Saving on Food Versus Eating Healthy
It’s pretty obvious that making the choice to eat healthy is more expensive than eating cheap. Last night I drove through McDonald’s to pick up a quick dinner for my 3 year old, my wife and myself. Trying to eat a little healthy I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich for my wife and myself. I ordered a plain cheeseburger for my daughter and 2 large french fries for us all to share. I skipped the drinks trying to save another buck. My total bill was still about $13! The chicken sandwiches were $3.65 each. After thinking about it I could have bought almost 4 double cheeseburgers for the price of one chicken sandwich!
It’s not only the fast food restaurants that have inflated prices for healthier eating. At the grocery store there are tons of food items that are dirt cheap but can hurt your overall health if you eat too much. Take for instance the popular food choice of college students, Roman noodles. Roman noodles only cost about $0.15 per pack and sometimes even cheaper if you buy in bulk, but how healthy are they? After a quick glance at the nutritional facts I found that 1 block of noodles is actually two servings and I always eat the whole block. There is 1420 mg of sodium in a pack of Roman noodles, that’s 60% of your recommended daily sodium intake! On top of that is 24 grams of fat or 24% of your recommended daily fat intake!
More examples of cheap food that is unhelathy is canned meats and canned soups. All of these items contain large amounts of sodium which can lead to high blood pressure and heart disease. Looking for cheap cereal? Most cereals that are cheap and always on sale are high in sugar and calories where their healthy counterparts can sometimes cost up to $4 and $5 per box.
The best solution to eating healthy is to have a diet filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. Add in fresh lean meats such as fish and chicken while eating very little sugar. The only problem is this greatly increases your monthly grocery bill. How can you balance a healthy diet with a healthy grocery bill? Stay tuned!
This really does make you think about what you eat. I’m sure this is why the obecity rate in America has skyrocketed. Not only are Americans always pressed for time, but they are also trying to save a dollar. It’s so cheap and easy to grab a cheeseburger and a coke at the drive thru for dinner. There has to be a happy medium between health and savings!
Saving a dollar IS NOT WORTH IT when it comes to your health. How much will you spend later down the road on medical bills?
This is a pretty big topic – but for another day I guess. Don’t kid yourself though – the chicken burgers at McD’s may say they’ve got less fat etc than a Big Mac, but they are categorically not healthy for you.
I agree Jon, thanks for the post. All that money you save on fast food will have to be used for medical bills later in life. It’s not worth the money you save on fast food to hurt your health! Try to save in other budget areas and eat right!