I didn't want to hijack the other thread, but several people have said that making healthful meals with fresh raw ingredients is cheaper than buying convenient but unhealthy food.
Can someone please tell me how? I'd love to serve my kids (and myself) more healthful meals. I just don't see how buying the fresh meat, vegetables, and sides could be less expensive?
I am sincerley curious, so please do not think that I am using sarcasm to call anyone out.
I have been poor, without a car, and lived in a really poor neighborhood. All you want to do is eat something, anything, nutritious or not. I never gained weight because I could not afford enough junk food to get fat. One hot meal a day with a few snacks the rest of the time.
I am now fat because I can afford to eat what I want and it is difficult to go back to starving myself, especially when it is done on purpose.
Eating a diet that is considered healthy does not equal starving oneself. One can be thin or fat on either diet, it's all about calories in and calories out. However, healthy food allows a person to consume more of it without gaining weight, giving a sense of satiety where unhealthy food tends to be more calorie dense, causing an increased risk of weight gain without the nutritional benefits that healthy food offers. A person can get heavy eating healthy foods. Being normal weight doesn't equal healthy either. When I was in nursing school I was 5'8", 110lbs and lived on the 99 cent meal because that's what I could afford. My cholesterol borderline with an HDL of 28 and my triglycerides were almost 300. Now I'm pushing 40, weigh 15 pounds more, but have a total cholesterol of 118 with a good HDL to LDL ratio and a triglyceride level below 60. I was a higher risk for health complications with the cruddy diet. Now, I don't feel hungry anymore but I eat extremely healthy.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I didn't want to hijack the other thread, but several people have said that making healthful meals with fresh raw ingredients is cheaper than buying convenient but unhealthy food.
Can someone please tell me how? I'd love to serve my kids (and myself) more healthful meals. I just don't see how buying the fresh meat, vegetables, and sides could be less expensive?
I am sincerely curious, so please do not think that I am using sarcasm to call anyone out.
I don't think you are being sarcastic at all. I used to think it couldn't be done either. My family is small just me my husband and our 13 y/o son who like most adolescent boys eats as if he'll never see food again. Up until about November of this past year I was easily spending over 200 bucks a week on food plus eating convenience food a couple of times a week at an average of $30.00 per meal. When I got laid off in November I knew something had to give. We had a family meeting and decided the following: Bear in mind you have to be willing to cook! No soda, no sore bought cookies, no dairy except cheese and yogurt. No fast food ever! Well once a month anyway. We eat cereal or fruit for breakfast with almond milk which is cheaper, has more calcium and digestible protein, and lasts longer than dairy . With a country breakfast once a week on Saturday. I buy meat in bulk every two week from Costco and break it up and vacuum seal in portions just enough for one meal for three. I usually will get one of cheaper fish like cod or talapia, lean beef mostly flank or flap, lean pork, maybe Italian sausage or ground beef - but if chucK roast is priced low enough I will get that and grind it myself. Once I have purchased my meat I write a weekly menu based on the meats and fish, Then I go to the market and get vegetables (lots of vegetables) mostly carrots, Broccoli, kale, collards, squash and salad greens and salad fixings. I buy only fresh fruit that is in season which makes it cheaper.I make my own bread which I can do for about 0.75 cents a loaf and cookies home baked for my son's school lunch only. We eat whole grains mixed with brown rice or lentils.There is so much junk food Chips, candy. soda, white store bought bread etc that really adds up.
Now this only works if you have the time and willingness to shop mindfully, plan wisely I can easily take two hours at the grocery store and when my son goes with we do the math together. You also have to have a good freezer, as well as a commitment to not eat fast food which is horrible for you. There is a show on Food Network called 10 Dollar dinners with Sandy Di Arabian - that will give you good ideas.
The other thing I do is make pasta sauce and soup stock in 10 quart batches and freeze them - so I can always pull out a block and thaw for a quick easy meal.
I really hope this helps. I am sort of a reincarnated 19th century farmer's wife and I really enjoy cooking so that helps .
Hppy
In the spring and summer I grow most of the vegetables we eat which is a great way to get kids to eat veggies as well.
