I always forget why it is I stopped eating healthy until I decide to eat healthy again. Fact is, eating a healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables is expensive. Deciding that I needed to lose some weight, lower my cholesterol a bit, I made the decision to go on a healthy diet again, complete with some really yummy fruit and vegetable smoothies, and yesterday I went on a MAJOR SHOPPING trip to bring all those wonderful green goodies into my apartment. Talk about some sticker shock!The good news is I got lots and lots of healthy stuff. Cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, parsley, carrots and other cool veggie kinds of things. Loaded up on fruits, apples, bananas, tangerines, Bartlett Pears (a personal favorite) and mangoes. Got home, put everything away and made myself a really delicious Fruit Smoothie...drinking the last of it as I write this article.
The bad news was the staggering price tag at the cash register...I am a single person, have only myself to feed, and my bill yesterday at Shop Rite was well North of $200 dollars. How does a family of say four manage to feed themselves in a healthy fashion? Is it any wonder as a nation we have weight issues when eating healthy seems to cost so much more than filling our bodies up with CHEAP PROCESSED FOODS? Should three cucumbers cost as much as dinner for four in a cardboard box? Just seems wrong to me, that eating healthy foods is a luxury that many Americans in this depressed economy simply cannot afford.
Well, it can be helpful to be mindful of what's in season and what's local to the New England area at this time. All of those things will be cheaper. I was fortunate and was able to buy into a great farm share this past season, which provided me with tons of veggies and reduced my grocery bill to just the cost of dairy or other specialty items. I got a final bag of tomatoes with my share this week, and will be bidding them a truly fond farewell as their season is over. Running with this example, off season tomatoes spend a lot of time in trucks from Mexico, Canada, California and by the time they get to us are no longer tasty and become expensive. Like cucumbers, I'll miss them, but hey - squashes are really cheap and abundant now. As are sturdy greens, brussel sprouts, apples and potatoes. Eating healthy IS possible on a budget, but takes some planning and smart shopping (comparing prices).
ReplyDeleteHello Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThank you for the useful tips on eating season veggies. Suppose I should learn to broaden my palette but tend to like what I like.