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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

167 replies

SharkiraSharkira · 01/02/2017 16:55

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 Sad

OP posts:
BumDNC · 01/02/2017 23:51

It's having a good variety that's expensive. I'm sure I can survive on healthy basics but I don't want to not even enjoy the healthy food. Some of it makes me weep my food bill has gone right up. I try to shop smart and frozen but it's the fresh items that always cost the most.

FeelingSmurfy · 02/02/2017 00:40

If you are missing pasta and rice, would you consider spiralised veg instead of pasta or cauliflower rice?

I have been making cauliflower rice for years, just blitz it in to tiny pieces and then cook

You can buy cauliflower rice and spiralised veg in supermarkets

HelenaDove · 02/02/2017 01:39

Yep I lost a lot of weight on SW but the pushing to have fresh berries on your cereal every day is ok if you can afford it. I have done this for a long time but will have to cut the strawberries raspberries blueberries now. The cost gets ridiculous after a while. Ive lost the weight and am trying to maintain now so can cut the fruit. I have frozen veg not fresh.

I did cut out the strawberries for a long while in the run up to Christmas because they went up to £2.25 to £2.50 a punnet. No chance.
I cant eat bananas because they have me writhing around in pain (i have exactly the same pain and reaction with co codamol Confused so havent eaten a banana since 2009.

I eat a lot of eggs. Pasta makes me gain weight or stay the same We are not all the same and food affects us all differently. I had to cut it out and now just have it rarely.

CathodeRayTube · 02/02/2017 01:45

I totally agree. My ds is off wheat and I'm off loads of things (sort of paleo diet I think) and dh has a normal diet so I'm cooking three different lots of food for every meal, all healthy stuff as you say. It's super-expensive.

HelenaDove · 02/02/2017 01:52

I think part of the problem is ppl cant afford the variety I saw this all the time in my SW group. Some of my fellow SW members were on a low income and just couldnt afford all the suggestions. Its a myth that ppl quit slimming clubs just through lack of will power Sometimes its lack of money and lack of time.

Two NHS theatre nurses came to the class yet couldnt follow the plan properly due to lack of break time at work.

So became disheartened when they stayed the same or gained. Yet this is the organisation that gives out hand wringing press releases about obesity every couple of months.

kmc1111 · 02/02/2017 04:06

I've always found it much cheaper to eat healthy. In my fat days I could easily spend what's now my entire fruit and veg budget on chocolate alone.

I guess it depends on what you were eating before. If you go from £1 Iceland buys to quinoa and goji berries it's going to cost more. If you go from mid-range junk to brocolli and brown rice, you're going to save a considerable amount of money.

BlackeyedSusan · 02/02/2017 06:28

eat more of the sauce and veg and a littl e bit of wholemeal pasta. same food different proportions.

tinned kidney beans are cheap. aldi has other tinned beans.

make adjustments that you can sustain long term.

Tanfastic · 02/02/2017 06:56

It depends on what you are buying. Like someone up thread was saying.

I've been eating healthier and have lost 8 so far in a few weeks but my food bill is the same.

I shop for all my meat and frozen veg in farm foods and top up with other essentials in Lidl. My freezer is packed full of frozen chicken breasts, pork steaks, salmon fillets, prawns etc. I still eat pasta and pizza and all other nasty carbs but use a portion plate so I don't over eat. I stick to apples bananas and tangerines.

In fact I would say my food bill has been a bit less as I'm eating less!

Yura · 02/02/2017 08:13

user1485982179
Go to green grocers/small shop not supermarket, and get the "ugly" vegetables (not the pretty ones, it's soup, it doesn't matter!). We are in southeast, so not cheap. Morrisons also has an ugly range that is quite cheap. Or go early morning/late evening when stuff is reduced.
-big bag of carrots: about 50p (broken ones, bent ones,), small ones

  • big bag of potatoes: about the same (irregularly sized ones, tiny ones, ...)
  • 1 parsnip: about 20p (again, broken or ugly ones - it doesn't matter)
-stock cube (value range): not sure, but not a lot Ok, I forgot the stock cube (both big bags of veg plus parsnip for me come out at about £1-£1.20, and some of the carrots are eaten as snacks, so don't go in the soup. Makes about £1.20, about 3 bowls per person for 3 people. In my house, that's 2 meals. Even if you put a loaf of brown bread in the mix (80p if value range, cheaper if it's old bread), thats about £2 for 6 meals. Hard to beat, and certainly ok 2-3 times a week.
BigGreenOlives · 02/02/2017 08:19

We're lucky as we have market stalls near us. Pineapples are usually £1, box of oranges £3 last weekend. You can't shop for fruit & veg at convenience stores which is where it becomes expensive for people on low incomes.

JustAnotherPoster00 · 02/02/2017 09:43

Go to green grocers/small shop not supermarket

The supermarket tends to be the only option for a lot of people

Original poster
SharkiraSharkira · 02/02/2017 11:03

I don't have a greengrocer or market near me unfortunately.

I haven't really changed what I eat too much as I didn't really buy much junk before and I don't buy any now, but I'm buying more fruit and veg to replace the some of the stuff like pasta and rice - so instead of having meat and rice I'll have meat and veg or instead of having 100g+ of pasta I'll have 50 or 60g but put a lot more veg to make it filling.

At the moment my fruit bowl is full of cheap apples, bananas & kiwis, which were super cheap (about 69p for 6) so nothing expensive I think it's just the amount.

OP posts:
Original poster
SharkiraSharkira · 02/02/2017 11:05

Variety definitely makes it more expensive. I think that's part of the problem is that I'm the past I have never been able to stick to a healthy eating regime because I get unbelievably bored and fed up so I just go back to how I was! Really trying not to do that this time.

