See our updated $20 Food Showdown for 2016! Budget constraints prevent many people from eating right. "I can't afford to buy healthy food." "Fruits and vegetables are too expensive." "Grocery store prices are astronomical." "It's cheaper to eat fast food." We hear these "excuses" every day--and they're good ones. But we don't give up that easily and believe any excuse can be overcome. Today we're setting out to prove that healthy eating is possible on any budget. We compared the cost of unhealthy foods from the drive-thru, freezer section and snack foods aisle to the cost of healthy foods. By making even one of these swaps, you can make room in your grocery budget for a few new healthy foods. The photos below aim to show the diversity in healthy foods available. Prices may vary in your area (some items were on sale when we shopped), but we think you'll be shocked at how far you can stretch a buck at the supermarket when you buy healthy foods! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() If you bought all that junk food in one month, you would spend $115.64. The healthy food would cost $111.83 but feed you and your family for far more meals. It might take a bit more time and planning to put these foods on the dinner table each night, but at least now you know you can afford to try! Foods are store brand unless noted. (Grocery prices from Wal-Mart and Meijer in Noblesville, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio; fast food prices from the greater Indianapolis and Cincinnati areas, 2010) Research: Beth Donovan and Stepfanie Romine Photography and Design: Elliott Giles
Like what you read? Get your free account today!
Got a story idea? Give us a shout!
|
Popular EntriesMore From SparkPeople
|
Comments
wrong with steakums? I use them occasionally with green peppers and onions for a high protein meal. Report
Report
Reading all these comments by other SparkPeople members makes me quite sad though. This article itself makes it obvious that in America, the environment already stacks healthy living NOT in people's favour. If people have to pay the real cost of food production, there's no logical way fresh fruits and vegetables should cost more than highly processed frozen junk, or takeaway food sold in fast food restaurants. People aren't paid fair wages, the whole system is broken, our societies are getting sicker, and someone out there is benefiting from it all... Report
Report
Report
If I happen to have all the extras on hand it will cost me $6.88 for 8 burgers if I make them 1/8 pound each, which is pretty tiny when you consider how much the cheapest burger shrinks when cooked. Most likely I won't have the cheese on hand, so I would probably spend about $2 for 8 slices of the cheapest cheese slices to go on the burgers, and these cheap cheese slices are not even real cheese since imitation cheese is about half the price of real cheese.
So even if I happened to have the onions, ketchup, mustard and pickles on hand, these 8 little burgers would cost me nearly $9 instead of the $8 I would have spent at McDonald's.
I don't go there often, but this is a more realistic comparison...
(Grocery prices and fast food prices from small town Michigan stores, 2015)
Report
Their argument is invalid. Report
Showing ice cream to Soy milk, rice & yogurt makes no sense, for instance. It would be more helpful to show the ingredients for a healthy dessert & compare it to the ice cream. Or, the ingredients for a home made pizza or Italian meal to the Pizza Hut takeout. Report
You do need to shop seasonally as far as the produce goes (For Example: peaches, strawberries, fresh corn on the cob, etc., in January in Michigan just don't work. Strawberries are $6-$7 right now, in the summer I can get them for $1.50-$2. And sometimes when you're on a budget you need to realize some things just aren't affordable - peaches are barely affordable here even when they're in season.
You need to completely drop the brand names wherever possible, unless you catch a sale or have a coupon. The store brands are cheaper, sometimes much cheaper.
The meat prices on the healthy side can also be an issue (cause meat has gone up so much). The one that was off was the KFC comparison. KFC was cheaper by about $7, but buying chicken at full price was one of the issues. (Store has chicken on sale all the time just not the week I did this. I know I can get hamburger and the other meats cheaper too if I catch a sale).
The only thing I didn't like was it should have been a meal compared to a meal, not junk food compared to random healthy items that really didn't make a meal.
These prices were mostly from Meijer, with a few comparisons at a local produce/specialty store, and a few items from Walmart that I couldn't find anywhere else (I don't normally shop at Walmart).
Report
Let's say you feed you family three times a week from the "dollar" menu. Family of four gets a hamburger, fries, soda, and apple pie at McDonald's. That's four dollars plus tax (MD = 6%) per meal. $16.96. Is anyone going to seriously claim that they can't feed dinner to a family of four for $17.00? And in MD real food is not taxed so there is an extra dollar to spend on real food. And seriously, who would stick to the dollar menu? Just about no one.
And several people claim that the comparison is unrealistic since "I live in a major metro area." Well I have been to Cincinnati AND Indianapolis (globetrotter that I am) and I can assure you that they qualify as Major Metro Areas. No, they aren't Baltimore-Washington but I have been in their grocery stores and their prices are comparable. Report
I won't buy ground meat of any kind at walmart because we used to haul for them and I know how lo ng ago it was really processed. And ground turkey? please, I want flavor, not sawdust.
Face it, healthy foods in the US are ridiculously expensive in some areas, but even on a budget, it is doable. Just not easy. Report
At the end of the day, though, this article is still a resource. Even if the items are more than the Domino's pizza, you are likely netting more servings (like the box of Total, or the Yogurt). Report