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misskimothy 12-07-2009 08:05 PM

I KNEW eating healthy foods was costing me more!
 
I had a feeling that my food budget was going up up up with my new healthy eating regimen. I thought maybe it was just me and poor shopping habits, until I came across this:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/1...-healthy-food/
It costs about a dollar and a half for 1000 calories of energy dense calorie rich food vs over eighteen dollars for low calorie low energy dense foods.
Like the author says "Veggies and fruit are now becoming luxury items".

garnetrising 12-07-2009 08:28 PM

Well, fancy that. XD It was something I'd noticed, too.

mkendrick 12-07-2009 09:24 PM

Psh, that's not just something I "noticed," that has been one of my main obstacles in dieting.

I'm a poor college kid, and I barely had room in my budget for a few boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese, some Wonderbread and bologna. I've actually had to take on extra shifts to pay for my diet, and I don't eat extravagantly at all. I buy chicken when it's on sale, bag-o-lettuce and iceberg lettuce and mix them, maybe a cucumber, the cheapest fruits I can. I do manage to eat a balanced diet of 1100-1300cals of nutritional whole foods, but it has taken a lot to be able to afford it.

jazzang 12-07-2009 09:25 PM

I've noticed this too... and its not good!!

paris81 12-07-2009 09:29 PM

Thanks for posting...it was amazing what some of the nay-sayers had to say! I mean, yeah, you can eat lentils every day of the week for cheap, but first you have to know that they exist (which I did not until I roomed with a vegetarian after college), then you have to know how to cook them (which still intimidates me, although I plan to figure it out during winter break), and then you have to want to eat lentils all week long, which is ridiculous!

misskimothy 12-07-2009 09:33 PM

I think that there are alot of people who will disagree with our experiences but thse are poeple who can shop once at big box stores cause they have cars and storage areas in their homes, or have big-a$$ freezers for those enormo-salmons on sale at Costco. They live in areas where there are a number of places they can shop and they have a car and go from store to store for the best buy or better yet, can go to a local farm (!) for fresh produce cause they have the time and money and location to do so. Kind of hard to do when you're frozen in for 6 months of the year -easy to do if you live in California or Texas. They don't realize that while it might cost alot later in heath care, I gotta eat today.
I have to rework my budget. I lost alot of weight by cutting down the amounts I ate in a serious way thru WW cause there if I add up my points, I was able to manage. I'm cooking way more fresh foods and eliminating processed foods but man my budget is tight tight tight. Might have to take another job just to eat better!

RealCdn 12-07-2009 09:34 PM

See, when I see articles like that I do seriously wonder where they get their numbers from. I often make meals for two people with 1lb of protein (1.49-3.00) with a few added ingredients (spices, etc.) veggies and a salad. I don't work out every detail, but for the two of us I know that we do NOT spend $450 a week on food. I do have a big freezer, and do shop at Costco..... however, WalMart is where I buy greens that last us a week for $4. What I don't do is buy diet food, as it's usually higher priced just because it's highly processed and people will pay more for it.

(I'm using 2 x 1800 at $18 for 1000 cals which would be 64.80 a day and 453.60 a week.)

What I do remember is that when I ate junk food is that I would routinely spend $5-10 a day on crap... and still ate my meals.

nelie 12-07-2009 09:38 PM

I disagree because my bills have gone down but then again I don't eat meat. Beans and other legumes and whole grains are inexpensive, especially when you buy in bulk. Also, I don't buy most of my veggies/fruits from supermarkets, especially certain super markets, I'll go to the asian market where I can get 5 grocery bags full of fruits/veggies for $20. In season/sale items are also often cheaper at Whole Foods than at my grocery store (I can buy apples for 99 cents/lb at Whole Foods, organic even). Whole Foods and other similar health food stores also sell grains/legumes by the bulk which is cheaper. 1 box of quinoa is $4.99 at my grocery store but $1.50/lb at Whole Foods.

I've also bought foods at farmers markets or on a couple occasions, I've gone to the farms for certain products.

