Harder to eat healthy?

[supa_star323]

Do you find it harder to eat healthy as a single parent with a limited food budget?

[OneNowOneLater]

:yes: I only have a $50 (ftb week) to $80 (PPS week) budget for groceries. And thats to feed two adults and a three year old.

We do a lot of pasta, cos really, i find that its the cheapest thing to make.

[GraceUnhearing]

yep

red meat is a luxury as its so expensive!
we eat lot of rice/pasta
and sausages are always cheap

fresh fruit nd veg get expensive so its mainly just for the boys

[Ana Gram]

Yep, it certainly is.

[spring]

I don't agree.

When I was a single Mum I had a very strict budget that didn't extend far enough for me to afford as much pre-packed & processed foods. Which meant we only ever ate whole foods prepared at home.

On pay day I would first visit the butcher & fruit shop (which also sold cheap bread & milk) & would only buy flour, sugar etc'- cleaning products & toiletries from supermarkets.

Often I would bulk out a meal with lots of vege but still add maybe 100-200 grams of meat (stirfrys etc')

[sweetseven]

I have always prefferred healthy food, and when on a tight budget felt pressure from crap food alternatives, that I don't even consider food.

When soft-drink is cheaper than milk and juice, I think that really says something. When out somewhere and tapwater is not available, a bottle of water is more expensive than softdrink, and I think that is wrong.

However, the supermarkets are not the best places to shop for good food. If you look around, you will find ecconomical places to buy what you need.

---------

My children however disagree with me, and Miss10 is constantly asking for money to go to the shop to buy some food (cake, icecream, fish&chips, etc) after school, because we have nothing (fruit [apples, nectarines, pears, grapes], soups, bread, rice, ham, chicken, yoghurt, crackers, cheese, vegetables [lettuce, tomato, celery, beetroot, asparagus]) to eat at home.

[bubbleandme]

i'd say yes it is harder but you can eat relatively healthily.

my food budget is $50 a week it's pretty much just food as i dont buy nappies or formula or wipes etc. or cleaning products (have a massive bag of bi carb and a bottle of vinegar) or shampoo etc. (buy it in bulk at costco) or female items (is that the most delicate way to put it? lol anyway don't buy them cause it's not back yet :smiliedance: and i have a cup :p)
we do eat a fair bit of pasta (cause i love it! and can actually cook it lol) and no fancy cuts of meat but i pack the pasta sauce full of veggies which makes it go further and is healthier and i'm going to try lentils next time lol

and alot of vegetarian meals are healthy and fairly cheap

it's certainly not easy but i think it can (just) be done lol

i agree sweetseven, it's crazy that i can buy a big bottle of softdrink for $1.. and i tiny bottle of milk (mm love milk) for $2.. but supply and demand i guess? and also agree about the supermarkets! can't wait til i hunt out the markets here :D

[MummaBear03]

Nah not really. We go to the fruit shop or markets for fruit, veg and eggs. I shop at Coles for bread, milk, cereal, baking needs such as flour, sugar, etc, get cleaning products in bulk when they're on special at Big W. I have $60/w for everything. Almost everything we buy in the supermarket is either Savings brand or You'll Love Coles brand. I can fill a box for $30 with fruit and veg at the local fruit market. Some things last a week like strawberries, watermelon and bananas but the rest will last a fn. We don't buy luxury items like biscuits and cakes and so on, they just don't exist in this house. Sometimes I'll buy a pack of Zing ice blocks for $2.50 for a pack of 10 but once they're gone they're gone til I have another spare $2.50 to get another pack. Normally I only buy 2 packs in a summer and none the rest of the year. We bake biscuits, pikelets, scones, muffins, all sorts of other things on weekends.

[ConfettiGirl]

It depends really. Pasta and rice are still good foods if you buy the wholegrain varieties - more expensive than white but a bag of brown rice is still cheaper than a frozen pizza or a packet of hot dogs.

I can buy a bag of wholegrain spaghetti, a tin of crushed tomatos, 300gram mince, 1 carrot 1 zucchini and a 1/4 cup of dried lentils (with some herbs added maybe 10c worth) for less than a box of party pies.

6 carrots is always going to be cheaper than 6 roll-ups - no matter where you buy the carrots.

6 apples is cheaper than 6 LCM's etc (if you buy the apples that are on special - there is always a type of apple on special). Nectarines, mandarins, kiwi fruit etc are cheaper than chocolate bars.

A big bag of multipack (say 12 packs) chips costs around $8. For $8 I can get a small bag of dried apricots, small handful of cashews (maybe 1/4 cup), a few large walnuts, some pumpkin seeds and yoghurt covered saltana's (about 1/4 cup) and I have 12 snack bags of trail mix.

Porridge and weet-bix are much, much healthier than sugar laden cereals. A bag of multigrain bread is cheaper than crumpets (and has more serves).

Homemade soup made with lots of diced vegies and some meat is cheaper per serve than tinned soups (that are usually full of sodium and other fillers and not much goodness).

Sausages are good foods to have occasionally as they still contain protein - just have lots of fat. They are generally cheaper than other quick meals like a tin of ravioli. Sausages can be really yummy if cooked different ways.

Quite often sweet potato is cheaper than white potato and it's much healthier too.

Tinned tuna is a very cheap and versatile food - I always have some tins on hand. Anything cooked with tuna as the main ingredient is likely to be a cheap meal (eg tuna casserole, tuna bake, tuna fritters). It's also a cheap sandwich filling - much cheaper than ham which is also filled with sodium and nitrates.

Softdrink might be cheap but water from the tap is pretty much free. Milk is expensive but it's also fairly dense nutrition wise so you only need a little to gain benefit. You are also likely to be full after drinking less milk than you would after drinking softdrink (I have drunk 2 litres of softdrink and still felt thirsty but have felt satisfied after only 1 cup - 250 mls - of milk).

