What is Digg?121 Comments
- fefu, on 11/04/2008, -5/+43I still think packaged foods and fast food restaurants are more expensive than "real" food. A lot of people who complain that healthy foods are too expensive spend a lot of money at McDonald's and could've used that money more wisely. The article is talking about extremely poor people, and I admit, it's almost impossible to eat ANYTHING on $1 per day. I feel for those people, but this seems to reinforce bad habits by people who actually could afford to eat real food. In their garage, they have a new leased car every year but eat no fruits or vegetables because it's "too expensive." It's a matter of values.
- Dumbledorito, on 11/05/2008, -0/+32I was listening to an interview with the author of "In Defense of Food," and he said a lot of the processed junk we have in stores is there because we subsidize things like high fructose corn syrup and sugary "snacks." We could make actual produce cheaper, but it would require a complete restructuring of how our government rewards/encourages certain foods to be produced (there are a lot of restrictions on subsidies that make little sense, or are taken advantage of by enormous corporate farms operating as many "family farms") as well as the methods used to produce them.
I just wish someone would invent a way for produce to stay "good" longer. I hate making loads of trips to the market. Plus my nearest farmers' market is over 20 minutes away by car through urban gridlock. - healthinformer, on 11/04/2008, -12/+35It is cheaper to eat healthfully. But need to become a savvy shopper.
- diulei, on 11/05/2008, -3/+22Healthy food being more expensive is a myth, at least from my experience. A 12 pack of sodas and a bag of chips could buy you sandwich material for a few days easily. I can easily survive off $30~$35 of healthy food for a week - it's just that I have to prepare it. If I tried to do that with fast food I wouldn't even last half a week.
- inactive, on 11/05/2008, -0/+19800 dollars? What the *****? Where are you getting your pasta, FedEx from Italy?
- angrycat, on 11/05/2008, -2/+20I found that once I started eating raw unprocessed foods (basically minimize eating stuff that comes in a box or can) it comes out to roughly the same cost. My portions aren't as big as they were before even though I'm way more active. Win win.
- inactive, on 11/05/2008, -0/+14Its has not gotten more expensive to eat healthy it has just become cheaper to eat crap.
Also, don't have so many damn kids and you can afford to eat healthy. - CedEx, on 11/04/2008, -2/+14Also, in many places where people have a yard, instead of a vegetable patch, they have manicured landscaping. A small garden could supplement the fresh vegetable portion of a limited budget diet, and I think more people could take advantage of that.
Unfortunately it's a little harder for city dwellers, but I have heard of community gardens and rooftop greenhouses. Oh, and there are methods to grow tomatoes inside your house in a hanging garden all year round. - omnithought, on 11/05/2008, -0/+11The expensive things are certain organic produce and free range meats. However, a lot of stuff can be bought in bulk if you shop around. Don't go to Wild Oats or Whole Foods. Go to farmer's markets and places that sell bulk for cheap. Don't buy packaged burritos, pizzas, hummus, falafel, veggie burgers, etc. The packaging costs too much. Buy the bulk stuff and make your own. It's usually pretty quick and easy for most things. If you're short on time, set aside one night a week and cook a ***** of stuff and freeze it so you won't have to cook for a week or so.
- inactive, on 11/05/2008, -6/+17
People who say healthy food is too expensive are simply making excuses for themselves. I find it cheaper to only do grocery once every week or 2 weeks buying a ton of vegetables and planning out what salads and meals I'm going to have.
If you plan a menu with 4-5 different meals and then buy the correlating produce which will work with all those meals it will be much cheaper and you'll get more bang for your buck. - inactive, on 11/05/2008, -1/+11Wow, I eat around $20 of food per day..... and no I am not a fat american slob, but a semi-professional athlete.
- Atertract, on 11/05/2008, -1/+11This might be the dumbest comment I've read in a month.
- inactive, on 11/05/2008, -2/+11Have you heard of Costco?
- Barackalypse, on 11/05/2008, -1/+10Eating healthy is the cheapest way to eat, if you're smart about what you buy.
Oats, beans, rice, wheat, and corn are all less than $1 per pound. Billions of people live on less than $1 a day, you can certainly eat for that. - mojo784, on 11/05/2008, -2/+10The best way to make produce last longer is to buy locally grown food as much as possible. Much of the life of produce is spent in transit so the less it has to travel the longer it will last after purchase.
- apophenic, on 11/05/2008, -1/+9Social Darwinism is neither evolution nor Darwinism, please do not link the two. It only gives the fundies ammo.
- CRCulver, on 11/05/2008, -1/+9Homeowners associations in a lot of areas ban vegetable gardening because it makes the area look poor and therefore lowers the property values of your neighbours.