JulieJ08 12-07-2009 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misskimothy (Post 3038617)
I think that there are alot of people who will disagree with our experiences but thse are poeple who can shop once at big box stores cause they have cars and storage areas in their homes, or have big-a$$ freezers for those enormo-salmons on sale at Costco.

:shrug: I don't think so. I do none of those things. I've never spent even half of what they say on food per day. Something is strange with their figures.

mkendrick 12-07-2009 09:42 PM

misskimothy, you and I are in the same boat.

I keep hearing "buy in bulk! it's cheaper!" First of all, I don't have the money to buy $200 worth of meat to last all winter. Second, I don't have the room to put meat bought in bulk. Third, I'm also cutting out unprocessed foods, and unprocessed foods go bad much quicker than canned and boxed stuff.

My weekly grocery bill went from $25-ish to $40-50. That doesn't sound like a lot, but for a starving student, $40 every week is a chunk of change!

misskimothy 12-07-2009 09:44 PM

!
 
I know that I can eat a serving of pancakes from a mix and half a box of KD for dinner and lose weight and it costs me approximately $1.50 for the day. This is my reality. I have no car to cruise from Walmart to Costco and back. I have little to no storage and my fridge is a small fridge with a microfreezer on the top. I am trying to shop better, but a huge box of greens from a place like Costco is usually just at the point of going rotten where I live. They sell things on or just before the "eat now" date, so more often than not, I wind up throwing most of it out. So I don't buy them anymore. Buying fresh food in bulk is great if you have alot of mouths to feed, but what if you are on your own? My menu is posted on the WW site because I really am making the effort! No processed foods or minimeals on there now, but the COST! OUCH!!! And when I think I could lose weight on around $1.50 per day??? Makes me go HHHmmmmm...

Electrical bills are gonna suck this year because my home isn't well insulated, but try getting the landlord to do something about it is ridiculous. I only have so much money and trying to get fed on top of it is going to leave me with some interesting choices to make. Salmon? Or Heat? I work full time and go to school. Finding food bargains is easy if you are say on public assistance and have nothing else to do all day but cut coupons and cruise the stores. What's a girl to do?
Sigh

mandalinn82 12-07-2009 09:46 PM

Yep, per calorie, on food cost alone, you could eat a 1200 calorie diet of corn and soy-based junk food for less cost than a 1200 calorie diet of fresh foods.

But.

1. This is based on supermarket prices, not on in season, locally obtained produce. At end of market, I can get 6 lbs of in season apples for 3 dollars, or a bunch of celery for 25 cents. Supermarkets are rarely the least expensive place to buy anything EXCEPT junk food. Markets and farms are a completely different price point, if you're buying directly from the farmers and in season.

2. You won't be full on 1200 calories of junk, so your total diet cost may not change much...my personal experience is that it takes easily 3 times as many calories of junk a day to keep me full and satisfied as it does of vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. Research backs this up - whole foods have a higher satiety factor. So if you can be satisfied on 1200 calories of veggies, but not satisfied until 3000 calories of junk, even if the veggies cost a little under 3x as much, you're still ending up about the same. Take potato chips...1200 calories of potato chips is less than a full-sized bag (about 75%). Or, 4 of the two-packs of Little Debbie nut bars. That'd cost about the same as your 1200 calories of healthy foods, and I'm betting you'd be a lot more full with the good stuff than with the junk. Even three times that, if it didn't make you throw up, wouldn't be as satisfying as a good meal of healthy food, at least to me.

3. This obviously doesn't take into account the health risks of eating junk food, resultant prescriptions, medical care, etc. Which is a whole different discussion.

What I'd be curious about...if we're talking about calories/dollar, why did they pick veggies as their benchmark. What about dried beans and rice? They're filling, have protein and fiber and minerals, and are pretty much lightyears ahead of potato chips and nutty bars...and probably cost about the same or less per calorie, depending where you buy them, as the chips. I'd also be curious exactly what veggies they were choosing...some things like carrots are a lot cheaper than out of season bell peppers.

