# Is it more expensive to eat healthily? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578 "2004-11-13T17:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/41 "2004-11-15T23:43:17Z")
FWIW, you can often find fresh produce, specialty items like tofu and ethnic condiments and spices, and the like for less at ethnic groceries, if you happen to live near any good ones. I’ve often been amazed at how a local Indian grocer can offer lemons, fresh spinach, or tomatoes for a lot less (sometimes less than half) of what the local grocery store charges. Similarly, buy my blocks of tofu and scallion bunches at the Asian grocer’s, because you can get a block for $.89 (as opposed to about 3 at the grocery store) and a cluster of scallions for about .30. The drawback is the inconvenience of extra shopping and the high cost of gas. Even these savings may not be worth chasing if getting to the market means driving an extra errand or going significantly out of your way. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/42 "2004-11-16T01:45:24Z")
> [@](#): > > You can make a complete balanced diet out of nothing but dried beans and rice 1/2 cup cooked of long-grain brown rice and kidney beans = 221 calories 1.32 fat 42.5 carbohydrate 7.39 fiber 10.2 protein No A, very low C. You can make a complete protein, not a complete diet. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/43 "2004-11-16T03:01:23Z")
OP: Is it more expensive to eat healthily? Most responses deal with the immediate out of pocket cost for today’s food and that may have been your intent. You should really apply the question to the long-term medical costs as well, and then decide. My Dad used to love his big bowl of ice cream in front of the tv every evening, before the myocardial infarction took him. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/44 "2004-11-16T09:59:25Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > From my experience, I think it is definitely more expensive to eat healthy. Organic food where I live is often outrageously priced. “Organic” food is a _luxury_ item. Fresh, non-organic fruits and vegetables ARE healthy for you, and considerably cheaper than the the “organic” labelled food. You can eat healthy without buying “organic”. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/45 "2004-11-16T14:35:58Z")
And any nutritionist will tell you that canned vegetables are great-- and probably have more nutritional content than most out of season produce. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/46 "2004-11-16T20:19:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > At my local supermarket, I can buy frozen loaves of dough for about half the price of the el cheapo styrofoam bread, and it’s much tastier, too. Spray a bread pan, leave it out for about eight hours, bake for 20 minutes, and it’s ready to go (a somewhat long prep time, admittedly, but very little human intervention needed). > > I absolutely can’t believe that healthy food is more expensive. You can make a complete balanced diet out of nothing but dried beans and rice, and you’d be hard-pressed to find any junk food cheaper than that (except perhaps ramen). I live in an apartment, and I was still able to get a garden plot for ten dollars. Despite the poor climate here, if I had planted it all with carrots, I could have easily gotten 50 pounds of produce out of there (as it is, I got about 10 pounds of carrots, plus spinach, beans, peppers, and other veggies). Dandelion is free, if there’s any green space at all near where you live, and it’s one of the most nutritious vegetables available, and cabbage and potatoes are very nearly free. > > Now, this does take a lot more time than prepared foods, much of which is junk. In fact, I actually do eat a lot of prepared foods for this reason. But if I were unemployed, or cooking for a large family (it takes almost as much time to cook for one as for eight), then I’d be eating healthy and cheap. That’s great…if you have those resources available to you. Many apartment dwellers, however, do not have places where they can rent garden plots. People who work two jobs don’t have the time to take care of a garden. They drag home so tired they can barely see straight and fall into bed for a few hours so they can get up and do it all again. Not many people have enough time to scour the sidewalks and vacant lots looking for enough dandelions to make dinner. My supermarket doesn’t appear to carry frozen loaves of bread (though they do carry those frozen biscuits that take as long as scratch-made), and a lot of people don’t have enough freezer capacity to store them. If someone doesn’t have these resources available to them, cooking healthy becomes a fairly pricey proposition. Barbara Eichenricht (sp?) talks about this in some length in the third part of _Nickle and Dimed_. At that point, she’s living in a motel room, and eating fast food for every meal because of the financial barriers to eating cheap and healthy–nothing to cook in or with, and no way to store it even if she did have something to cook in or with, and no money to get the stuff to cook and store in and with. As she points out, the resources you start out with make all the difference. