My husband and I decided to go on a Diet after Christmas, however, we have tried dieting, and we never stick with it. We have a Budget of $370 on our Groceries for the Month. So when we were trying to purchase healthier food like: baked chips, tuna fish, fish, salmon, veggies, chicken breast, and fruit. When we looked at those things, we were like okay, let compare them to some regular chips and other items we eat and they were very expensive. So that discourages us too. So I have to ask, what works best for you? Do you get healthier food and some fattening food or just fattening food? Oh, we have an issue with Moderation and timing, because most of the time we eat in the day is at 4:00 and then have to eat dinner, and now we just started eating dinner at 5:00 if we get up at four and that is the only meal we eat!
We are on a mostly healthy diet and also on a grocery budget. Our monthly grocery bill is a bit higher because we eat a considerable amount of meat. You could consider supplementing fresh produce with frozen. I can get a 5 lb. bag of frozen mixed vegetables for under $6. I put these vegetables in stir frys, soups, spaghetti, chili, etc. I know the smell and taste is something to get used to, but you could also consider eating canned salmon, tuna, and chicken. Salmon patties taste pretty good and give you a healthy dose of Omega 3's. Now, we also buy a 1/2 gallon of ice cream on a weekly basis. This is something we honestly need to cut down on. If you would like a treat, I would suggest baking it yourself instead of buying it already made. It will usually be cheaper and contain a lot less preservatives. I believe that in the long run, if we eat a mostly healthy diet, it will be easier on our pocketbooks. In turn, we will be healthier and have to visit the doctor a lot less. Even with insurance, those medical bills and medications can add up quickly!
Fatty foods are usually the items to hurt our grocery budget, especially meat. To counter the rising costs of meat, we have become part-time vegetarians (eat vegetarian Monday to Friday and then meat on weekends). Also, in the winter we tend to eat more sweets than we do in the spring/summer because of our six-month cleanse. We've been eating a lot of salmon as of late because it's been on sale ($1 per each slice).
While the reality is that the price of accessibility, advertising pressure and other elements are aimed at benefiting the consumption of unhealthy products, the fact is that there is also a percentage of people who "preferred" foods with refined flour, as dried noodles, which are cheaper than meat, fruits and vegetables. What I believe is that it's more accessible eating badly. But not only the economic, accessibility has to do with several things. For availability, it's sometimes easier to eat a junk meal with negative properties that start to cook. Worldwide discusses the trend of increasing obesity. And how to control this epidemic depends on consumer education, the warnings about what they consume is given on the labels and the regulation of the supply of products. Money, money, money everywhere.
Packaged and refined foods hurt my budget more. When I gave up that stuff my food budget dropped. I also gave up meat. I know it's not for everyone, but I saved a ton of money doing that. It does cost more to eat healthy foods. It must cost more to make food with all the preservatives and additives. Healthy products always costs more. I would recommend shopping at Trader Joe's if there is one in your area. You can get high quality foods at a cheaper price there.
I would recommend buying lots of fruits, vegetables, and beans. Healthy food can be very filling and very diverse, but you need to want to learn how to use different ingredients. For instance, you mention the following: "baked chips, tuna fish, fish, salmon, veggies, chicken breast, and fruit. " Baked chips? That's healthier than regular chips, I suppose. But have you considered making kale chips? Or apple chips? They are relatively easy to make and the ingredients are very inexpensive. Tuna fish, fish, salmon, chicken breast - these are good options, too. But, look for things that may be on sale. Have you looked at lean ground meats? Typically you can buy lean meats on sale, then stick them in your freezer and they'll last longer. You may want to look at more vegetables - which can be considerably less in price compared to meats. Beans and legumes are other good options to look at. Don't forget to use coupons and go through savings and see what is on sale. Try out newer recipes, use vegetables and grains that you've never used before by looking online. For instance, something like cabbage and kale are very inexpensive, but delicious if you know how to use them!
I believe they are about the same for me because I shop in the whole foods store for some items and then in the supermarket for others. So I really can't tell because I always buy foods that will last and keep you full longer and a little of the junk food items. So I don't really keep up with it but I do know I buy more healthy items.
