Healthy can be good AND cheap. And realistic.

This morning I laid in bed trying to nurse a wicked 24 hour sinus headache and was browsing Pinterest. Oh Pinterest, you suck me in and spit me out an hour later hungry and wanting to make All The Pretties.

So, while browing the Health and Fitness thread I happened across this image which I’ve acually seen quite a few times on Pinterest.

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I posted this to Facebook right away and pretty much everybody agreed with me that the second price listed is pretty much unrealistic for anywhere in the country. Less than $2.00 for chicken is just ridiculous! Somebody pointed out that some of these are Wal*Mart brand but even then, I just don’t buy that you can get all this food for $19.54. So today when Cassidy and I went to do our big weekly shopping trip I looked for all these thing to see how much it would ACTUALLY cost. I picked the cheapest, non-sale price and this is what I got (pre-tax):

$10.04 – 2 pounds chicken breasts
$2.99 – 10 pounds potatoes
$3.00 – 8 ears corn
$2.99 – 1 pound peaches
$3.89 – 1 gallon skim milk
$3.99 – 1 pound 96% lean ground beef
$2.99 – 32 oz 99% fat free Yoplait yogurt (didn’t have Yolpait, chose the cheapest brand)
$2.49 – 18 oz canister of oats
$1.98 – 2 pounds frozen sweet peas
$1.99 – 1 pound dried kidney beans
$36.26 – Total

Now, this is not to say that you can’t eat healthy AND cheap (the Shakshuka recipe I posted awhile ago is $6.85 and feeds 4 people with leftovers for 2!) but this list is completely unrealistic which annoys me because we DO need to encourage people to eat more healthy but we need to do that in a realistic way.

ANYWAY, I was annoyed, even more so since it came from SparkPeople which is supposed to be a reputable site. It also reminded me that I previously planned to post more of the recipes I make (before my hard drive died and I was without it for over a month) so I’m planning on getting back to that THIS WEEK.

PROMISE!

6 thoughts on “Healthy can be good AND cheap. And realistic.

  1. Let me get this straight: People will argue the price being “cheaper” because it’s from Walmart, like somehow the quality of food from Walmart is worse than that bottom line fried food from KFC?!?!?!?

  2. Yeah, I’d NEVER trust $2.00 chicken. I feel lucky that we can afford to buy mostly organic and fresh food but I spent $157 today on enough groceries to feed all of us for the next seven days (dinners, snacks and lunch foods) and the 4 pounds of chicken was $22.00 of it! Instead of frozen peas get a large head of broccoli! Instead of potatoes get ACTUAL HEALTHY veggies to roast!

    I really don’t know how accurate the KFC prices are because I haven’t eaten there in… I actually can’t remember the last time I ate KFC!

  3. That image always made shake my head. Like you said, the idea behind it is a good one… but the credibility is shot for some because of the unrealistic prices. I can’t remember the last time a gallon of milk was two bucks… according to BLS, it was around $2.50 in the mid-90s.

  4. Yeah, I have no idea how this is possible. Maybe in the cheapest state and using a million coupons? It doesn’t make sense to me. It’s frustrating, like you said, because we really should be encouraging healthy eating and there definitely are ways to do it. I still need to try that recipe you posted!

  5. I appreciate this post so much. We buy 80% fresh food (canned beans / canned whole tomatoes for sauces and such and the occasional dinner out) and it costs a fortune with about 30-40% organic from the farmer’s market.

    I JUST finished the grocery shopping today in fact and not including what we already had in the pantry, fridge, and both freezers, I still spent close to $170 for my family of four (my husband, me, 10yr old son, 3yr old son).

    There is not a lot of ways to save on “whole” foods, all the coupons I come across are for heavily processed foods instead of bell peppers, avocados (I WISH SO MUCH for an avocado coupon!), and chicken breasts.

  6. The thought and the idea behind it is good, by stretching your dollar instead of purchasing dinner for one night you could make a few healthier dinners. I’m sure that image is from the late 90’s/early 2000’s.

    I wish milk was still at that price…. I’m currently paying $4.65 a gallon if I shop locally and it’s $3 something if I head down to wash state.

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