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Costco normally has boneless skinless chicken breast at 2.99/lb, ground turkey less than that, tilapia in a similar price range, I can pick up salmon and shrimp under 7/lb and produce in houston is cheap as well. No excuses here to eat poorly.
What if you don't have access to Costco. It requires a car and paying $60 a year and having the cash and the space for bulk stuff.
Where are you shopping. I rarely see apples under 79c/lb. Meats at $1.99 a pound? Hahahah maybe at Thanksgving. Eggs? More like $3 a dozen for the basic eggs.
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts.. $5.00 to $6.00 per pound here depending on brand.
Mango's. $1.00 each
I may have to shop in Austin.
FWIW, I don't buy processed food, nor do we eat at fast food places more for the unhealthiness of the food than anything.
I make my own pizza. It's a lot more healthier and filling than eating GMO Roundup filled corn.
I guess it all depends on where you live whether or not you can afford to eat healthy. I also buy in bulk to keep costs down, but if I were trying to live on a minimum wage salary I couldn't afford to do that.
"Poor people" buying BONELESS, SKINLESS BREASTS?
You're serious?
No wonder you can't afford food.
Publix (an expensive store) has whole chicken in their flyer for 1.49 lb.
NO it doesn't matter where you live.
What matters is using common sense, proper portions and PLANNING.
And it's hilarious that NOBODY mentioned the FREE MEALS the taxpayer is funding for children all year long.
If you will check the grocery receipt, you will find the healthiest foods on it are also the cheapest. I noticed this one day coming out of Sam's. If we had only bought the fresh fruits and vegetables and unprocessed foods the ticket would have been about 1/4 what it was. Beans are a very healthy protein choice. Go natural and save money. I am not talking about buying the expensive organic foods. Unless you have a major medical problem, that is not necessary. Pinto beans, cabbage and corn bread is a healthy meal.
Sweet potatoes, red and white potatoes, etc. go a long way to ward off hunger. Shop by the season.
I've debated whether or not to participate in the this thread. I have several brothers and sisters, my mother was a housewife, my father worked his ass off. So there wasnt a lot of spare money.
That said, we ate quite well. Spanish rice. Red beans and rice. Tuna casserole. Swiss steak. Liver and onions. Fried chicken. Some kind of enchilada. Tamale pie. I hated the okra and the creamed corn. The fish sticks, and the hominy, but I survived
The point is that children are more flexible than one might think.
These days, as a T2 diabetic, I find myself dealing with this same question. How do I eat the food I should on a budget? Turns out it isnt all that difficult.
Last edited by chuckmann; 07-10-2014 at 12:40 AM..
And I'm looking at an ad for boneless, skinless chicken. $2.99 per pound. hot dogs are $3.99 per pound plus the cost of the bun. The chicken is cheaper and healthier. There are many many healthy foods cheaper than a typical fast food dinner.
It should be pointed out that the prices you are quoting are insane compared to what people pay elsewhere. We shop at the lower-end grocers in Ontario and pay three to four times what you do for the items you are quoting. Boneless/skinless chicken at $2.99 lbs? In Ontario, that's not cheap; that's "fill the freezer" cheap.
Apples are 59c a lb (typically 3 per lb.), eggs can be had for $1.99 per dozen, oatmeal is like $2 for a big container. There are inexpensive cuts of meat that can be had for 1.99 per lb and there are plenty of cheap meal options - I've fed a family of three on $35-70 per week (not easy, but doable).
You can even eat fast-food, but the catch is it's like a kids size cheeseburger - NOT a burger, fries, milkshake, etc.
Saying that "healthy foods are too expensive" is another excuse. People with limited financial means CAN afford to eat healthy.
I don't know where you found apples for 59 cents a lb. Here in Fl, they start at, base rate, 1.59 a lb. The 1.99 meat is really very fatty. It is very hard to feed inexpensively and get good quality food. Ever heard of "pink slime" ? Go to McD's for some of that.
It can be done but not as easy as you say or as completely. My idea of healthy foods is lean meats and plenty of vegetables and not canned vegetables or processed frozen entrees or tons of pastas with cheese or mystery sauces. I have been there. I raised 3 kids by myself.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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Very poor people may have obstacles in planning out healthy diets made from scratch - as mentioned above, transport to and from grocery stores, many kinds of disabilities that interfere with getting the food and making the meals ..... for example, one might have the weaknesses of multiple sclerosis or traumatic brain injury, and not have anyone to help.
Many poor people are literally borderline retarded, not enough to get assistance but enough so that they can't conceive of any way of eating other than going to the corner store to get some chips, soda, a beer, and maybe a piece or two of fried chicken if that's available ...... or going to a fast-food place. They're literally too stupid to figure out how to do things any other way.
If they're capable of being taught, it's good to point them in the direction of cheap ethnic cooking ...... eg people in China, India, and Mexico have developed tasty cuisines from the simplest and cheapest of foods, often bought in bulk (such as 50lb bags of rice).
A 30 serving box of Old Fashioned Quaker Oats is $4. That's less than 15 cents per serving.
Boneless, skinless chicken is $2.99 per lb. Whole chicken is around $1.60 per lb. Mangos, 33 cents each.
Corn on the cob is 33 cents per ear. So you can get a pound of chicken and 9 ears of corn for less than the price of a frozen pizza.
And using coupons can reduce these prices even further.
My.2,17 &18 grandsons will just aboutgo through a box of prepackaged oatmeal between them each morning, plus the milk, etc. lol. Each on is well over 6ft and over 200 lbs. they go through a flat of 18 eggs in 5 days.
I bought mangos at 10/10.00 in florida this week.
My daughter used to coupon a lot but she is a night shift, ER dept RN and she has to feed them way too much fast food and other quick food to keep up with everything. She tries.
We don't have a Costco within 75 miles and a Sam's within 25 miles and we don't live in a rural area. Plus, I don't have the storage for bulk products. I try and be frugal and I even attempt to grow some of my own fruits in my yard but, a person can't live on beans and rice alone, though I do love it with a little onion chipped up on top. Plus, I cant eat white potatoes in any form as it sends my sugar through the roof and the dietician I saw briefly doesn't recommend them for weight and carb control.
I don't think anyone is saying because they can't find a lot of cheap, healthy foods that they are automatically buying bags of potato chips as someone said.
By the way, I bought the 10/10.00 mangoes and tried my darndest to eat them all before they spoiled.....I had to throw away 3 and it made me mad. I love those things....lol.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 07-10-2014 at 05:30 AM..
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