Same with cheese. I could eat a whole packet of rice crackers or jatz bikkies and still felt hungry but feel good after only a few cubes of cheese.

There are so many ways to eat healthily on a budget and for me it would not be cheaper to switch to an unhealthy diet.

[Pinkzy]

Confetti - Sorry I know this is OT but BH is slow and I can't be bothered going into my user CP to send you a message as it'll take forever. I really think you should write a book for single parents, in fact all parents who struggle with finances. Seriously. Your tips above are absolutely invaluable and so helpful that it's ridiculous lol! Your other posts about budgeting, living off a small amount per fortnight are also amazingly helpful....I honestly think your advice and ideas could help so many others. Ever consider maybe making a website with these tips for others?? Or writing an e-book and selling it online?? You should :)

[MummyDaddy]

Easier when I was on a limited budget.

Vegies are cheap.

Meat bought in bulk in cheap.

I eat more bad things now that I have more money!

I used to be creative - now i'm indulgent!

[sweetseven]

For a snack, a packet of potato chips will cost $2 (on special) whereas a similar size bag of grapes are around $5 or a bag of nuts $8-$15.

Bought cakes and biscuits are cheaper than homemade.

White bread is cheaper than wholemeal or grain bread. In the cheap breads, I can get whitebread for $1 and wholemeal or grain bread for $2. I prefer to buy higher quality breads where I'm looking at two for $5 for whitebread or two for $6 for grain/wholemeal. (Unfortunately my kids prefer whitebread. :barf: If it were up to me, they never would've tried it.)

And yes, my kids love carrots and will devour them whenever I buy them, but they wont take them to school for lunch (but will for brain break - morning tea for the younger ones only). They want museli bars and the healthier varieties are twice the price of the basic ones. Or if I made them myself, the price would also be significantly greater.

That is one thing I have trouble getting my head around. How come these manufactured products, packed with preservatives and packaging, are cheaper to buy than the ingredients to make a similar product yourself?

And discount meat is cheaper than fresh vegetables. I often get a comment from a friend suggesting that my children are well off because they eat a lot of meat. (In my opinion they eat more meat than I would prefer because vegetables are more expensive.) He compares it to his childhood where he only got meat once (or maybe twice) a week because it was too expensive. Whereas my children have meat at about 50% of most of their evening meals. (I would prefer to have it as 30% of 5/7 evening meals.)

[*babygirl*]

I can feed 7 people three kids and 4 adults on 120 a week and that includes milk and cheese and meat for 6/7 meals with loads of veges!!! I make everything from scratch and each meal includes at LEAST 3 serves of veges and one of protein! It's very easy to do with the help of fruit and vege shops, cheap 'fillers' like chickpeas and lentils which fill u up and are so good for you! Aldo is also another huge help! We don't buy anything that is packaged or overly processed except for rice crackers, organic corn chips, Milo and wedges. I find it so much cheaper to eat wholesome meals cooked from scratch than buying processed 'treats' and in our house the luxury items include a jar of pitted kalamata olives and some burgen bread!

[Fuchsia!]

Yeah i did. But now im going to try and stick to a budget and meal plan. My meal plan has come to about $65.

Im going to get my fruit delivered so i don't tempt to buy things i don't need and stick to my meal plan strictly.

Make all snacks from scratch like musli bars and muffins and freeze them.

[faroutbrusselsprout]

It depends really. Pasta and rice are still good foods if you buy the wholegrain varieties - more expensive than white but a bag of brown rice is still cheaper than a frozen pizza or a packet of hot dogs.

I can buy a bag of wholegrain spaghetti, a tin of crushed tomatos, 300gram mince, 1 carrot 1 zucchini and a 1/4 cup of dried lentils (with some herbs added maybe 10c worth) for less than a box of party pies.

6 carrots is always going to be cheaper than 6 roll-ups - no matter where you buy the carrots.

6 apples is cheaper than 6 LCM's etc (if you buy the apples that are on special - there is always a type of apple on special). Nectarines, mandarins, kiwi fruit etc are cheaper than chocolate bars.

A big bag of multipack (say 12 packs) chips costs around $8. For $8 I can get a small bag of dried apricots, small handful of cashews (maybe 1/4 cup), a few large walnuts, some pumpkin seeds and yoghurt covered saltana's (about 1/4 cup) and I have 12 snack bags of trail mix.

Porridge and weet-bix are much, much healthier than sugar laden cereals. A bag of multigrain bread is cheaper than crumpets (and has more serves).

Homemade soup made with lots of diced vegies and some meat is cheaper per serve than tinned soups (that are usually full of sodium and other fillers and not much goodness).

Sausages are good foods to have occasionally as they still contain protein - just have lots of fat. They are generally cheaper than other quick meals like a tin of ravioli. Sausages can be really yummy if cooked different ways.

Quite often sweet potato is cheaper than white potato and it's much healthier too.

Tinned tuna is a very cheap and versatile food - I always have some tins on hand. Anything cooked with tuna as the main ingredient is likely to be a cheap meal (eg tuna casserole, tuna bake, tuna fritters). It's also a cheap sandwich filling - much cheaper than ham which is also filled with sodium and nitrates.

Softdrink might be cheap but water from the tap is pretty much free. Milk is expensive but it's also fairly dense nutrition wise so you only need a little to gain benefit. You are also likely to be full after drinking less milk than you would after drinking softdrink (I have drunk 2 litres of softdrink and still felt thirsty but have felt satisfied after only 1 cup - 250 mls - of milk).

Same with cheese. I could eat a whole packet of rice crackers or jatz bikkies and still felt hungry but feel good after only a few cubes of cheese.

There are so many ways to eat healthily on a budget and for me it would not be cheaper to switch to an unhealthy diet.


