Our produce here is kept in extreme cold storage for weeks, so that when its finally put out on the shelf it looks nice and ripe, only problem is its over ripe, so a day or two after you buy its bad.
Thats WTF i am talking about.
So the option would be going the store to buy my veggies everyday. Hmm driving at least 12 miles each way to the store (the closest store with the least selection)unless I am headed to town for something else isnt a fun thought. During the semester I go to town either 2 or 3 days a weeks. its 20 miles each way and thats where the good grocery store is, however most of the time I am not going to go shopping after class, at 9:30 at night when I have been in class for 6 and half hours, trying to fit full time college into 2 days a week.
Everything is not the same for everyone. Things are different, food is kept differently, eating styles are different, food allergies can cause you to have to spend more on certain things, foods that are avoided to for medical reasons, can mean you have to spend more money on something else. Needing things when they aren't on sale can mean you have to spend more on some things.
I haven't really looked at the cost of eating healthier, because we shop strangely.
Every 6 months, we buy all of our non-perishables. We have a huge chest freezer that's always stocked with bread, fruit, veggies, homemade stock, cheese, tofu, etc. We stock up on 6 months of shelf stable soy milk, spices, pasta, rice, beans, grains, and other non-perishables. Then we only go to the grocery for fresh produce, about twice a week. I stop after work once during the week, and usually go on the weekend to pick up additional stuff.
Because we do it that way, our normal grocery bill is so small it's hard to tell if it's more expensive or not. However, we've never been big junk/processed food eaters, our issue has been portion control instead.
I do know that the stores you have access to make a HUGE difference. When we do our bulk shopping at TJ's or Whole Foods, it's MUCH cheaper than if we do it at Kroger or Meijer.
I'm learning to can stuff (as of today!) from our garden, so hopefully that will help our next bulk shopping trip. I have an heirloom tomato plant that thinks it's the plant from Little Shop of Horrors - it's over 6 feet tall now, which prompted me to learn to can. As much as I like tomatoes, there's NO way we could eat the 50+ that are on the plant before they go bad.
I agree with many of the posts. I think because there is more money to be made by selling processed, boxed "carbage" we are led to believe that healthy eating is just for the rich and not so famous. In reality, healthy eating can be much cheaper than junk food eating. It goes back to education, and our country is not educated on how to eat well and how to make if affordable. As said in a previous post, water's cheap, diet soda? Not so much.
I haven't really looked at the cost of eating healthier, because we shop strangely.
Every 6 months, we buy all of our non-perishables. We have a huge chest freezer that's always stocked with bread, fruit, veggies, homemade stock, cheese, tofu, etc. We stock up on 6 months of shelf stable soy milk, spices, pasta, rice, beans, grains, and other non-perishables. Then we only go to the grocery for fresh produce, about twice a week. I stop after work once during the week, and usually go on the weekend to pick up additional stuff.
Because we do it that way, our normal grocery bill is so small it's hard to tell if it's more expensive or not. However, we've never been big junk/processed food eaters, our issue has been portion control instead.
I do know that the stores you have access to make a HUGE difference. When we do our bulk shopping at TJ's or Whole Foods, it's MUCH cheaper than if we do it at Kroger or Meijer.
I'm learning to can stuff (as of today!) from our garden, so hopefully that will help our next bulk shopping trip. I have an heirloom tomato plant that thinks it's the plant from Little Shop of Horrors - it's over 6 feet tall now, which prompted me to learn to can. As much as I like tomatoes, there's NO way we could eat the 50+ that are on the plant before they go bad.
When you purchase produce at a big box store, it's shipped from somewhere else. So the blueberries I bought yesterday came from California - I live in Indiana. Let's assume they were picked and packaged one day. Then they were driven on a truck to Indiana, that takes what, 3 days maybe? The grocery I went to gets their produce on Thursday for the weekend rush. I didn't have time to get there Thursday or Friday, so they sat in the grocery for 2 more days. So those blueberries were likely picked almost a week ago. Blueberries keep, once they've been picked, for 1-2 weeks if they're in the fridge. I have no way of knowing if they were kept cold that whole time, but let's assume they were (even though they likely weren't). I've got somewhere in between 2-7 days to eat those berries.
Now let's say I'd taken the time yesterday to drive up to my parent's house, where there's a good farmers market on Saturday mornings. The blueberries there would have been picked Friday likely. Those berries would last a LOT longer than the ones from the big-box store. They would also taste better and be a lot cheaper, but it would have required driving an hour and a half there, and an hour and a half back. I didn't have that kind of time this week.
