Cost of HEALTHY VS JUNK Food

[shelbylovesmelby]

Ok I think this may duplicate another thread somewhat. But my question is how do you make more organic, veggies, fruit & or whole grain items fit into your grocery budget w/o breaking the bank?

I buy most of the staples @ Aldi's & clearly they don't have alot of healthy choices. But w/ being on a tight budget I can't justify paying up to double or more because something is whole grain vs just plain jane generic.

I do try to sneak in some Flax Seed Meal & Wheatgerm in to add some additional nutrients. And I do grow my own garden in summer, however we're fast approaching winter & the produce gets more expensive just as my heating bill does. KWIM?

[PRICEPLUS]

I buy store brand frozen veggies. I buy canned salmon during the winter. Interestingly enough if we all ate the recommended amount of food we would eat less and thus spend less. We would be healthier and wealthier. I scan all the markets for sales on fruit and veggies. It is tough but you can eat healthy if you are creative and work at it That is my .02 cents!

[tinapbeana]

i buy organic when i can, and when i first started it was a shock! i've worked it into my budget because i feel it's important, but there are something (meat especially) that i just can't afford unless it's 'reduced for quick sale'.

something to consider: publix grocery stores now offer their own generic organic brand called greenwise. the soymilk, canned beans, and canned tomato products are all very good deals.

the one tip i would give is if you're going to consider buying organic, make the switch in your fruits and veggies first. sometimes it's actually cheaper (like organic roma tomatoes right now are cheaper than grocery store where i live), sometimes it's more. the big benefit, though is the lack of pesticides and the lack of WAX. that's the thing most folks don't think about w/ regular produce: it's waxed to look better and stay fresher, but that wax doesn't wash off. eeeeeewww...

[threebeansalad]

Eating healthy can be cheap. Personally, I think it's more important to eat adequate F&V, whole grains than organic, and whenI have the chance, I'll chose local foods that aren't organic rather than organic food shipped from Chile or CA. Check out this report on teh cheapest ways to eat fruits adn vegetables: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib790/aib790d.pdf

[jodi]

I have found a few healthier foods that are cheaper than their more expensive counterparts: brown rice (cheaper than instant), dry beans and lentils, etc. Other than that, I just try to buy fruits and veggies in season.
I love Aldi's for all types of canned goods, esp. fruit - they carry a light brand that is pretty good (for canned fruit). I try to freeze as much as I can from my garden too. I just learned to can this year and plan to do a lot more next year.

[MonkeyMama]

Agreed with Jodi.

We don't even bother with organic becuase it is SO insanely expensive, though I guess down the road if we have the money we will try to eat more oragnic. BUT we actually do drink organic milk a lot of the time and eat organic fruit because a lot of the time we just buy it on sale and it is cheaper than the usual. Just depends.

Overall eating fresh fruits and veggies over processed foods, and cooking more meatless dishes is how we have aimed for frugal/healthy groceries.

[cschin4]

I really don't think eating healthy is more expensive. In fact, I think it is LESS expensive. Rice, frozen veggies, fresh veggies, etc are very cheap. Yes, there are some expensive veggies and fruits but you can easily eat a very good diet of excellent food if you choose.

[disneysteve]

I'm not concerned with organic, but I think eating more veggies and whole grains helps the budget because even though those items are a little more costly, they are also much more filling and satisfying. After having a good vegetarian meal, I'm stuffed and much less likely to find myself snacking an hour later. On the other hand, I could shovel in a plate full of non-whole grain, low fiber food and I'm just as hungry when I'm done as I was when I started, so I keep on grazing as the evening goes on, grabbing something each time I cruise through the kitchen. Bad for my body and my wallet.

[pjmama]

I think healthy can be more expensive or less expensive depending on what your definition of "healthy" is... I agree with buying more dried beans and lentils, but when it comes to getting whole grain products and organics it can get pretty pricey. But I admit to breaking the budget for those healthy commodities... I guess it beats paying medical bills!

[PrincessPerky]

Easy does it...and like others said look for when it is cheaper, and health benifits should save money...I know my kids are sick less than the average junk food family and I firmly believe that is due to both the healthy eating and the healthy others (handwashing, bedtimes, and fingers don't go in the mouth!)

One thing that will make it easy is if you are going from proccessed (instant rice) to whole (brown) then it is cheaper, but no plain white is not cheaper than brown .

Anyway, I started with brown rice, then as my budget adjusted I moved on to brown egg noodles..still havn't found any other brand of brown noodles I can afford/eat.

Oh and before you go for organic fruit and veggies, just plain get them in the diet! frozen is my favorite way..I an nuke a veggie in 4 minutes, no muss no fuss, convenience of convenience food but actually often heaper than fresh!

