Rising prices and your diet?

**WV_mom_of2** · 07-09-2008, 07:01 PM

Will rising grocery prices affect your eating habits? Will you have to switch to cheaper foods that are less healthy for you in order to keep within your budget?

My boss and I were talking the other day about this. He was saying how it would be so much cheaper to just eat junk food now. White bread, hot dogs, etc. are way cheaper here than anything healthy. But dh and I were talking and for us, it's going to make things better I think. I'm cutting out 95% of our junk food and soda so that I can afford fresh produce. It used to be we could afford some of both, but now it's one or the other!

I will also be cooking more at home and we will rarely eat out. I've lost 10 pounds recently from stress and worry, maybe I can keep on the weight loss path if I cut out the junk food LOL!

**frugalandsimple** · 07-09-2008, 07:06 PM

I'd try to cut out other things before changing to a less healthy diet. What you eat now usually will affect your future health. I rarely eat out too and don't eat much junk. The only beverages I drink is milk, water and tea.

**peanut** · 07-09-2008, 07:12 PM

I think this depends where you live and how you shop and cook. For us sacrificing healthy foods is not an option. We've just become wiser/savvy about how to acquire them cheaply.

For instance, I make everything from scratch, including mayonnaise and diet margarine (if I need it at all!). I usually bake bread from scratch, but I buy ingredients in bulk for a discount. Right now it's hot, so I'm buying my healthy bread (Dempster's) at the Discount Bakery in town for $7.99 for 10 loaves.

Fresh produce is not optional either. I've been buying from friends. Places where I can go pick my own. I've also been buying whatever is still good on the clearance rack and cooking that.

I've been buying cheaper cuts of meat, but I'm carefully checking the fat content. I'm not buying hotdogs or smokies. I'm buying hamburger on sale, splitting it up and freezing it. Or regular hamburger and simmering it to make beef crumbles. I'm checking places like Freecycle and Full Circles for frozen meat for free. I scored 2 lbs. of frozen pork the other day. It will make good meat pies this fall and winter.

Fish is cheaper whole frozen right now. So I'm buying my salmon that way. i cook it up on the BBQ and then save the leftovers for eating for lunches, or for another meal.

Whole chickens were a lot cheaper than chicken breasts, so I bought 3 in a bag (bulk sale price) about two weeks ago. We're on the third one tonight. there will be leftovers tomorrow.

Only DD#2 drinks milk now, and Dh has some on his cereal. So I buy 2 litres a week. I purchased Rice Dream in bulk for me at a 10% discount last time I purchased it. It should last me the summer. We only have cheddar for DH and DD#2. I found it on sale about a month ago and bought two bricks...we're on the last one.

Eggs are expensive because I buy free range ones. Still, they are bigger than the average grocery store egg, and much tastier. We use less of them when we bake. If it calls for 2 eggs, we use one.

Which brings me to baking. We are eating less sweet baking and more fruit for dessert. This has got to be good. I buy the fruit that is on sale and that is what we eat. Sometimes I get it on the clearance rack, sometimes not.

So no, I don't see the increase in prices making me chose a poorer diet. If anything, I am more vigilant to make every food dollar count for something healthy.

Jean

**Darlene** · 07-09-2008, 07:23 PM

This time of year is easy especially if you have a garden. Very little meat and lots of garden goodies.
Winter: The way we live/cook makes the most of foods anyways so I don't see much change. Roasts followed by cooking bones for stock and soups & sandwiches to follow from it also. Nothing goes to waste and is for more than one meal.

**DonnainME** · 07-09-2008, 07:52 PM

It's making us pickier.

I do look at the clearance racks and buy fruits and veggies from there to use up immediately.

It is changing the way we are eating though.

**Starlight9803** · 07-09-2008, 10:07 PM

I won't stop buying our fresh fruit/veggies and whole food items. We don't buy many processed foods, and if I have to increase the food budget to maintain that, I guess that is what I'll have to do. I am expanding the garden, stocking up more on things that are on sale and then freezing/canning/dehydrating to store them. We are also trying to use up every single leftover and I've been eating smaller portions (that I needed to do anyway LOL)

**The Muse** · 07-09-2008, 10:22 PM

I have never agreed with the mindset that junk food is cheaper than healthy food.