It's really interesting, but personally, my grocery bill is lower now that I'm getting healthy foods from alternate sources and eating a lower number of calories. Considerably lower, especially if you consider eating out, which I don't do anymore.

nelie 12-07-2009 09:52 PM

I also just reread their figures, wow! I spend $200-$300/month on groceries for my husband and I, which at the high point is $10/day and trust me, my husband and I aren't eating 500 calories each. I just posted somewhere else that my husband eats 3000-4000 calories/day and I eat 1500-2500 (low/high days).

If I take my low day and my husbands low day and take the high figure for a months worth of groceries, I get $2.2 per 1000 calories and their figure was $1.76 for 1000 calories. so my estimate is slightly higher but again that is a worst case and I have to say that I've had more 2500 calorie days in the past 6 months than 1500 calorie days (ugh).

And actually a more accurate figure would go for the middle so if I say I ate 2000 calories/day and my husband ate 3500 and we spent $250 in groceries, that would be $1.51 per 1000 calories which I think is a fair estimate.

misskimothy 12-07-2009 10:25 PM

This:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/he...on/04well.html

and if you are from Canada:
http://northumberlandnews.com/news/n...article/139983

Things that make you go hmmm...

nelie 12-07-2009 10:32 PM

One of my favorite blogs, a woman spend $100/month on groceries for herself and her two teen sons.
http://melomeals.blogspot.com/

mandalinn82 12-07-2009 10:38 PM

This is part of why I was so glad that the WIC program put in new guidelines that allow for fruits and veggies. It's a start, at least.

I will definitely agree that eating fresh foods costs more, but fresh is an ideal of healthy...not the only option. Note that the folks living on a dollar a day weren't subsisting on what the originally quoted article called "junk" - they were living on the staples of a low cost diet that are also fairly healthy...oats, beans, lentils, nut butters. These things do take time to prep, and knowledge that is currently lacking (one of the reasons I think cooking should be taught in school to everyone...read another really interesting article about how it is essentially becoming a spectator sport, instead of something people actually do...think Iron Chef or Top Chef). I think a lot has to be done also to get healthy food sources (rather than convenience stores) into areas with higher poverty levels.

My point isn't that it's easy to eat a healthful, less expensive diet, but that it is possible with basic equipment and some knowledge (and again, I acknowledge that many people may not have basic equipment or cooking knowledge and that is a different issue that requires different solutions).

Hillbilly Housewife is also a great resource: http://healthy.hillbillyhousewife.com/index.htm

nelie 12-07-2009 10:49 PM

I think the original article saying fruits/veggies cost $18.16/1000 calories is definitely bloated. I wonder what they were buying for that. If you calculate that out to 2 people eating 1500 calories/day, that is $1600/month in groceries. During the summer when I was eating a lot of fresh fruits/veggies, I was reading up about raw foods and reading how much people spent when they were eating mostly fruits/veggies (and some other stuff like nuts). Although the cost seemed slightly elevated, it certainly wasn't that elevated.

misskimothy 12-07-2009 11:00 PM

I dunno - Public Health researchers over 370 grocery stores for a peer-reviewed article? For the University of Washington? Sounds pretty believable to me.

garnetrising 12-07-2009 11:03 PM

$18.16 / 1000 calories of fresh anything is NOT bloated up here in Alaska. And I'm sure there are many other places with inflated rates for fresh food, too. Places where getting vegetables and fruits from a farmer aren't feasible. Certainly not year-round. But, that aside, there are quite a few things you have to take in to consideration. First of all, are you actually consuming 1000 calories a day of fresh fruits and vegetables and nothing else? What I'm gleaning from the article isn't that it costs you that much to eat 1000 calories a day but 1000 calories of things like fruits and vegetables. And, quite frankly, 1000 calories of nothing but fruits and vegetables is A LOT of fruits and vegetables. You consider they average any where between 30 and 90 calories a serving depending on the fruit/vegetable and how it's cooked. A serving of broccoli, for example can be as low as 30 calories. Even at two servings a day, it would still take you 16 days to hit 1000 calories on broccoli alone. The point is that the broccoli, corn, apples, what have you is still, generally going to cost you more per serving than your standard snack food. The catch twenty-two is that standard snack foods would likely end up costing you more in the long run as they just don't fill you up as well.

