Paris, here's how to make a good pot of lentils.....

all you need is a bag of lentils
chicken broth or bouillon
rice (optional).

boil 8 cups of water to 1 bag lentils. 1 lb bag
when boiling add lentils, turn heat down
add chicken broth/bouillon or granules to taste.
cook lentils until tender. can vary. just after 10 min..keep testing.

when done, add to rice. brown rice is better but more expensive. Lentils are a good source of fiber and protein. If you make a lot ahead of time, it cuts down on your cooking time for your busy week. Lentils are kind of chewy when cooked "al dente".

There are also a lot of threads here on saving money while dieting. Usually the Aldi discount grocery chain gets mentioned in them - so if you put Aldi in the search box, you'll find them (that doesn't mean you have to use the store, it just helps you find the threads that discuss saving money).

Of course there are differences in where you are and what you have available.

That being said, since we don't buy any meat products or dairy, our situation is a bit different than most people's. However here in Indiana, the closest Whole Foods/TJ's is an hour away, so we mostly shop at Kroger. I plan our meals around what is in season and what is on sale, and I freeze everything I can when I can find a good price. I blanched asparagus this spring, froze peppers from my garden for cooking, etc. And my "garden" was a 6ft by 2ft plot of dirt and several containers, we don't have a huge amount of land anymore. Our coat closet doubles as a pantry for when we make the trip to WF/TJ's and stock up on shelf stable items.

Eating healthy can be more expensive, but it doesn't have to be as expensive as that study shows - if you're able to eat in-season.

We probably spend less than $100/week to feed both of us and our dogs, including toiletries and the occasional meal out. We used to spend a LOT more than that when we bought Mt Dew, Doritos, pizza, etc.

I was thinking about this thread while making dinner last night. I made an Indian stir-fried cabbage dish, and looking at my main ingredients, for produce, I had a head of cabbage (dead cheap) a large onion (again, pretty cheap) and three cloves of garlic (yup, cheap). The other ingredients were olive oil and spices.

I'm getting maybe three meals out of this dish, and looking at it, guess where the bulk of my calories are coming from? The olive oil. This is not an unusual kind of meal for me, and I do eat a huge amount of produce (vegetarian that I am), but I'm by no means consuming 1000+ calories worth of produce every day. I'm consuming the bulk of my calories in the stuff that accompanies the vegetables (grains and pulses and a bit of dairy, mainly), or the stuff I am using to prepare the vegetables (that would be the olive oil, at least in this case.) So, in my own particular case, a straight cash-for-calories comparison just doesn't hold. I'm actually eating pretty cheaply. No, good olive oil isn't cheap, but a bottle lasts me forever. A quid's worth of dried pulses or grains is a couple of meals. So, yes, produce is pretty darned expensive -- although frozen veggies can be pretty cheap -- but by buying in season and eating them with other, cheaper, more calorie-dense things, healthy eating isn't any more expensive for me than the alternative, and in a lot of ways, it's a fair bit cheaper.

I love lenitl and spinach soup. You can skip the lemon (pricey sometimes) or use Real Lemon and skip the zest. I have used other veggies too.

Lentil Spinach Soup Recipe

2 med. onions
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 T. vegetable or olive oil
3 cups water
1 tsp. salt
8 ounces dried lentils (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
2 tsp. lemon juice
10 oz. spinach, chopped (about 4 cups) [or] 1 10 oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed

Cook and stir onions and garlic in oil in 3 qt. saucepan over med. heat until onions are tender. Stir in water, salt and lentils. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 1 hour. Stir in lemon peel, lemon juice and spinach. Cover and simmer until spinach is tender, about 5 minutes. 4 servings (about 1 1/4 cups each. 260 calories per serving.)

For me, it definitely does cost more to eat healthy. Way more! The costs are related to the large amounts of produce I eat and produce can be expensive.

I don't just eat one serving of broccoli. I eat multiple servings of a variety of vegetables and fruits, every day. It adds up. My produce bill is quite high.

As far as beans and lentils, sure, they're cheap. However, if I eat too much of them, they pack pounds on me. I can't eat bowls of lentil soup or else I'll put on weight. But, I can (and do!) eat bowls of fresh produce.

