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NeantHumain
Phoenix
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Joined: Jun 25, 2004
Posts: 3596
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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 Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject: The Cost of Eating Healthy |
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Today I wanted to make something a bit healthier than the usual microwaveable dinners and other processed foods, so while doing my weekly grocery shopping, I picked out some fresh produce and other ingredients to make a salad.
- 0.4 lbs. green leaf lettuce = $0.80
- (blackberry poppyseed dressing = $2.39) / 2 = $1.20
- (sliced almonds = $4.39) / 3 = $1.46
- (frozen grilled chicken breast patties = $7.99) / 4 = $2.00
- blueberries = $3.00
- (Fuji apples = $2.31) / 3 = $0.77
- Total = $9.23
I added a couple more ingredients I already had: a couple of slices of Provel cheese and some chopped walnuts.
I'd say I ate about half of the salad I made for dinner tonight, so that means one meal cost ~$4.60, and that could very easily push past $5.00 if I factored in the ingredients I already had and the fact I also ate a couple of bowls of cereal as a snack beforehand. Getting a salad at someplace like St. Louis Bread Co./Panera Bread Co. isn't that much more expensive! And either option costs more than one of those $1.70 frozen dinners (even if you add in the inevitable chips or other side you'll have to eat with it to fill you up). |
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RustyShackleford
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 22, 2008
Age: 28
Posts: 409
Location: Nottingham UK
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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I started buying blueberries frozen which works out almost halfprice here.
Cost of living is starting to become a massive problem though. |
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Nan
Phoenix
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Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 3085
Location: left coast
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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There's always ways to cut costs.
Buy chickens whole, fillet them yourself. But only when on sale. Use the carcass to make soup. It's a lot cheaper than pre-cooked chicken patties.
Buy only what's in season.
Make your own dressing.
We can eat on $4 a day (total) quite nicely for two adults. Now that one of us has diabetes and has to also avoid cholesterol, we have to be more careful, so it's a bit more expensive than that some days. But we're hardly living on bread and water. Almost nothing we purchase is pre-made, we buy in bulk when it's cheaper (it is not always), we only buy what's on sale, and we remain totally flexible in our shopping. That is, we don't go in to the store thinking "I'd like this or that." We go in thinking, I need veggies, protein, and carbs. What's available at a sale price and can I use it to make a good meal? And then that's what we buy.
It just takes a little training. Then again, I was raised by parents who were teens during the Great Depression of the 1930s and who dealt with rationing during WWII. It shaped their habits for the rest of their lives, and, thus, how they taught me.
Sometimes you really can't, when you get a good deal on them, beat the cost of some of the pre-made meals (when you factor in cost of gas and time to get to the store, cooking energy, etc.). Use 'em when you find 'em, and stuff your freezer with them if they're healthy enough.
Best of luck!
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Novinson's Revolutionary Discovery: When comes the revolution, things will be different - not better, just different.
Last edited by Nan on Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Nan
Phoenix
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Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 3085
Location: left coast
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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PS The cost of blueberries has gone through the roof ever since the "health food" crowd "discovered" them and they've been funneled into pills and juice that will get a higher price. I hope the fad ends soon, as I'm very fond of blueberries and haven't had them for a few years now.
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Novinson's Revolutionary Discovery: When comes the revolution, things will be different - not better, just different. |
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2ukenkerl
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 20, 2007
Posts: 4596
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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| You know, I wondered every now and then how much meat I would have to eat to match the amount I had my mother get whenever I could, when I was about 7, and I guess voracious in every meaning of the term. I figured it out a couple hours ago. Considering my likely bodyweight then, and likely lean body weight now, it would be three pounds(~1.34kg) just for lunch. THAT would cost a lot! |
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NeantHumain
Phoenix
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Joined: Jun 25, 2004
Posts: 3596
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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| By the way, I can afford to eat like this, but what's concerning to me is that, for a lot of people, these cost increases mean they increasingly can't. |
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WC
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Jul 04, 2008
Age: 38
Posts: 74
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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0.4 lbs. green leaf lettuce = $0.80
Buy whatever veggies are on sale and make that a "salad" as lettuce is overpriced now.