JulieJ08 12-07-2009 11:03 PM

Uh, yeah, there's *a lot* of ground between spending $36 a day for food and rolling your own tortillas and a year's supply of meat.

Articles that greatly exaggerate one or both sides are rarely helpful.

MisfitRycher 12-07-2009 11:12 PM

I'm a single mother to an 11 year old who eats pretty much nonstop... Or he would if I let him! hehe

I find that a single 2-lb bag of carrots and a single 2-lb bag of petite potatoes is enough starch and vegetables to go with our single servings of meat. Fills us up without wasting food or overdoing the calories... And one meal for the two of us has an average cost of -roughly- $5. Not bad, eh?

Now if my rent didn't take up half my income I could probably get more than 2 lbs of potatoes, 2 lbs of carrots and one bag of pre-mixed coleslaw a week to go with the meat we eat... But you make do with what you have and hope for the best. Unfortunately for me, I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be losing weight so I hit the 7-11 just up the road for their cheap junk food. :^:

beerab 12-07-2009 11:20 PM

That picture it looks like a high priced store to me. Personally for the most part I think that's bunk- unless you live in an area where you have limited stores and really are forced to shop at 1-2 places, most people should be able to save money eating healthier. That being said it's not EASIER to save money- I spend a LOT more time in the fridge, prepping food, making healthy meals, etc, but overall I believe I save at least $150 more a month- before I would EASILY spend $200 a week, now I spend more like $100 a week on groceries.

For one- you probably eat a lot less than you used to (I know I do!), another thing is that a lot of people don't LOOK around. You don't have to go to the chain stores- mom and pop grocery stores are still around, farmers markets are still around, and so on. Even in areas where fruit is more seasonal you can change it up and eat the foods in season to save. Heck if you are really struggling you can probably find programs in the area that will help you out- even get some food stamps for staples like milk and grains and so on.

Someone mentioned perishable foods go bad faster- my advice to that is buy smaller amounts of that food- go to the market a little more often if possible. Or take the time to do thing to make your veggies last longer. I will put paper towels in with my produce like romaine and anything that tends to get slimy from moisture- that helps SO much believe it or not. If you can't do that then buy veggies/fruits that last longer- apples, oranges, zucchini, and many other veggies and fruits last a lot longer than bananas, lettuce, and so on.

Also buying in bulk, you can buy a ton of veggies and stuff and then prepare them- once they are say in a large stew you can eat that stew for a few days and that way your food won't have gone bad either. I LOVE to make a pot of some sort of stew with my crockpot and then

Cooking lentils is SO easy- put your lentils in, a TON of water, some salt/pepper and any veggies you want, and set it on the stove, once it bowls turn it down and let it simmer a few hours (this is how I do it). Check on it periodically and add more water until the lentils are as soft as you want them :)

nelie 12-08-2009 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misskimothy (Post 3038763)
I dunno - Public Health researchers over 370 grocery stores for a peer-reviewed article? For the University of Washington? Sounds pretty believable to me.

It was 370 foods, not 370 grocery stores. Also, when searching for the article, came across this blog post which is interesting if nothing else, showing some of the American Dietetic Association's bias.
http://agriculturesociety.wordpress....-organic-food/

Also, it looks like that article is 2 years old and I found the abstract from 2 years ago.
http://www.adajournal.org/article/PI...18007/abstract

And for some foods, I can really understand it.

1 lb of greens has 104 calories so you'd need a about 9.5 lbs to get 1000 calories from greens. Prices for greens vary but if I inflate it up to $3 (greens cost me between 80 cents to $2/lb), you'd get $28/1000 calories.

And the bias can show based on what supermarket you shop at. There are certain super markets I don't go into because they are expensive. Here in the DC area, I find Giant to be expensive for produce and other items. If you try to buy organic produce at a regular super market (vs some place like Whole Foods), you also tend to pay more.

MindiV 12-08-2009 10:38 AM

We've got one store (town of 3,500). Unless you want to drive 80 miles round-trip to the north or 50 miles round-trip to the southwest, you shop at the one store.

