Realization: Healthy Eating is Expensive
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One of our budget items that always seems out of whack compared to what I see the frugalistas out there in the personal finance blog realm is our food budget. I’ve seen a claims of grocery expense for a family of three in the less-than-$150 range. Three meals a day for three people (even if one of them is really 1/4 of the other two… :)) for around $5 a day just doesn’t seem feasible to me. Irregardless, that amount is substantially less than what ours ends up being.
But even when those line items were tracked in different categories, we were still spending quite a bit more than $5 (or, for that matter, $10) a day on groceries. We’re doing slightly better now than we did back then because we’ve gotten into preplanning our meals (makes shopping a ton more efficient), but I’d still be surprised if we spent much less than $300 a month solely on what we eat. But why so much? I think MyMoneyBlog may have just given me my answer.
WiseGeek recently put up an interesting post showing what 200 calories worth of a vast array of food look like. And MyMoneyBlog went a step further and put up a great followup post on the cost of those different 200 calories. And what conclusion can I reach from the info?
Healthy foods cost more to get the same calorie benefit. Specifically, fresh fruits and vegetables are very expensive, especially compared to cheap carbs and processed foods (on a $/calorie basis anyway). The wife and I realized 5 or 6 years ago that we were, well, flat out getting fat. A few scary vacation pictures convinced us that maybe, just maybe, a little more attention to our health was necessary. And we’ve slowly but surely jacked up our amount of exercise (myself from a level of zero) along with eating much healthier. These days, it’s really a rarity that we eat a meal that has all that much processed food or huge amounts of carbs in it at all anymore, and there are always fresh fruit and veggies around. And we’ve each dropped a bunch of weight and feel infinitely better.
So, is it time to cut back until we get into better financial shape? Nah, not necessarily. We may pay a little more attention to what’s on sale, continue to improve our meal planning, maybe even sign up with a local CSA if we can find one nearby to save on that veggie bill. But the overall improvement in our life that being conscious of our physical health provides is much more important to us. And if that slows us down from getting out of debt by a little while, so be it…
Tagged:
» groceries, budget, healthy eating, CSA, community supported agriculture, meal planning, diet, 200 calories
Kevin Neely said,
Wrote on February 10, 2007 @ 7:11 pm
After the mortgage, food is easily the biggest item on the budget, even bigger than the car payment. I don’t granualrize the expeses that much, and most shopping goes into the Expenses:Groceries category. However, if the trip is mostly wine, say, I will subcategorize like Expenses:Groceries:Wine. Lifewise with cleaners and such.
It’s amazing that it has become a sign of wealth to be skinny rather than, umm, “well-rounded”. Eating healthy is both more expensive and can often be more time-consuming. I find it to be worth it, but it’s certainly a cost.
Try Farmer’s Markets, the veggies and fruit are usually much, much cheaper.
Zero Is The New Black » Blog Archive » Eating Lightly Isn’t Easy said,
Wrote on May 30, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
[...] So I am a little bummed that I can’t pull something off like Rebecca Blood with her Eating Organic on a Food Stamp Budget series - Nebraska just ain’t California, I’m afraid. Our little family of three will just have to continue to spend a fairly ridiculous amount to eat. We go out of our way to avoid as much overprocessed food as possible, and unless I’m missing out on some cost savings that haven’t occurred to me, eating healthy is expensive. [...]
Glenn Wiener said,
Wrote on November 22, 2007 @ 4:18 am
Every food you take is different. Some foods have more fat, sugar or salt. Others may have more vitamins or fiber. Fitting these foods together makes a diet good or bad - regardless of budget. Balancing them is just as important as moderation.
Make healthy eating and physical activities fun!
Try new sports like running in the park to supplement your diet, it’s free and very good for you.
Glenn
Celebrity Foods said,
Wrote on February 26, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
I agree that it is more expensive to eat healthy. I watch for sales and use coupons all the time. While it takes up quite a bit of time and needs constant organization, I save about $50 a week on groceries.
bowling alley in iowa said,
Wrote on March 13, 2008 @ 12:49 am
yes, here in our country organics are more pricey.
from monterguide.net' rel='external nofollow'>Fimo said,
Wrote on April 7, 2008 @ 3:51 am
i agree that..we should planned our diet wisely..
Tiffany from Bowtrol Reviews said,
Wrote on October 27, 2008 @ 5:51 am
I think it is very important for us to eat healthy food. But the prices for it is really very high. So anyway we must eat fresh fruits and vegetables, because health is the most important thing in our life. I think its a very good idea to use coupons and watch for sales, and also on Farmer’s Markets we can buy groceries much cheaper.
Taylor from Wine Barrels said,
Wrote on November 14, 2008 @ 10:10 am
If you be smart and stock up on food when there is good deals you can in the long run save a good amount on your food bill. Fresh fruit,vegetables and organic food is going to obviously cost you more. You can still eat healthy and stay within your budget if you plan ahead well.