- TekTrixter, on 11/05/2008, -2/+9Time spent cooking doesn't have to be "wasted time". It can be used as a change of pace for your mind from studying. While cooking try to open your senses. Focus on what your doing and the colors, textures, smells, etc. You will find that this will help remove the "brain strain" that you feel after long bouts of intense thinking.
Also, cooking doesn't need to take a lot of time. There is plenty of meals that can be prepared within 10 minutes. If you take some time to pre-prepare things when you have free time, there are even more options. The time taken to drive to McDonald's could be used to get real food. - inactive, on 11/05/2008, -1/+8I keep all of my transactions in iPhone. Here is break down for October:
Food:Dining: $74.14 (eating out)
Food:Groceries: $196.40
Food:Sweets: $106.23 (soda, sweets, ice-cream, ben&jerry's, most of it shared with my gf)
Btw is there a website where I can find easy and fast recipes? I cannot afford spending over 30 min/day for cooking, college + work + gm + digg take too much time. - wlfldy, on 11/05/2008, -0/+7But if you live in a neighborhood with a homeowners association, you really aren't all that poor.
- revpjack, on 11/05/2008, -2/+8You'll have plenty more time to read..... in the doctor's office when all the under-nourishing food, loaded with chemicals, catches up with you.
- KMartSheriff, on 11/05/2008, -0/+6Sometimes the large portions of food given at some places (like Panda Express for example) are around $6-7, but can last me 2 servings (leftovers ftw!).
- CRCulver, on 11/05/2008, -4/+10"it's just that I have to prepare it."
Exactly. Healthy food is only cheaper if your time is worth nothing. Since I can read while in a queue at McDonald's or waiting for my taco to arrive, I get a lot of studying done that I wouldn't be able to do if I had to concentrate on the minutiae of cooking. - hartley, on 11/05/2008, -3/+9My local health food market here in town is cheaper than the big grocery stores, even Super Walmart.
Tofu is over a dollar cheaper than Publix or Walmart, and the TVP is only just over $1 a pound.
Point is, as with any item, sometimes you just need to shop around. - bipolarruledout, on 11/05/2008, -1/+7Your so right, we should be giving it to failed banks and spending it on useless wars instead.
- inactive, on 11/05/2008, -2/+8Buy Soylent Green!
- inactive, on 11/05/2008, -3/+9Even i feel the same way.. Healthy foods are comparatively cheaper than junk foods.
http://www.yummyuck.com - FearlessFreep, on 11/05/2008, -0/+5You're probably getting more nutritional value from the smaller portions anyway, so you're body doesn't need the same volume
- jasdf, on 11/05/2008, -1/+6I usually eat for less than $1.50 per day, not because I am poor, but because I am a total cheap ass.
- CRCulver, on 11/05/2008, -1/+6What about the people who can't get by at all? What is going to help them cover the cost of food?
- boneit, on 11/05/2008, -0/+5I don't know what's going on with organic milk, we get it for the kids. It's gone from $2.50 1/2 gallon to $4.29 in about two months. Meanwhile, the regular gallon sits next to it for $2.59.
- lovestospooge, on 11/05/2008, -0/+5b/c people will pay more to eat organic/healthy
- inactive, on 11/05/2008, -2/+6What's healthy for me is what makes me happy ie what tastes good.
- bipolarruledout, on 11/05/2008, -0/+4I think you have to define what is considered "healthy". Fresh antioxidant rich foods like berries, juices, nuts, unsaturated oils, etc. are not exactly cheap but most of the basics are.... but not always. Tell me why white bread is cheaper than whole grain breads or whole grain pastas and whatnot?
- KMartSheriff, on 11/05/2008, -0/+4I love CostCo. It makes sense to buy certain things in bulk sometimes (that lettuce for example).
- KMartSheriff, on 11/05/2008, -2/+6You spent $7 on two Yams? Yams that you "have to cook for hours in the oven". And the $15 1 pound fillet? I had to re-read that one part; $800 a month in food just for yourself. That's retarded. Enjoy your overpriced "organic" food.
- Frostek, on 11/05/2008, -1/+5I just wish someone would invent a way for produce to stay "good" longer.
"Mmmmm... irradiated". - 28 Days Later. - inactive, on 11/05/2008, -0/+4Same. Been sticking to a 75% raw/whole food diet for a few months now, and a full cart of groceries costs about half of what it used to. Even with mostly organic produce. Simply amazing.
- captainbethany, on 11/05/2008, -2/+6Only the ignorant are digging you down. BY FAR are my grocery bills lower when I buy whole foods and basics to cook with, rather than pre-prepared foods. If I plan out a week or two of homemade meals I can go to the store and get a cartload of things for under $50 at Wegmans. If I am lazy and buy unhealthy, processed foods, I can maybe buy a hand basket full for the same amount.