The other day I had to go pick up a few things, and my purchases focused mostly on veggies. I needed red bell peppers for a recipe. They were $1.89 EACH. So I got the green...they were 29 cents each, but half were spotted and all were half wilted. I had to cut parts of them off to use them, but I got them. Heads of lettuce: I needed two because my husband is taking salads in his lunch. $2.09 each. Squash? $2 a pound.

Produce isn't cheap here at ALL. So when we can't get out of town to shop, we certainly pay more...

MisfitRycher 12-08-2009 10:46 AM

I hear ya about the produce prices, Mindi... My son and I both love green grapes, but I don't buy them very often because they're usually $3 to $4 a pound. Apples are much cheaper and they last a lot longer... But every now and then I want a little variety in our fruit bowl. You know? I don't buy oranges because:

1. They're hideously expensive ($5 for a 2lb bag? Come on!)
2. They're these teeny tiny little things (I want an orange I buy to fill my hand.)
3. They never have them on a stand with a set price per pound (I hate waste.)

The bracketed comment on point #3 is the main reason I don't buy a lot of produce... It usually goes to waste before I can use it. Especially cucumbers. That really sucks because I really want to eat more vegetables but I can't do that if it's too expensive or if it just goes to waste in my veggie drawer. :(

misskimothy 12-08-2009 10:46 AM

Yup. I hear you. And I find it weird that there really isn't much acknowldegment of the realities that alot of us face. Instead, it is "well you don't know how to shop" or "well, the study is flawed" or "well, out here in freaking California I can get cheap stuff year round" or "well, I find it easy". The sad reality is that alot of us face obstacles every single day. Alot of us live in areas without cheap produce. Alot of us have bills to pay and can't afford to eat the way others can. Alot of us are time pinched. Sometimes it would be nice to hear "jeez, I had no idea. I feel pretty lucky that my situation is different" instead of "eat beans and lentils every day. I don't have this problem (and neither should you so you just aren't trying hard enough)."
MindiV, you've done so well! I feel your produce pain! $5.00 for romaine lettuce. $3.00 for the spring mix. $1.00 a lemon. $$3.00 for 8 oz of mushrooms. Megaboxes of veggies that rot within a day of purchase. This is my reality, too. I manage, but just barely.

MindiV 12-08-2009 10:51 AM

The problem of food going to waste is getting better for me now that my husband is on board with losing weight and eating better. Before I'd have trouble making it through fresh greens and veggies because I was the only one who would eat them. Now we get through what I buy simply because we BOTH eat it, and he's able to eat about a TON more than I can...

MisfitRycher 12-08-2009 10:57 AM

I had a LOT of trouble with my teeth up until recently... So eating raw vegetables was out of the question for me. I used to be able to cut and eat a raw carrot without even batting an eye. But lately it's been "reach for the chips because they break in shipping so I don't have to bite down on them" instead of "you know what? I want a carrot with ranch dressing to dip it in today". Money had a lot to do with that too... But now that I've gotten my teeth taken care of, I'll be buying (and eating) a LOT more of the veggies I had to go without! Even if it DOES mean buying a 3lb. bag of full grown carrots that I have to cut and peel instead of a 2lb. bag of baby cut ones.

(A little side note here... I have extensor tendonitis in my right thumb, so it's not always easy for me to peel and cut things.)

nelie 12-08-2009 11:15 AM

misskimothy - I used to live in California, so I can acknowledge that there are regional differences but I do think a lot of people have figured out how to eat inexpensively and healthfully for their area. I would expect metro Seattle to be similar to my area or other areas I lived where it basically isn't California :)

I remember the first time I walked into a Colorado grocery store after moving from California, I walked out without buying any produce. I still rarely buy citrus fruits because they are expensive. When I visit California though, I eat tons because its cheap and widely available.

Having said that, for me, learning how to eat inexpensively and healthfully was partially learned but also growing up I was used to eating non packaged stuff.

Also, being that we are in late fall/winter, my own buying habits have switched quite a bit than they were in the summer. I was eating lots of salads in the summer but I don't really plan to have another salad until March/April sometime unless it is eating out and I happen to have one. I would rather not pay the price for salad veggies plus being cold, salads chill me more so I don't want that.

I feel for those that don't have a lot of options.