:yelclap::yelclap::yelclap:

One of the best posts I have EVER read!!

You ROCK!!

[two cheeky smurfs]

i dont find it hard at all for my kids and i to eat healthy!! when the twins were first born i didnt eat healthy but wasnt to do with budget it was to do with lazyness to be honest!

unfortuntley dont have any markets here but i always look for specials and manage to get everything we need for a fortnight for $100 (most weeks ill have to go to 3 diff stores but they are all in the same area so can walk)

i always find that processed food looks cheap but for example a frozen pizza will only serve 1 meal for a family but veg and other healthy things will make more than one serve!

[chrysalis]

I eat fairly healthy foods, but I find that when I am single I put far less effort into cooking. I may have a simple salad for dinner, or a baked potato. But with a partner, I'll try new recipes or make desserts.

It's not a $ issue, it's the motivation to put effort into cooking.

When my kids are older and beyond the toddler food phase, I will probably find it easier to prepare meals that need a bit more effort. Right now, I'm eating healthily but usually it's basic.

[Veritas]

I eat fairly healthy foods, but I find that when I am single I put far less effort into cooking. I may have a simple salad for dinner, or a baked potato. But with a partner, I'll try new recipes or make desserts.

It's not a $ issue, it's the motivation to put effort into cooking..

Agreed..... I find that healthy, homemade options are most certainly cheaper, and more fulfilling.... but for the most part, it tends to be the motivation that I lack most.....

[sweetseven]

It depends really. Pasta and rice are still good foods if you buy the wholegrain varieties - more expensive than white but a bag of brown rice is still cheaper than a frozen pizza or a packet of hot dogs.

I can buy a bag of wholegrain spaghetti, a tin of crushed tomatos, 300gram mince, 1 carrot 1 zucchini and a 1/4 cup of dried lentils (with some herbs added maybe 10c worth) for less than a box of party pies.but you are comparing convenience unhealthy food to homecooked healthy food. If you are timepoor as well as cashpoor, then the convenience healthy food is often significantly more expensive than convenience unhealthy food. Subway is dearer than a MacDonalds burger for example. And when comparing ingredients for homecooked meals, often the less healthy option is cheaper (eg white rice is often cheaper than wholegrain rice).


6 carrots is always going to be cheaper than 6 roll-ups - no matter where you buy the carrots.Rollups are a treat. Today I sent my children to school with lychees as a treat that I would equate on a similar level as rollups. I'm not sure how much I spent on them, but I estimate that three lychess (which I think equates one rollup treatwise) would probably cost the same, if not more, than a rollup.


6 apples is cheaper than 6 LCM's etc (if you buy the apples that are on special - there is always a type of apple on special). Nectarines, mandarins, kiwi fruit etc are cheaper than chocolate bars.10 pack small chocolate bars for $3.50 so 35c each, whereas fruit will often equate to 50c each (30c each if you are lucky).


A big bag of multipack (say 12 packs) chips costs around $8. For $8 I can get a small bag of dried apricots, small handful of cashews (maybe 1/4 cup), a few large walnuts, some pumpkin seeds and yoghurt covered saltana's (about 1/4 cup) and I have 12 snack bags of trail mix.$2 for 200 potato chips which can be individually divided for the children is much cheaper than your do-it-yourself trailmix (which isn't even allowed at school due to the nut content).

Also, at the school tuckshop, a piece of fruit is 75c whereas a packet of chips is 65c. Which is the kid going to buy?


Porridge and weet-bix are much, much healthier than sugar laden cereals. A bag of multigrain bread is cheaper than crumpets (and has more serves). I'll give you this one. But a nice healthy museli with nuts and dried fruit is significantly dearer.


Homemade soup made with lots of diced vegies and some meat is cheaper per serve than tinned soups (that are usually full of sodium and other fillers and not much goodness). Again comparing convenience vs homemade is an unfair comparison.

[MummaBear03]

At DD's school tuckshop, a small packet of chips costs $1, a piece of fresh, seasonal fruit is 50c. I bought a bag of apples for $2.99 at the fruit shop down the road. 15 in the bag.

[ConfettiGirl]

but you are comparing convenience unhealthy food to homecooked healthy food. If you are timepoor as well as cashpoor, then the convenience healthy food is often significantly more expensive than convenience unhealthy food. Subway is dearer than a MacDonalds burger for example. And when comparing ingredients for homecooked meals, often the less healthy option is cheaper (eg white rice is often cheaper than wholegrain rice).


Not really. How hard is it to boil some pasta and simmer a tin of tomatoes with some herbs added? Takes me 20 mins to cook spag bol - less if I have the sauce pre-made and frozen in the freezer. I find "convenience foods to take even longer in some cases. Party pies can take anywhere up to 35 mins to cook.

Also a subway 6 inch sub is much more substantial than a macca's burger. Value for money wise subway is most defintely better. I can barely get through a 6 inch (I get the tuna one anyway which is one of their $7 subs and keep half for later). Hmmmmm $7 for a 12 inch sub sandwich that I can get 2 meals out off or $4.95 for a burger so small I eat it while driving and then eat fries and quite often a sundae as well...sometimes I even buy 2 burgers and I am still hungry. So to me I would say that Subway is MUCH better value for money!!! Look at how expensive KFC is? And that is just fried chicken and fries.....more expensive than subway anyday!

Rollups are a treat. Today I sent my children to school with lychees as a treat that I would equate on a similar level as rollups. I'm not sure how much I spent on them, but I estimate that three lychess (which I think equates one rollup treatwise) would probably cost the same, if not more, than a rollup.

