# Do people still say that it's cheaper to eat crap than fruits and veg? not true... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809 "2010-03-25T22:42:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/101 "2010-03-27T02:52:24Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > You are fully aware that this makes no sense at all, aren’t you? You sound like a Chewlie’s Gum representative, but for McDonald’s. > > The fact is, there’s an expectation, a null hypothesis if you will, that a chicken mcnugget is a piece of chicken battered and fried. The reality is, this is a damn sight from the truth. The things are full of corn like purplehorseshoe originally said, no matter how it was worded, and that’s completely independent of the price of goat buttholes in Kazakhstan or whether any other foods happen to use subsidized corn or soy too. “Nanner nanner boo boo” is not a legitimate argument. Depends on which [nugget](http://www.phoood.com/weblog/archives/000051.html)you eat at McDonald’s. Nanner nanner boo boo! I guarantee a 6 piece classic McNugget with sweet and sour sauce has a better glycemic index, fewer calories, and less fat than sweet and sour chicken with rice at your local chinese restaurant. Or How about chicken and waffles? 6 piece or chicken and waffles with syrup?.. or how about chicken and noodles vs. a 6 piece?, ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/102 "2010-03-27T03:51:10Z")
> [@prescribe](#): > > You may not _like_ it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. It happens all the time, unfortunately. > > :dubious: > > _Everyone_, male AND female, should learn how to cook at a basic level. You only teach the women and you’ll have a crop of young adult men who’ll be eating junk, and married men who can’t be SAHDs because they can’t cook. I taught a girl how to cook a chicken and she thanked me but said, I did good but I accidentally left the packages inside! The Giblets and neck.. I told her no big deal and she was very thankful. I loved to cook as a kid. I made cookies and helped with dinner. So many kids today do not even sit at the table for dinner. They eat micro meals on the couch. Dinner together at the table is just a good thing. Also learning the basics of cooking before you leave home. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/103 "2010-03-27T04:24:53Z")
> [@seismic](#): > > :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Oh come _on_. I say this as a cabbage lover. > > If I have $1 to eat for one meal or one day? I’m not eating fucking _cabbage_ that’ll give me, what, 80 calories? I need to actually _eat_. And once you start talking about things to add in to the cabbage to increase the calories, you’re also increasing the cost. > And there are tons of poor people who don’t even have a stove top. Yes, I’m serious. If you’re _really_ poor, you’re buttfucked in a lot of ways. You can: > > - not have a car, limiting where you’re even able to go (and don’t bring up the bus unless you’re talking about an actual giant urban area like NYC; I’ve posted before about being in Detroit and just trying to get to St. Clair Shores or Grosse Pointe via bus to get to a Kroger. Not gonna happen) > > - have a limited amount of funds (non food example: you need to do laundry. You have $2. You have to buy the overpriced tiny bottle. People tell you to buy the big jug and you’ll save money! But that one is $8. You do _not_ have $8 you can spend on laundry detergent this week. So what are you going to do, not wash your clothes while you save up for that larger detergent?). Yes, steamed cabbage is delicious. But it’s not filling or really nutritionally dense compared to a pizza. Yes, the pizza is crap foods and has a lot of negatives the cabbage doesn’t have, but I can’t go through a work day having just some steamed cabbage. > > - you may be limited in even what you have to cook on. If you have some shit ass apartment (or are someone who has to live in motels, which is a further suck on your money [see Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed” for a good explanation of why this happens. It ties into the example about laundry detergent above) that doesn’t even have much of a kitchen at all. Who are you gonna complain to? The landlord? You knew the deal when you moved in and you moved in because you needed somewhere to live. > > And I’m not trying to turn this into some Precious-style poverty porn, but it’s quite possible to be screwed when it comes to being poor and eating well. It’d take more money, effort or transportation that they literally don’t have or don’t have enough of. Sometimes having to worry about keeping a roof over your head is more important than making sure you have a balanced diet. So true. Many people have to make choices between laundry soap or food. Some only have microwaves. The homeless like food that is not heavy, for obvious reasons. They take bread and pastry over frozen meat. I myself at one point had a choice to make the rent or eat. I made the rent and ate rice for a month. I bought a 10 pound bag of rice. I was in school and had a car repair. I couldn’t look at rice for a while after that but you do what you have to do. Until I volunteered I did not understand that my idea of poverty was much different then reality. I have never been homeless, dishless, stoveless, clueless on cooking. I took a lot of things for granted . If your parents never cooked how do you learn? If you lived on junk food how would you know how good fruit and vegetables can be? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/104 "2010-03-27T04:41:18Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Depends on which [nugget](http://www.phoood.com/weblog/archives/000051.html)you eat at McDonald’s. Nanner nanner boo boo! > > I guarantee a 6 piece classic McNugget with sweet and sour sauce has a better glycemic index, fewer calories, and less fat than sweet and sour chicken with rice at your local chinese restaurant. Or How about chicken and waffles? 