(blackberry poppyseed dressing = $2.39) / 2 = $1.20
You can buy a whole bottle of dressing for that price. I hope you aren't using half a bottle of dressing on your salad!
(sliced almonds = $4.39) / 3 = $1.46
That would be considered a treat, you already have your protein in your chicken for the meal below.
(frozen grilled chicken breast patties = $7.99) / 4 = $2.00
That sounds reasonable, but nothing I would buy. $2.00 is my goal for the entire meal!
blueberries = $3.00
Again, a treat.
(Fuji apples = $2.31) / 3 = $0.77
You had 3 apples? Or am I misreading this. Buy only fruits and vegetables on sale.
Total = $9.23
My dinner tonite will have cost me about $2.00 and I think it is healthy enough. Tuna sandwich, fruit, and a "salad".
.50 half can tuna
.25 few slices of canned pineapple slices
.25 two slices bread
.25 a carrot
.50 a bit of broccoli
.25 to include things like mayo for tuna and a bit of salad dressing to dip the vegeys in.
Now if you are a bigger eater, you can still double this and pay only $4.00 |
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krex
Phoenix
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Age: 44
Posts: 4973
Location: Village of the Damned
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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This is one huge gap in our educational system. We should have mandatory classes in healthy and economical meal preperation. When I was in school it Home Economics was almost all females only and there was little stress put on "healthy" eating, (we lived on a very unhealthy food pyramid that seemed to stress bread and pasta). My own training in cooking was watching my mom make meals based on meet and starch with a small side of over cooked vegatables.
The current generation of kids who are raised by working mothers are less likely to have home training on meal preperation because more moms come home after working 9-5 and have less time or energy to bake/cook from scratch. It's easy to point fingers at people for being to lazy for anything but fast food and processed food but when parents are working and commuting 40-60 hours a week, then have to take the kids to "practice"...well, I have some empathy . The problem isn't in "laziness" but literal lack of energy and time.
Anyone who has lived in poor neighborhoods will understand another obsticle of healthy eating....few of these neighborhoods have anything but small stores with little and over-priced produce. They are filled with junk foods and even those are expenssive. If you don't have your own car or good public transit (even then it is time consuming and a hassle to have to carry all those groceries on the bus), you are even more tempted to the fast food places that are on every block. Do you think this is an accident ? Is it really so hard to build a few large and cheaper grocery stores in the inner citites rather then small convenience stores and fast food ?
Your salad sounded delicious but your prices are much cheaper then Minneapolis.
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cyberscan
Snowy Owl
Joined: Apr 17, 2008
Posts: 134
Location: Near Panama, City Florida
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:21 pm Post subject: There is another way. |
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Plant a vegetable garden. One can do this quite easily and by using ground covering such as weed guard, one can have vegetables for a minimum cost. You might want to try it 
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Jkid
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Jan 20, 2008
Posts: 192
Location: College Park,MD
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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| krex wrote: | This is one huge gap in our educational system. We should have mandatory classes in healthy and economical meal preperation. When I was in school it Home Economics was almost all females only and there was little stress put on "healthy" eating, (we lived on a very unhealthy food pyramid that seemed to stress bread and pasta). My own training in cooking was watching my mom make meals based on meet and starch with a small side of over cooked vegatables.
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You bring up a good point. The education system keeps telling society that it prepares them for the real worl;d, problem is that with the era of No (Rich) Child Left Behind, students are not really prepared for the real world. They have to cook their own food by the time they're 20-22. |
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mom2bax
Sea Gull
Joined: Oct 12, 2007
Posts: 213
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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it is a huge problem that the crappy foods actually cost less most of the time than stuff that's better for you.
pasta can be okay but if you need it to stretch out a meal then it's usually mostly pasta with bits of everything else.
or the fact that pop costs less than milk or "juice" that is realtively cheap being used instead of other things or kool aid.
nd i totally understand the healthy eating on time constraints either you have less than an hour between after school and activities to eat and prep food or you get home so late after something that it is so hard.
my kids and i have eaten cereal for supper some nights becasue it was the quickest and easiest thing to eat.
it costs a lot to eat healthy for the most part while still adding variety to your diet.
