i have to take that back. it seems i get through a lot of fish, fresh fruit and fresh vegetables weekly. i try to buy frozen chicken breasts/thighs and frozen fish instead of fresh but this can still be costly when you're having 1-2 servings of either poultry and/or fish a day.

i also buy frozen vegetables but there are times where i need to get some fresh stuff in, such as peppers and asparagus. these do not come frozen. basically, every 7-10 days i'm shelling out at least £7 ($14) in food that doesn't last very long on top of about the £35 i spend a month on other basic essentials (grain, tinned beans etc). this may not seem like much to some people but when you're a broke student it's hard to part with money like that. i try to cut costs by buying cheap grains like brown rice, couscous, bulgar etc and i do not buy bread.

dairy is limited because if i were to go through half a dozen eggs a week, that would be an extra £1.90 or so on top of my existing budget. but i wont lie and say that when i ate crap my food bill wasn't expensive as i would buy lots of things that would be consumed in about one day practically every 1-3 days. i'd say i was spending about the same amount on crap that i am now on healthy food. add in all the take-aways and my regular grocery budget and it was a lot.

however, what i have noticed is that in the supermarkets it's the cheapest food is the unhealthiest. if i hadn't had bought bad foods frequently etc and soley purchased unhealthy foods to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner etc then my food bill would be much less than it is now. i know people living exclusively on pasta, frozen pizzas, strange breaded meats or noodles as they're cheap. many people in the uk will be familiar with the supermarket iceland selling ready-meals for £1-2. in the same store fresh eggs costs £1 and so does bananas. so is someone who doesn't eat that healthily more inclined to buy two bunchs of bananas or 2 entire "tasty" meals for the same cost?

when i'm back home during breaks, the cost of eating well reduces because there is a market literally 5 mins away from me that sells fruit and veg dirt cheap.

right now, it's hard to eat well when you don't really have the funds but i know that it's worth it.

Isn't it ironic that fresh, whole foods that require the least processing have skyrocketed in cost. While the processed, adulterated stuff is less expensive! Sort of like the gasoline trick....unleaded gas requires less processing but we paid more for it when first introduced. Supply and demand should have an effect on food, as well...keep buying fresh and whole!

Dr. Dave's comment expresses my sentiments exactly. Eating whole, healthy foods DOES cost more than processed foods if you are interested in having variety in your diet (unless, of course, you have tons of time to do the research which many plagued by the obesity epidemic, the low income individuals working long hours and many also taking care of children, do not have.)

Whole foods cost more than processed in the short term, but they don't have to cost more. The demand is higher for processed foods because that's what commercials sell, they're 99% of what people see in typical food stores, and they tend to require less time to prepare. Big food corporations have flooded the food markets with crap and many low income individuals don't have nearly as much time and money to invest in good foods as do higher income individuals.

What a complicated social justice, economics, health, and corporate ethics issue!