Is a healthy diet more expensive?

trailingspouse

Apologies if this has been asked before, but with the cost of living crisis affecting everyone now might be a good time to ask it again.

My gut feeling is that it's cheaper to eat healthy - yes, a white loaf is cheaper than a wholemeal one for example, but a wholemeal slice is more filling than a white slice so theoretically the wholemeal loaf will last longer. And I could feed a family for a week for the cost of a fairly ordinary take away!!

Would love to hear other people's thoughts - does cost put you off eating healthy, or do you save a fortune by avoiding the convenience foods?

oldernonethewiser

Depends on what you eat.

If you make a sandwich with two slices of bread then using a more expensive loaf will cost more and not necessarily last any longer than a cheaper loaf.

I try to make most meals without resorting to convenince foods but not always a choice for others.

bouicca21

Eating healthily means less meat, more fish fruit and veg, but there are always choices to be made - eating Dover sole is going to cost way more than eating basa, rump steak costs more than ox cheek, Guinea fowl and pheasant cost more than ordinary chicken.

diystarter7

Hi
It depends on what ones see as a healthy diet.

The important factor of any "healthy diet" is a good balance of most foods, avoiding high shugar, friend foods, high saturates, etc and some exercise and positive thinking,

Thnaks

leftatthetrafficlights

I agree that it depends on what you classify as healthy - a good balance of foods is important and the 'food pyramid' information should be scrutinised carefully- it's well known that the funding for much of the 'healthy' diet research has come from lobbyists from various food industries so should not be taken as a good source of information. Add this to the stunning amount of u-turns regarding what is good for you and it's little surprise that many people are confused!! 🤦‍♀️

I'm a long time vegan and generally my diet is very healthy in my personal opinion - pulses, veg, fruit and grains are my staple diet and we eat very little processed food. I spend around £20 - £25 per week on average on fruit and veg (I have a massive store cupboard of pulses and grains so taking that into account my average spend would still be less than £30) for 2 adults. I would guess that over half of this cost is fruit as it's much more expensive than the veg.

During the summer this is reduced even further as I grow lots of my own veg and and herbs and freeze the excess plus make lots of sauces (courgette and tomato for instance) which I freeze for the winter months - these are then used as pasta sauces, soup or bases for a variety of different dishes. 

However, I can cook and have the time and inclination to do so, my dh and I are very easy to feed as we both have very few items that we don't like and we have no dietary requirements (other than me being vegan) - all of this has a massive impact on what is possible food wise and has to be taken into account when making an assessment of which is cheaper. With us the answer is a resounding no - a healthy diet is nowhere near as expensive, it's much cheaper to eat healthy - but it won't be the same for everyone. 

DullGreyGuy

The few vegans I know supplement their diet with pills to catchup on the B12, calcium etc, without getting into a debate of if a diet is healthy when it requires supplements their costs at least should be factored in.  

Personally think a healthy diet can be cheap but its easy to let the budget run away especially if you want a wide variety (not sure I'd count switching from one type of dried bean to another really much variety) and much harder if you arent an organised cook. One advantage of cheap highly processed food is that it has a very long shelf life. Our favourite local green grocers mainly serve the restaurant trade and so everything is perfectly ripe on the day of purchase meaning a couple of days later and they've gone past their best... if you dont stick to your meal plan can result in foodwaste that massively increases your budget.

tooldle

We eat a lot of vegan recipes with a rare piece of white meat or fish. Husband has to have foods that are easy to digest. There are some veggies on the banned list for him, tomato being an example. For us, this way of eating is very cheap. I've found fruit and veg from our local greengrocer, lasts far longer than supermarket F&V. Eating a lot of beans / pulses, we've become atuned to the taste and can tell some apart. No supplements needed or taken.

leftatthetrafficlights

DullGreyGuy said:

The few vegans I know supplement their diet with pills to catchup on the B12, calcium etc, without getting into a debate of if a diet is healthy when it requires supplements their costs at least should be factored in.  

Personally think a healthy diet can be cheap but its easy to let the budget run away especially if you want a wide variety (not sure I'd count switching from one type of dried bean to another really much variety) and much harder if you arent an organised cook. 

I don't dispute that some vegans use supplements but I've never taken any in over 20 years of being vegan - absolutely no need to if you know what you're doing - and yes, I've had routine health checks which have shown that I'm not deficient in any vitamins/minerals.

As for the changing of one bean to another as 'not much variety'  - I don't know any omnivores who eat only plain cooked meat day in and day out - its all about what sauces/flavourings you use, so I really can't see what the difference is - the reality is that there are only a handful of meats/fish that people eat so thats not exactly a bastion of variety in my opinion!!

I'm not advocating a vegan diet for anyone- each to their own -  but for me it's easy to have a healthy diet very cheaply. 

DullGreyGuy

leftatthetrafficlights said:
As for the changing of one bean to another as 'not much variety'  - I don't know any omnivores who eat only plain cooked meat day in and day out - its all about what sauces/flavouings you use, so I really can't see what the difference is - the reality is that there are only a handful of meats/fish that people eat so thats not exactly a bastion of variety in my opinion!!

Hence the initial part of that comment... if you want a wide variety... not everyone does. I swear my uncle has eaten the same meal every day of his adult life (hes in his 80s now) other than when visiting relatives and sundays when the dinner pork chop becomes a lamb chop. The funny thing is he likes the other food relatives give him (even if he has to say things like that chorizo with patas bravas is just sausage, chips and ketchup) but his wife didnt cook that (never met her as she was agoraphobic) and now he's a widower hes learned to cook but its still potato, chop and a veg for dinner. 

It wasnt a comment on veganism, could equally have said swapping pork loin for pork shoulder. Just dried pulses are relatively cheap and so fitted better with the theme of eating on a budget. 

CapricornLass

Agree that the meat bit is the expensive part.  I buy local and organic meat in the main - I just do smaller portions of meat.  We do eat a lot of veg, and some fruit.  However, I think its also important to buy seasonally.  Strawberries in January will always be expensive!

Part of the problem is also that we have become used to having a very wide choice of fruit and veg available to buy at any one time.  When I was young in the 50s and 60s, you ate what was seasonable because it was plentiful, and (usually) cheap.  You ate it until you were sick of eating it, but then it went out of season and something else came into season to replace it.  There wasn't so much choice either.  I don't remember broccoli being around until my 20s and green beans or any other produce being air-freighted from Kenya et al was completely unknown. 

theoretica

Also - what is included in the cost? Money spent in the supermarket is only the start of it.

Cooking appliances, pots and pans, fuel? The time chopping carrots? Time shopping? The extra house price of a place with decent storage/kitchen workspace that don't stink out your living space?