all you can do is what you can. and weigh the cost benefits of everything. |
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krex
Phoenix
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Age: 44
Posts: 4973
Location: Village of the Damned
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:09 am Post subject: Re: There is another way. |
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| cyberscan wrote: | | Plant a vegetable garden. One can do this quite easily and by using ground covering such as weed guard, one can have vegetables for a minimum cost. You might want to try it |
Well, lets just assume for the sake of arguement that I happen to be a poor renter who has no access to land, (all which happen to be true for me and countless other "poor folks")....where should I plant my magic beans ? Yes, there are a few community gardens but few people have been trained in gardening any more then they were trained to cook their own food. Our community garden that I did once try to plant in was some land that was basically a toxic waste dump next to some rail road tracks....yumm...veggies with lead coating. We had the land but the only water source was a fire hydrant about a block-away.
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WC
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Jul 04, 2008
Age: 38
Posts: 74
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:18 am Post subject: |
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You can spend $5.00 a meal on crap food or spend $5.00 a day on healthier and more fulfilling/tasty food. Your choice.
Can you spend an extra few minutes making your own meal and pass the McDonalds next to the grocery store and go to the grocery store instead? Look for the sales, spontaneously come up with a cheap and healthier meal, you can do it in 10 minutes at the store or wait in line for your "meal deal" at the fast food place.
As for crappy food costing less than "better" food I disagree. Fast food is never the way to go unless it is an emergency and you buy off the 99 cent menu, and just a single item, to get ya thru a hunger issue. Last time I went to a fast food place about 6 months ago a meal deal was about $5 bucks! |
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Nan
Phoenix
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Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 3085
Location: left coast
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:18 am Post subject: |
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i am a working, single mom. i used to put in 9 hour days at work and then have a two-hour commute each way on top of it when the kid was young (actually, it's not that different now, except that the kid can help out). when you don't have the money, you HAVE to take the time to cook from scratch. even if most of it is on the weekends. on weekdays, you get home, you wash up, then you start on your "at home" work - cooking, cleaning, helping the kid with homework. when all is done, you wash the dishes, tuck the kid in, and collapse.
we have never lived anywhere that we could have a garden. if i put potted veggies out in most of the places we have lived, they'd have been stolen or vandalized within days. if not hours. at present we do live upstairs in a nice area and so have several pepper plants, herbs, and spices growing in old kitty-litter buckets out on the balcony. it really does help out when you can have fresh herbs and spices in a meal!
it is true that a lot of junk food is cheaper than nutritious food. and they really DON'T teach that in school anymore. that's really sad, because if the parents don't know how to do it, the kids do't know how to do it .... i've always taught my kid how to make a batch of something on a weekend that can be frozen or will last for several meals during the week that's nutritious and that won't break the budget.
there's nothing wrong with pasta and potatos (unless you're diabetic you can eat quite a bit of it). cereals are also good - oatmeal is nutritious and goes a long way. fresh fruit and veggies in season. and portion control. i'm amazed at what people THINK they have to eat to have a nutritious diet in terms of quantity. 
it's doable, but it takes planning and care, to live a frugal kitchen lifestyle.
_________________
Novinson's Revolutionary Discovery: When comes the revolution, things will be different - not better, just different.
Last edited by Nan on Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:35 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Nan
Phoenix
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Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 3085
Location: left coast
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:59 am Post subject: |
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Ok, I got to thinking, since I don't watch the budget as carefully as I used to, exactly what DID we spend on meals on, say, last Saturday for the kid alone (who is diabetic and thus has to watch carbs and sub protein for them)? I realize that almost all of it was stuff I'd picked up on sale and mostly stashed away for later. No promises on precision in the math, it's very late and I'm tired. what we're lacking in nutrients in this days we hope to make up in another, when there are more veggies, etc. we try to look at nutritional intake over a week's time, not day by day (except where carbs are concerned).