But it's YOUR choice to send your child to school with a roll-up. My kids like carrots and they like celery also (which again works out cheaper than roll-ups). Lychees are an expensive fruit - but not necessary. You can provide a cheaper alternative if you choose to send your child with a carrot or a stick of celery. It isn't about eating healthier being more expensive it's about what YOU are choosing to eat that is more expensive. I never said that ALL fruit is cheaper than a roll-up just that there are healthy alternative that ARE in fact cheaper (carrots, celery, apples, mandarins etc) if you CHOOSE not to buy those healthier options then that is YOUR choice - doesn't mean that eating junk is cheaper than buying healthy food.

10 pack small chocolate bars for $3.50 so 35c each, whereas fruit will often equate to 50c each (30c each if you are lucky).

A small chocolate bar would equate to HALF an apple (in fact it would equate to ZERO of an apple nutrition wise). So comparing a snack sized peice of chocolate to a full apple/banana/orange is an unfair comparison. 1 snack sized chockie bar would equate to around 1 QUARTER of an orange - thereby taking that 50c down to around 13 cents so cheaper than your chockie bar of 35c.

$2 for 200 potato chips which can be individually divided for the children is much cheaper than your do-it-yourself trailmix (which isn't even allowed at school due to the nut content).

At my school we have no restrictions on nuts - but who said trail mix NEEDS to be a school snack? You could have popcorn instead (only $1 a bag of "black and gold" kernals and you get around 10 huge bags out of the bag on raw kernals. Also chips are flimsy and unfilling......I can eat an entire bag of 200gram potato chips and still be ravenous. It isn't cost effective if it doesn't even curb the appetite!

Also, at the school tuckshop, a piece of fruit is 75c whereas a packet of chips is 65c. Which is the kid going to buy?

Who said anything about tuckshop? I would rather send fruit myself than get my kid to buy it.

I'll give you this one. But a nice healthy museli with nuts and dried fruit is significantly dearer.

Not really no. I can make my own muesli using homebrand oats, dried apricots, sultana's, cranberries, bran and some millet for less than $6 a kg. It cost approx $8 for a box of froot loops that weighs 550 grams. Also again you have the choice of eating porridge or weet-bix...just because you CHOOSE to buy a more expensive brand of muesli that doesn't make it impossible for others who want to eat healthier while still saving money from doing so.

Again comparing convenience vs homemade is an unfair comparison.

No, not really. The question was "harder to eat healthy" and asked about cost to eat healthy vs unhealthy. Nothing was said about being time-poor. Although even time poor people can still eat healthy and cheaply. Eggs on whole grain toast with some grilled mushrooms and tomatos is very cheap and fairly quick and easy. As I said for me frozen party pies or a frozen pizza takes longer to cook that spag bol. I can put anything I want in my slow cooker of a morning and then sit down to a hot meal almost the instant I walk in the door of an evening. Home-made soup is much healthier and cheaper than the tinned stuff - and takes not much longer to prepare.

Again it's a choice whether you want to eat healthier while still keeping under budget or whether you don't mind splurging on extra's. I never said that EVERY SINGLE healthy thing in the world is cheaper than every single unhealthy thing. Of course you are going to have variances in prices across the board. Some very cheap healthy food (eggs, tuna, porridge, carrots, apples, popcorn etc) and some more expensive foods (salmon, rib eye steak, lychees etc). But the same goes for snacks...I find junky cereals to be ridiculously priced and not even close to being as cost effective as even expensive muesli. Roll-ups are ridiculous as are LCM's (they are predominately made with rice which is very cheap). I find party pies and sausage rolls to be expensive.

[ConfettiGirl]

Also a lot of people think that eating healthy is expensive because all they do is mentally compare an unhealthy food with it's healthy counter-part. Like (white bread vs grain bread) when really you shouldn't look at it that way.

White bread doesn't need to be compared to grain bread. Of course it's cheaper to buy white bread but that doesn't make grain bread or brown rice an expensive food. It would still be cheaper to make fried rice with brown rice then to a box of "pizza pockets". It would be cheaper per serve to make homemade fried rice with brown rice then to buy those "instant" packets (which incidentally mostly use white rice). It's still cheaper to make toast for breakfast than to pour out a bowl of "Coco pops".

Chips don't have to be compared to fruit....how about comparing it to popcorn (unsalted and unflavoured). Popcorn is much cheaper and better for you than chips.

Instead of comparing roll-ups to lychees, try comparing them to a cheaper fruit! I got a HUGE bag of mandarins for less than $3 and it probably has close to 20 mandarins in there. I brought a kg of nectarines for $4.95 and there is exactly 11 in the box (so almost double the amount of roll-ups or LCM's in the box for the same price).

Nuts may appear more expensive but they are VERY dense so you only need a very small handful. That small handful itself would cost less than the $2 you would spend on a bag of chips and devour in 2 seconds flat. The $2 bag of chips LOOKS bigger than the $8 bag of cashews...but I bet on a per serve basis it's much cheaper.

You could buy a tub of yoghurt (twin pack) for $3 - so $1.50 each - but you would spend around $3.50 for a muffin or fancy cupcake.

The reason "junk" is so cheap is because it is very light and not nutrient dense. For example a tin of chicken soup probably has like 5% chicken and then lots of fillers and water and other flavour enhancers. Baby food has like 2.5% meat in some cases - which is why it often seems cheaper to buy the tins than make homemade babyfood. Doesn't mean you are getting better value for money though! If you used only 2.5% meat than your babyfood would be a lot cheaper than the tins also.

Oh and thank you for the lovely comments too guys. XXXX

[sweetseven]

ConfettiGirl, thank you for your responses.

As I stated before, I prefer healthy food myself but feel pressured by the unhealthy alternatives when funds are tight.