Of course I wish our agricultural politics would change up a bit so that produce would be cheaper but I also think even if you aren't eating a lot of produce, there are lots of options for healthy eating.

QuilterInVA 12-08-2009 11:34 AM

The point everyone is missing is its not just the cost of food. Unhealthy eating leads to future health problems. Use the money to buy food or pay the doctor.

JulieJ08 12-08-2009 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misskimothy (Post 3038763)
I dunno - Public Health researchers over 370 grocery stores for a peer-reviewed article? For the University of Washington? Sounds pretty believable to me.

It's helpful not to ignore the end results. You can't possibly be saying that $36 a day sounds like reasonable estimate of what it costs to eat healthy. Therefore, something somewhere is very flawed in their process or reasoning, or at least in the way the NY Times spun the story.

I found the entire original report here:

The Rising Cost of Low-Energy-Density Foods

mandalinn82 12-08-2009 12:20 PM

Quote:

And I find it weird that there really isn't much acknowldegment of the realities that alot of us face. Instead, it is "well you don't know how to shop" or "well, the study is flawed" or "well, out here in freaking California I can get cheap stuff year round" or "well, I find it easy". The sad reality is that alot of us face obstacles every single day. Alot of us live in areas without cheap produce. Alot of us have bills to pay and can't afford to eat the way others can. Alot of us are time pinched. Sometimes it would be nice to hear "jeez, I had no idea. I feel pretty lucky that my situation is different" instead of "eat beans and lentils every day. I don't have this problem (and neither should you so you just aren't trying hard enough)."
Gosh, I'm really sorry you felt unsupported - that sucks and wasn't my intention, though I can see how my response would land that way if you were looking for a response along the lines of "yeah, this is so hard on a budget". The issue is, for many people, "healthy food costs too much" is an excuse used to give up on healthy eating. I can't speak for anyone else on the thread, but my goal wasn't to dismiss the challenges that those with tight budgets face (because it IS a lot harder to cook healthy foods inexpensively, and that's just one of the multitude of additional challenges that individuals here may face in weight loss...others include obstacles like PCOS, family situations, depression, thyroid disorders, injuries that prevent exercise, etc)...it was to respond to a study that felt somewhat discouraging to me about whether good nutrition is possible on a budget (I know very few people who could afford to pay $36 a day for healthy food, though again, I do think that estimate is high) with my own experiences and knowledge about how one can make healthier choices than corn chips or mac and cheese with the same grocery bill.

None of that, though, was meant to dismiss the challenges associated with having a tight grocery bill and trying to eat a healthy diet...only to provide my insight and knowledge about ways that, though challenging, it can still be possible.

JulieJ08 12-08-2009 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misskimothy (Post 3039344)
The sad reality is that alot of us face obstacles every single day. Alot of us live in areas without cheap produce. Alot of us have bills to pay and can't afford to eat the way others can. Alot of us are time pinched. Sometimes it would be nice to hear "jeez, I had no idea. I feel pretty lucky that my situation is different" instead of "eat beans and lentils every day. I don't have this problem (and neither should you so you just aren't trying hard enough)."

Hmm, I fully agree that there are great challenges, and I *love* threads that address them helpfully. I just think it's strange to expect any other response than you got when posting an article that claims $36 a day is what it costs to eat healthily. Perhaps leaving out the hyperbole would get you the response you were looking for? I don't mean that with sarcasm - I genuinely think you'll get a better response.

beerab 12-08-2009 01:26 PM

I agree with manda- I hope my post didn't upset anyone either. I know not everyone has the same access to healthy foods- but definitely IMO eating healthier takes a person being more involved in planning and preparing your food regardless.

I have a friend who grows a lot of her own produce, you know, just enough for her and her family, and usually a lot more- could that be a feasible option for anyone? Definitely gardening takes a lot of work but IMO it's good exercise and eating foods from your own yard rocks! We have different fruit trees at home and I love that I can just walk outside and pick from them :D I don't have time now but we used to grow all sorts of stuff, green beans, radishes, tomatoes, cucumber, watermelon, etc.

