Why is healthy eating so expensive?

So I just hit roadbump #1 in my goal of living a healthy lifestyle.  I just returned from the grocery store getting a bunch of stuff for my first week of healthy eating.  I ended up spending about $65 dollars more than normal.  Why are the healthy foods so darn expensive?  Any suggestions for healthy eating on a budget?

Fruits and vegetables are indeed more expensive than junk food is.  The best way to save money is to shop the perimeter of the store and only buy whole foods (not prepared). 

• Buy plain yogurt in large tubs, not flavored yogurt in small containers.  Add your own fruit (frozen will be cheaper than fresh) to a small bowl of yogurt.
• Buy entire chickens, not just boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Piece it out at home, freeze it in sensible packages for your family.  Make stock from the wing tips, backs, and leftover bones, freeze that in small ziploc bags of 1 cup each.
• Buy seasonal fruits and vegetables, they are usually better and less expensive.  Buy entire lettuce heads, not pre-washed bags.
• Next year, plant a vegetable garden, eat from the garden.
• Buy grains, beans, etc. in the bulk section.
• Buy extra when things are on sale, freeze the extras, or make a big pot of soup and freeze that in portions for lunches.

As you can see, these are all going to require more preparation time, but should save you some money.  Good luck!

We rarely ever go into the produce section with a definite list. We almost always buy whatever's on sale that week.

I eat a lot of soup and sandwiches which can still be done pretty cheaply if you buy condensed soup.

I have a very small grocery budget of about $35-60 a week depending on if I need things like cleaning supplies, etc.  Eating healthy is incredibly expensive, especially for vegetarians like myself.

My best advice would be to go for a minimum on the fresh produce.. I know that's the best part of a diet, eating some delicious and fresh veggies, but honestly you can definitely jazz frozen vegetables up to be just as good, but in a different way.  I've found that frozen broccoli and cauliflower are really good as well as even other vegetable mixes.  If you want any recipes for frozen vegetables, just message me and I can send mine over :)

Also, if you're a meat eater, a lot of times stores have great deals on meats that you would have to eat within 2-3 days of purchase.  They are still great quality and you won't get sick since they have to be up to health standards to even be put out, so look for those when you're at the store.  Ground turkey is priced low, and you can make a healthy version of shepherd's pie (message me for the recipe if you'd like!) as well as things like veggie burgers and even tacos with the right seasonings!  Eggs are always well priced for the most part as long as you don't buy the organic or free-range ones, and those make for great breakfasts.  Also, frozen meats such as frozen chicken are just as good once they're thawed.  The best way to thaw them is to run them in the sink under cold water for 30 minutes.  Then you can season them with some olive oil and a bunch of fun Italian spices :)  A big bag of frozen chicken with enough chicken to last a couple weeks for a family of 4 (even more for less people) is only about $10 and you don't have to worry about it going bad, etc.

If you go to work, great lunches are the Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice meals.  They are about $2-2.50 at the grocery store and are usually pretty balanced.  I really like the fetuccini alfredo with broccoli and the Santa Fe Style rice & beans.

If you enjoy vegetarian options, you can make enough for 2-3 meals or enough to feed your family with a block of tofu and some brown rice and broccoli.

Just message me if you want any recipes or anything like that for cheaper healthy options.  I hardly spend anything at the grocery store and I feed 2 mouths daily for less than $35 just spent on food (the rest is for things like toilet paper, paper towels, body wash, etc.)

Tuna helper is pretty cheap :D haha

Another thing I've noticed is that healthy eating is more expensive the first couple of weeks/months while you stock your kitchen with the basics.  Once you get to the point where you already have all the nonperishables in your cupboard at home and are just buying the perishables (and, of course, restocking any perishables you've run out of ), it gets cheaper.  Also, as noted, whole foods are much cheaper than the 'healthy' versions processed foods. 

Oats, brown rice, beans and pulses are very cheap.  Try to base a lot of meals around them.  As was noted, seasonal and/or frozen fruit and vegetables will be cheapest.  Some canned fruit/veg are good and cheap too (tomatoes, for example).