THAT'S "WTF" they're talking about.
I, too, would like to know what your menu looks like if you're spending $15 a week on food. You've said you eat ~2200 calories a day, so I'm very curious as to how $15 makes you 21 meals in a week and nets you 2200 cal/day. Perhaps we could learn from you and I could start to get past how rude and condescending you come across in your posts.
Your crazy do you not use a refrigerator or freezer...? I also said I NEED to eat 2200 calories a day but I don't actually eat that many usually in the 1600-1800 calorie range.
How do I do it?
Bannanas 49 cents lbs. Buy 5 for 80 cents.
10 pack oatmeal box $2
Fresh chicken breast $1.99 lb
Loaf of store wheat bread 89 cents
2cup bag of 2% cheese any variety $1.79
1lb box of any kind of noodle $1
1/2 dozen eggs 69 cents
1 bag of frozen vegetables $1.50 or pick them out of the garden.
Those are just some examples I can't list everything here. Oh and don't forget most stores double and triple coupons. Usually walk out with several free items ...................
Last edited by benchmarkman; 08-02-2009 at 01:16 PM.
You are lucky to have lower food prices it looks like.Could never get produce or meat for those prices.Coupons are usually from manufactures and not issued for produce and meat.(in my town).Good for you though.Goegraphy definately make a difference.
Yes it was!!!! Plus....you know what they saw, laughter is the best medicine!Also, studies show that happy people are healthier, thinner,less depressed.....So I saw, bring it on KIRA!!!
Bannanas 49 cents lbs. Buy 5 for 80 cents.
10 pack oatmeal box $2
Fresh chicken breast $1.99 lb
Loaf of store wheat bread 89 cents
2cup bag of 2% cheese any variety $1.79
1lb box of any kind of noodle $1
1/2 dozen eggs 69 cents
1 bag of frozen vegetables $1.50 or pick them out of the garden.
Ill use this, our prices are DRASTICALLY different than yours
Bananas-80 cents a pound on sale and go bad even in the fridge because of the cold storage i mentioned. When we go out of town i get them for 1.29 for 3 lbs I freeze them when I get them there, but thats only every other month we drive the 90 miles to get them.
Oatmeal- 10 pack of plain off brand oatmeal packets $2.50 on sale, $3.99 normally, we buy the canisters of off brand when the go on sale.
Chicken breast- on sale $1.99 a lb, rarely, typically $3.99 a pound
2 cup bag of cheese $3.79 for the store brand
Bread- The cheapest loaves of whole wheat bread are $2.79, the stuff I buy that is lower in calories is $3.78 a loaf.
Noodles- One sale $1.00 a box, usually every 6 months they go on sale, not on sale $2.79 a box.
Eggs a dozen are $3.89, we use store brand egg whites which we spend $3.00 a week on because I cant eat whole eggs.
A 1lb bag of frozen veggies on sale $1.00 very rarely, typically $2.50 a bag for store brand.
None of our stores double or triple coupons. And as I said earlier we have 2 options in town ( a 15-20 mile drive (depending on what store you go to)) and if we want anything different we have to drive 90 miles, which we do do, every other month.
All jokes aside, geography is definitely a big deal. Even something like as the CITY you live in within a metro area can make a huge difference (farmers market in my suburban small town = more expensive than grocery store. Farmers market in the big city that's a 30 min drive = so much cheaper that I consistently go, every week). Both of those cities are still within the agricultural areas of CA, too, so even in a "cheap produce" zone, there's a lot of variation.
I'm pretty sure that anyone, with any budget, could eat healthy foods for the same monetary price as junk foods, but you have to be willing and able to plan, devote prep time, learn how to cook cheaper ingredients, and sacrifice some of the more luxurious things (meat with every meal, microgreens, specialty produce, etc). People who don't live in areas with lower grocery prices (believe me, I know I'm fortunate to have produce available at the prices I do) may have to work harder on the prep, work harder to find bargains, etc, but I do think its possible.
I thought of this thread today, when I went to my grocery store and saw that SOMEONE in their produce ordering department had WAY overordered on pineapples. These pineapples were marked down to $1 each. I thought "If I bought 10, I could have 10 big bags of frozen pineapple for the winter, ready to make salsas and sauces, to defrost and throw on fruit salads, to mix into yogurt, and whatever else for $10". I may go back and do it, actually. And I may do the same with some stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, etc) now that I can get it for 75 cents a pound at the market. But again - that's doing a lot of work NOW to ensure myself lower grocery costs in the wintertime.
