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For $2 i can get 4 packets of Ramin noodles and 3 boxes of Kraft Macaroni Dinner, Healthier food is cheaper?
When it comes to your health it would be, this stuff you listed will cause all kinds of health issues from the salt content alone. Not to mention packing on the pounds from eating this fake pasta stuff.
Eh, I bought a box of Kashi cereal recently. Super healthy stuff. I think it cost about $4... compared to about $3 for a box of Cocoa Pebbles which are just sugar and simple carbs.
Here's the thing, Kashi cereal is no healthier than cocoa pebbles. Carbs & sugar are what both of them have a lot of. A healthy breakfast is more protein and complex carbs, rather than simple carbs that turn to sugar the instant you eat them.
So maybe the definition of "healthy foods" and "junk foods" should be defined better?
Eh, I bought a box of Kashi cereal recently. Super healthy stuff. I think it cost about $4... compared to about $3 for a box of Cocoa Pebbles which are just sugar and simple carbs.
Now are all healthy cereals/alternatives that expensive in such a comparison or did you simply pick the trendy health cereal and then compare it to the bargain sugar cereal?
Yes I never really thought about it too hard but I have heard this statement numerous times and study or not I had a feeling it was BS.
But now that we have a study to disprove it, the mindless followers can finally get it too. Good stuff.
Most of these studies are garbage these days. They are just political support tools to push certain agendas.
I imagine the angle for the study on junk food being cheaper was to promote the claim that the poor are held hostage by the evil corporations and they have no alternative to be healthy (ie... they are being killed by these evil companies). It removes the responsibility from people as healthy food being actually cheaper means that people are unhealthy and fat because they choose to be and that doesn't work well when you are trying to push legislation to control various industries.
I've said that here on this board numerous times when people have said obesity is because the poor can't afford healthy food.
Bananas are 59 cents a pound
Apples .99-1.29 per pound on sale.
Chicken $2.00-$4.00 per pound, depending on whether its on sale.
Doritos - $4.29 for 11.5 ounces, so about $5 per pound.
Cokes- $1.50 per 2 liter so $3.00 for approx. a gallon
Milk- $2.89 gallon
So you can buy a pound of bananas, pound of chicken and gallon of milk for cheaper than one bag of Doritos and 2 cokes.
Life is about choices. If someone isn't where they want to be financially, physically, etc., they should examine their own choices rather than making excuses.
Kashi “Natural” Cereals Examined |
While Kashi GoLean Crunch is not the best choice due to its high sugar count, the company does offer many other options that contain little or no added sugar, for example Kashi 7 Whole Grain Flakes with only 1 teaspoon of added sugar. We like that the company does not use artificial additives and works with whole grains, but as you can see from the example above the term “natural” does not automatically translate to “healthy”.
It's still more wholesome and balanced than something like Cocoa Pebbles. It's high in fiber and protein and is made with complex carbs that take longer to digest, meaning you feel fuller longer.
e: For whoever asked, yes I did compare it to some other unhealthy cereals. Generally about the same disparity, although thankfully my supermarket often runs deals on the stuff.
As for the rest of the stuff in the supermarket, I generally believe it can be cheaper to eat healthy. What gets expensive is not junk food from the store but junk food from eating establishments.
For $2 i can get 4 packets of Ramin noodles and 3 boxes of Kraft Macaroni Dinner, Healthier food is cheaper?
And for the same price I could make a lot more out of real pasta and cheese. Granted sometimes you have to buy MORE of the healthy stuff at one purchase to get the better price, but it generally lasts longer and is a lot more healthy!
But again, you're paying for convenience. It's way easier to buy some ready made pasta stuff, that you just add milk or water to... and it's also a little faster.
Even though pasta is not really "heatlhy" food, it's better than french fries!
Oh and if you REALLY wanna be healthy, you could even make your pasta from scratch, which would make it even cheaper! Actually the more things you make from scratch the cheaper it gets.