ETA: Just read the post above and it reminded me that tuna is a great cheap source of protein.  No need for the 'helper' though.  It's much cheaper to just buy a big bag of pasta, measure out what you need and add your own spices/flavours. 

I found that where I shopped made a huge difference.  Try other stores, especially discounters, bulk retailers, and you-pack-you-save stores.

Yes it can be expensive to be healthy. But I have found eating vegetables that are in season are usually the least expensive. I'm also a huge fan of Trader Joe's as well as farmer's markets. If you aren't familiar with Trader Joe's they are a chain grocery store with lots of natural foods at about 1/2 the cost as regular chain grocery stores because they don't advertise so they can keep their costs down and pass on the savings to their customers.

Frozen veggies are a great alternative to fresh and then canned veggies. Just be sure to read the labels. Many companies use a ton of sugar and salt when preserving veggies and it ends up counter-acting the work you are doing to lose weight.

I have to agree that if you have the space to put in your own garden. It is great for a couple reasons 1) it can be very therapeutic 2) great family project  3) gets you out of the house and moving (hidden exercise) 4) inexpensive veggies.

I thought the same thing for a while and then I realized since I am not eating big quantities now spending a little more on healthy foods goes pretty far. Also there are actually some things that are not so expensive.

Some examples are:

Frozen fruits like blueberries and strawberries, peaches.

Frozen fruit bars (real fruit).

tuna (as already stated)

Low sugar preserves (stuckers) tastes so good

sara lee 45 cal per slice bread

rice

soups (light, low sodium) Selects are pretty healthy

green tea, not much more than reg.

All of the produce is healthy and priced ok when in season. 

Beans, good for you and cheap. Watch the cals though.

I am vegetarian and buy morning star, not too bad if you consider you make a meal out of one or two patties.

Fat free milk, same price as reg.

Lovin spoonful ice cream, 100 cals of choc ice cream per serving -tastes great-low fat.

Just think about how much it's going to save you in future health costs :)

I shop the sale papers like crazy. I stock up and freeze meat when it's on sale. I go to walmart specifically for chicken (Tyson chicken breasts $6.99 2.5lbs bag)

Also shop farmers markets! Buy your produce there, but don't buy anything in boxes. Their veggies are cheap but the cheeses, cereals, milk, meat, is all way expensive. And don't spend money on lean cuisines and that junk. Make your food, and it's tons cheaper. It's $4.99 for a bag of lettuce, but if you buy a head of ice burg, a carrot, and 1/4 of a cabbage, you  get a lot more for just 2 bucks. Stock up on your fave salad dressings when they're on sale. Buy a BOX of oatmeal at costco or smart & final (bulk is good). Cheap cheap cheap.

Oh oh! And invest in "Green Bags". You can find them at target for 10 bucks. They're reusable bags that you store your veggies in that make them last a lot longer. They really save your veggies from dieing in the fridge...

It can be cheaper, but you do have to plan ahead.

Eggs are a very cheap protein source...$1-2 per dozen, have them hard boiled, make omlettes, add them to stir fries.  Rice and beans are very cheap and very tasty when prepared right.  A small rice cooker is a cheap investment from a thrift store, a crock pot isn't much more and both will save you a lot of time when it comes to cooking, especially rice and beans.  You can jazz them up with a bit of shredded cheese or salsa or put them in a lettuce leaf to make your own lettuce wrap.  Definitely shop sales on fruits and veggies, for the most part organic is overrated imo.  I usually have at least a couple of pounds of frozen veggies in my freezer.

Hi Amerdee2! 

I feel the same way! My first two weeks were extremely expensive! Just Saturday I spent 75 $ for just me on groceries! But I bought lots of stock (like 5 cans of Campbell's fat free cream soups) or frozen fish filets and also I treated myself to a tenderloin beef steak which was 11 $ alone as well as 3 boxes fresh raspberries which were on sale though! Still... where did the money go??!!! 