Buying less expensive foods doesn't have to mean "less healthy". I significantly cut my food bill when DH and I went vegetarian and not only is our bank account fatter, but we're thinner and have much more energy.

I think it's got more to do with choices and a desire to learn new ways of cooking and eating than it does with cost. A bag of dried beans or a block of tempeh is healthier and will go much further than a package of cheap hot dogs. A bag of frozen veggies on sale is cheaper and healthier than a bag of chips. Good deals on produce can easily be found at ethnic markets, I regularly shop the asian grocery and an asian owned produce store. In a pinch, I'll buy off of the day old produce rack at my regular grocery store. I'd rather buy whole grain bread from a thrift store or the day old rack, or bake my own than to eat white bread because it's cheap.

**nodmicks** · 07-09-2008, 10:36 PM

I was just telling dh today that it sure is getting expensive to eat properly. I have to follow a ketogenic diet to control my diabetes if I want to stay off insulin. It definitely is getting expensive.
Dh did a little garden so that helps some.

**CYork** · 07-09-2008, 11:27 PM

I buy steak, hamburger meat, pork and chicken when it's on sale and put it in my freezer. I only buy at rock bottom prices. We supplement that with produce from the farmers' market or from our garden. I buy flour, sugar and other staples when they're on sale and use those to make the occasional treat. We purchase all our bread from the Holsum Bread store, freeze it and take it out as needed. I never pay full price for anything.

We never buy soda, chips or commercial desserts. They're terrible for our health, notwithstanding the wasted money.

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 07-09-2008, 11:48 PM

We want to continue to eat healthfully so we increased our food budget to meet the rising costs... Means giving up other things, but better to keep putting good food in...

**DJ1972** · 07-10-2008, 12:04 AM

I think it should help me be healthier, with the price of food so high, makes you think twice about over eating. Junk food may seem cheaper, but you have to eat more of it to get full, and you get hungry again sooner...so in the long run it's not cheaper or healthier.

**Jeanna** · 07-10-2008, 10:18 AM

I am with everyone else. I would cut other places before I would cut out good food. Prices are going up quickly that is for sure. We are eating more at home and it seems to level out our expenses as far a food before and food now.

**cheles2kids** · 07-10-2008, 10:59 AM

Defiantely. I know that I've realized as I've gotten older that I just can't eat all the stuff that I used too.
As an example, I seriously cannot eat balogna, it makes my tummy REALLY upset, but as a kid I ate it regularly.

I also think there are ways to eat healthier without having to go broke. Such as whole wheat bread, most whole wheat bread that you find at the store doesn't even have any of the benefits left in it.
Anything that you pick up and it states "enriched whole wheat", should be left on the shelf, it's really no better than white bread.

You can defiantely make a much healthier and better tasting bread at home, with minimum ingredients and you can control what goes in it.

The same for beans, alot of canned beans contain either high fructose corn syrup or sugar in them? I was floored when I realized how many different brands had this.
Cooking them from scratch, you can completely eliminate all the sugar and add your own seasonings. Then you can freeze the leftovers to have later.

Oh & don't forget frozen veggies for those of you who don't garden, or who don't have a space. I personally find the taste of these much better (closer to fresh), and they aren't canned & cooked in all that salt.

I also think I'd rather eat healthier now to cut down on health costs later. But yeah, overall we had to cut down on our meals out to continue to eat the way we like/need.

**cheriede** · 07-10-2008, 11:26 AM

I have reduced my meat consumption since the price of meat is starting to creep up. It's not only a healthy move but good economic move. I have also reduced the amount of processed foods that we buy, which is cheaper in the long run.

**heartofmine** · 07-10-2008, 12:20 PM

I've just started Weight Watchers and my family is joining me. I'm having to change the way I do things so I think in the long run I'll be doing better. I will have to buy healthier foods like leaner meats which will cost more but we will be eating less of it so I think I'll be doing better in the long run.