Also a lot of people think that eating healthy is expensive because all they do is mentally compare an unhealthy food with it's healthy counter-part. Like (white bread vs grain bread) when really you shouldn't look at it that way.For the most part I do see it that way. When looking at buying bread, I want the healthier stuff (that in my opinion tastes better also) but am contending with pressure from my children to buy whitebread (which they have a taste for since their father feeds it to them) and the pressure is increased by the fact that it is almost always cheaper. Other healthy alternatives, such a pita breads and tortillas are also more expensive than basic white bread.

I have been wanting to try making sushi for school lunches, which I expect to be cheaper than bread, and more desireable to the children. I just haven't tried yet. So I do agree that there is a possible healthy and ecconomic alternative, just not within the comfort zone of most people in western society.


White bread doesn't need to be compared to grain bread. Of course it's cheaper to buy white bread but that doesn't make grain bread or brown rice an expensive food.But it does provide an extra pressure to choose the less healthy option.


It would be cheaper per serve to make homemade fried rice with brown rice then to buy those "instant" packets (which incidentally mostly use white rice). Those instant packets are a bane to me, because my children are often asking for them - something they can easily toss together themselves. Which again is a reason that comparing convenience vs homemade is not appropriate in my view.


It's still cheaper to make toast for breakfast than to pour out a bowl of "Coco pops".I'm afraid I'm really not sure of the comparison there. And I will give you that the kiddie unhealthy cereals are a similar price to the healthier choices targetted at middleaged adults. (I personally refuse to buy my children the kiddie cereals but get them things like Uncle Toby's Oat Crisp as a middle ground. For myself, I'll make a decent museli by buying rolled oats, mixed dried fruit, sultanas, pine nuts, sunflour seeds, etc. However once it is all put together I expect my cereal to cost a similar amount to the prepackaged ones the kids have, but mine should have less artificial additives.


Chips don't have to be compared to fruit....how about comparing it to popcorn (unsalted and unflavoured). Popcorn is much cheaper and better for you than chips.Popcorn, yes that is a great alternative to chips. However it is not as easy to find. I suppose that corn thins or rice cakes would also be a similar alternative and they are comparable in price - $1.70-2.70 for a packet.


Instead of comparing roll-ups to lychees, try comparing them to a cheaper fruit! ... mandarinsI suppose I did that because of my perception of them in the treat scale. I probably give my children rollups twice a year as a treat, and felt that lychees equated the same level of rare treat. But you are right, mandarins can be bought cheaply (in season) and are sweet enough to qualify.


Nuts may appear more expensive but they are VERY dense so you only need a very small handful. That small handful itself would cost less than the $2 you would spend on a bag of chips and devour in 2 seconds flat. The $2 bag of chips LOOKS bigger than the $8 bag of cashews...but I bet on a per serve basis it's much cheaper.I think I agree with you there. That is something I've often tried to explain to my children is when they say they are hungry and ask for chips, that chips aren't food for satisfying hunger. They are more of a social snack. And whilst a bag of nuts or chips will take about the same amount of time to disappear, the nuts should be more filling.


You could buy a tub of yoghurt (twin pack) for $3 - so $1.50 each - but you would spend around $3.50 for a muffin or fancy cupcake. I'm afraid I dont really see those as comparisons, but comparing a tub of yoghurt to a tub of chocolate custard or dairy desert is a similar cost, so in this aspect both the healthy and unhealthy options are equally priced. And, you can buy yoghurt in bulk for cheaper per volume, but don't have that option for chocolate custard, so that gives a more ecconomical option for the healthier choice.


The reason "junk" is so cheap is because it is very light and not nutrient dense. ... Baby food has like 2.5% meat in some cases - which is why it often seems cheaper to buy the tins than make homemade babyfood. Doesn't mean you are getting better value for money though! If you used only 2.5% meat than your babyfood would be a lot cheaper than the tins also.Baby food is, in my opinion very expensive. And yes, the healthier versions of tinned/canned babyfood are significantly dearer than the mainstream ones that consist primarily of thickeners. It is my opinion that you are better off skipping the whole range entirely, making your own is great but as I said before an unfair comparison. So instead I'll compare it with simple options - yoghurt, bananas, avocados, tinned salmon. In this case, I am of the opinion that the fresh alternatives I've listed are still cheaper (maybe half the price) of the mainstream tins of thickener. So where the baby is concerned, it is definately easier to eat healthy.

Skim milk is one that bothers me. I used to buy skim milk for myself because I didn't like the creamy taste of fullcream milk. In times past, it used to be cheaper than fullcream milk, 'cause cream is dearer than milk. However, when it became fashionable to eat healthily, the cost of skim milk increased to more expensive than fullcream milk. Now, I am unlikely to drink milk at all, because I do not like the taste of the fullcream milk, but dont see it as fair to spend the extra money on skim milk. (I still buy fullcream milk for the kids.)

And I only compared softdrink to milk/juice because that is what society seems to deem appropriate to drink. In my opinion, softdrink is not a drink to quench thirst. I equate it similar to alcohol as a social drink, for which milk and juice fill a similar nieche for children. Cordial is the other alternative, but I omitted it initially because it can be considered in either camp - unhealthy due to the sugar/preservative content, or healthy because it is a flavouring that is served with water, which is important for everyone to drink more of.

===================

I have cut out some of your comments because my responses to those specific points seemed merely argumentative and not really adding to the debate.

I am coming from the position of someone who prefers healthy food and has constantly felt pressured by others to lean towards less desireable options. And in some circumstances am seeing the cost factor as an additional pressure. (I personally dont like the taste of grease, or excessive sweetness or salt myself. In my opinion, whitebread is tasteless and horrible to eat, whereas wholemeal/grain bread has flavour.)

[Ana Gram]

For me, it becomes a bit more complicated as I don't buy the cheapest option. Plus, no meat, dairy eggs or honey so I have to buy alternatives. I also buy organic. Add no palm oil to that and my food bill becomes at least $50 more expensive.