It can be very hard for a person on a limited budget to get the recommended 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

I definitely agree that eating healthy is a lot more expensive than eating non-healthy. Recently, I actually posted about the ever increasing cost of food (not just produce) on another forum I frequent. I was shocked, during my last grocery shopping excursion, how much a head of romaine lettuce was, etc.
I also try to buy organic if I can so that also adds a pretty penny to the final bill. Even though I don't live in a small town, it's not a metropolis either. We don't have any independent produce-only smaller stores, only big chain grocery stores and I admit I shop at the slighly more pricey one because it is 5 minutes from my house and I can stop there on the way from work or from the gym. But I also know that saying it is slightly more expensive is relative - I may pay more for one particular item but less for another item (than in another store). I guess I could try to shop at Price Chopper or Food Basics but neither is close to me.

Another thing that drives the cost of groceries up is that I try to get into myself a decent amount of protein since I lift weights. The easiest way to achieve that, with a low caloric footprint, are lean meats (such as fish or chicken breast). Having meat twice a day is quite costly.

I did start buying frozen veggies but it will take some trial and error. For example, the first bag that I bought turned out to be 60% carrots, 25% cauliflower and 15% broccoli florets (my estimate only). Not that I don't like carrots but I would have preferred 60% broccoli.

Maybe where you live there are nice places to shop, but in my little TN town there is only Kroger, Food Lion, Save-a-lot, Aldis, and Walmart. I try to find the best prices in those stores, but their selection of healthy foods are limited and pretty expensive, and we do not have a farmer's market or butcher or anything like that, though sometimes people have vegetable stands on the side of the road, but because of our low income we buy our food with foodstamps, so we wouldn't be able to purchase them. Also, I wouldn't know how much they want for them. I guess I could look sometime out of curiosity and maybe spend a little money if it were a good deal.

Of course, when the weather gets cold my dad will sometimes get a deer and share a bunch of the meat with us, and in the summer they share their garden with us, but the garden is basically gone now thanks to the heat, so now it's back to shopping at the stores again.

I've recently cut back our grocery budget further to bulk up our savings account (we had to replace our roof so it took a big hit), and have been unable to get the farmer's market due to scheduling concerns. So we've been re-testing our money saving strategies.

A big one is never going into shopping with a pre-conceived notion of what we're eating. We go through circulars, find the ones with the best deals on produce (since that's where we spend a lot of our money), look for the cheapest produce items, and base our meals around that. That means if there's a really good price on, for example, squash, we have a LOT of squash that week (grilled in planks one night, chopped and roasted and tossed in a pasta another, stuffed with couscous a third, etc). We never go in saying "we need broccoli", then look for the best price on broccoli, since even the lowest price might still be relatively high. Instead, we go in, find the produce that'll be the cheapest, and form as many meals around it as we can. One week, Romaine lettuce was ridiculously cheap, so we pretty much ate salads all week, with a variety of other stuff that was either cheap in cans (beans, tuna, etc) or other sale produce.

Once we've got the produce part down, we look at the rest of the meal - what is on sale in the meat department, in canned goods, etc that we can combine with the cheaper produce? We've made red beans and rice costing less than 50 cents a serving using on-sale chicken sausage, dried beans, and dried brown rice, plus spices. Inexpensive and tasty! Throw in some of that cheap squash, some cheap carrots, and an onion, and you've got it made.

There are definitely ways to keep it inexpensive (OK, not as inexpensive as Top Ramen and Kraft Mac and cheese, but close) and still healthy. Usually it takes a lot of prep work and circular skimming, though.

Haha, yeah, I remember when we used to live on Ramen. Not the healthiest choice, and boy did I get sick of that stuff. A while back I made a really hearty vegetable soup that was pretty cheap. I combined several bags of mixed frozen vegetables, a bag of dried lentils, beans, and a huge can of sodium-free tomato juice. I put it in the slow-cooker, and we ate on it for several days. I miss my slow-cooker; it messed up. I think I'm going to splurge and get another one.

You can make that recipe on the stove. Also, you might want to check any thrift stores you have to see if they have slow cookers available.