On the other hand I just made 6 servings of 'Lentil Sweet Potatoe Curry' out of quite cheap things:

1 cup lentils, 2 cups chicken broth, 1 bunch carrots, 1 large sweet potatoe, 1 cup red wine and lots of spices like cinnamon, cayenne pepper, fennel seeds, cumin and crushed pepper flakes.

You can find the recipe here (even though I would take MUCH LESS CAYENNE PEPPER!) http://caloriecount.about.com/savory-golden-l entil-sweet-potato-recipe-r6199

The worst was buying all those spices - which I did 2 weeks ago. Now that I stocked up the spices they will last forever and the other stuff is actually quite cheap! I serve it with 1 cup of rice (200 cal) or eat the curry as is (281 cal) - I would say it costs around 2.50 $ per serving. Compared to what I used to spend on lunches at work (10 $ per day) this is really good for me! 

Also - since I am on CC I stick to my eating plans every day and I don't spend any money for other food. It's just the groceries I buy! No burgers on the go, no soda on the way, no after work drink, no expensive food at the baseball game! 

It actually safes a lot of money! :o)

I don't have many solutions except keeping my eyes open for sale items, but... you're paying for nutrients. A bag of junk food is cheaper because it's not nourishing your body the way healthy food is.

There are already a lot of threads on this...

http://caloriecount.about.com/healthy-budget- ft52367

http://caloriecount.about.com/anyone-eating-h ealthy-expensive-ft133200

http://caloriecount.about.com/anyone-else-eat ing-healthy-expensive-ft49452

http://caloriecount.about.com/cheap-shopping- ft36993

http://caloriecount.about.com/trouble-food-he lp-please-ft146080

http://caloriecount.about.com/healthy-food-ex pensive-ft8360

http://caloriecount.about.com/food-waaay-expe nsive-uk-s-ft129866

http://caloriecount.about.com/healthy-food-mo re-expensive-ft740

http://caloriecount.about.com/dont-understand -people-healthy-food-more-ft77037

http://caloriecount.about.com/enough-money-ft 26207

My opinion is that eating healthy is a lot cheaper than eating junk. I have been on strict budgets and felt like I couldn't afford to buy those unhealthy extras - like cookies, chips etc - I never felt like I couldn't afford produce, because it was a priority over the junk.

My suggestions:

• buy in bulk; staples like flour, brown rice, pasta etc will last you a long time
• buy dried food
• learn to cook
• cook from scratch
• cook with legumes - beans, chickpeas, lentils, split peas - these are all incredibly cheap!
• buy seasonally
• go to farmer's markets
• avoid diet foods (you don't need them to lose weight)
• avoid packaged and processed foods (like vitamin waters, granola bars, protein bars, most juices) that masquerade as health foods

You will find that if you are cooking food yourself it is far cheaper (and healthier) to make a soup, pasta, stir-fry, noodles, vegetarian curry, frittata etc than it is to eat processed and packaged food. Good luck!

OP asked why healthy eating is so expensive. It's because veggies that receive farm subsidies (corn and soy) and cheap fat (including corn oil and soybean oil) are extremely cheap and therefore put in all that prepacked junk food (and I don't just mean candy and chips, but food that is full of stuff you don't really want in your body).  On top of that, because of the way that Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) operate, they make lots and lots of mediocre quality meat (feed full of previously mentioned subsidized corn and soybeans instead of grass that those animals would naturally eat) and make it cheaply.

"Healthy" food shouldn't be more expensive, and it will become cheaper as more and more people (and therefore the market and demand) move that direction.

Junk food is getting just as expensive, some of it! At my grocery store, doritos are $3.99/bag and pepsi is $4.99/12 pack.

I'm a vegetarian, so I may not have the answers to the meat problems you have. But...

1. Dried spices last longer than fresh. Unless you've got a PHENOMINAL fresh herb selection with great prices, just get a jar of the dried ones and you'll have it on hand for many meals to come. And that way, next time a meal calls for sage, you can just grab it from your pantry instead of having to buy it fresh every time.

2. Embrace meat as an accompaniment. Maybe you were doing this before, maybe not. But a meal that relies on meat to be the primary focus will cost more, since meat costs more than the alternatives (grains, pastas, legumes...) Try to divide the meal between meat, a pasta or something, and a vegetable. Healthier and more economical.

