Healthy Does NOT = Expensive

Many people argue that eating healthy is expensive. I STRONGLY disagree.

  • If you eat processed/fast-food because you think it’s cheap…what about the medical bills in the future? What about prescriptions in the future? Cholesterol medicine, blood pressure medicine, diabetes medicine/supplies, etc… it ain’t cheap. 
  • Let’s do some basic math:
    • My household= 2 people
      • Grocery shopping for the ENTIRE week (2-29 through 3-6), this includes breakfast for two, lunch for two, dinner for two and snacks. Total bill $80.00 with the help of coupons and Ibotta
        • Ibotta: This is one of my most favorite money savings apps (I’ve gotten over $100 back just from food/clothing shopping). I’ll give you the basic run down. Over 100 stores (grocery stores, clothing, electronic, etc) participate with this money back app. Each store/company posts rebates on specific items (you will not redeem money if it is not listed on the app), for example, I received 25cents back for buying an avocado. You scan your reciept and barcode(s) to the app, they verify the purchases and money is loaded to your account and you can transfer it to your Paypal account. The more people on your team, the more money you can get back. Please use my referral code so we can be on the same team: ciyalig. I believe the first rebate you redeem, you automatically get $10.00
        • Coupons. They work. If you download the ShopRite app, you can load virtual coupons to your phone. If you clip a coupon and ShopRite has a virtual coupon for that same item, ShopRite will DOUBLE that coupon! Example: You have a 25cent coupon for cheese, Shoprite has a 25cent coupon for that same brand. BAM! You just got a savings of 75cents. I walked out of ShopRite once with 3 Lara Bars, a box of pasta, marinara sauce and toothpaste all for FREE.
          • Total bill for the week is 80.00 thats $40.00 per person for 7 days. $40/7= $5.71 / 3 meals = $1.90 … Isn’t a meal from Wendy’s or McDonald’s like $5 + ? If you get fast food meals 3x a day that is $15+ dollars = approx $105.00 per week… this is for just one person and already costs more than my weekly shopping for 2 people. Someone explain to me how this is cheaper?
  • Purchasing tips:
    • Find store brand products that work for you. Name brand doesn’t necessarily mean tastier. Name brands usually cost more than store brand.
    • Buy in bulk. You can always freeze. We got a great deal on chicken thighs. We bought two packs and froze one for later use.
    • Don’t buy premade food. It’s so silly to me when I see people buy pre-made egg salad…It ends up costing more than a dozen eggs. Make it yourself!
    • Rain check please! If your store is having a major sale and the item is sold out, rain check it. You will get that item at the sale price when its back in store versus the regular price.
    • Look online at brand websites and Facebook for coupons. I’ve gotten some pretty awesome deals on Dannon Greek Yogurt before (6 for the price of 3). Oh, lookie here, a Dannon coupon, how convenient for you!
  • How is this healthier and cheaper?
    • 28oz bag of frozen chicken wings = $5.99
      • wings are the worst part to eat and the least filling. You would probably need to eat half the bag to feel slightly full.
    • 3lbs (48oz) pack of fresh boneless skinless chicken breasts = $5.97
      • Cheaper, more meat, better meat and its versatile in terms of cooking.
        • you can make a crock pot dish, you can stuff chicken with broccoli and cheese, you can fry it up, grill, bake, etc… SO MANY HEALTHY OPTIONS!
  • Stop buying bagged salad kits. This is so silly to me. I see people eat an entire Caesar salad kit mix bag and they cost roughly $3.00 per bag. Let’s say you buy one bag for each work day lunch… 3 x 5 = 15.00 . I bought a family size box of leafy green mix for $6.99 … leafy greens are way healthier than iceberg lettuce and I just bought way more for way less.
  • Stop buying canned soup. High in sodium and how can soup containing meat that lasts for 25 years be healthier than a fresh soup? One can feeds one person for one meal. Make a giant pot of soup and it can last several meals and for more than one person!

I can go on and on with examples. But this ties back to my post on meal prepping. Clip your coupons, find rebate apps like Ibotta (join my team!), have a list, don’t go in blindly, prepare a menu for the week, use the same foods for different meals. As you get into a routine, meal prepping will become easier, shopping will become easier, you will become healthier, and quality of life becomes better.

I truly believe you are doing a disservice to yourself and your family by buying/eating/feeding processed foods. You only live once *YOLO* , be kind to yourself and your loved ones. Take care of yourself. Be wise. Be healthy.

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18 thoughts on “Healthy Does NOT = Expensive”

  1. I LOVE this post! You said it perfectly. And I’m checking out that app! Keep up the great work. Keep preaching! You’re making an impact – a positive one!

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  2. I’m so poor I can’t even afford to buy ready meals! I do everything from scratch from baking my own bread to making desserts. It terrifies me how expensive ready meals are for what’s in them, which is largely nothing.

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  3. Oh and I don’t buy branded products either. Everything is value. When I lived alone my food bill was £35 a month. It’s a bit more now we’re a couple, but his income is a lot better than mine so I guess I’m benefiting there.

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  9. I am afraid I must respectfully disagree. This may be different for me because I live in the UK but even so bear with me a moment. I earn around £1000 a month. After paying rent, bills and everything else I am left with around £35 per week for food. This is not just food for me but also food for my fiance who is housebound and unable to work. £35 for two people each week is not a lot. I can’t buy a lot of healthy food. That said I don’t buy processed food or junk food either as this is also too expensive. We mainly subsist on pasta (39p per bag) with a sauce from tinned tomatoes (33p a tin), potatoes (around £2.50 a bag), onions (65p), mushrooms (£1.45 for a family pack), cheese (£2) , bread (55p), meat is too expensive so that portion of food is made up of Quorn meat or the supermarkets own brand of meat free alternatives, we get whatever cereal is on offer, which ever brand of milk is on offer and everything else is filled in with food that is reduced to clear or on sale for whatever other reason. Sometimes we can have more veggies if they are reduced, usually butternut squash and brocoli. We might get rice as that is around 40p and other things such as that. This is not a healthy diet. Recently things have gotten a little better and we can afford healthier food. I am still on prescribed supplements from my doctor (iron, calcium, vitamin B complex, vitamin C, omega vitamins, magnesium) because I was so deficient.

    I agree that healthy food is cheaper than junk food but in Britain at least it is definitely not cheap.

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    1. Unfortunately, I don’t know the cost of food in the UK but I live in the NY,NJ,PA area and you saw my examples… at least here, it seems to be cheaper. Have you looked into frozen veggies or frozen fruits? We have dollar stores here (not sure if you have them there) and they sell frozen veggies and fruit that you can use in dishes to up the veggies. Where I live, we have local farmers selling fruits and veggies and depending on the time of year, we can sometimes get them cheaper than the supermarket. As far as meat goes, we usually stick with chicken and turkey which is never too pricey . I am not the biggest red meat eater and we don’t eat pork so that cuts costs a bit. I am sorry that you are in a bit of a rough patch right now. I hope things will pick up sooner rather than later.

      xoxo

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  10. I think it partly depends on where you live in regards to how expensive things are. No stores where I live do the double couponing. As far as produce goes if you are willing to go with less variety and choose the things that are consistently cheaper then it can be done on a budget.

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