OP posts:
BumDNC · 02/02/2017 11:47

I don't want to see food as a boring chore. I want to enjoy it. I really struggle with boring bland food

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 02/02/2017 11:53

I don't want to see food as a boring chore. I want to enjoy it. I really struggle with boring bland food

This is spot on. Vegetable soup can be very tasty. But 2-3 times a week as suggested up thread... Boring and would turn me off vegetable soup very quickly. I speak from experice. I cannot even look at penne pasta with pesto because I remember eating it for several weeks as a student when I managed to get a load for cheap.

PurpleDaisies · 02/02/2017 11:56

Vegetable soup can be very tasty. But 2-3 times a week as suggested up thread... Boring and would turn me off vegetable soup very quickly

Only if you do the same vegetable soup. Different veg, different herbs and spices and it tastes completely different. Plus you can add things like chick peas, kidney beans, quorn pieces or leftover meat to make it more filling and add some variety. I normally aim to make one big pot of soup a week ish and freeze it in portions so I don't end up with spicy parsnip soul every day for a week.

SapphireStrange · 02/02/2017 11:57

Cheap, vegetable-based food need not be boring or bland. Try looking, for starters, at Indian, Southeast Asian and Persian cookbooks/sites. I cook loads of this kind of thing and it's different flavours every time!

OK, you have to buy some spices and things initially, but that's one lot of layout and then you've got them for ages.

LotisBlue · 02/02/2017 12:05

You can buy really tasty unhealthy food for not much money
you can buy tasty, healthy food but it costs a lot

you can buy healthy food for not much money but it usually means cooking from scratch, which takes time, money (for gas and electric) and know-how.

A lot of it depends where you are and what shops you have access to. I can buy veg in bulk from the supermarket but I have the luxury of a car to get it home and enough space in my kitchen to store larger packs of food. I also have lots of basic ingredients such as oil, herbs and spices, which cost a lot up front.

If you have run out of money for gas/electricity then it doesn't help that you could make a week's worth of potato stew for 35p.

SingingInTheRainstorm · 02/02/2017 12:09

Totally disagree, we grow veg, we have fruit trees. Even on fallow years we get by buying the basics fruit and veg as it's all ok just not perfect.

You need to meal plan, you can follow various blogs/VLOGs that tell you about how you can feed your family healthily for less than you'd spend on less healthy stuff. It doesn't mean you never have treats. It means you make food and save the leftovers to be frozen or used the next day.

Costco is really good for getting herbs and spices cheap. A massive block of goats cheese is £5 which is a bargain compared to supermarkets. For a family of 4 most stuff is bought in bulk, from rice to carex hand cleanser, saving a fortune.

Healthy food doesn't have to be boring either.

BarbaraofSeville · 02/02/2017 12:33

If you find it's more expensive to eat healthily compared to eating rubbish, it's usually because you're not comparing like with like. The point that people who have recently switched to eating healthily are often spending a lot less on shop bought lunches and coffees is also a good one - people can spend a fortune on these.

Of course imported, out of season fruit is more expensive than the cheapest available frozen pizza and value chips. But there are plenty of things that are cheap, easy to prepare and healthier, such as omelettes or eggs or beans on wholemeal toast. Fruit like bananas and apples are much cheaper than berries. Frozen berries are very good value though and good with muesli and yogurt.

This site is weirdly obsessed with fruit consumption and many people seem to forget that five a day actually should be mostly vegetables, but some people seem to think that if you're not spending tens of pounds a week on organic blueberries, you must have a shit diet.

The price of organic blueberries compared with value frozen chips is not proof that healthy eating is the expensive option.

AndShesGone · 02/02/2017 12:38

A varied and tasty healthy diet either:

Takes loads of time, ingenuity and availability of good greengrocers

OR

Takes plenty of money

There are far too many suggestions of non-tasty, complicated food on this thread that wouldn't be suitable for people with little to no access to decent shops or markets.

specialsubject · 02/02/2017 12:38

fresh berries in February won't be cheap for obvious reasons. And won't taste of much. Go seasonal and accept that you can only have fresh strawberries for a month in summer and fresh tomatoes for about the same.

no food is unhealthy. Commercial smoothies, fizzy toilet cleaner, sugary cereal bars, fake 'no' items and so on are unhealthy but they aren't food.

always seems a waste of good veg to mush it up unless you have no teeth or digestive issues.

PurpleDaisies · 02/02/2017 12:40

There are far too many suggestions of non-tasty, complicated food on this thread that wouldn't be suitable for people with little to no access to decent shops or markets.

What sorts of things do you mean? I do almost all my shopping at Lidl and eat a varied, healthy and cheap diet without too much effort.

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 02/02/2017 12:41

This site is weirdly obsessed with fruit consumption and many people seem to forget that five a day actually should be mostly vegetables, but some people seem to think that if you're not spending tens of pounds a week on organic blueberries, you must have a shit diet.

I wonder if the reason for this is that many people, myself included, are addicted to sugar. In the past everytime I went on a diet or healthy eating kick I'd be constantly thinking of healthy ways to get my sugar fix and that is inevitably through fruit.
I'm currently trying to quit sugar... It's very very hard.

AndShesGone · 02/02/2017 12:42

I've eaten loads of very tasty vegan and vegetarian food recently. Made by chefs in restaurants with loads of lovely fresh ingredients that are all used up in producing 20/50 meals.

Whereas at home a bunch of fresh coriander is £1.75 Hmm - which I wouldn't use up.

It's really not much of a stretch to think about busy people barely managing on the minimum wage with a couple of children, who are really time deficient, who don't have decent grocers, who can't spend hours slow cooking a dhal.