- abrasion, on 11/05/2008, -1/+5WHAT'S TATERS PRECIOUS??
- Gemfinder, on 11/06/2008, -0/+3How much does one potato or a handful of carrots cost? Certain cuts of meat can be bought for $1 (chicken quarters, a couple sole fillets, 4-oz steak), a bowlful of oatmeal costs maybe 50¢ a serving. By contrast, a fast-food breakfast sandwich, hash browns (full of carcinogens) and a cup of coffee can run you $5.
I typically budget $10/day for food. $7/day is pinching it a little. I refuse to consider life without honey, fresh-cracked pepper and balsamic vinegar. - rjbeeswax, on 11/05/2008, -2/+5"...whenever I hear people say clean food is expensive, I tell them it's actually the cheapest food you can buy. That always gets their attention. Then I explain that with our food all of the costs are figured into the price. Society is not bearing the cost of water pollution, of antibiotic resistance, of food-borne illnesses, of crop-subsidies, of subsidized oils and water-- of all the hidden costs to the environment and the taxpayer that makes cheap food seem cheap. No thinking person will tell you they don't care about that. I tell them the choice is simple: You can buy honestly priced food or you can buy irresponsibly priced food." - beyond-organic farmer, Joel Salatin, of Polyface Farms as quoted in "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" by Michael Pollan
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/
and
http://www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php - z0manifest, on 11/05/2008, -1/+4Isn't eating organically Veganism style is more expensive and healthier?
- ZenMojo, on 11/05/2008, -0/+3It's true! And you can buy a carrot for even less.
/sarcasm
We've done the math a million times on Digg: it's an economic fact that calorie for calorie ***** food is cheaper. Only a sadist feeds a child on a damn head of lettuce. Try bringing prices for some real food. - beepsy, on 11/05/2008, -0/+3Doesn't Costco charge like 40+ for a membership? For the families the story talks about that is their entire food budget just for the membership.
- magamiako, on 11/05/2008, -2/+5It is certainly more expensive to eat healthy, that is, if you count the food you get. For example, At Whole Foods (right next door to my work), an apple costs around $2.
A Stouffer's Pot Pie costs about $2.50 at Super Walmart (near my house). I've gone out of my way to make sure this does not contain HFCS nor Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil (a tip brought to me by a nutritionist).
I think a lot of people on the comments here are missing a few points when they state "eating healthy is cheaper". No, eating crap is cheap regardless. Buying tons of lettuce and making 30 salads a week does not mean you're being a healthy eater. You need to balance it out, you need to mix up your diet. You can't just live healthy alone on lettuce and a couple of eggs and maybe some dressing.
To eat a balanced, healthy, proper diet--it does indeed cost more money than eating processed foods.
If you want to replace crap with a single type of diet, you're still screwing yourself as it is and are going to need to supplement somewhere no matter what.
For example, I eat frugally (and yes I'm fat, ha)..The choice for breakfast for me because of my living conditions tends to be either a 7-11 hotdog, a burger king wrapper, or a bagel and organic cream cheese.
The BK Wrapper is probably the least healthiest component of the two, so we can cut that out. A 7-11 Hotdog is $1.49. This gives you white bread (starches) and a hotdog (I throw ketchup, mustard, and onions on mine).
A bagel from whole foods is $0.69 and a small thing of organic cream cheese is $0.50. Combined, it is cheaper than the 7-11 hotdog, but is it healthier for you? I don't think so.
Either one of these is not a truly healthy breakfast. But eating a truly healthy breakfast requires preparation and time that I don't have.
Btw, a 1/2 pound of salad at Whole Foods is like $7. For a little bit more money, you could get a more balanced meal from a restaurant. - sndream, on 11/05/2008, -2/+5Healthy food exist outside of whole food, stop using it as an example.
I don't know about US, but in Canada, there's a lot of fruit and vegetable that's around a dollar per pound. Rice is $10 for 20 pound. Chicken drumstick is cheap and healthy if you just remove the skin yourself. - inactive, on 11/05/2008, -0/+3where do you go hunt twinkies at frogle?
- TheFinaleofSeem, on 11/05/2008, -1/+4Yeah, as if the current administration hasn't been spending willy-nilly. Bush barely vetoed anything in his eight years. Notice that bigass deficit? I'll blame the Republicans for that one. They had control and they didn't try practicing any fiscal conservatism. I doubt Barack will be much better, but Republicans whining about spendy Democrats don't have a goddamned leg to stand on anymore.
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