Sometimes responding to the idiots isn't about trying to change their minds (people who refuse to actually think aren't going to ever get it) - it's about making sure to provide accurate information for those who might otherwise read the thread and think that the idiots know what they're talking about.
I've seen this mentioned in 4 threads today and I guess I don't understand it.
When I started eating healthy, cutting out junk, cutting out eating fast food, etc., my food and grocery budget went DOWN significantly. What is it that people are eating that's so expensive that makes them feel that being healthy is expensive?
I agree Kara. Too many people take something that they read (from any source whatsoever) as being gospel. If no-one contradicts - that proves it doesnt it...
Steve's of sterner stuff than me - I couldnt live on pure noodles for just a week - never mind a month. A day would be tough going...

It seems to me that it's a very subjective thread in reality. What's expensive to you, isn't expensive to someone else.
In my *opinion* you can't live healthily off of $80.oo a month. I live off of $450.00 Plus a month for groceries.
To say that ppl have disposable money in the direction that they spend it on the net, has nothing to do with the fact.
I live in a rather large city, and the so called *hoods*, there homes all have satellite dishes ect, sometimes 5 to a home hanging off their balconies. These ppl live in poverty. And you know why they do? (not all of course, plz try not to jump my back) Because they're spending money on things they DON'T need.
With that said, it's kind of a double Sword, obviously they think food is expensive because they've not got their priorities in check.
*The Poor Man Spends More* ~ yea he does in the long run, because he's always buying cheap item's that break sooner than buying something a lil more expensive and of better quality in the long run.
There are so many different ways to go about it, but hey it's only *My Opinion*
I am also really interested in the healthy/cheaper recipe thread, Always up for learning a thing or two.Maybe I can cut back on my monthly grocery expense & save for some where else. Gotta have Yogurt.
This is true, but you can get some objectivity when you can compare like figures - say the cost of a fast food meal to a healthy meal made at home.It seems to me that it's a very subjective thread in reality. What's expensive to you, isn't expensive to someone else.
Well, at the risk of sounding pissy (which I'm not trying to be ... just being factualIn my *opinion* you can't live healthily off of $80.oo a month. I live off of $450.00 Plus a month for groceries.
I guarantee you that if you told me what you ate and how much you paid for it, I could devise a plan that you'd both like and was SIGNIFICANTLY less than $450 a month (assuming you're willing to cook, as opposed to buying pre-prepared food). I feed 2 people on less than $200 a month and we eat WELL ... seafood and lean beef and fresh veg, and so forth. And mind you, I love to cook and make a lot of things from scratch, but I can still make it work w/out any kind of "gourmet" cooking.Maybe I can cut back on my monthly grocery expense & save for some where else. Gotta have Yogurt.
What about frozen fruit and veg? I can buy bags of each here on sale for 4 for $5 usually. Even not on sale, a bag of frozen veg runs between $1 and $3 a bag, depending on the type.I think it's going to depend a lot on where you live. Eating fruits and vegetables is quite expensive for us in the Winter
Which is why it's important to eat seasonally.It's not unusual for out of season foods to cost several dollars a pound in the snowy months,
True that some things are more expensive - your whole grain bread example - and you balance that out by eating less expensive foods elsewhere. But unless you wouldn't be buying milk anyway, you can't really say drinking milk is a component of "more expensive".Dairy foods like yogurt, milk, or cheese are expensive regardless of the time of year here, ranging from $3-7 for Yogurt, $4 for a gallon of milk and $$$$$$ for REAL cheese, not that over processed crap.
Meat is generally expensive anywhere, but cheap cuts of meat can be prepared in a healthy manner with a little time and effort.Meat is generally expensive here, unless you happen to stock up your freezer during a good sale (which we do. We ate chicken from 2006 the other day (I do not recommend this, I'm just giving an example)).
Peanut butter is always expensive, sure. But you can make your own or you can just not eat pb at all if it's a big cost.Natural peanut butters are very expensive as well. You can't buy any peanut butter here that doesn't have hydrogenated oils and trans fats if it doesn't say all natural. You're looking at about $7 for a BIG jar of peanut butter, and about $3.50 for a small jar of all natural stuff that has less than half of the amount of the big jar.
LowfatMilk second.
What about frozen fruit and veg? I can buy bags of each here on sale for 4 for $5 usually. Even not on sale, a bag of frozen veg runs between $1 and $3 a bag, depending on the type.
Which is why it's important to eat seasonally.
True that some things are more expensive - your whole grain bread example - and you balance that out by eating less expensive foods elsewhere.
But unless you wouldn't be buying milk anyway, you can't really say drinking milk is a component of "more expensive".
And I make my own yogurt for pennies on the cost of store-bought - healthier AND cheaper.
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Meat is generally expensive anywhere, but cheap cuts of meat can be prepared in a healthy manner with a little time and effort.
Peanut butter is always expensive, sure. But you can make your own or you can just not eat pb at all if it's a big cost.
Again, I guarantee you that if you gave me a budget of someone who ate unhealthily, I could make a healthy menu plan for the same budget. As I told Gimme.cake, it would require a willingness to cook (not gourmet, but to do some prep and cooking), but it can be done. I've done it for dozens of people before.![]()
Just out of plain curiosity is the $450 a month for just you, or do you have a family as well? I dont even think I spend that on gas, and thats where my paycheck usually goes is groceries, gas, and credit card bills.
Responding to 2 people in one post.
Gimme.Cake first.
This is true, but you can get some objectivity when you can compare like figures - say the cost of a fast food meal to a healthy meal made at home.
Yes that is factual. I would agree. To that point. That side of it. Whether not someone is willing or able, is completely different. That was my point. Guess I should have made it a little more clear.
