I often hear people say that one barrier to eating healthier is that fruits and vegetables are so expensive. I’m wondering specifically what they mean by this because I’ve always found produce to be generally cheap? Obviously buy fruits and vegetables that are organic or from stores like Whole Foods or Erewhon will be more expensive but as many of us know, organic does not mean healthier. Normal grocery stores like Kroger, Trader Joes, Walmart, etc seem to have reasonably priced produce. Like today I bought a few bulk carrots for $0.75, bananas are $0.19 each at Trader Joe’s….which to me seems pretty cheap. I mean I don’t know how much cheaper these foods can get.
Anyway, wondering if someone can explain this further…the theory that fruits and vegetables are expensive. Thanks!
Lots of people in this thread who don’t know what it’s like growing up in an impoverished area. Growing up in a bad neighborhood where you only have one cornerstore, things like fresh meat and produce (if there is any) comes at a major markup. And/or those stores don’t take EBT for those items so they are out of the question. Whereas most stores even in the most run-down areas that take EBT will cover any kind of chips or candy or soda.
Not everybody has access to Trader Joe’s.
If you live in a food desert or the store you can make it to is not great, produce is pricier and worst quality (ie. already wilted I’m store).
Better to buy tinned beans (not exactly healthy if it has sauce but will keep and is filling).
Depends upon location. For example I was visiting so cal & was amazed at the price of produce being inexpensive comparatively speaking to where I live.
That being said… I’d recommend frozen fruits & veggies for the less expensive option over fresh produce. But, in general, the overly processed foods are the ones that are less expensive in my store.
To get my 5-6 servings daily, fresh veggies are about half of my budget. I typically spend around $100 per week (3 meals/day for just me). This ratio is thrown off if I buy pricier meats, like seafood or steak. Broccoli was like $9 for three crowns the other day at a regular grocery store - wtf.
Here is a discussion me and my wife just had, yes eating good food seems to cost more but you tend to eat less through the day so the difference in eating good versus eating bad is Marginal at best. Eat bad and add the odd restaurant meal and convenience store snacks and then compare that to an eat at home/meal prep budget and you won’t see a big difference , likely actually savings.
I have seen this myself and I believe it to be a fairly solid trend.
Another cost that I’m not sure has been mentioned yet is if you live in an area where you need a car to go to the grocery store, you have to be able to either afford gas or a lift. So you can’t really stock up on fresh fruit and veggies without them sometimes going bad sooner than you anticipated, which adds to the cost.
I used to buy mostly fruits and veg, but it’s gotten far too expensive (my grocery bill nearly doubled), so now rice makes up a large portion of my diet.
Well, one, they go bad fast, so if you want to buy stuff that’s going to keep that you can eat for the next week or two, you can’t, you’ll end up wasting a lot of them because they went bad. 2, it’s not that the individual produce are expensive (depending on which ones, some are, some aren’t, it varies wildly, a banana is 19 cents, but one pepper is 1.50), but all the ingredients combined together to create a palatable meal are, you have to buy a lot of different things all for 1 meal, that you use a tiny amount of, and then the rest quickly goes bad, it adds up. Especially if you are cooking for only 1 or 2 people, it can be cheaper to buy frozen or processed food, because you don’t have to buy a million different ingredients where the majority won’t get used. And then there’s just all the time and planning that goes into cooking before the food goes bad. Then there’s the fact that you HAVE to eat that particular food in the next few days, even if you aren’t in the mood for it, unless you do extensive meal prepping where you freeze everything to save for later.
Where I’m at, veggies are getting a little higher. But also it depends on where you live, which affects options. But I think another issue to consider is that people low on funds may also be strapped for time (and even stable housing/access to a fridge/kitchen or cooking utensils). These in isolation or all at once can complicate the goal of eating healthy.
Use to work in a supermarket on produce in relatively low income part of uk, when a family struggling to feed kids has a choice between strawberries at 2.50 blueberries at 2 and raspberries at 2.50, then in the same area there’s chocolate bars on offer for 1.00 and haribos at .50 a pack what do you think they pick! I always campaigned for F + V to be cheaper but I guess then the farmers would struggle to earn a living
As another user pointed out, low income areas generally tend to experience being “food deserts” where the only available grocery stores within walking distance are corner stores that lack fresh produce and meats at these great prices. Most walkable cities with low income areas have a disproportionate amount of fast food and not enough access to supermarkets nearby. That ease of access, combined with time and effort it takes to make a healthy meal at home, is a huge barrier to access of healthy eating for economically disadvantaged individuals. Consider you are someone living in a low income area, to get on a bus to carry your groceries home then cook when you are more than likely working long hours at a physically manual job, or more than one job to support your family takes a lot. Or you could pick up something quick and cheap that’s right around the corner from where you live. Yes, life is about choices but The system is not built to help those in this situation. Again, this is for most densely populated low income urban areas.
Vegetables are very expensive per calorie which may be why people say that. Also, you can certainly find fruits that are expensive per fruit (think exotics like dragon fruit). Berries are typically higher priced per volume. About half the weight of the banana goes to the compost. So these are different metrics used to describe the price of fruits and vegetables. You’ll have to be more discerning if you want to get at the heart of the meaning.
