It seems like I've posted online a lot lately about healthy food being cheaper than "fast food," but I get the feeling that many remain unconvinced. To illustrate, I'd like to share a purchase I made recently at my local grocery store. Here are the items I bought:
I realize that steak, aged Parmesan and fresh coconut are things many people would not consider within their weekly food budget. But bear with me here. Altogether this would make spinach salad with shallots and shaved Parmesan, grilled steak with portobella mushrooms and bell peppers, and a fruit dish of oranges and coconut for four people.
This costs $18.32. Does it seem expensive? For comparison, this is what you can get at McDonald's for the same price:
The total is $18.45. As you can see, a family of two adults and two kids can easily spend this on one meal at McDonald's.
If you're going to treat yourself, why not treat yourself to fresh, good quality food? I'd rather have a steak and Portobellas than a Big Mac and fries.
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Abigail,
Your audience is listening, but they have been owned by the corporate big boys. These biggies have brainwashed most people into believing fast food is the thing to do....And most people want to be part of the 'in crowd'. They will have to be gradually weaned off junk food. So, keep chipping away at them.
For starters, they could acquaint themselves with certain lists on the Internet. These lists are for five, seven, or ten of the healthiest, most nutritious foods you can buy. Surprisingly, most of these foods are inexpensive, can be eaten raw, and are very low in the bad fats.
It's a good idea that these food be kept in the home at all times. If one must resort to fast food, they can at least snack on healthy food before going out for junk food. That should reduce their intake of the bad stuff.
You got my vote!
(Speaking of the biggies; one of the latest brainwashings would have us be mentally lazy and feel good about having someone else do our thinking for us. I will fight this trend to the end. Are you listening, Google?)
Last fall my sister was diagnosed with cancer. My other 2 sisters each surcombed to that illness. So I started taming chemicals from my diet because I felt they can't be good for us. As I matured I got lazy and didn't want to cook. I was using a lot of mixes. I love those rice mixes and added meat and frozen veggies for a quick meal on the cheap. Please enter the contest because I think you deserve to win! I appreciate your altruism which is almost never found these days, but you have earned the money and you deserve it. Donate it to charity if that is what your instinct tells you to do! (smile) But I prefer if you use it to buy something nice for yourself or your family.
Thanks!
I cook by a more "intuitive" method, so I've found that to write a recipe down, I have to make it again and measure my ingredients. So I am writing them out but it is slow going.
Thanks. Again, I did choose not to post it as a contest entry. That option doesn't seem to work.
Thanks kindly for providing clarity, Abigail. Committment to eating healthy foods is less expensive in the long run, too. Those who choose to eat fast food habitually can look forward to such delights as diabetes, heart disease and a host of other problems associated with carrying too much weight.
For the past few months I've been on the DASH diet which promotes avoiding fast food as well as processed food. The end result: I lost 10 lbs. my blood pressure dropped enough to delete on high blood pressure pill and my gout is much easier to control.
Even I end up eating fast food sometimes. Usually I'm with friends who were going there anyway and are more used to it. But I always find that I can make a better tasting, healthier meal at home for the same price or less.
For instance, I recently got a deal on 93% lean ground burger meat for $4 a pound. If I ate out, it would be more like $4 per burger.
French fries may not seem expensive at about $1.99, but for a single Russet potato $2 would be quite expensive.
If you actually do the math, you're paying a premium for poor quality food.
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