Well, at the risk of sounding pissy (which I'm not trying to be ... just being factual) your "opinion" is wrong. People CAN eat healthy for $80 a month. Now it may not be food you personally want to eat - you may be of the opinion that $80 worth of healthy food isn't interesting or fun or enjoyable to you and *that's* a valid opinion. But to say you can't be healthy for $80 a month is flat out incorrect.
haha right on. Than don't risk it. No one's opinion is wrong, if it is indeed what they feel is right. We may not agree, but it doesn't make someone any less inferior to the other. In this case inferior being "wrong". It's my opinion, and I am allowed to have one.
I would say you're taking my words and twisting them. That's not what I implied. That is your perspective.
Sure ppl spending a dollar, thirty dollars, and yes eighty dollars can spend it however they like. Healthy of course. To live off of $80.00/month only towards food seems highly unlikely.
I guarantee you that if you told me what you ate and how much you paid for it, I could devise a plan that you'd both like and was SIGNIFICANTLY less than $450 a month (assuming you're willing to cook, as opposed to buying pre-prepared food). I feed 2 people on less than $200 a month and we eat WELL ... seafood and lean beef and fresh veg, and so forth. And mind you, I love to cook and make a lot of things from scratch, but I can still make it work w/out any kind of "gourmet" cooking.
How do you know whether or not I cook? My my another assumption. So approximately $200.00 a month is what you spend? And you're a cooker, I can tell. This is just silly bickering really, c'mon. Look's like we ate a lot of the same things too.Haha I love this!! Hint Hint to the gourmet cooking? I'm a gourmet cook now...Oh I see.
I am guessing both you ladies, Karacooks, and Mad4Chillas took my previous statement's a little to heart, and for that I apologize. I thought this thread was open for discussion.
I enjoy eating, I like to eat what I like when I want it, and how I want it. I am always up for new angles. I am certainly curious to know how to live off of $80.00/month for groceries, if I could do that, I'd have it made!
Thanks Again, it's been a real pleasure.![]()
Well .. no. Actually frozen veg and fruit are often MORE nutritious than their "fresh" counterparts. Frozen fruit and veg are usually picked at the peak of their ripeness and flash frozen w/in a few miles of harvesting. "Fresh" fruit and veg (unless you're speaking of something you buy from a local co-op or farmer's market) are picked while still underripe, so they can survive the travel time from grower to store. They are often ripened by exposure to gasses, and they are usually waxed to extend their shelf life. They are not as nutritious or as fresh as frozen veg. Really.There's argument to be had on the nutritional value vegetables and fruit have after they've been frozen,
It is practical for just about anyone. Most of making yogurt is hands off ... fermenting time. It takes me 30 mins to do the actual "cooking" part of it - usually on the back of the stove while I'm making dinner or something on Sunday. 1/2 gal of milk will make enough yogurt for 2 weeks. So yeah ... 30 mins for 2 weeks of yogurt - it's practical for anyone.[re: making yogurt] That's nice. I'm sure it is cheaper than buying it in the little cups (pretty much everything is) but is it really practical for everyone?
Seriously now?That's 260 more dishes (containers) you have to wash every year if you take Yogurt in your lunch every day for work-and of course, time is money.
That's 4.333 hours of work a year you would spend soaking and washing your Yogurt container.
Huh? You're comparing apples and oranges. This is a red herring argument. I have no response.If someone is too poor to eat health foods, do you think they're going to go for the meat that lasts one meal, or a loaf of bread that lasts a week?
And again, you're buying into a promoting the idea that eating healthily either has to be time consuming or expensive. It's simply not true. Again, I can put together a cheap menu that doesn't require tons of cooking time. But people don't want to hear the truth because then they don't have a built in excuse.It's nice that you have the time and energy to focus so much on your diet, but not everyone's lifestyles have so much wiggle room. Time really is money for some people.
And again, you're buying into a promoting the idea that eating healthily either has to be time consuming or expensive. Eating healthy and cheap does NOT have to be a struggle - unless you're looking for ways to make it one (like making washing a single dish into such a huge big deal it makes a simple task look impossible and expensive).You can give these suggestions, and it's nice to share your wealth of knowledge and for some people I'm sure they appreciate your ability to plan their budgets to the nearest cents, however some people struggle to eat at all and healthy eating is going to be a much bigger burden on them. It's a fact of life. Just because they can cut costs here and there doesn't mean they'll be able to afford to do it.
Why? Because you can't?To live off of $80.00/month only towards food seems highly unlikely.
No, I didn't assume anything. And you're getting hostile and defensive where it's not necessary. However, I do apologize if my phrasing wasn't as clear as I meant. I wasn't implying anything about YOUR cooking. I was forestalling the argument that a lot of people have made that you have to be a "gourmet" cook in order to be able to eat cheap - that you have to be willing to make a bunch of regular food "from scratch" (things like bake your own bread and so forth). I just wanted to be clear that a "normal" cook - someone who cooks their own food but doesn't want to have to learn fancy techniques or whatever - can eat very very very cheaply.How do you know whether or not I cook? My my another assumption.
I'm very willing to take that on as a challenge. I can quite easily plan a full menu for 1 person for $80 a month. I'm not saying it'll be fancy food, but it'll be good, and nutritious, and varied and not require any out-of-the-ordinary cooking.I enjoy eating, I like to eat what I like when I want it, and how I want it. I am always up for new angles. I am certainly curious to know how to live off of $80.00/month for groceries, if I could do that, I'd have it made!
I am sure I would say something completely different if I was living on my own, or if I had a family that shared my interest in healthy nutrition, but I don't have that luxury.