[MummaBear03]

For me, it becomes a bit more complicated as I don't buy the cheapest option. Plus, no meat, dairy eggs or honey so I have to buy alternatives. I also buy organic. Add no palm oil to that and my food bill becomes at least $50 more expensive.

What type of milk do you use? I don't like soy milk other than the flavoured So Good Bliss ones so use Rice milk. I haven't looked into whether or not it has palm oil. I do buy cow's milk :o but don't like using it. Haven't gotten used to any other milk in my coffee though.

I'm very lucky that we have such a great fruit and veg shop near us, so the organic options from that store are still cheaper than the non-organic options at the supermarket.

This is another reason why I'd be stuffed if the government brought out those cards, because the smaller shops like the one I go to for fruit and veg would not be able to implement those and I would then be forced into shopping at Coles or Woolies. I can do the groceries for $60/w going to the different places for what we need, but if it's all done at Coles (due to time shortage or whatever) that price goes up to $100/w for the same things. Woolworths is more expensive again for what we buy than even Coles is.

[Ana Gram]

What type of milk do you use? I don't like soy milk other than the flavoured So Good Bliss ones so use Rice milk. I haven't looked into whether or not it has palm oil. I do buy cow's milk :o but don't like using it. Haven't gotten used to any other milk in my coffee though.

I'm very lucky that we have such a great fruit and veg shop near us, so the organic options from that store are still cheaper than the non-organic options at the supermarket.

This is another reason why I'd be stuffed if the government brought out those cards, because the smaller shops like the one I go to for fruit and veg would not be able to implement those and I would then be forced into shopping at Coles or Woolies. I can do the groceries for $60/w going to the different places for what we need, but if it's all done at Coles (due to time shortage or whatever) that price goes up to $100/w for the same things. Woolworths is more expensive again for what we buy than even Coles is.

I use soy, I love it and so does DD. I get Australia's Own Organic.

I'd be screwed with the cards as well as I shop as small local vegan shops. I can't buy fruit and veg at the big supermarkets as they use Shellac to shine them :(

[MummaBear03]

I do LOVE coffee made using So Good Chocolate Bliss :D but just can't get used to it any other way, and before 2pm anything sweet like that makes my tummy all yuck so I do use cow's milk in coffee made before 2pm. I actually was given a bottle of Father O'Leary's Irish Cream for Christmas and love that in coffee no matter what milk is used, but once again that's not good for the first coffee of the day :laughing:

[Ana Gram]

Wash your mouth out! Irish coffee first thing in the morning is the ONLY way to have coffee (Can you tell my family is Irish :p)

[ConfettiGirl]

ConfettiGirl, thank you for your responses.

As I stated before, I prefer healthy food myself but feel pressured by the unhealthy alternatives when funds are tight.

For the most part I do see it that way. When looking at buying bread, I want the healthier stuff (that in my opinion tastes better also) but am contending with pressure from my children to buy whitebread (which they have a taste for since their father feeds it to them) and the pressure is increased by the fact that it is almost always cheaper. Other healthy alternatives, such a pita breads and tortillas are also more expensive than basic white bread.

I have been wanting to try making sushi for school lunches, which I expect to be cheaper than bread, and more desireable to the children. I just haven't tried yet. So I do agree that there is a possible healthy and ecconomic alternative, just not within the comfort zone of most people in western society.

But it does provide an extra pressure to choose the less healthy option.

But the point is that eating cheaper and healthier doesn't mean that you ALWAYS have to choose the cheapest of everything. It's about reducing the cost of shopping overall. You can eat a very good diet on very little money - it's just about choosing cheap meals that use healthy ingredients and about organisation. Not everything that you buy is going to be "dirt cheap" but by incorporating the very cheap, healthy foods into your diet as much as possible then you are doing a pretty good job.

Those instant packets are a bane to me, because my children are often asking for them - something they can easily toss together themselves. Which again is a reason that comparing convenience vs homemade is not appropriate in my view.

I make a huge batch of homemade fried rice and then either freeze or refrigerate. My kids are not old enough to reheat then so I do them - but it takes me 2 mins to zap in the microwave and my kids have a healthy snack. When my kids are older they will be doing the reheating themselves. I also make other snacks for them that are easy to reheat.
Why is comparing home-made to convenience not appropriate? The OP didn't ask about convenience, she asked about cost. I also don't think that home-made is much less "convenient" than junk food. I can prepare and cook so many meals that take 10 minutes or less. I also cook a lot of food in when I have a minute spare and then freeze for easy reheat/defrost. I am a busy person but I manage fine with home-made food.

I'm afraid I'm really not sure of the comparison there. And I will give you that the kiddie unhealthy cereals are a similar price to the healthier choices targetted at middleaged adults. (I personally refuse to buy my children the kiddie cereals but get them things like Uncle Toby's Oat Crisp as a middle ground. For myself, I'll make a decent museli by buying rolled oats, mixed dried fruit, sultanas, pine nuts, sunflour seeds, etc. However once it is all put together I expect my cereal to cost a similar amount to the prepackaged ones the kids have, but mine should have less artificial additives.

I make a really yummy muesli for much less than the pre-packaged sugar cereal. I also make much more (eg 1kg of muesli vs 550 grams of froot loops). Besides my point was that you can always choose porridge or weet-bix. If you wish to eat healthier but can't afford fancy muesli then there is always the option of buying a kg of porridge for $1 (like I do) and then dressing it up with in season fruit. The fact is the choice is there and it's up to you whether you choose the cheap, healthy option or the expensive, healthy option. You cannot say that eating healthy is more expensive simply because you CHOOSE to eat an expensive muesli. I CHOOSE to eat weet-bix, porridge, toast, and my own muesli - so for ME it is definitely NOT more expensive to eat healthy - which was the question asked in the OP.