I also tend to go to the store without any expectations. Not too long ago, we went to the grocery store and my husband wanted broccoli but it was $3.99/lb!! Last week, I was at Whole Foods and organic broccoli was $99/lb so I bought 5 lbs. He was pretty happy.

I've definitely been cooking a lot more dried beans lately as well which is cheap and I love millet which is generally cheap if you can buy it in bulk.

I *know* I spend a ton more money eating healthy than unhealthy. And that entirely ignores gym fees!! So far today, I have had 512 calories. Let's look at the breakdown:

Nonfat yogurt x 2 - $1.00 (50 cents each)
Low Carb High Fiber Whole Wheat Tortilla - 32 cents (3.16/10=32 cents each)
2 oz all natural turkey breast - $1.25 (($10/16)*2=1.25)
1 tbsp Walden Farms Zero calorie russian dressing - 16 cents (3.16/20=.158)
1/4 cup Arctic Zero ice cream - $1.12 ($4.50/4=1.12)
Walden Farms zero calorie chocolate syrup - 16 cents (3.16/20=.158)
Cool Whip Free (didn't realize this had corn syrup - eep!) - 4 cents (1/25=.04)
Samples - Free (while shopping, 2 samples of healthy choice meals + babybel cheese, counted as 100 calories)

Grand total: $4.05

Meaning I spend over $8 per 1000 calories. Yikes.

All those are prepared foods though which is where the cost comes in. Healthy doesn't necessarily mean low calorie but 'diet' processed foods and speciality foods will always cost more.

To illustrate what Nelie just said, for $30 at the farmer's market I just bought (all pesticide free, if not certified organic, since the growers are small and local):

5 lbs of mixed stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, pluots)
2 watermelons at $2 a piece
4 lemon cucumbers
6 red bell peppers
10 lbs of zucchini (that's enough for us to grill for the BBQ, plus one other day, and to throw some in a taco salad later in the week)
3 lbs of asian pears
Bunch of basil
3 bunches of long beans (enough to do a stirfry one night, plus a side another night)
2 lbs of heirloom tomatoes
6 ears of corn

That's my fruit and vegetables for the week, which is the biggest part of my food budget by far, plus veggies and fruit to take to my mom's for a labor day BBQ. I'll add in whatever lean proteins I can get on sale, and whole grains/beans as necessary, plus a very few processed foods, and end up with a weeks worth of breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner for two for around $80.

Mmmhmmm, but it's the same with the produce around here. And really, define "processed food"... nonfat yogurt and all natural turkey breast are hardly "convenience foods"

I eat only all natural foods 90% of the time, which will obviously cost more. But even with produce, my farmer's market apples are $3 for 6 (50 cents for 80 calories, or $6.25 per 1000 calories

Cucumbers are a bit cheaper - $2.00 for 8, but at 30 calories each thats $8.00 per 1000 calories

Tomatoes come in buckets with roughly 6-7 large tomatoes for $4. Lets be generous and say 75 calories a tomato, since these are pretty big...That's $10 per 1000 calories

Organic chicken breast is cheap than turkey breast - let's say $6.99 a pound on average. That's about 750 calories total, or $9.33 per 1000 calories

I don't see how you figure it's cheaper to eat healthy...


ALSO, convenience "healthy" foods can actually be cheaper than fresh produce, more often than not. I could spend $1.10 on a can of healthy choice or Amy's soup on sale for 250-300 calories, or I could spend $2.00 on half a ball of mozzarella and .75 on a large tomato and drizzle them with .15 of balsamic vinegar for $2.90 the same 300 calories.

If you go by calories, then you'd probably have to say nuts are the cheapest things out there :)

For me, I know I spend less eating healthier as my grocery bill has gone down even though I eat a bunch of organics. Right now I'm at the point where most of my produce is organic but its also summer, winter may change things. I buy a lot of basics, veggies/fruits that are in season/on sale, bulk nuts, legumes, grains and spices. I rarely buy anything that comes in a package and when I do, I expect to pay more. Overall, my grocery bill is between $200-$300 month for 2 people. Lately, I've been closer to $300 right now and looking to cut it down a bit.