6 piece or chicken and waffles with syrup?.. or how about chicken and noodles vs. a 6 piece?, Wow. How annoying. I am sorry I bothered addressing you. ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/105 "2010-03-27T04:53:04Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > So the chickens and cows diets are not supplemented by korn (grain/kernels)?.. are you sure about that? These animals are not eating grains of any kind? I’d be really surprised if they weren’t, and it would be borderline cruelty not to supplement an animal’s diet with grain, and practically necessary for meat animals. That’s just not true. I live on a farm where my husband raises beef cattle, which we sell by the quarter, half, or whole animal. The cows are raised entirely on pasture and hay. I assure you that they are fat and happy. (Also, they taste fantastic. I’m ruined for grocery store beef.) ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/106 "2010-03-27T05:11:36Z")
> [@StuffLikeThatThere](#): > > That’s just not true. I live on a farm where my husband raises beef cattle, which we sell by the quarter, half, or whole animal. The cows are raised entirely on pasture and hay. I assure you that they are fat and happy. (Also, they taste fantastic. I’m ruined for grocery store beef.) How many acres of grazing land do you have? Where do you live? That would be my first question…Head? ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/107 "2010-03-27T05:16:20Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > How many acres of grazing land do you have? Where do you live? That would be my first question…Head? Geez, she barely knows you… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/108 "2010-03-27T05:27:56Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > How many acres of grazing land do you have? Where do you live? That would be my first question…Head? We have plenty of pasture per head (more than we need, actually; it’s a small herd), which is of course your point. It’s a good one. It’s also a new one to your argument. The original assertion was that it was borderline cruelty to not feed a meat animal grain, which isn’t true. It’s very possible to raise a beef cow very well on pasture only. I agree that, in the modern US, it’s unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/109 "2010-03-27T07:04:24Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Wow, You’re in Australia right? What kind of stir fry meat costs that much? Chicken breast? Sirloin? Just normal stirfry beef from the supermarket. You can get deals sometimes where it’s around $12/kg but it’s still not cheap and it’s not necessarily the best cuts either. Chicken breast is around the $18/kg and so it isn’t a lot better IME, either. Sirloin is about $24/kg last time checked. Yeah, for a country with an insane amount of farming, food costs a fortune here for some reason, ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/110 "2010-03-27T07:50:01Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Just normal stirfry beef from the supermarket. You can get deals sometimes where it’s around $12/kg but it’s still not cheap and it’s not necessarily the best cuts either. > > Chicken breast is around the $18/kg and so it isn’t a lot better IME, either. Sirloin is about $24/kg last time checked. > > Yeah, for a country with an insane amount of farming, food costs a fortune here for some reason, Wow you’re paying a fair bit more than I am. Over here at the market it’s about $14 a kilo for free range skinless chicken breast - $10 if you get it with skin and on the bone (which I do - the skin gets fed to the cats and I freeze the bone to use for stock in the future). I use scotch fillet steak for my stir fries and about $4 worth is enough for 4 decent sized meals when bulked out with vegies. Are you buying the pre-cut meat by any chance? I do agree that I can never get it to taste quite as good as the local Chinese restaurant! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/111 "2010-03-27T08:07:31Z")
> [@Kayeby](#): > > I use scotch fillet steak for my stir fries and about $4 worth is enough for 4 decent sized meals when bulked out with vegies. Are you buying the pre-cut meat by any chance? It costs the same either way, generally- I get whatever is cheapest but the fact is that meat is unconscionably expensive in this country IMHO. $4 worth of meat here would get you enough for four decent sized hamburgers or maybe steak sandwiches, but certainly nothing like a stir-fry. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809/112 "2010-03-27T08:21:21Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Just normal stirfry beef from the supermarket. You can get deals sometimes where it’s around $12/kg but it’s still not cheap and it’s not necessarily the best cuts either. > > Chicken breast is around the $18/kg and so it isn’t a lot better IME, either. Sirloin is about $24/kg last time checked. > > Yeah, for a country with an insane amount of farming, food costs a fortune here for some reason, Holy shit!! that is amazing. I used to bitch at our prices. Chicken breasts at 4 buck a pound i thought was untenable, and sirloin at 5.50(lower grade USDA choice grilling steaks on loss leader, $4.50 select) seemed bullshit. Please tell me you can at least get lamb cheap because ours is usually Australian(or often New Zealand) for 6 bucks a pound for a bone-in shank that is $22 minimum. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-say-that-its-cheaper-to-eat-crap-than-fruits-and-veg-not-true/533809.md?page=5)