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

I think most eggs are free range now anyway- and pretty cheap

Fruit is full of sugar and not great for diets anyway. Some veg is cheap, best to go for less starchy types

I don't want to waste money like that. I was unable to go shopping yesterday as I had not got paid. But I needed to eat food! Added to I had to unexpectedly do something else last night I couldn't knock up any eggs etc. I then was so tired this morning I was rushing and didn't get time to cook myself something out of what I had left in my cupboards. my point being that if you are caught on the hop and do not want to eat processed crap, it's really difficult to find something in a shop that isn't costly or cheap and a load of crap. I don't see why that's a hard concept to put over. I totally see why busy people end up eating a ton of crap - it's cheap, available and x5 bigger section in the shop than my local mouldy limited fruit and veg section (which I have complained about).
FYI I just spent £42 on our shopping from Aldi and making a giant pasta bake.
I cannot understand why a bowl of salad in a shop is £1.10 ++ when a whole lettuce is 50p. The food industry IS making plenty of money from flogging tons of cheap rubbish into people who don't have the money, time or skills or even intelligence to make better choices IMO.

Why does a lunch of salad, protein and fruit cost more than a massive multipack of chocolate and crisps?

While I am on my rant about the cost of shit food vs nice food I can buy hot food at work but choose not to for these reasons:

Chips £1
Horrid lookinf prepacked Sandwich £2.50
Salad £3.90
Jacket potato and topping £4

They know healthy people will pay £3.90 for a salad, because they are avoiding the chips but they know they will sell more of the chips as they are a quid

Wow! Who can tell me what's INSANE about this veggie pizza I'm eating?

Clue: it's been mentioned on this thread

I find some fruit can be ridiculously expensive. I've spent around £15 this week, mainly on decent tasting apples and grapes.

I went to Tesco express this morning before work, because I was up till midnight doing other things, got held up with kids in the morning and had no lunch prepared. I walked round and round and really the only thing I can eat that isn't processed foods (WITHOUT access to cooking facilities) are packets of ham, lettuce, salad bits etc (some prepacked) the lot cost me £4.50 including a bag of satsumas - I could have bought 1l Coke, 1 massive bag of kettle chips and 4 twirls for less money

BumDNC it isn;t normal to need to eat out for every meal is it? Most people do eat at home in the evening. If you aren't able to even make yourself a sandwich at home, your problem is that healthy food is too much hassle for you, not that it is too expensive.

It was one meal. ONE MEAL

I find some fruit can be ridiculously expensive. I've spent around £15 this week, mainly on decent tasting apples and grapes.

Yeah, grapes have to be flown in to this country. So they are expensive.

If I was going to provide 2x pieces of fruit for 4 people for a week I would buy the following:
Bananas - 28x @ 13p = £3.64 (everyone has 1 banana a day)
Apples - 4x tesco packs of 5 for £1 = £4 (everyone has 5 over the week)
Pears - 4x tesco packs of 4 pears at 79p = £3.16 (everyone has 4 over the week)

So that is 64 pieces of fruit for £10.80 and everyone in the family gets 16 pieces of fruit to eat over the week.

The 'healthy' food industry is banking on the fact that educated about health/self aware people will pay extortionate prices for small cheap healthy items i.e. A packaged salad, it's almost a 'luxury' item that involves no cooking. Because it has a short shelf life and a small target market, the prices are through the roof. Mass production of crisps and chocolate is no longer a treat because it's cheaper than a lot of normal foods and completely dominates small shops like a Tesco express.
They have 1/4 section of fresh fruit and veg and 3 aisles rammed full of bread, cakes, chocolate and crisps

It was one meal. ONE MEAL

Then what is your problem? Normally you can eat at home cheaply and healthily. On the odd occasion you are out you pick up a pasty and eat that! It is called BALANCE!

You were trying to infer that because Asda don't sell cheap healthy convenience food, people HAVE to eat badly.

BumDNC it isn;t normal to need to eat out for every meal is it? Most people do eat at home in the evening. If you aren't able to even make yourself a sandwich at home, your problem is that healthy food is too much hassle for you, not that it is too expensive.

Again
Today is shopping day
No bread left
We ate leftovers for dinner and there were no leftovers of leftovers
I went to a shop to buy some lunch - not as a 'meal out' but as I can't cook food at work, I'm limited.
I can see why people on a budget struggle - what if Tesco express is the only shop they can access?
They will end up eating crap cheap food

what if Tesco express is the only shop they can access

Tesco express still sells bread, fresh vegetables, pasta, rice, tinned toms etc

I've explained repeatedly my point. Retailers like Tesco express are not helping - their food stocks are all biased towards cheap fast food and the healthier foods are very limited and costly

what if Tesco express is the only shop they can access

Tesco express still sells bread, fresh vegetables, pasta, rice, tinned toms etc

That you have to cook.

Agree that fruit and veg can be expensive (depending on what you buy and where you can shop), but offset that against cutting out takeaway coffees, bought lunches, takeaway dinners and a gallon of wine each week, it all seems to balance out...

Tesco Express is pretty rubbish though: there was one below my DS's uni halls of residence and he used to walk a fair distance to do his shopping elsewhere because he said the Tesco Express was too expensive and didn't sell enough proper food.

And if it didn't even sell enough proper food for a student.....