Posted: Apr 24, 2013 5:47 pm
UtilityMonster wrote:Animavore wrote:UtilityMonster wrote: ...and buying healthier food (which are often more expensive).
I've often found the opposite. Buying stacks of processed pizzas and frozen foods seems more expensive than buying some meat, breads, dairy and veggies for the week.
Unless you're buying into all the so-called 'health food' section of the shopping isles (often just over-priced nuts, beans and soy products) you shouldn't have a problem.
There is some truth to that. Healthy foods, however, require a greater investment of time into making. If you accept that time is money, then I think healthier foods are "more expensive," especially on the caloric level. Per calorie, they are more expensive, although if you eat the right amount of calories, 2,000 calories of healthy food versus 3,500 calories of garbage, it might well be the case that healthy food is cheaper. It depends partly on where you live. If you live in a wealthy area, there is more competition between stores that sell healthy food, which drives down the prices. On the other hand, if you live in the middle of nowhere and are surrounded by the lower class with their Standard American Diet (SAD), it will cost you more to procure healthy food.
Well it depends what you mean by "healthy food". If you mean the exotic, feel-good stuff sold buy "health shops" (where they seem to actively nurture the idea that more expensive = better for you) I could see the problem. If you're talking about leafy green vegetables and locally grown fruits I don't see why it would be more expensive. At least not in Ireland. I think that rather than not being able to afford it many are just skipping over it for the quick solution. Why cook a nice meal (which will be cheaper in the long run when you consider what you get out of the food you buy this way) when you can buy something you can slap in the microwave and keep the kids happy?