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/47 "2004-11-16T21:09:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > At my local supermarket, I can buy frozen loaves of dough for about half the price of the el cheapo styrofoam bread, and it’s much tastier, too. Spray a bread pan, leave it out for about eight hours, bake for 20 minutes, and it’s ready to go (a somewhat long prep time, admittedly, but very little human intervention needed). > > I absolutely can’t believe that healthy food is more expensive. You can make a complete balanced diet out of nothing but dried beans and rice, and you’d be hard-pressed to find any junk food cheaper than that (except perhaps ramen). I live in an apartment, and I was still able to get a garden plot for ten dollars. Despite the poor climate here, if I had planted it all with carrots, I could have easily gotten 50 pounds of produce out of there (as it is, I got about 10 pounds of carrots, plus spinach, beans, peppers, and other veggies). Dandelion is free, if there’s any green space at all near where you live, and it’s one of the most nutritious vegetables available, and cabbage and potatoes are very nearly free. > > Now, this does take a lot more time than prepared foods, much of which is junk. In fact, I actually do eat a lot of prepared foods for this reason. But if I were unemployed, or cooking for a large family (it takes almost as much time to cook for one as for eight), then I’d be eating healthy and cheap. With all due respect, you can’t make a balanced diet out of only two things (meaning the beans and rice you mentioned). Sure, you’ll get necessary calories and protein, but not nearly enough vitamins, and few minerals. Plus, I’m sure that people eating such a diet would soon tire of it and would revert to fast food because at least with that, they can get some variety. (On an aside, I think that boredom is an important factor in “healthy” eating because so many people who don’t eat healthy think healthy=salads or tofu and rabbit food.) Also, in your last paragraph, you said if you were unemployed you _would_ be eating healthy and cheap. So, which is it? Do you eat healthy and cheap or don’t you? And who the heck has time to plant their own food and hunt for dandelions? I think it’s admirable that you’re able to do things like that where you live, but around here, everything’s covered in concrete and there _is_ no land to rent out. Plus, I’d be hard-pressed to find dandelions that haven’t been walked or peed on. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/48 "2004-11-16T22:18:38Z")
I found two bags of yummy Doritos on sale for 3.00 yesterday. I'm broke and it was a big tempation. Two bags of Doritos will make me full around six times or so- at a cost of about .50 a meal. A small bag of chips and soda costs about two dollars and will make me full. A big slice of pizza is 2.00. Ramen, at about 400 calorie and untold saturated fat a brick is .25. Compare this to my usual fairly healthy diet of rice, beans and whatever. Usually I end up using an .80 can of tomatoes and probably a dollars worth of fresh veggies (I can't believe even cheap yellow onions and russet potatoes are .69 a pound at my supermarket! I can’t buy bulk because they sprout before I use them and I end up wasting money) plus various grains and legumes that I have laying around. My spices and olive oil need to be replaced every once in a while and the $8.00 hit that a bottle of olive oil makes can break my budget for the week. And then there is wheat bread- a real 100% wheat bread is now three bucks a loaf versus the dollar for white bread or ersatz wheat (which I refuse to eat). I end up spending a bit more money and have to go through a hell of a lot of work (especially since i can’t afford to replace my broken pressure cooker and now making beans is a huge pain in the ass). I am excited about learning that I can make tofu I can stand on my George Forman Grill. Tofu is only a buck a block, lasts for at least a meal and a half and provides me protein without having to go through the pain of making beans or lentils. Frankly, I’ve found that cooking my own food is dead even with going out, when I consider food waste through spoilage and the fact that I will occasionally need to go out due to my strange and unpredicatable schedule. One burrito is relatively healthy, costs five bucks, and provides me with 1.5 meals (the burritos here are pretty darn big). Usually I can scrounge around for the rest of that days food and do alright. And I don’t have to spend my precious time cooking (I’ve worked four jobs at once, once. I measure my free time in minutes), washing dishes and fighting about who will cook, clean and wash dishes. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/49 "2004-11-16T22:30:07Z")
Also, eating out fulfills my “entertainment” and “time with friends” and most importantly for someone working so much “time spent not at work or at home” needs. When I eat in, this often gets filled by stuff like watching movies or going to coffee or drinking which not only can I not afford, but don’t provide me with the neccasities of life like food does. I can spend seven bucks on a matinee movie ticket (insane!) or I can spend it on a good meal out and not have to worry about food for that day. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578/50 "2004-11-17T03:18:48Z")
A question that may be relevant to the OP: What percentage of the world’s poor are fat? I’d say it’s quite low. This is a phenomenon principally seen in the USA, and perhaps a few other affluent countries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-more-expensive-to-eat-healthily/274578.md?page=2)