Nuts are definitely good. I need to figure out a way to add them into my diet. I don't *love* them (or really like them much, lol), but you can't argue the health benefits and cost for healthy fats. I love beans and lentils, but I don't cook them as often as I ought to due to time constraints! I'm debating trying some canned beans for the occasional snack to lower the budget a bit ;) I don't eat grains (save for low carb whole wheat tortillas!), but I can imagine whole wheat ones would be cheaper, too.

I'm not saying my situation is the end-all, be-all for healthy eating + cost, haha, but it does hurt a little sometimes ;) But who wouldn't pay a few hundred extra dollars a year to look incredible and feel amazing? Some people drop that on a single massage or great outfit!!

I eat beans every day. One thing that can help is a pressure cooker although if you buy brown lentils, they are pretty quick cooking. 20-30 minutes from unsoaked dried to cooked. I use a pressure cooker and cook most of my beans in (except lentils since they are so quick cooking). There are many beans that don't need soaking such as black eyed peas and adzuki beans. So although black beans are one of my favorite, even if I don't soak them in the morning, I can cook my black eyed peas in my pressure cooker and in 20 minutes I have cooked beans.

And I don't mind paying extra for certain things but I really don't think most people have to. For instance, my favorite salad dressing is $6 bottle but I've also made my own salad dressing at a fraction of the cost.

Then again, black beans cost this week in my store 99 cents for a 12 serving bag, with 80 calories per serving. That's $1.03 for 1000 calories.

Brown Rice is currently running $4.19 for a 19 serving bag, with each serving has 150 calories of whole grain goodness. $1.47 for 1000 calories.

Millet is one of my favorite grains, it is usually 99 cents/lb for organic but quinoa is another favorite and usually costs $1.50/lb. For me, I buy the organic beans and they range in price, usually from 99 cents to 1.99, depending on the bean.

I tended to let a lot of produce go bad until I did two things...
1) I tossed the crisper drawers from my fridge. Now all my veg sits out in the open staring at me when I open the door.
2) I finally used the "green bags" my Mom bought me ages ago. I was skeptical about an "as seen on" item, but they really do keep my greens longer.
Incidents of slime are much more rare now, saving me lots of cash.

Hmmmm I don't know.

I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I spend far less on my food now than I did when I was eating junk.

We spend twice as much a month eating healthy. I could do 100/week for a five person household eating unhealthy, and now do 200/week eating healthy.

Well, I've always spent about $150 - 200 for each week's food for just my husband and me (and my two dogs---their food is expensive). Then, again, I buy organic meat & dairy, and I will only buy really good quality ingredients. I am blessed that I am able to afford to spend that much on food (even though my salary isn't that great & my husband is retired), but to me, food is a priority. I'm not rich by any means: My car is a 2004 Honda that runs well but has no automatic anything and has a dent on the driver's side. I shop mainly at TJ Maxx & Marshalls and wear clothes until they don't fit anymore or have noticeable damage on them. So, I don't have money to throw around, but eating well is very important to me. In fact, if I were to lose my job or somehow otherwise become destitute, one of the things I would miss the most would be buying quality food items.

Overall, I do think with some effort, it could be just as cheap to eat healthy as it is to eat unhealthy, but it takes more time to prepare those healthy, cheap items (e.g., dried beans, rice, etc.), and/or one must be very organized to figure out how to prepare cheap, healthy foods in a way that doesn't take all one's time.

I think I spend the same regardless.

I totally agree!!!!! Not only am I spending more but am spending more time shopping. I do not have a car and I live in a big city. Even to get to farmer's markets is a major pain. I work full time and farmer's markets that are open during the week will be closed, even if I had the energy to take transit there and haul the food home. I will go on Saturday mornings but to be honest we have a short growing season anyway. I shop across the street at a major grocery store and pick up fruit and veg when and where I can throughout the week. If buying fresh and eating anywhere near the required servings of fruit and veg I cannot shop once or even only twice per week.
And I do eat lentils and dried beans and do not buy diet foods that some people alluded to as expensive. I buy fish which is expensive but healthy. The crap foods are the cheapest. To buy good quality whole grain organic bread can be as much as 7 dollars a loaf, good old wonderbread you can sometimes get for a dollar. sigh