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Breakfast
Generic Cheerios 1-cup unsweetened (generic is $2.00 per box on sale, 9 servings per box. 22 carbs per serving) = $.22
Banana - 1/2 (on sale at $.79 per pound right now, figure 6 oz per banana or 3 bananas, roughly, per pound. so that's about 10 carbs and) $.13
Milk - 1/2 cup (1 gallon milk = 32 half-cups. non-fat milk locally on sale is $5 a gallon, but one store sells two gallons for $5.85 to get people into the store, so that's 64 half-cups for $5.85. round to $6 to make it easier. $6/64 and 8 carbs) $.09
Hot tea (mint tea, using mint grown on our balcony, for all intents free). 1 teaspoon sugar (about 110? teaspoons per pound of sugar, sugar on sale here at 25 pounds for $12.99 - but who buys that much at once? no storage. i buy it when smaller amounts are on better sales, once or twice a year, so assume about) $.05 per teaspoon
breakfast cost .22 + .13 + .09 + .05 = $49. (forty-nine cents) and 40 carbs (target is 45)
~~~~~
Lunch
Tuna - 1/2 can (1 can light tuna in water on sale at 10 cans for $10, so $1.00 per can/ this is dirt -cheap for good tuna, so we stocked up. 0 carbs) $.50
Bread - 2 slices (bread is $1.25 per loaf this week at the day-old store - roughly 20 slices per loaf = +/- .06 slice. 30 carbs) = $.12
Carrot - 1 large (bulk fresh carrots on sale at $0.74 per pound, one carrot is about 2 ounces, 16 ounces in a pound, so 5-ish cents per ounce, 10 carbs ) $.10
Apple - 1/2 medium ( fuji apples on sale at $3.19 for 3 pounds, or $1.06 per pound, figure about 1/2 lb per apple, although fall is traditionally apple season, we like apples. 10 carbs) $.23
Cup of milk (15 carbs)= $.18
Total cost lunch .50 + .12 + .10 + .23 + .18 = $1.22 (or thereabouts, and over the carb limit for the meal at 65 carbs!)
~~~~~
Supper
Pizza Pockets
homemade (yeast) pizza dough (+/- $.15 per portion, probably about 25 carbs)
1/4 cup shredded lowfat mozzarella cheese ($4.19 per brick pound, 16 oz per pound, so about .26 per ounce, 8 oz per cup, no carbs) $.55
seasoned tomato sauce (roasted garlic), three tablespoons (15 oz cans on 10 for $10, so 15 oz = 1.00 so 1 oz = .07 per ounce. tablespoon = 1/2 ounce, so 1.5 ounces for three. negl. carbs) $.21
sliced leftover tomato 1/2 - traded neighbor some fresh basil for tomatos, cost minimal
leftover grilled chicken shreds = est $.20
1/2 bell pepper - home grown, cost mimimal
fresh basil - home grown, cost minimal
milk - 1 cup (15 carbs) = $.18
Popsicle .10 ( on sale, two boxes price of one, one box has 24 bars, costs $4.69, so half = about 2.35 per box/24 = about ten cents each and 18 carbs,)
Cost of supper .15 + .55 + .21 + .20 + .18 + .10 = $1.39 (roughly) and 58 carbs (oops)
~~~~~
Snack - 1/2 banana (10 carbs) plus a spoon of peanut butter (too complicated to calculate) for about about $.30 together plus a cup of milk at .18 so about .50 cents total (and +/- 35 carbs, makes up for supper and lunch a bit)
~~~~~
Total cost of food for the day for the kid - .49 + 1.22 + 1.39 + .50 = $3.60
I think she raided the fridge for more cereal and milk late that night, as well.
If needed we used to be able to cut costs radically by using rice, pasta, and potatoes more, but she's supposed to keep it to 45 grams of carb per meal, tops, with another 45 at a snack at night, so that puts a crink in things. I could have gone cheaper with this by making my own sauce and bread, and subbing another in-season fruit for the apples (it's not apple season), but we do like apples and - quite frankly, I can afford to not have to go any cheaper at present. Cheese has been available cheaper in the past, but not lately. We can also get a huge pizza slice for $1.50 nearby - it's a struggle to finish one - so sometimes go "off diet" and have one of those for lunch or supper. Eggs, when you can get them on sale, are a great and cheap protein source - and you can freeze egg whites.... The kid has to watch cholesterol as well, so no egg yolks and limited red meat. Won't eat beans, can't eat synthetic sweetners, doesn't like salads. Makes it tricky to create a meal plan.
Point being, a single person should be able to eat decently on $5.00 a day without starving themselves as long as they can buy seasonal, buy carefully and on sale, and are creative. PS - The kid is grown.
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