Healthy food should be subsidised by government

[ByJadeExpert]

just incase I say anything wrong, I have learning disabilities
I think it should be subsidised by the government so it can be cheaper and affordable for everyone.

I mean things like fresh fish, fresh berries, lean steak, salad leaves all full of nutrients that are beneficial for everyone and prevents inflammation and stress but too expensive for people to eat daily

Ah after your update I can see what your own particular problem is.
Not nice in that case.
However, sometimes we eat something that we don't particularly like because we know it is good for us. For example I really don't like fish (the smell or texture) but I do eat it at least twice a week because I know it is a healthy option. It's about fuel, not necessarily enjoyment at that point.
And let's face it, a lot of the green stuff is really boring or not particularly nice whichever way you look at it steamed vegetables for example. Spinach has a horrible texture to me. But I eat a fair bit of these and add various seasoning or mix them with something else.

I don't understand your point about carrots though. I buy nicer carrots but also cheap carrots. Both last a long time and, when fresh, the texture feels the same to me, just as hard not soft or mushy. But sometimes the cheaper variety would go soft and bendy faster. The solution here is to consume less carrots but of better quality, or buy the cheaper version in smaller quantities and use them faster or freeze the excess as soon as possible. I think it's a freshness issue. When we grow our own, I found carrots lasted for ages.
I think the answer, for most people, is to put up with slight discomfort at times for the sake of ingesting as healthy an option as you can.
As an aside, food in the UK has always been unbelievably cheap compared to most other countries relative to local income. Only since the pandemic we gradually started paying a bit more.
The reality is that good quality food is not meant to be cheap. We just need to accept this fact.

I'll say that most supermarket carrots these days taste nothing like the carrots of my youth, watery, less flavour, go off too quickly.

Those offers lead to people spending more and more food waste. I don’t think that’s the answer.

No. My response was more aimed at your comment about her being fussy and that she just needs to tolerate it like everyone else. What's easy for a NT person, or some ND people, isn't easy for everyone.

But being disabled or having a chronic condition or ND can make life a lot more expensive. And people aren't necessarily entitled to PIP to offset some of the costs.

Vitamin A, vitamin K, fibre, potassium, antioxidants.

OP I'm not going to reply further as it's clear you've gone down a bit of an orthorexia-type rabbit hole with some extreme ideas about what constitutes healthy food.

Its probably worth seeking help offline for some of the challenges you face.

Junk food is cheap because it’s basically by products ; waste carbs (wheat, soya, maize ) dried and reconstituted with chemicals when needed . Then mixed with the cheapest veg or protein to make something.

Fresh food has a long lead in time, needs proper harvesting and has a short shelf life. Hence it should always cost more. Uk supermarkets have pretty narrow margins. I’m amazed we do get the choice we do given British farming is on its knees and we have such a huge population to feed.

Do you really think I’ve got orthorexia

No i said that was one of the options. That's not incorrect.
I hadn't read that she's autistic so I appreciate that may add challenges here but it's possible with therapy and a gradual approach to increase the range of foods you will tolerate even with conditions like arfid. It's not easy no but it is possible. I didn't say 'stop being fussy' I said 'learn to tolerate'. That's quite different.

I am not a dietician or nutritionist. I think you are better off talking to health professionals in the real world.

We have an allotment and our carrots look like supermarket carrots! I mean you get some misshapen but still! It’s bloody carrot flies that destroy the crop.
Plus the money for seeds and the work and time it takes, it’s cheaper to buy from farm /organic shop. But it’s my DH hobby and it keeps him fit and is brilliant for his mental health. Especially watching his hens scratch for food etc.

You have a budget, you spend more of it on food than other people because you can’t tolerate (for whatever reason) “cheap” food. Thats fine. The government (i.e. the taxpayer) cannot level every playing field for everyone. The IBS people in my family sometimes buy GF foods, but mostly they just stopped eating anything with gluten, they avoid oranges and choose other fruit instead and so on and so on. I had to pay for my own therapy which is fair enough, only a few people be benefited from me having it (primarily me).

I really object to this idea that we need an ever expanding state to pay for more and more to cover individual variances.

Carrots are supposed to be purple

The orange breed has been around for like 500 years now...

Which you can buy from M&S if you want. They taste in my opinion exactly the same.We also grow purple carrots, different colour beetroot and peas and beans. Look pretty but cooked the colour leaves.

That's not quite true.
They started off purple. Selective breeding has resulted in the orange variety becoming the norm. Orange carrots are still nutritious, but, as already said, some of don't feel as nice as the carrots of my youth (also orange, less watery). If you really don't like carrots then don't eat them though.

It is easy to miss update posts particularly when a thread is fast moving so I appreciate that you hadn't seen. However, some people would have read that the OP was autistic and still not appreciated the challenges which is why I wanted to post.

No. They were once purple. You can still get purple, yellow etc. However, the most commonly grown carrots have been orange for hundreds of years. Most people eat orange carrots. I appreciate that you have difficulties, but I would rather see people in this position see what help is available with that before I would be ok with taxpayers subsidising heritage carrots. We simply can't afford that.

Are you near Morrisons @ByJadeExpert?
groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-the-best-rainbow-carrots/114125995

Healthy food IS cheap in the UK.

I feed me & 16yo ds for about £55 p. week. That always includes a good range of fruit, veg, meat and dairy. I eat 30+ different fruit & veg every week to boost my immune system after being treated for cancer a few years ago and always cook from scratch.

Last week we ate potatoes, carrots, onions, broccoli, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, beetroot, lettuce, spring onions, garlic, spinach, rice, oats, celery, mushrooms, peppers, fennel, courgettes, lentils, frozen peas, sweetcorn & broad beans,.

Plums, apples, kiwis, mango, satsumas, strawberries, rhubarb.

I also make all our bread from wholemeal flour bought direct from a mill.

It really isn't difficult. Food in the UK is very good value compared to some other countries. It doesn't need subsidising, we just need to teach some people how to cook.

What kind of meals do you enjoy eating @ByJadeExpert Maybe I can help you out with a few suggestions and a way around cost?

However - I do agree with you. Personally I think the answer should be to lower the price of other things in our society, so that we can afford to eat well. E.g.energy prices - the profit is going to shareholders and I think it should be nationalised.

Eating locally and seasonally is the cheapest way to go I think, and also buying some things frozen.

There is a lot of virtue signalling going on on this thread.

Per calorie absolutely. But lets be real, there's an obesity crisis not a famine. Most people could do with less calories.

Is there?
Are you sure there's not just folk wanting to understand, and maybe even help?

Yes - in the sense that people are somehow showing off what they’re eating and cooking each week. Not everyone has that ability to resource and cook for themselves, therein lies part of the problem I think. Also, OP has autism, so it sounds like they need support in sourcing affordable, healthy and nutritious food that they enjoy.

Ah right, I see.
I'd just call that folk not knowing their privilege, in addition to having access to a range of food sources many also have low understanding around food 'issues' that affect others lives.