3. Lunchmeats are expensive. Especially "healthy" ones, or fresh-cut from the deli counter. Turkey meat at my deli counter is $6.99/lb! You can get a whole turkey for a WAY better deal than $6.99/lb. Yes, you'll have to cook it and cut it up yourself. But you're paying for convenience. Though, really thinking of it, how convenient is it to drastically overpay for something?

4. Some people don't like TVP, but mixing TVP (textured vegetable protein) in with ground beef will stretch it further. I personally love tvp, and its cheap.

5. Stock up on pantry staples when they're on sale! They don't go on sale often. But every once in a while, you'll see a sale on whole wheat pasta/brown rice/quinoa/whatever grain you like. Check the expiry dates and, if they're good, stock up! You'll spend more that week, but less in the long run. That's also a good time to try new grains that you may not have before. (Pantry staples isn't specifically limited to grains/legumes - if you use canned pasta sauce, stock up. Or canned vegetables, dried spices, food-additive sauces like soy or worcestire...

I find myself shopping around at a variety of places. I also buy some things in smaller amounts. I hate wasting food.

1.I have my own herb garden. I plan on drying them so I have them this winter.

2. My neighbors are giving a lot of things out of their gardens. They also have fruit and nut trees. They are more than thankful for me picking from them. It helps keep the birds and other animals out of their yard.

3. I make my own when ever possible. I don't care what it is! My own spaghetti sauce made with plain tomato sauce. Baking mix recipes can be found on websites and I cut down on the amounts of sugar and salt. I don't miss it!

4.When I buy my meat I divide into smaller packages and freeze it. I even do this with my roasts. This won't work if you have a large family. For me there is only my husband and I.

5. I do not buy soda,chips,candy or cookies! Instead I buy unsalted baking nuts,a bag of popcorn kernels,dried fruits,and Skinny Cow Treats.

It just seems more expensive, but for one you can eat a lbs of chips w/out getting anything out of it, so then you end up eating more junk... with fruits and veggies you get full AND you get nutrients that you need......

 

from http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/?p age_id=4418

Just as the cost of fruits and vegetables as well as other meal staples has increased, the cost of snack foods, desserts and beverages has also risen comparably. Generally, the cost of a serving of fruits and vegetables will be similar to, and often even less than the cost of a serving of a snack food. For instance, the cost of 1 ounce of chips (15 chips – who stops there?) is 28 cents; for the 30 chips that would more likely be consumed, the cost would be 56 cents. In comparison, you could snack on ½ cup carrot sticks for about 16 cents, or a medium naval orange for around 35-40 cents. An analysis of a re-vamped shopping cart is very revealing. The estimated cost of 1 pound of cookies, a one pound bag of chips, 2 liters of soda and ½ gallon of ice cream is $13.00. For $13.38, the following fruits and vegetables could be purchased: 2 pounds apples, 2 pounds oranges, 1 pound bananas, 2 pounds potatoes, 1 pound broccoli, 1 pound cabbage, 1 pound carrots, 1 pound romaine lettuce. Furthermore, by substituting plant sources of protein such as dried beans and peas for meat and chicken, considerable savings can add up. A one pound bag of beans will yield about 6 cups cooked. At around $1.40 a bag, you could save up to $1.50 or more compared to buying a pound of ground chuck. So try a meatless version of chili for an inexpensive, healthy meal. Here is a Veggie Chili recipe that’s quick to make because it uses canned beans.

Everthing Merlywhite (#13) said.

Whole foods are much cheaper. Especially with no meats/dairy.

Since I still live at home with my mom, shes trying to teach me how to shop efficiently.  She only buys if its on sale and she has to have a coupon for it.  She often times saves more than she spent.  She's even gone to buying coupons on eBay (it sounds like it defeats the purpose but it doesn't).  I love my mother to death lol.

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Strange, I only spend £90 on healthy food each month, but for unhealthy its arounf £150. Try buying meats in bulk if any as you can get them on offer usually.