My point is, I realized eating healthy isn't necesarily more expensive than eating poorer quality food. For example 1 cup of yogurt is .42 cents and a banana is .16. Thats .58 cents for a pretty filling snack. And thats an adult size portion. A kid would be about half that so figure .29 for them.

I guess I always had it in my head that good food is expensive but when you do the math per serving it's a little eye opening. I'm going to keep this in mind while shooping.

Now If I could only find a decent farmers market.

Thanks for all of these ideas...when I think of eating healthy, I think expensive too. But I wil start doing the cost per serving. I also want to plant a very small veggie garden this summer, and that also read somewhere on the boards that some people plant different veggies and fruits, then swap food....great idea, more food, healthy, less expensive, and you do not have to worry about wasting any.

Carolyn

I perfer farmers market in summer but it is not always cheaper than grocery store, just usually better quality.

Kim- your point about preparation is my problem with dh. I actually dropped my hours b/c dh will not give kids a healthy dinner if he has to prepare it in any way. He won't give them left overs either. I have to prepare every meal whethr I am her or not if I want my kids to eat healthy. which means I could never go on a girls trip, unless I'm willing for kids to eat unhealhty the entire time. My dh is college educated to that is not the factor. His mothr did the same thing.

allgirls

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

I'm going to buy these Vegetable/Fruit Grow Kits (from Lakeside Collection) to grow strawberries, tomatoes and sweet peppers with my 2 year old. I want something small and these seem really easy, very contained (we live in a teeny tiny house), and are 3 things we love to eat when they're in season. At $5 a piece, it's an affordable fun thing to do with DS, and I can replant seeds in the same pots the next year, using the directions enclosed.

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[quote=stevesgal]If we go to a higher end grocery store their prices on fresh fruit is close to ridiculous- especially the organics. I have trouble spending $4.99 on a 3lb bag of apples and $5.99 for oranges!

Welcome to my world! These are regular prices around here.I live on an island, so the cost of everything is higher because of shipping. I pay $5 for 3lbs of apples at least every two weeks. Potatoes are $5 for 5 lbs! Milk is also expensive $3.49 for 2 litres. And they wonder why obesity is on the rise?!?!?!?! I can get 3 big bags of chips for $4 and Pepsi for
.88. Sad....

Alana

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One expensive item to replace is cereal. Sure, it may seem that it's not, but if check out how much you are paying for the weight, it's incredible! Oatmeal is much cheaper for us, so are eggs or yogurt. Plus, cereals are usually loaded with sugars, something that no one needs more of.

The other thing to think about is future costs. If you are buying foods just because they are cheaper, you may end up paying for it later in life. Eat healthy now and pay less in medical costs and medications later.

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www.myspace.com/vioburn

Frugal is being wise with your money and resources and cheap is forcing everyone else to.

Check out my blog, I'm starting to add more to it, as I can...vioburn.blogspot.com

"Welcome to my world! These are regular prices around here.I live on an island, so the cost of everything is higher because of shipping. I pay $5 for 3lbs of apples at least every two weeks. Potatoes are $5 for 5 lbs! Milk is also expensive $3.49 for 2 litres. And they wonder why obesity is on the rise?!?!?!?! I can get 3 big bags of chips for $4 and Pepsi for
.88. Sad...."

I also live in Canada on an island (Vancouver Island). I think that food here (in Canada) costs alot more on average than food in the US. Eating healthy here is MUCH more expensive than eating crap. My grocery costs almost doubled when I started trying to really follow the Superfoods (lots of spinach, broccoli, yoghurt, soy, blueberries, salmon, etc).

I believe the main reason people eat UNhealthy foods is because of (1) convenience and (2) healthy foods tend to be perishable.

Let's face it, if a $1 worth of carrots goes bad in the refrigerator, then that was a really expensive bunch of carrots. But I can buy a bag of corn chips for the same price, stuff them into the cupboard and eat them right out of the bag when I'm searching for a snack.

Anybody who has ever poured some milk over their cereal only to discover the milk has gone bad can attest to the fact that sometimes a breakfast bar is a little bit more appealing.

When the kids climb into the minivan after school, they really appreciate being able to search in the snack bag - which is kept perpetually in the car - to tied them over on the ride home. However, if they pulled out a banana that was in there since the day before, I'm betting they wouldn't be even looking in the snack bag for a long while. And that's not even considering what the inside of the car would smell like.

Personally I find it easier to deal with cleaning out my car of the used napkins and little snack wrappers than haplessly discovering an unidentifiable grey-green, fuzzy lump-o-something under the seats. Was that a McD's Happy Meal apple slice or what?

And any working mom would tell you it is far superior to heat up a take-n-bake pizza at home while helping the kids with homework before dashing off to soccer practice than trying to toss together stir-fry - even with the help of heating up the rice in the microwave - because later that evening the wok will have to be washed.

I'm NOT advocating for eating unhealthy foods, all I'm doing is pointing out that the reason we eat unhealthy foods is more to do with lifestyle than cost. If we really want to eat differently, we have to start living differently, too. After all, if it was just how much things cost, then kids meals at $2.99 (for ONE serving when $3 could easily feed three people for dinner at home) or a cup of coffee at the same price wouldn't be so popular.