I've said that here on this board numerous times when people have said obesity is because the poor can't afford healthy food.
Bananas are 59 cents a pound
Apples .99-1.29 per pound on sale.
Chicken $2.00-$4.00 per pound, depending on whether its on sale.
Doritos - $4.29 for 11.5 ounces, so about $5 per pound.
Cokes- $1.50 per 2 liter so $3.00 for approx. a gallon
Milk- $2.89 gallon
So you can buy a pound of bananas, pound of chicken and gallon of milk for cheaper than one bag of Doritos and 2 cokes.
Life is about choices. If someone isn't where they want to be financially, physically, etc., they should examine their own choices rather than making excuses.
Hello.. New user here because I just had to jump on this thread that I found while researching this topic.
Not to step on any toes mind you but the notion that Healthy food is cheaper is fallacious.
Who eats the most junk food by and large? The poor. So increased health care costs will never enter into the equation because they can't afford it at any rate.
But lets rock on the examples.
Coke/Pepsi.. Routinely 10 for $10 with the 11th free. Or.. $2 gallon.
Koolaid.. 0.20 per packet (2 packets per gallon), 2 cups sugar per gallon.. $3 per 5lb bag (11 cups) Round it out.. 10lb sugar = 11 gallons.. 22 packets of Koolaid at 0.20 gives a per gallon cost of $0.94 per gallon.
Hamburger helper - Routinely $1 or less per box. Ground beef 80% lean $1.80lb $2.80 for dinner for 2.
Mac and Cheese. Kraft isn't the only game in town. Mac and Cheese routinely found for $0.33 per box or cheaper.
Rice? The greatest all purpose filler.. Cheaper than dirt. Add to generic "Dinty moore" type stew.. Less than $3 for a family of 4.
Pasta in general? Dirt cheap. Same for generic, crap pasta sauces.
Also factor in that the target demographic.. the poor.. can't afford real food, quality ingredients and therefore have lost the desire and ability to "cook". A $0.98 lb whole chicken in a crock pot with a couple onions all day will never compete with the ease or expedience of Hamburger Helper.
And children who have been raised on junk are unwilling to accept new food and will fight it. More work for people who can't spend 50 minutes cooking a meal.
Healthy food is expensive. Time consuming. Yet ultimately in your best interest.
Long term arguments as to cost are fallacious as well. The vast majority of people live, day to day, by the contents of their wallets. Trying to add in health care costs, societal costs, environmental costs, etc are disingenuous to the argument.
You could tell a single mother struggling with 2 kids and being CRUSHED by gas prices in her 1986 Crown Vic that she could "save" hundreds per year in gas costs by buying a brand new Ford Fusion.. All she sees is the extra $400 per month car payment, Quintuple the insurance costs for full coverage that she has to come up with right NOW. Not the amortized costs over 10 years. And she certainly doesn't give one rats @ss about the carbon costs of her clunker.
And when a well intentioned environmentalist tries to wave the $40k Volt in front of her as an option.. Hooooo Boy..
Junk food, pre packaged crap, "convenience" food will NEVER be beaten i cost by healthy food. Ever. You can't do it.
The only way you can is to take the most expensive, name brand junk foods, at full retail price, add all the medical, societal, environmental costs to it and then shop your keister off, quintuple coupon and portion restrict the bejeezus out of the "healthy Alternative".. And even then you more often than not simply break even or come up with a negligible savings over a lifetime.
I was reading an article in the LV Review Journal about how there is a new study (linked above) that the USDA did to counter a study done by some university that said that Junk food was cheaper than healthy food. I've seen this myth thrown about on here when it comes to food stamp threads and such and I could never understand how anyone could claim this. NOW I understand.
Evidently the University of Washington did a study in 2010 that came out with this rediculous idea that junk food was cheaper. How they came to this conclusion should totally discredit their science department though. They based this "fact" on price per CALORIE! So of course all junk food is going to be cheaper by this ratio. Junk food has tons of calories and even the more expensive junk food that you get in a restaurant would be cheaper. LOL! But the reality of things is completely different.
