Why does eating healthy cost so much?

[tank03]

I'm 19 and I do my own shopping, and I've been noticeing that to eat healthy now, it cost for a lot of money. With $50 I could get regular foods that are not healthy or high in fat or whatever and it would last me a pretty long time. However, when I try to buy only healthy food, I come out the store with $50 spent and half the amount of groceries even if I had choosen otherwise...wtf!? For instance, bread: white $0.99 whole wheat: $1.99; regular cheese (individually sliced kind) $1.50 for like a 24 pack, fat free cheese $2.39 for 16 pack; sugar 5lb $1.89, splenda $6.48; lard or veggie oil $.99-$2, olive oil $2.50-$3 for a bottle that can hardly last 2 weeks. You get the picture. It can't be supply and demand, so what is it?

[No0b]

I think eating like **** costs more.

Most people spend about $10 a day on fast food. That's $70 a week.

A box of cereal costs $4? That will last about 3 days since most poeple cannot stick to the serving size of 1/2-1/2 cup a day.
Plus the millk.. another $3 for a gallon of that every couple of days...

Besides the fact that when you buy non healthy food, it doesn't fill you up because it's empty calories. So you run out of it faster and have to buy more.

I think I spend like $100-$200 a month on 'healthy' food because I'm cheap and know how to shop. Walmart for instance, cheap tuna, olive oil, eggs..etc

[egoatdoor]

My grocery bill runs over $300 a month and 85% of the foods are clean. Thats $10 a day. I may eat lunch out twice a month. Thats another $20 a month.

Most of my co workers eat out 4, 5, 6 days a week including those pricey $30 Saturday night entree dinners with booze. When its all said and done, they're spending more than I am.

Shop smart. Join a club like Sam's or BJs. You can buy meats,eggs and the like in bulk for a lot cheaper than at your supermarket.

[BIGPHILL1984]

You are right about the empty calories. It just seems like you are spending more because the quantity is less. But the quality fills you up more. For instance I am 20 and I am a student, today my total is around 7 dollars a day because I find some good deals. I buy chicken in bulk instead of chicken breasts. I bone them and take off the skin before i eat it. I pay .49-.59 a pound. I also buy whole wheat bread at bread outlets for 1.29 a loaf. I buy lunchmeat usually chicken breast or other lean kind for 2.99 a pound which goes for about 2-3 days. I buy FF milk for 4.89 for two gallons. So shop smart and ask around for good deals.

[TGame]

Sadly, my family spends over $100 a week on food. Expensive but worth it in my opinion.

[John AK]

Eating healthy is less expensive than eating ****. I'm 20 and rent a home with my three housemates. I can feed myself for 2 weeks on $60 of groceries. Guess how? You have to cook.

Vegetables, Fruits, Meats...buy them raw, and prepare your own food. Buy the store-brand milk and cottage cheese - it's the same stuff. Look for specials, such as buy 1 get 1 free deals, and take advantage of them...

Sign up for whatever food stores MVP/Greenbard/Discount Card thing is...it WILL save you money...

Items I buy almost every trip to the grocery store include the following:

Raw Carrots
Raw Celery
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Bananas
Apples
Orange Juice
Skin Milk
Fat Free Cottage Cheese (watch the sodium)
Cold Cut Turkey Breasts (watch the sodium)
Whole Wheat Bread
Cheese (8oz block, usually 2 of them)
Generic "Cheerios"
Chunk Tuna in water
Unsalted Saltine Crackers
Eggs
Baked Beans (AWESOME source of both protein and carbs...)
Canned Green Beans (sodium)
Canned Fruits (Peaches, Pineapple, Fruit Cocktail are favorites)
Whole Wheat Pasta
Rice
Chicken Breast (Frozen)


You can make numerous combinations of healthy meals with this.

For example, take Tuna, Carrots, Celery, and a bit of low fat mayo and make a tuna salad sandwich.

Or take some lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, carrots, and cold cut turkey breast and make a nice chef's salad.

Or take the cold cuts, lettuce, tomatoe, cheese, whole wheat bread, and make a turkey sandwich.

Or cook up some whole wheat pasta, a turkey breast, and a salad...

For breakfast, scrambeled egg whites with some peaches and cottage cheese, OJ to drink....

Or try whole wheat toast with peanut butter, a glass of skim milk, and a banana...

It's all about buying foods that work pretty interchangably with each other, so you always have options. But as evidenced here, with a bit of planning, it can be done.

[LordNeon]

I think there are two primary reasons:

- The law of diminishing returns. Because there is more demand for unhealthier foods with refined flours, sugars, etc. more is produced, and the cost of production per unit actually goes down when more is being produced. Ergo, they can charge less.

- A lot of the less healthy foods have been produced so as to maximize shelf life, so they last longer and can stay on shelves longer. Fresh, perishable stuff is more expensive.

[Sixpack]

There is less of a demand to eat healthy once people start eating better prices hopefully will drop but I don't see it
Sixpack

[Sixpack]

Well when there is more of a demand to eat better more people will buy health food and hopefully prices will drop, hell why do u think proccessed foods , boxed foods, candy, soda is so cheap.
Sixpack

[M.Bison]

i dont mess about when it comes to tuna =0

i only have the best!

[CPizzle]

Eating clean, high protein outside of whey powder is expensive. If you can get 300g of protein from whole foods under $10-15, more power to ya.

[Brosef]

But take into consideration that nowadays a lot of unhealthy people spend a serious amount of money on Atkins approved low carb stuff.

[bigredlemon]

Originally posted by CPizzle
Eating clean, high protein outside of whey powder is expensive. If you can get 300g of protein from whole foods under $10-15, more power to ya.

word.

from meat, protein is about 20%. So 300g of protein = 1.5 kg of meat. At $15-$20 a kilo, one day's meat will cost $26. That's $780 on meat alone -- enough to lease quite a few nice cars.

This is in canadian dollars though. I'm not sure how much meat costs in the US but I presume about the same?

[taffer]

if you are living an unhealthy life style, but are still lean, its probly because you are eating small amounts of bad, calorie dense foods, this is why it seems so cheap
if you were to eat 6 meals a day of doughnuts, or pizza, it would get alot more expensive, you would also get very fat
either way your setting yourself up for diabities and other health problems later in life, i think its worth the extra money!