Tarisaande 12-08-2009 01:54 PM

I believe general interest articles sometimes word things in a way that gets confusing, but the article doesn't say it costs 36 dollars a day (2000 calorie diet) to eat healthy, it says that it costs $18 dollars for 1000 calories of low energy density food. As the low energy density foods are fruits and vegetables, and are the foods people are usually missing from their diets to make them healthy, that is the relevance of this calculation. The foods that make our diets healthy (balanced and complete) are too expensive for many to buy.

As to if it really can cost 18 dollars for 1000 calories of vegetables, it is EXTREMELY possible.

I'm going to use frozen broccoli as an example, because I remember the approximate price and calories. And this is a CHEAP vegetable.

1 pound of frozen broccoli costs ~ 1.29 at my local cheap grocery chain, for the store brand.

85 grams , 30 calories per serving

454gm/pound divided by 85 grams = 5.3 servings

5.3 servings times 30 calories is 160 calories

divide 1000 calories by 165 (calories per pound) , multiply by 1.29 (cost per pound) you get $8

$8. For a cheap vegetable, at a cheap grocery chain, for the store brand. That price increases steeply from there if you get something more exotic, like bell peppers, or don't have a cheap local chain, etc.


How much is that if you ate 1 serving of broccoli a day in a week?

7 servings times 30 calories/serving * 8 dollars /1000 calories is $1.70 per week.

Doesn't seem like much, but thats just 1 serving of vegetables a day, right? And it's recommended we eat 5 servings of veggies a day. You can see the cost start to spiral.


I would also like to say that I live in a Boston suburb, and I don't know where our produce comes from, but it ain't local farms. And farmers markets around here cost MORE than the grocery store. I shop at a chain called market basket, which is local and "inexpensive". Stop&shop is more expensive, shaws/star market costs about 50% more, and whole foods charges in gold bullion. At least Trader Joe's has made a comfortable home around here, as it is only moderately more expensive than market basket for certain basics.

JulieJ08 12-08-2009 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarisaande (Post 3039680)
I believe general interest articles sometimes word things in a way that gets confusing, but the article doesn't say it costs 36 dollars a day (2000 calorie diet) to eat healthy, it says that it costs $18 dollars for 1000 calories of low energy density food.

I agree! But it made no mention about what it costs to eat healthy, and strongly gave the impression that eating healthy costs that much.

garnetrising 12-08-2009 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JulieJ08 (Post 3039701)
I agree! But it made no mention about what it costs to eat healthy, and strongly gave the impression that eating healthy costs that much.

I read it the same way Tarisaande, actually. That it was only addressing fruits and vegetables.

Tarisaande 12-08-2009 02:21 PM

Quote:

I agree! But it made no mention about what it costs to eat healthy, and strongly gave the impression that eating healthy costs that much.

That's what I'm referring to, how general interest articles reword things to make them sound like something they aren't. However the article does make this assertion, right at the beginning

quote: Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables

Being a general interest article, there is the spin that poor people eat more junk because it's cheaper, yadda yadda yadda.

The following quote includes both fact, from the survey, and general interest twisty-talk

quote: higher-calorie, energy-dense foods are the better bargain for cash-strapped shoppers. Energy-dense munchies cost on average $1.76 per 1,000 calories, compared with $18.16 per 1,000 calories for low-energy but nutritious foods

They combine the fact, that low energy density food is more expensive, with a throw-away "common knowledge" (but incorrect) statement that claims that the rest of the food out there that is cheaper is also junk food ("munchies"). When an individual reads such an article, their personal knowledge of food and nutrition will determine whether they take it at face value, or realize that they are mixing fact and fantasy in the same breath.

nelie 12-08-2009 02:25 PM

What is also interesting about that study is the top 5 items in the cheap high energy density/'unhealthy' category are all fats including lard and olive oil. Of course olive oil is high energy density but I wouldn't lump it in the same category as lard.

kaplods 12-08-2009 04:04 PM

When it comes to eating healthier on a tight budget, it's not about being able to do everything that someone else is able to. It's finding a way to do better than you're doing now. Maybe you'll only save $1 a week. That's $1 you can spend on something else (and if you save it, it's $52 you get to spend every year). Maybe that $1 will inspire you to find another way to save another dollar. Maybe you can't save $1, but can save 25 cents.

