You know it's true, folks. The stuff that's so effing bad for us, but taste good as hell (Double Cheeseburgers and other various fast food items) are sold for a mere dollar, while foods that are supposed to make us healthy cost three, or maybe even four times that amount. Why can't it be the other way around? Why are the best foods the most expensive? I want to eat healthy, and I want to be smaller than I am now, but the temptation to get something so cheap, and yet, so unhealthy (and filling) is quite high.

I work in a grocery store, folks. I put out fruits and vegetables, and nearly every time I'm there, a customer complains about the prices. Internally, I can feel their pain because I myself am a customers, but dear Christ, don't take your frustration out on a guy who only puts out the product. If you want to eat cheaper, shrug away the healthy stuff and head over to Wendy's, McDonald's, or wherever the hell you go.

What say you, Magonian?

Well I don't know about the actual data but it seems to me like many choices at Taco Bell have to be way healthier than Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's. And Taco Bell is cheaper then all of them by far except for the dollar menus in which case it is about a wash. But then you don't have the diversity on the dollar menus of what Taco Bell has on the regular menu. So you might be stuck eating the same unhealthy double cheeseburger over and over.

Plus there is always the poor man's blue collar fruit like bananas, apples, oranges, and canned pineapples. And then instead of getting the fancy little carrots you get the old fashioned longer ones, etc.

Now that I pay attention to what I eat I have found meals that are usually filling and reasonably healthy and my overall appetite is much less than what it used to be, which definitely saves money.

Bumping an old as hell thread and I don't give a f*ck.

I overhauled my entire diet some time back in an effort to not be a lethargic skinnyfat cigarette like I have been for the last however many years since I stopped getting fed by my mother. It's also come out to be significantly cheaper than any of the crap I used to eat, including any of the "cheaper" alternatives to healthy eating that you mentioned.

That said, there's no dollar menu in Canada. A meal at Mcdonalds sets you back minimum 6 bucks, and I can eat healthy for way cheaper than that.

My initial shopping list:

Flax cereal w/ omega3
2% milk
Brown rice
Cans of tuna/salmon IN WATER
Large supply of blueberries/blackberries/strawberries (all to be frozen)
Bananas
low fat tofu
Eggs
Soy sauce
Several bags of mixed frozen vegetables
Calcium fortified orange juice

Also: one thing of proper multivitamins. Not that crap you can get at a grocery, a good one with binding agents that don't suck. Got this from GNC.

No sugar. No added spices. If it wasn't on this list, it didn't enter my mouth (exception: water).

First thing I did after putting everything away was hard boil and peel all the eggs.

Meals are fairly straightforward. Flax and a chopped up banana for breakfast, with water to drink. No sugar. Eat it and love it, nutritious = delicious.

Lunch always winds up being a smoothie. Not a gross sugar infested piece of sh*t you get from some vendor, a real god damn smoothie. Like, a cup or so of frozen berries, a bit more than a cup of orange juice, half a cup of tofu, and a banana all blended together. Nothing else.

For dinner, I cook up some brown rice (with water only), steam some of those veggies, chop up a couple of the eggs, and mix it all together. Add in about a half tablespoon of soy sauce and down the hatch it goes.

Also eat at least one can of boneless fish every day.

Replenished foods as necessary and have been doing this for 2 months. I feel fantastic and my wallet hates me a lot less than it used to.

^ lol I've tried to do this so many times.. made meal plans, bought healthy stuff, and it's always too much and too tiring and I end up going back to the wicked ways of eating sh*t. Also now living with someone who prefers to eat sh*t and is dead f*cking picky *sigh*

I'm trying to be more ethical and like buying veg from local vendor instead of a supermarket and stuff like that but it's hard because I'm so disorganised. =(

Also at bonanza's original statement of like... 5 months ago. Why do you THINK it's expensive? because nobody bloody eats it! supply and demand. but in the long run - healthy stuff, you end up eating less of it because you're being healthy and because it actually is more filling than a maccy's. The reason people eat sh*t is because it's easier. It's always there it takes no preparation or organisation of any kind. The whole technology to make your life faster, easier and lazier market likes people being fat and disorganised.

I went to the Rage gig with someone who is a vegan. He spends a lot of his time wandering around trying to find things he can actually eat. That's harsh. Being healthy isn't quite as difficult as that. Organisation is the key bon, *nod*.

That's exactly why I did my best to cover all the bases with the most minimal amount of preparation I could manage. :3

Probably would have given up a long time ago if I actually had to cook sh*t. None of this requires anything other than a timer to tell me to stop stuff.

but what about when you're going to go somewhere for a few days or a week or an afternoon? do you just not eat? do you eat crap with everyone else? or do you plan what you'll need and bring it along? also there is the thing of having stuff in all the time. going shopping instead of just getting chippy if you can't be arsed or if you've left it too late. that's most of my problem is we never have anything in except for bread and spices.

None of those issues have come up for me. Everything on this list is fairly common, though, so if you're going away a few days or more then I'd say it's fairly likely you could just buy the same stuff somewhere else.

If you're going for an afternoon, eat first. Problem solved. If longer than an afternoon, eat the healthiest food possible. It's fine to cheat once in a while. @_@

somehow that just never works out for me =( it's because i'm fail. *sigh*