I didn't need any study to tell me that junk food is way more expensive than healthy food... All you have to do is grocery shop and make comparisons in prices and what you get for your money...or even how much of what you buy it takes to fill you up and for how long it keeps you going.
Eating healthy has ALWAYS been cheaper than junk food. Anyone should have been able to see that. The ONLY reason that more people don't eat healthy isn't the price, it's the convenience of junk food.
I disagree.
I can buy a whole lot of Top Ramen for the same price as one pound of tomatoes or a bag of carrots.
I can buy an 8 pack of hot dogs for a lot cheaper than I can putting together a salad.
I consider Top Ramen and hot dogs to be junk food.
Hello.. New user here because I just had to jump on this thread that I found while researching this topic.
Not to step on any toes mind you but the notion that Healthy food is cheaper is fallacious.
Who eats the most junk food by and large? The poor. So increased health care costs will never enter into the equation because they can't afford it at any rate.
But lets rock on the examples.
Coke/Pepsi.. Routinely 10 for $10 with the 11th free. Or.. $2 gallon.
Koolaid.. 0.20 per packet (2 packets per gallon), 2 cups sugar per gallon.. $3 per 5lb bag (11 cups) Round it out.. 10lb sugar = 11 gallons.. 22 packets of Koolaid at 0.20 gives a per gallon cost of $0.94 per gallon.
Hamburger helper - Routinely $1 or less per box. Ground beef 80% lean $1.80lb $2.80 for dinner for 2.
Mac and Cheese. Kraft isn't the only game in town. Mac and Cheese routinely found for $0.33 per box or cheaper.
Rice? The greatest all purpose filler.. Cheaper than dirt. Add to generic "Dinty moore" type stew.. Less than $3 for a family of 4.
Pasta in general? Dirt cheap. Same for generic, crap pasta sauces.
Also factor in that the target demographic.. the poor.. can't afford real food, quality ingredients and therefore have lost the desire and ability to "cook". A $0.98 lb whole chicken in a crock pot with a couple onions all day will never compete with the ease or expedience of Hamburger Helper.
And children who have been raised on junk are unwilling to accept new food and will fight it. More work for people who can't spend 50 minutes cooking a meal.
Healthy food is expensive. Time consuming. Yet ultimately in your best interest.
Long term arguments as to cost are fallacious as well. The vast majority of people live, day to day, by the contents of their wallets. Trying to add in health care costs, societal costs, environmental costs, etc are disingenuous to the argument.
You could tell a single mother struggling with 2 kids and being CRUSHED by gas prices in her 1986 Crown Vic that she could "save" hundreds per year in gas costs by buying a brand new Ford Fusion.. All she sees is the extra $400 per month car payment, Quintuple the insurance costs for full coverage that she has to come up with right NOW. Not the amortized costs over 10 years. And she certainly doesn't give one rats @ss about the carbon costs of her clunker.
And when a well intentioned environmentalist tries to wave the $40k Volt in front of her as an option.. Hooooo Boy..
Junk food, pre packaged crap, "convenience" food will NEVER be beaten i cost by healthy food. Ever. You can't do it.
The only way you can is to take the most expensive, name brand junk foods, at full retail price, add all the medical, societal, environmental costs to it and then shop your keister off, quintuple coupon and portion restrict the bejeezus out of the "healthy Alternative".. And even then you more often than not simply break even or come up with a negligible savings over a lifetime.
I'm sorry, but you're completely 100% wrong on all of the above, except that healthier foods are less convenient than junk food. I've been poor, DIRT poor, almost living out of my car poor, and junk food was NEVER inexpensive enough to warrant buying it, even with coupons. Not only is it not cheaper, but it doesn't last as long either or feed as many people. The ONLY thing junk food has going for it is that it doesn't take as long to go from buying it to eating it.
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