To think it is so much more expensive to eat healthily?

[SharkiraSharkira]

So I've been trying to eat healthily and generally portion control/calorie count for about 3 weeks. Lost about 9lb so far so it does seem to be working a bit.

However, I have noticed that my food bill has increased SO much since I've been doing it! I'm not buying anything super expensive, just increased my fruit and veg intake a lot and eating less stuff that is cheap but filling such as bread and pasta.

Aibu to find it quite disheartening that it is so much more expensive to eat healthy? I'm just about to start a new job and am going to be very broke until I get paid (in March) so I'm going to have to live very frugally and I really don't want to put back all the weight I've lost back on, ideally I want to lose more! I already batch cook, buy frozen veg (cheaper), shop at Aldi for cheap fruit & veg etc but it is still so expensive

Owllady I am not normally that keen on frozen veg. Is it nice in soup? I do use frozen onions to add to mince for spag bol in the slow cooker.

Pulses....arent they lentils and friends of lentils

I am not normally that keen on frozen veg. Is it nice in soup?

I don't like all frozen veg but you can make delicious soups from frozen peas and sweet corn. Dead easy and very cheap.

My lunch of spicy sweet corn soup is about 40p a portion and contains two of your five a day. (My lunch is not normally am healthy-this is a good day!).

I do like things like pulses, lentils, chickpeas etc but I struggle to know what to do with them since all the things I would naturally make with them are 'saucy' things that go with rice/pasta and I'm trying to avoid that.

Dp doesn't eat anything vaguely healthy so I would still be buying meat for him anyway - he wouldn't eat pulses and so on so it would just be for me.

To make fruit and veg cheaper always buy in season where possible. Always buy them individually not in a packet as that's so expensive. I find the fruit and veg the cheapest part of my shop. You get so much for your money.

This is MN! You don't need food, you just need fresh air and exercise, they're free. If you really insist on sustenance, then lentils are the only thing you're allowed.

I like Jack Monroe's recipes for low cost & filling.
cookingonabootstrap.com/tag/budget-recipes/

Most of our shopping bill is fruit and veg TBH. It adds up fast.

if you want cheap veg in january restrict yourself to this list:
brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chicory, horseradish, jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, parsnips, potatoes (maincrop), salsify, shallots, swede, turnips.

Providing the grower had a good year, which cauliflowers have not, so are expensive and small this year.

For 2 people, we spend £40 a week on food

I can just about afford to spend that on 2 weeks of food so I think expense is subjective to circumstance

yabu
as pp say, look for frozen veg, seasonal veg, dried beans/lentils.
it can br cheap to eat healthily but requires a bit of an effort.

I went Vegan about two years ago, my shopping bill is a lot less when I don't buy ready prepared food and it's meant that I can take more Trips and holidays.

Admittedly, I do eat Chick Peas and Lentils, in Curries and Soups, it's cheap protein.

I buy my Spinach and peas frozen from Iceland.

You can eat Pasta and lose weight, it's calouries in and expenditure. I buy the No Carb Pasta/Rice from Holland and Barrett, when it's on offer.

You can eat cheaper than a 'healthy' diet, but we should be allocating a certain amount of our budget on food and not looking for the cheapest.

As always said, we have had the snacking/sugar culture put upon us.
You can eat well, on a low budget, but you've got to change your attitude towards food and be prepared to try 'world' foods, or go back to traditional seasonal cooking, with our equivalent of lentils, Barley etc.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned (haven't RTFT) but Muscle Food do good value, good quality bulk packs of meat which are good for the freezer. Responsibly sourced and you can often get deals if you Google. Obviously only works if you have got the cash to bulk buy so may be worth considering when you next get paid OP?

Pasta is FINE if you want to lose weight.

I wish people would stop perpetuating this myth that carbs are the devil's henchmen. I've lost a lot of weight and I have not reduced carbs, I've reduced calories.

100g pasta (which is a perfectly acceptable portion size) = 350 Cals.
Half a 400g can of chopped tomatoes = 45Cals
Couple of garlic cloves = 10 cals
100g onion = 40 cals
100g red pepper = 40 cals
1/2 tbsp olive oil = 60 cals
4 TSP parmesan = 50 cals

Add some herbs and spices and that's a perfectly acceptable (in my opinion) dinner for 600 calories.

You need to choose your produce wisely. I'm not in the UK and memory fails me, but potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, apples, oranges, bananas should all be cheap. Berries and exotic fruit are always expensive. I don't find apples particularly inspiring so if I need a not too high calorie pudding, I'll chop a couple and bake in the oven for 20 mins with 2 teaspoons of sugar and some cinnamon (less than 200cals).