Overall, the micronutrient values of fruits and vegetables far exceed the typical fare on the Standard American Diet. For that reason, they are a much better value to your health, and ultimately to your wallet (when you’re not battling chronic disease and paying for it through the nose).
Beans and rice, especially when prepared from dried, with as many herbs and seasoning offer the most bang for the buck. Of course, you’ll still want to include as many other fruits and vegetables as you can. It is important to diversify.
Yes. Per calorie it’s very expensive. And you have to eat so many calories so when you add into the fact it is. However, when you look into what a diet would cost if you were to eat fast food vs meal prep, meal prep actually wins even with veggies. It’s just a matter of if a person has the time, discipline, etc to be able to do meal prep.
Totally depends on where you are. I’m visiting a tropical island in Africa for work right now, and they have more fruit here than they know what to do with it. Seriously some of the best mangoes and pineapples I’ve ever had for just a few pennies.
It’s an excuse and people can produce examples because of seasonal price changes.
Right now in Florida leeks are $2.50 each when I was getting them for $0.80 each a few months ago, leeks are out of season here right now so they are coming from Mexico. This doesn’t mean produce is expensive.
Even in places without access to local produce this time of year frozen are often fresher then fresh and canned is fine for most things. People associate frozen & canned as unhealthy for some reason.
Also international aspect because US is relatively cheap.
Also they could join a CSA if they want to have a fixed price option for produce.
No. You can get frozen vegetables for like $1 at most walmarts. Fruits on the other hand can be pricey, but certain fruit are not. $3 for a melon, bananas are known to be dirt cheap. Pineapple is $1.68 at my local Walmart. Normally it’s $2
People are just making excuses because they want produce that is precut, prepackaged, etc which IS expensive
I find fruits can be a little pricier than vegetables, but if you shop at grocery stores like Kroger/Fred Meyer, they have a discount bin where you can buy a small ball of avocados, apples, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc for 99 cents/$1.
It really depends on what you have access to. If there is a Walmart/similar store close enough that your frozen food won’t thaw by the time you get home (not assuming transportation), you have a lot of options. Store brand dry rice, beans and frozen fruits and veggies will stretch your dollar the furthest. Bananas are usually dirt cheap. Of course, you also need basic appliances and a kitchen to cook the items.
I get into trouble when I “gotta” have some snack food or diet soda. That stuff adds up fast and is designed only to make us crave more.
It depends on where you buy it, what state it’s in when you buy it, and how you eat/prepare it
For example. If you’re out of the house 12+ hours a day, living in a hot humid climate, it may not make a whole lot of sense to buy heaps of fresh produce that will just rot quickly. It’s an expensive waste of food, that’s why people often get frozen/canned produce
But if you’re home all the time and can spend more time cooking, it’s much different
Also, I have options where I live, and I can get produce dirt cheap. I’m lucky enough to have an Asian market where I can buy those things for pennies. If all I had was a Publix, fresh produce would cost an arm and a leg, as of late.
Several factors: geography, season, types of grocers available.
Prices have been fluctuating over the past year.
I do think that the idea of healthy food being too expensive is thrown out too casually. There are strategies for keeping costs down, like frozen and canned veggies and frozen fruit.
Frozen is the way if you want to save$$$…. They are picked and frozen at a good ripeness too and you’ll throw less out that way.
The only thing is you’re going to want a strategy for preparing them a bit ahead because they are not ready to go when you want em.
I bought 3lbs of collard greens, 2 lbs of kale, a package of about 8-10 mushrooms, and a dozen cage-free organic eggs for $17 today. Is that expensive? idk, I live in NYC so everything’s more expensive here than the rest of the US (except for CA). If I left out the eggs it’d probably bring the price down to about $10-$11, soo I’d say that’s a good bargain for that many vegetables :)
I moved to buying all my fruits as frozen (minus my morning kiwi) and just make two smoothies a day.
Veggies around me are cheap, but that’s because one of the largest agricultural industries in the country is two hours from me and our veggies have always been cheap.
Where I live in central Europe, many vegetables one would want to consume more, is often very close to chicken/pork, or even significantly more expensive.
Brussel sprouts, broccoli, are about the same as pork, asparagus can be 2x as expensive as meat, bell peppers vary to same as pork or also 2x.
Some of the vegetables ARE cheap. Cabbage, potato.
It’s not just about the cost of the food itself. It’s things like the waste of ingredients not used(or in many people’s world adhd tax). The transportation that takes time, energy and cost. Like have you tried to grocery shop on public transit? It’s a 2 HR trip just to and fro, not including the actual time in the store. If I tried to grocery shop on a day I work then I wouldn’t be getting home till 11pm for a short trip and that’s after leaving the house at 8 am.
For me veggies and fruit cost me more in time and energy. Energy and time wise that’s a whole extra shift a week just to go buy them, let alone prepare meals and the adhd tax. And I still have a bunch of other things to do.
If you know how to buy it could be cheap. For example. I live in Spain. Grape season ends at January. Now there are Peruvian and Indian grapes on the supermarkets but they are expensive if you compare with local. I don’t buy grapes right now.
I buy a bag of mandarins, a pineapple and frozen blueberries every week. It’s about $10 and gets me and my husband through the week. I spend maybe another $30-40 on veg, but we eat mostly ovo-vegetarian and eat a LOT of veggies.