Popcorn, yes that is a great alternative to chips. However it is not as easy to find. I suppose that corn thins or rice cakes would also be a similar alternative and they are comparable in price - $1.70-2.70 for a packet.

Popcorn isn't easy to find? I have never had trouble finding it. It is in just about every supermarket. In many different brands also - the homebrands are usually around $1 for a bag that pops probably close to 10 of those large boxes that you get at movies. For my family (who eat popcorn twice a week) 1 bag will easily last a month. $1 for a month's worth of snacks is pretty good. I enjoy corn thins - but wouldn't compare them to potato chips - for me they would be compared to something much more substantial - but I don't think they are that healthy anyway so don't buy them that often.

I suppose I did that because of my perception of them in the treat scale. I probably give my children rollups twice a year as a treat, and felt that lychees equated the same level of rare treat. But you are right, mandarins can be bought cheaply (in season) and are sweet enough to qualify.

Popcorn covered in icing sugar is also a popular treat with my children - and probably costs around 5 cents to make.

I think I agree with you there. That is something I've often tried to explain to my children is when they say they are hungry and ask for chips, that chips aren't food for satisfying hunger. They are more of a social snack. And whilst a bag of nuts or chips will take about the same amount of time to disappear, the nuts should be more filling.

My kids love potato chips - I hate them so we have that discussion often LOL. I have even tried making my own potato chips but just couldn't make some that my kids would eat *sigh*.

I'm afraid I dont really see those as comparisons, but comparing a tub of yoghurt to a tub of chocolate custard or dairy desert is a similar cost, so in this aspect both the healthy and unhealthy options are equally priced. And, you can buy yoghurt in bulk for cheaper per volume, but don't have that option for chocolate custard, so that gives a more ecconomical option for the healthier choice.

I would not say that custard is unhealthy. IT has lots of calcium so I would give that to my children with no real problems - it's just not an everyday food. I still don't class it as junk though. I buy the "calci yum" brand of custard. It isn't the cheapest in the world but it's sweet and when my children are craving something sweet I would rather give them yoghurt or the chockie custard then a cake or a muffin. My point was on the sweetness - again I am explaining that 1 food doesn't need to be compared with it's exact counter-part. Eg if you can't find a good priced healthy alternative for a muffin/cake then just forget about the cake altogether and go for an entirely different food to satisfy the cravings eg yoghurt. Bulk yoghurt is much more cost effective to buy than chockie custard so I would say that even if you consider custard to be a "junk" food then it is still cheaper to go for the healthier alternative (being yoghurt) if you are looking for a direct counter-part.

Baby food is, in my opinion very expensive. And yes, the healthier versions of tinned/canned babyfood are significantly dearer than the mainstream ones that consist primarily of thickeners. It is my opinion that you are better off skipping the whole range entirely, making your own is great but as I said before an unfair comparison. So instead I'll compare it with simple options - yoghurt, bananas, avocados, tinned salmon. In this case, I am of the opinion that the fresh alternatives I've listed are still cheaper (maybe half the price) of the mainstream tins of thickener. So where the baby is concerned, it is definately easier to eat healthy.

I wasn't saying anything about baby food being cheap or expensive. I was comparing the amount of meat in the (cheaper) tins and explaining why they were so cheap. I would never buy baby food - cheap or otherwise because I do like you and prefer real food such as avocado, mashed banana, yoghurt and other things. MY children all got what we had just pulverized to varying degrees depending on their age at the time. I was saying that convenience foods can be cheap but are not usually value for money because of what you are getting in them.

Skim milk is one that bothers me. I used to buy skim milk for myself because I didn't like the creamy taste of fullcream milk. In times past, it used to be cheaper than fullcream milk, 'cause cream is dearer than milk. However, when it became fashionable to eat healthily, the cost of skim milk increased to more expensive than fullcream milk. Now, I am unlikely to drink milk at all, because I do not like the taste of the fullcream milk, but dont see it as fair to spend the extra money on skim milk. (I still buy fullcream milk for the kids.)


Depending on what you use the milk for but you could consider using powdered milk. I buy powdered skim milk ($5.99 = homebrand and that equates to 8 litres) and use that in tea, coffee, cooking etc. I buy cheap full-cream milk. However you can also reduce the fat in milk buy adding a cup or two of water to the milk. Full-cream is better for my baby and toddler so I don't see "full-cream" as being the unhealthy option - I don't think milk is ever "unhealthy". IF you NEED skim milk then I see that as a dietary restriction and specialized diets usually ARE more expensive... I find that low-fat cheese and low fat yoghurt are the same price as full-cream at the stores I shop in. I do agree that it is really silly that skim milk is often sold at a premium price and isn't good for those of us who want to trim down or maintain our weight.

And I only compared softdrink to milk/juice because that is what society seems to deem appropriate to drink. In my opinion, softdrink is not a drink to quench thirst. I equate it similar to alcohol as a social drink, for which milk and juice fill a similar nieche for children. Cordial is the other alternative, but I omitted it initially because it can be considered in either camp - unhealthy due to the sugar/preservative content, or healthy because it is a flavouring that is served with water, which is important for everyone to drink more of.

I use ribena for my baby and toddler and it is more expensive than cordial so in that aspect it is more expensive to eat healthier HOWEVER I could simply choose to just give them plain water. I am CHOOSING to go the more expensive option but that doesn't mean that eating (or drinking) has to be more expensive. Also to me milk is more of a food so I don't really give it to quench thirst. If my kids are thirsty they get water and once a day they will get some ribena - my older girls only get water unless we are out somewhere. The only softdrink I buy is coke to go with my bourbon :laughing:

===================

I have cut out some of your comments because my responses to those specific points seemed merely argumentative and not really adding to the debate.