If you think you don't like lentils or beans I'd recommend trying the many varieties available and experimenting with some recipes. I didn't really know much of the lentil before I started calorie counting but I wouldn't be without them now. Red or yellow lentils are great for Indian recipes, kidney and black beans great for Mexican, chickpeas for Moroccan or I make a really nice chickpea paprika dish. If you can find black lentils (beluga lentils) they are DIVINE with a poached egg or halloumi. Eggs are also great for making cheap and filling food. Today I had a 3 egg omelette with lots of Fried mushrooms and a small can of sweetcorn (506 calories including butter).

It does take some getting used to and juggling around before you figure out how best to make best use of your calories, but if you persevere then it will all fall into place.

Soups can also be super cheap - yes you can have with bread! My favourites are pumpkin, Italian bean/minestrone, cream of (frozen) sweetcorn, cream of (frozen) pea, beetroot and sweet potato...

It depends what you are before. If you ate takeaways and ready meals every night. Coffee from starbucks on the way to lunch. buy lunch out instead of taking food in your shopping bill itself will go up.

If you are trying to loose weight surely it is better to treat yourself a bit with some nice fruit. Life doesn't have to be lentils and water..

Good luck op

tbh, i think its cheaper.

I'm now in my 4th week of healthy eating and my shopping bill has dropped by £10-£15 on average per week.

But then i 'm not buying cakes, crisps, chocolate and sweets which i used to buy A LOT.

I buy frozen chicken breasts, salmon fillets, jacket potatoes, lots of fruit and veg, yogurts and some porridge and special k bars as my 'treat'

Carbs aren't the devil, you just have to eat the right kinds.

Sweets, chocolate...etc are simple carbs. They produce a quick sugar boost then your energy drops.

Complex carbs like jacket spuds and wholewheat rice & Pasta, and Porridge oats are much better as they're slow release and will keep you fuller for longer on much less.

oh, and you also need to be exercising if you're calorie controlling, otherwise you body will go for your muscle and not the fat.

If you're using your muscle it will go for the fat instead.

Both my specialist and my physiotherapist have said that 30 mins of exercise 3 times a week is enough to keep my muscles intact and burn the fat instead.

I'm currently a size 24/26, i've already dropped a dress size and i go swimming 3x a week and do 25-30 lengths of the pool.

The money i'm saving on my shopping goes towards the cost of swimming instead!

Yes absolutely.
Much more expensive.
On top of the normal buying more veg, eating more protein and that, my mum bought me a kitchen ninja for Christmas.Oh good I thought, I'll make healthy smoothies every day.
Not at that price for the fruit I won't!!

Protein foods are much more expensive than carbohydrates. You could live very cheaply without lean meat and fish or heaps of salads but lentils and potatoes wouldn't be a healthy diet even if you never ate junk food.

Hmm ok, I think it really doesn't help that I really hate 90% of seasonal January veg, of the list the pp have I only like leeks, shallots and potatoes but spuds are so calorific I can't eat them often (I like horseradish but wouldn't consider it a vegetable!).

catch lentils are great for protein

i've been eating green beans, swet stem broccoli, carrot and sweet potato.

Its lovely if you chop it up, stick it in some foil, cover it with a dash of olive oil and some salt and pepper, make a parcel then put it in the oven for 25 mins on 210c

comes out steamed and soft. yum. I usually have it with a nice fresh salmon and a jacket potato.

Yes it is more expensive to buy fruit and veg (in sufficient quantities to provide a healthy balanced diet) than it is to get your daily "quota" of calories from ready meals and general frozen rubbish.

I'm not suggesting it is not worth the extra money - weight loss and general better health is worth the 20% or so I spend per week. But it shouldn't be like that - healthy should be cheaper, and I don't just mean by adding taxes to unhealthy food.

People who claim otherwise are either deluded and have always eaten healthily and don't know any different, or they assume that "unhealthy" means takeaways every day, or are comparing basic fruit and veg to "posh" ready meals - none of your 2 for £1.50 value-range ones - or perhaps they are just fortunate enough to have a garden big enough to enable them to emulate The Good Life.

If anyone feels they can prove me wrong, please let me know! My criteria are:

• Must be no more expensive than cheap ready meals and snacks - limit of £3 per day.
• Must assume that the person is single and has no children - £3 is the maximum, don't offer meals for 10 that work out at a couple of quid per person if the ingredients can't be bought in quantities small enough for one person.
• Must provide a healthy, balanced and varied diet - not the same basic meal all week.
• Ideally it should be palatable, but I will suffer blandness if all my other criteria are met!

I fully believe my criteria are unreasonable and nobody will be able to provide say, a week's worth of meal plans, which meet all my demands. But please, prove me wrong if you can.

On top of the normal buying more veg, eating more protein and that, my mum bought me a kitchen ninja for Christmas.Oh good I thought, I'll make healthy smoothies every day.
Not at that price for the fruit I won't!!

To be honest, I don't think fruit based smoothies are all that healthy. You're better off with actual fruit.