When talking about food budget, it's about pennies before it's about dimes, before it's about dollars. But it's hard to look at the pennies, because even when you have very little money, it can seem like too much effort to put into saving so little. But truly, as the saying goes - if you watch your pennies, your dollars will take care of themselves.

I've eaten healthfully, weight-consciously (and not) on crazy-small budgets, and I've eaten poorly (as well as healthfully, weight-consciously) on a very generous budget - and probably every combination in between. I started collecting resources on eating and living cheaply (not always healthfully) when I was in college. I kept those books, even when I didn't need them - and when I needed them, I'd pull them out.

Eating without regard to health on a very generous budget, was the easiest. Hubby and I had good jobs. We worked hard, often long hours, and we ate in restaurants almost every day, because it was easiest and we could afford it (and we loved the hedonistic, "gourmet" lifestyle). Hubby can be a bit veggie-phobic so I'll only speak for myself. I wasn't getting short-changed on nutrition. I was eating mostly high-quality - even "healthy" foods, but too much of a good thing, isn't healthy. I ate a lot of veggies and fruits, but fat, sugar, and starch levels more than counteracted the healthfulness of the produce.

Eating healthfully on the crazy-small budget, was by far the most difficult. So difficult, it would have seemed impossible if I hadn't put a great deal of effort into studying the subject. It started with a book called "The Tightwad Gazette," that I bought at a garage sale. Then I began reading everything I could get my hands (er, eyes?) on - books, magazine articles, online articles... I searched on amazon.com -reading all the reviews and suggested reading lists and made a list of books I wanted to read. I checked them out from the library, ordering those that weren't there through interlibrary loan.

I found a way to own those that were the best resources. I'd put the books on my "wish list" at amazon and I printed out the list and took it with me to garage sales, thrift stores... or bought from amazon when I had the money (I never spent more than $5 for any of the books I bought - including shipping).

I tore articles and recipes out of magazines (if the magazine was mine) and copied them, if they weren't. I printed stuff I'd found online. During some of this time, I didn't have a computer of my own, but my sister would let me use her computer. I'd buy reams of paper for her (about $4) to offset the cost of the ink, and as a thank you (It was cheaper than paying 10 cents per page at the library, though sometimes I did that too).


If I hadn't collected all the eat-and-live-cheaply resources (over a span of about 25 years), I also would have said that losing weight on a healthy diet was impossible to do cheaply. I now believe it's possible to do almost anywhere IF you have the knowledge, the desire and the determination (and aren't picky or squeamish).

Some resources weren't very useful to me in terms of their specific tips - but did help me see that my situation was a lot better and easier than I'd imagined. Luckily, I've never had to resort to the advice in books such as

The Art & Science of Dumpster Diving by John Hoffman
or

How to Survive Without a Salary: Learning How to Live the Conserver Lifestyle by Charles Long


I believe it was the latter that advised even apartment dwellers to raise their own animals for food (pigeons on a rooftop, rabbits or guinea pigs in the basement or in an extra bedroom). Feeding them scavenged food from grocery store dumpsters.

I'm not willing to raise rodents in my home for food - but reading about it (and other equally strange ideas) did help me learn to think outside the box.

I do re-use ziplock bags (but don't wash them in the dishwasher - but maybe I should).

I try to always buy the cheapest option that is feasible (quality and preferences have to go into this equation - because an item that falls apart the day after you buy it, isn't the cheapest. If an object is useful, but you find it hideous, and hate it every time you see it, it's also not a bargain).

I save money on non-food items, to free up more food budget. I shop thrift stores, consignment shops, garage sales, discount stores...

Do you have to read the thousands and thousands of pages of money-saving
ideas to live better, more cheaply (including diet-wise)?

Absolutely not. You start with one tip that sounds doable, and you do that. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference, because it's only one tip, but then you try another, and maybe another... and soon you're saving money (or you're getting more for your money).

Is it doable for everyone? Absolutely not! But, by reading all this stuff, there's not a person who couldn't come away with something useful.


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