Currently I am looking into local freerange chickens and beef...so far the cost is astranomical! I am not sure we will be able to afford it, but seeing as how I have no meat in my house, I think a once a week treat might work. but not gonna ever get back up to nightly meat...heh..I am sure if some third world ountry had access to the net and read my complain they would be making fun of me wanting nightly meat..ah well. Can't help my tasts run carnivore!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

eating organic is expensive, but eating regular fruits/veggies/unprocessed foods is not necessarily more expensive processed food. It is so crazy that organic food is expensive.

[pjmama]

Though aldi is lacking in organic foods, they definitely have a wide array of healthy foods! At least at my branch, and the ones in Ohio that I go to. Everything from unsalted almonds to soymilk, muesli, yogurt, hummus (just to name a few). I am a fairly health-conscious person, and I find a great deal of food that I can eat and still maintain my diet at Aldi. For the flax and all that, though, I usually have to hit Giant Eagle. Organic food is definitely hard to come by at Aldi, if they even have any (kind of a shame...).

[ea1776]

I think it's OK to spend more on health related items. If it doesn't fit into your budget, I would consider tweaking other parts of your budget before tweaking the food part. Eating right is GREAT investment, even if it is more expensive than eating processed junk.

Last weekend I made a list of the good foods I eat that aren't produce (like whole grain bread, organic milk, etc.) and tried to find coupons online. I saved about $5 on my last trip to the grocer.

[Cylenchar]

Learning to make bread/pasta from scratch is a great way to eat healthier for cheaper. For what we pay on flour, whole wheat flour, eggs to last several weeks, we could afford maybe 2 loaves of bread. I can make probably 6 loaves, enough fettucini for 3 people, panckaes, hamburger buns with that.

[garilon]

if you want organic - why don't you grow your own fruit and veggies - even if you don't have a garden you can grow lots of herbs indoors - add herbs to every meal and make them healthier

[whitestripe]

buying organic/healthy/fresh/wholgrain food is important to me. i have a certain amount of money i would 'like' to spend on groceries a week, but i am not neccesarily concerned if it goes over that amount, if the money is spent on things that i think are important. im not going to eat white bread and vegetables that are three months old, shipped from the other side of the world, with ten different pesticides on it, just so i can save $1 a kilo. i work to earn money, and i earn the money so that i can live, and i live to enjoy life. good food is something that i enjoy, and a healthy body and conciousness is another thing that brings me happiness.

[mom-from-missouri]

An easy way to have organic is to grow your own. We have "organic fish" in our ponds, our veggies from the garden, our fruits in the orchard and vineyard, our eggs, our meat........
But a big part of eating healthy doesn't need to center around organic--but rather eating wise choices--a whole grain sandwhich and an apple for lunch instead of soda and chips or a candy bar....

[Judi Dial]

We prefer to buy organic, and do. But I will buy nonorganic if it's a really good deal, it's fresher, it's a non-payday week, or some such.

We buy at a local farm stand and a local bakery. Sometimes it's actually cheaper than the supermarkets, frequently, it's more. But usually it's better.

For example, this summer, corn was .60 an ear, or $6 a baker's dozen (13) at the farm stand (.46 an ear). Is it organic? No. Was it picked today and grown locally? Yes.

The farm stand also had a deal where you bought a cloth bag and they gave you 10% off all future purchases, I did that. So my bakers' dozen became $5.40, or .42 an ear.

By contrast, the markets had corn from God knows where and who knows how old for .25 an ear.

The farm stand also sells bushels. Next year, I plan to buy a bushel once or twice in the summer and freeze it.

I've never seen organic corn for sale.

Judi

[StressLess]

We're trying to eat better on a budget, too, and one thing that's really helping is our Entenmann bakery outlet, of all things. If you can just close your eyes to all the sweet stuff, they have a great selection of whole wheat mini bagels, English muffins, breads and rolls, including whole grain light breads that are only 40 calories a slice. They are half the supermarket price. Aldi has a nice whole wheat bread, brown rice, low fat wheat thin crackers and sometimes Fit & Active rice cakes. I've run into some good Kashi sales and coupons lately, and just got some Near East brown rice mixes free after coupons. Oatmeal is pretty cheap all the time.

FYI - Organic corn does exist. I just saw in our local CSA's flyer that they only have it a few weeks a year because they have to harvest it all before it's time for the pests to attack. Apparently there's no good organic way to control them once they start up.

[Judi Dial]

Originally Posted by StressLess

FYI - Organic corn does exist. I just saw in our local CSA's flyer that they only have it a few weeks a year because they have to harvest it all before it's time for the pests to attack. Apparently there's no good organic way to control them once they start up.

Thanks for the info; I'll look for it next year!

Judi