Quote:
Originally Posted by GMScud
I can only say from experience that eating out every meal is expensive and unhealthy. Going to the grocery store and buying fresh veggies, fruit, and lean meats is much cheaper than going the other route.
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Depends where you're eating out. If you're hitting up a take-out joint and spending $10 every meal, then yeah, you can cook healthy for cheaper. But $10 take-out meals aren't even an option for those with tight cash flows.
If you're going to McDonalds and getting a double cheeseburger, fries, and soda for 99 cents each (dollar menu) like so many poor people do, then you're spending $3 for a meal. If you go to the grocery store, you will be hard-pressed to put together a healthy meal for $3, even if breaking portions down on a per-unit basis.
To me, the definition of "eating healthy" is doing what the FDA food pyramid tells you. 6 servings grains (whole), 3 servings dairy (mostly milk or yogurt, less on the cheese), 4 servings of fruit and veggies (preferably fresh), and 3 servings protein (preferably lean meats), and use fats & sugars sparingly.
So looking at those FDA guidelines, you can eliminate ground beef (unless it's very lean, in which case $$$), fatty steaks, chicken pieces with the skin on, pork ribs (unless they're babyback), whole milk, white bread, white pasta, and white rice. Not to mention sodas, cakes, cookies, crackers, candy, mac & cheese. The food pyramid, if you read it right, effectively eliminates a ton of the inexpensive ingredients available at the grocery store.
Some of the most expensive? Lean beef, fish, skinless chicken breast, lean pork, fresh produce, skim milk (more expensive than whole), fruit juices. Even whole grain breads and cereals are more expensive than their white-flour counterparts.
And the other piece we're not considering, time. For many poor folks, they need to work overtime, and sometimes two jobs, to support the young'ns. That's just to have enough money to house them, clothe them, and feed them SOMETHING. They're not left with scads of time to spend in the kitchen preparing healthy meals.
A single person who makes $40K a year has enough money and all the time they need to cook and eat healthy. But the poor are much worse off. It's not as simple as making blanket statements that everyone can do it. Until you walk a mile in their shoes, you can't tell what it feels like to stroll in after a 16 hour shift and be asked to cook a nutritious meal for less than $3 per person.