Last week All my groceries to cover 3 meals a day for 7 days ran me $120.00 - usually I shoot to be around 150.00 but I scape every drop out of every dollar.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Where i work, we have a salad bar, a really nice one. Average salad (sold by weight-oil based dressing weighs less) $8; grilled cheese and french fries
We try to eat healthy but it does cost more to buy fresh fruit and veggies and a little meat is definitely more expensive than crap food. We family packs of meat and frozen veggies, it helps but it does take time, which is what people don't want to do.
If you made a salad at home and carried it to work it would cosy you about 1 to 3 dollars. I never buy food at work because when I see how much it costs I just can't do it plus when you bring your own you don't have to wait in line and waste precious break time to get it.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Simple starches such as sweet potatoes are very cheap which is why "cheap" diets are often less healthy; they tend to be largely based on simple starches and bad fats. Healthier complex starches, good fats and proteins tend to be more expensive.
Now don't go dissing the sweet potato they were high on the list of recommended foods the doctor gave my husband to control his diabetes. They are naturally sweet and delicious, low calorie, high in soluble fiber and cheep when purchased in season. I had some that got soft and threw them in the garden for compost last year. They sprouted in there and when we moved the compost heap this year we had about 50lbs of the buggers. Now if you are going to cover them with marsh mellows and brown sugar that's a whole other story. Oh and did I mention they are gluten free!
What about someone who has naturally low blood sugar and can never get full for more than 2 hours? Regardless of what I eat or drink I am always hungry.
What about someone who has naturally low blood sugar and can never get full for more than 2 hours? Regardless of what I eat or drink I am always hungry.
What happens when you keep your protein and fat intake up in in the 2000 - 2500 cal range and your carbs below 50 g over a sustained period?
What happens when you keep your protein and fat intake up in in the 2000 - 2500 cal range and your carbs below 50 g over a sustained period?
I get hypoglycemic (jittery, fuzzy, migraine, dizzy, weak) but my labs are fine and I'm healthy otherwise. Post-prandial blood sugar is low.
I have resorted to eating more veggies and fruits and drinking more water but eating a typical American diet otherwise because I am literally starving when I try eating for sustenance only.
I get hypoglycemic (jittery, fuzzy, migraine, dizzy, weak) but my labs are fine and I'm healthy otherwise. Post-prandial blood sugar is low.
I have resorted to eating more veggies and fruits and drinking more water but eating a typical American diet otherwise because I am literally starving when I try eating for sustenance only.
At first you said you didnt know and then that it makes you jittery, have you tried a high fat
I have the same reaction, I don't know if I labeling it correctly but I call myself carb sensitive. A *normal* carb intake makes me hungry all the time.
At first you said you didnt know and then that it makes you jittery, have you tried a high fat
I have the same reaction, I don't know if I labeling it correctly but I call myself carb sensitive. A *normal* carb intake makes me hungry all the time.
I am not super into tallying up nutrients and what not. I workout and try not to eat crazy amounts of bad foods but I'm lazy when it comes to cooking for myself.
So my problem is getting to a place where I can cook healthy-ish food that will keep me full (and my blood sugar steady) and keep me from getting bored as well. Ah the struggle.
.
NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN
1,599 Posts
Eating a diet that is considered healthy does not equal starving oneself. One can be thin or fat on either diet, it's all about calories in and calories out. However, healthy food allows a person to consume more of it without gaining weight, giving a sense of satiety where unhealthy food tends to be more calorie dense, causing an increased risk of weight gain without the nutritional benefits that healthy food offers. A person can get heavy eating healthy foods. Being normal weight doesn't equal healthy either. When I was in nursing school I was 5'8", 110lbs and lived on the 99 cent meal because that's what I could afford. My cholesterol borderline with an HDL of 28 and my triglycerides were almost 300. Now I'm pushing 40, weigh 15 pounds more, but have a total cholesterol of 118 with a good HDL to LDL ratio and a triglyceride level below 60. I was a higher risk for health complications with the cruddy diet. Now, I don't feel hungry anymore but I eat extremely healthy.