I also wanted to add that if someone has the luxury of perusing circular(s), and the time to shop at several different locations they may save money. But again if one is shopping at one location most of the time due to key transportation is walking and to save time because working everyday in a physically demanding job and working out 3 evenings a week, attending board meetings and so forth time is limited. And since when is eating carrots and potatos considered healthy?
To eat healthy we are to have about 4 servings or more of veg, and of fruit, which includes tropical, stone, berries and cool weather fruit.
I do admit that I spent a ton of money on ordering out and buying junk before and so I am saving that way.
And I am spending the money to eat healthy. But I think it is important to acknowledge that really eating healthy for some people is beyond their means. When I shop most veg cost 3 dollars or more (rapini, kale etc.).
But this being said I appreciate all that has been said and will make the lentil spinach soup found above. :)

Yes, but to make good quality, whole grain organic bread costs less than Wonderbread (I worked out my costs once, and it was about 45 cents a loaf), and isn't particularly hard...no special equipment required. So again, I'd argue that you get any two of cheap/fast and convenient/healthy. If you put time into it, you can get cheap, healthy foods on the table. If you don't want to put the time into making your own breads and etc, you can get cheap/fast food, but it won't be healthy, or you can get healthy/fast food, but it won't be cheap.

anybody who's ever been on welfare knows that.

that's why the lower in the annual income, the higher the risk of obesity.

poor families have to decide if they're going to spend 99c on two med apples or a box of KD.

working poor also have to factor in time: many work grinding hours so it's a choice between "simmer for 30min until reduced" or "open can, heat to serve".

mandalinn: i bake bread and where i live, baking home-made bread costs about 3x the price of a loaf.

and yes, i factored it all out myself too using basic ingredients: flour, water, yeast, salt, plus hydro.

Some of us will just have to agree to disagree. Some of us really do not have time to bake bread. And yes we can opt out of that healthy bread and eat some other healthy carb for sure. :)
However there is a huge movement that has been perpetrated by the media and a 'health/green culture' that does not acknowledge their privilege at being able to purchase high cost healthy, local, organic food and to mask the rising costs of such.
I am all for the green culture and I am privileged enough to purchase healthy foods most of the time. What I see is that many people who work full time as does their partner(assuming they have one) and may or may not have children and have other responsbilities cannot make their own bread, travel to several stores to shop etc. That type of lifestyle is rare or only possible for some.
Yes we can get some cheap healthy foods but not many and not often. And it is more difficult, I am not saying more worth it, just more difficult. And there is a reason for that. There is a reason why crap food like mac and cheese is cheap and available. It pays to keep people fat, unhealthy and powerless.
This being said I am committing to going to the farmer's market every Saturday and will report my finds and cost.

I do know that food costs vary depending on area, so again, for my food costs it makes sense, for others it may not.

I would venture that every area has SOME healthy food that is less expensive than junk food (either in smaller ethnic markets, or farmer's markets, or grocery outlet type stores, or even grown in a container garden). But I do agree that time is an issue, particularly for the working poor - the dishes you can make inexpensively with a slowcooker (which is a cost that some working poor may not be able to afford, although thrift stores often have them for a few dollars...though you can get the same effect leaving an oven on all day with a pot of food inside it) would get pretty tedious after a while (although a diet of junk food day after day would get tedious as well, I imagine). Another huge issue is that those in poor urban areas often live in food deserts - that is, there are no sources for healthy, fresh food within a reasonable distance. Without transportation, and in unsafe neighborhoods, walking or riding the bus to get healthier foods may not be an option at all. If the only food you can safely access comes from a convenience store or a fast food place, obviously that will affect both your health and your costs.

For the very poor, there are all kinds of serious logistical barriers to making your own healthy food - hard to do with no stove, or if the gas has been turned off for lack of payment, or if you don't have any pots and pans or any way to afford them.

