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I've read a number of times that many poor people are overweight or obese because buying healthy food is more expensive than buying processed prepackaged food and that is all they can afford.
I am middle class and I guess I don't really think about it that much when I go to the store and buy fruits and vegetables and lean meat, but is it really that much more expensive than say buying lots of chips and frozen pizza or whatever?
Is eating healthy too costly for people on food stamps or a low income?
I've read a number of times that many poor people are overweight or obese because buying healthy food is more expensive than buying processed prepackaged food and that is all they can afford.
I am middle class and I guess I don't really think about it that much when I go to the store and buy fruits and vegetables and lean meat, but is it really that much more expensive than say buying lots of chips and frozen pizza or whatever?
Is eating healthy too costly for people on food stamps or a low income?
Nope. It's less expensive to buy fresh food than processed food. It's just less convenient. And for anyone who says fresh food isn't available to some people, that's also false. Even if you have lousy produce (and I've lived in areas where the only produce has been old and spoils as soon as you get it home), you can buy frozen vegetables and they're both WIC qualified and cheap even if you buy them straight up. This is just a B.S. excuse for people who are lazy.
Some people simply don't know how to shop, buying packages of pre-cut produce, and individual apples/oranges instead of the much-cheaper bags. While shucking ears of corn (4 for a buck) at Wegmans a few weeks ago, I couldn't believe the young people picking up the package of 5 ears for 5 dollars--a buck an ear.
Yes, many of those who beef about the price of produce are simply lazy.
I don't think it's the price of the food itself, but there's a lot of additional skills and time involved with preparing a healthy meal from scratch. A person has to know what to do with a whole raw chicken and bag of potatoes, for example--it's much quicker and easier to go through the KFC drive-through.
It is cheaper to buy an entire flat of packaged ramen at Costco than to load up the equivalent # of meals' worth of organic produce at Whole Foods, yes. But it's not as if that is the only option for "eating healthy food."
It can be harder to buy healthy food on a really tight budget. There was a while during the worst of the recession when I had to feed my family on $40/week. That's not a lot for four people, especially when you still have to buy toiletries and paper goods with part of it. We usually had oatmeal for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch (my oldest was already in school and she got free lunch), and then dinner was either red beans and rice, bean tacos, potato soup, spaghetti, fried rice or pancakes. It wasn't about deciding on vegetables vs junk food. That's the kind of example people use when they've never been in that situation. Think about the volume of veggies you'd need to eat to meet your calorie needs for the day, and that's probably a lot more expensive than the volume of beans you'd need. It was a real treat for us to be able to afford a box of Little Debbie cakes.
Now I spend about $50/week just on vegetables. (and my husband probably spends $50/week on junk food)
I agree with Hedgehog Mom. There are some reliably inexpensive produce items, but they don't make a full meal. In order to make a stir fry this weekend, I bought 2 peppers, one red and one yellow, at $1.29 each. Mushrooms were $1.99 for a small package. Sugar snap peas? Eek, $4.99 lb, but I didn't need anywhere near that many. Onions, broccoli, another couple of dollars. I easily spent almost 10 dollars on just the produce, and still needed to add chicken, rice, stir fry sauce, etc., to make a meal that would fill up the guys around my table.
Mac and cheese at 2/$1.00 on the other hand, would have done the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
We use a lot of fresh produce here, but it isn't the least expensive part of my grocery bill.
People need to remember that very poor people won't have $20, $30, or more to spend on food at one time. To buy all the components for one meal, or even three, four, or five meals, at one time, may cost too much. There were times when I literally had $3.00 to buy something. $3.00 isn't going to afford enough food for two people in one day if you buy healthy, but there are a number of $1.00 options at fast food places. Add to that what I got on WIC (cereal, peanut butter, eggs, frozen OJ, milk), and we could have a tiny breakfast, a small lunch, and a tiny dinner. But there was no way I could afford a bag of frozen chicken for a weeks worth of meals, or even flour, sugar, spices, etc.
Another thing, is that the food does differ radically from poor places to nice places. I had a grocery store near me (Safeway) - I went there because it was closer, so less money spent on gas. It was a little appalling. The green leafy vegetables were brown, the other vegetables that are supposed to have a smooth surface were wrinkled and old, and even the frozen aisles were half empty, not to mention the other aisles that were a mess. I drove five minutes to a Safeway in a much nicer area (this is Oakland, CA, so there really are houses worth millions five minutes from an area with high crime and crappy houses), and the produce was gorgeous, the frozen aisles were filled, and everything was clean. Spending what little money you have on old vegetables and milk that will go bad in a few days (as opposed to a couple weeks) just doesn't make sense. I had a car and could drive, but a lot of people don't have cars, and it's difficult or too expensive to take a bus (the cost eats into your food budget).
In addition, and I think someone else mentioned this, a lot of people who grew up very poor, who literally lived day to day, rather than week to week, were never taught meal management by their parents. If you never cooked anything but ramen, then it's difficult to understand how to put a meal together. I don't think it's laziness to go to KFC - I think a bucket of KFC and sides for less than $10.00 will feed a family of five or six, and if that's the only money you have that day, then that's what you get. A lot of people really don't understand that some people don't get all their money at once. A few bucks a day may be all someone can scrounge up.
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