Healthy food hurt my pockets more than junk food. That is the only bad thing about eating healthy food. If the stuff wasn't so freak high than I could buy it.
"Healthy" food tends to cost more than "junk" - which is half the reason most people turn to "junk" food instead. The reasons why vary, although season comes into it as well as location and the general socioeconomic area surrounding that particular store. It has been shown that stores in poorer neighborhoods tend to focus exclusively or near exclusively on cheaper junk foods rather than healthier options.
Time is the deciding factor. If you are not having much time for lunch, then you probably will not care whether the food is healthy or not. For me, certainly time is one of the factors which compel me to eat junk food.
I think that healthy food tends to be more expensive, especially if it is packaged food, for instance, as one example, pork bacon is very cheap when compared to buying turkey bacon. Certain kinds of healthy chips are more expensive than the run of the mill chips. I think, however, that if one puts their mind to it, they can eat healthy on a budget. It takes the discipline to for-go all of the "fun" food, and buy the good food. Fresh fruit is relatively inexpensive, so are fresh vegetables, those two things should be the staples in a healthy diet, along with any protein that one eats, like chicken, fish, tofu, etc.
If I had a choice, I would have gone for organic food. But it is not readily available where I live, and even if it is available, then it is priced at lest 100% more than the normal food items.
Your posting shows just how circumstances differ. In my area fresh fruit tends to be expensive at any time of the year, but especially during fall or winter. Veggies tend to be rather cheaper, but not by much. Fish is never cheap, and tofu isn't readily available. Chicken is readily available and cheap. Canned fruit or veggies can be pretty cheap. And so forth.
I think junk food is cheaper than healthy food. If you are eating organic that's more pricey than regular fruits and veggies. I guess part of the battle is doing your research and finding stores that suite both your needs with quality and price. But many times people do not live close to an organic store or have healthy options in their neighborhood.
Junk food and fatty food are cheaper than healthy food. Anything that is labeled as organic is definitely expensive, that's why dieting is really not friendly on the pocket. I tried to change my diet to be more "healthy" before, but when I found out the cost of what I'm supposed to eat (I was following a planned diet that I read in the newspapaper), I did not push through with my plans.
In this economy, I would say both. However, while eating healthy is better for you, it is definitely more expensive. There are ways to cut costs, but it's much easier to buy a box of hot pockets than it is to make a healthy dinner.
Healthier is the way to go.. Yes more expensive now but could save you money down the road by doing a little preventative maintenance now.
The biggest way to save is to make a detailed shopping list and stick to it when you get to the store. Stores are designed to persuade you to buy as much as possible, especially when you go in there without a plan. A lot of people will suggest farmers markets, which are great in the summer - much cheaper produce than what you would pay at the big chain grocery stores. The only caveat I've found though is that it spoils much faster, so don't buy too much at once otherwise you'll be throwing most of it out before you get a chance to use it. In the winter months, I like to hit up some of the restaurant supply stores in my area (there's one around here called GFS Food Services). They are also open to the public. They generally sell stuff in bulk, kinda like Sam's Club or Costco, but you don't need to pay for a membership. They sell pretty huge bags of vegetables which are generally cheaper than buying a bunch of smaller packs in the grocery store. I also liked to buy a big bag of some type of fish from them, such as salmon. Trader Joes has good prices on their frozen, canned and dried goods as well as wine. It's a mixed bag though, some of their other items in the store are overpriced - gotta be careful. Also, I don't care for their produce. If you don't have a Trader Joe's in your area, chances are you have an Aldi - it's the same company that owns them.
I believe buying in bulk is cheaper than buying single packs of food. So I would say Costco and places like that will save you money if you are not grocery shopping every month for the same items. But since it's just two of us, I would say $200, is about all I spend on all food items but over half would be healthy foods.
I find that it's not a question of healthy foods versus fattening foods, so much as it is a question of extras versus essentials. I'm always going to buy eggs, milk, bread, pasta, etc, and buying the healthiest available versions of these things doesn't usually cost that much extra if any extra at all. When you start talking about, say, baked chips versus regular chips, then you have to stop and think "do I need chips at all?"