I brought both of these up earlier in the thread, and they are major issues to be sure, that won't be easily solved. Those are both separate issues from the original question being posed in this thread though, I think, which was more "does a healthy diet, per calorie, cost more than an unhealthy diet". It may, and there may not be a lot of choice around that for some people with logistical-type problems (including those I summarized above). But it really doesn't HAVE to for most people.

Agree with much of what you said but not sure it I would say 'most' people. I know for me I plan to eat the healthiest food that I can afford to buy. I am currently using only dried beans, lentils and so forth, not canned. I would like to get away from foods that come from halfway across the world but that is another issue.

This is exactly what I would have posted. Same thing for me.

Where I live there is one Whole Foods and it is in a wealthy part of the city. I do think I can eat a healthy diet on budget with limits. However again there is elitism in some expectations that everyone can. Not everyone owns a car, not everyone drives, many people live in areas that have one place to buy fresh produce and it is over priced. Not to mention people that are 'stuck' due to enviroment/poverty and mental health issues. Not uncommon.

My overall food bills went down when i gave up junk food - soda, chips, candy at the gas station are expensive. Yes, the weekly "at the super market" bill probably went up a bit because I was buying more fruits and veggies. But I never bought my junk food at the super market anyaay, those costs snuck in every day at vending machines and every time i got gas.

However my food bills went back up when I decided to try to eat only organic (and for meat/dairy/eggs - only local, pasture raised). But it's a cost I can currently afford. It still is probably cheaper than my junk food addiction...

I think this is hard to determine right now. I don't know about you guys, but grocery prices have SOAREDin my area. I am spending about $30 per week more to feed my family of 5 than I did a few months ago. I don't blame this on healthy eating, I blame it on prices rising.

In the last year, the same 2 poundbag of shredded cheese has gone fro $5.96 to $11.96 - almost DOUBLE what it cost before. Banannas have gone up .10 per pound. Lettuce has risen almost .50 per head. Eggs, milk, and bread have all gone up as well.

I do have the luxery of having a large freezer. We also raise beef cattle, so we always have very lean beef in the freezer. I live an hour outside of Houston, so we have several grocery stores in the area. My husband sells beef at Farmer's Markets, so we also have the option of buying there.

I do think that location plays a HUGE part in grocery expenses. I also think it is cheaper per person for me to feed my family vs someone who lives on their own, or with just two in the home. I can purchase in bulk (or larger packaged items) before things go bad.

Although my grocery bill is higher, I do think that MY FAMILY spends less while we are eating more healthy. We have leftovers that get eaten vs nothing left, or leftovers going bad. I feel like I can only blame rising costs on our increased grocery bill, not healthy eating.

You're right about the pricing. I, like you, don't have to buy meat in the store. I have my own chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, sheep and goat. So, I have meat and eggs whenever I want it and I am about to purchase a milk goat, so I will have fresh goat milk to drink. My meat and eggs are raised in my back yard, so I feel that it's a better quality than store bought.

The only things that I really buy are fruits, vegetables, cereal and limited snacks. I still have veggies from last year's garden and I have a garden now. I live alone so other groceries last me a long time (mayo, ketchup, cheese, etc.), so that is only purchased twice a year.

When I see items are on sale, I stock up. That save me a few bucks in the long run.

For me it just depends on the time of year. During growing season it's way cheaper to eat healthy here because the farmers market and local orchards/farms start selling to the public. I can go to my farmers market and leave with three overflowing grocery bags of veggies/fruit for around $20. In November, at the grocery store, I can get one bag. We have several U Pick farms nearby and I can pick blueberries and strawberries for a little over $1lb. Same in the fall with apple season-I can get pounds of apples for super cheap.

I'm a vegetarian but my family eats meat and we buy a share of local grass fed beef, which is another help. It works out to $2.50lb for steaks, ground beef, etc. We don't have a spare freezer so it's a challenge to get it to fit in our freezer, but we manage to do it somehow! I also shop at Aldi which is a cheapy store, but selection is not great (though they've just started carrying some organic items yay!).

We're a family of five and our weekly grocery budget is $100. That includes all my daughter's packed school lunches and 2-3 packed lunches for my husband. It's definitely tight but I'm looking forward to June, when I can start buying locally again-my grocery budget will go much further for a few months :)