I am coming from the position of someone who prefers healthy food and has constantly felt pressured by others to lean towards less desireable options. And in some circumstances am seeing the cost factor as an additional pressure. (I personally dont like the taste of grease, or excessive sweetness or salt myself. In my opinion, whitebread is tasteless and horrible to eat, whereas wholemeal/grain bread has flavour.)

I also eat healthy and have done for years. I am also on a limited budget and have not found it difficult to maintain my healthy diet with less money. Yes I have had to make chioces about what to discard from the grocery list or reduce to having very occasionally (eg smoked salmon). However I have looked rather extensively into other meals that can be made cheaply and that are very healthy. My point is that if you are going to just buy everything that you want (including out of season fruit and vegies, expensive cuts of meat etc) then of course it's going to look cheaper to buy junk. But there are so many meals out there (including snacks) that are very healthy and can be made on the cheap. I never buy white bread for myself and I still rarely pay more than $1.20 a loaf as I buy it marked down and freezze. Also a lot of brands have the same prices for both white and grain bread (helga's for example) but as I said I freeze cheap bread. I also cut out things like salmon and replaced with tuna. I (try and) feed the kids an egg meal at least once a week because eggs are cheap and filling and so full of goodness. We eat weet-bix, porridge, toast for breakfast and quite often fruit and/or yoghurt as well. I only buy fruit and vegies that are in season and then get creative with my cooking. Like for example I made a roast one night and wanted broccoli with cheese sauce...well the broccoli was over $8 a kg so I substituted it with some cabbage that I got for $1 and a carrot and a zucchini which were both very cheap. I still had half the cabbage left for the next nights dinner.

The fact is that you CAN eat healthy on a budget - if you choose not to buy the cheaper foods and opt for the more expensive foods then that is your choice. That doesn't negate the fact that some of us can (and do) manage to eat very healthily on very little money.
You can also make a junk diet prohibitively expensive if you choose. It's all about choice and what you CHOOSE to eat. No-one thinks it's bad to eat expensively, if that works for you but I just cannot agree that it's impossible (or even hard) to eat healthy when so many people do - when I do it!


I do really feel bad for you that you feel pressured into buying junk food when you want to eat healthy. I guess it's easy for me since I enjoy just about every fruit and just about every vegie so I can buy just whats in season and nothing else and not feel deprived. I also like lentils, chick peas and other legumes and grains so I can bulk out my diet with those very cheap (very healthy) foods. If you have particular tastes then I will concede that it might be harder to eat healthy on a budget. For me though it really is easy! I also have the time to make home-made foods ( I am still not sure why that's a bad thing? The op didn't ask for cheap, healthy convenience foods). I have always lived by the principle that my time = money and if I can't earn extra money by working then I will earn extra money by using my time to the best of my ability. Just because home-made isn't always quicker that doesn't mean that it's not still a valid choice. Some people wish to pay for the convenience - that is their choice and other people wish to use their time like money (like I do).

[MummaBear03]

Wash your mouth out! Irish coffee first thing in the morning is the ONLY way to have coffee (Can you tell my family is Irish :p)

:laughing: Sorry, my tummy just isn't able to adjust to anything sweet at that time of day at all, and it's just tooooooooo sweet for me :o

Popcorn is hard to find? We have a popcorn maker and don't add anything to it and just buy the cheap brand of popcorn in the plastic bags. I don't remember the cost of it but I'm sure it was under $1/bag and we only use a lidful at a time (which isn't much) and that can feed 4 or 5 kids while watching a movie. No salt or oil added! I've never had a problem finding it :confused:

[MountainGirl]

Start growing things yourself! We have started up a vegie patch,...and with minimal effort and little startup cost we have cut our grocery budget by at least30%. You don't even have to go and buy seedlings,...... use old potatoes and plant them,..(the return on 1 potato is about 7 potatoes),....get the seeds from tomatoes and plant,.. rocket seeds,.....coriander,..etc,..etc,.. ATM in my garden I have potato, pumpkin, zucchini, corn, watermelon, tomato, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, eggplant, garlic, rocket, rockmelon, strawberries, herbs, apples, peaches, pears, cherries, blackberries, plums,..blueberries,..lemons,...apricots. we also have chooks,..so are getting 6 eggs a day,. I make all our bread and 'treats' ie: Banana bread,.... I make jam,.. I make icecream,... it's fun to do,...the kids LOVE eating things that they have grown,.. you know exactly what sort of chemicals the food is being exposed to,... and you can plan your meals around what you have ready to pick in the garden!

Hope that helps!:)

[bubbleandme]

i wish i could grow things! but we live in an upstairs flat!

i do have a little veggie patch that lives at my aunts :) can't wait for the starwberries to grow!

[MummaBear03]

My vege patch drowned in the floods, now waiting til it's cooler to replant because it's hard to grow things in this heat. Not so much that it's overly hot, but 35 degrees with 87% humidity is what makes things hard to grow.

[OneNowOneLater]

I'd love to have a veggie patch - only problem is - i only have HARD cement like dirt out the back - nothing will grow in it not even weeds

[Veritas]

I live in a unit too... but just decided to put what little outdoor space I have in my balcony to work.....

I have a whole heap of little sprouts coming up atm.... roma tomatoes, snow peas, baby spinach, coriander, parsley, basil, and chilli.... waiting on the rocket to shoot too.... and I have one more spot that I need to fill, but haven't decided what with yet.....

I'm also searching for a nice big pot that I'll be putting either a dwarf lemon, or a hybrid lemon/lime in..... and I have two other pots that I was planning on putting ornamentals in, but I have discovered a plethora of dwarf varieties exist.... so maybe I might scrap the decoratives and go for something else that will produce me something yummy.....

I also have a worm farm waiting to be set up with hard working little wormies.... called a can of worms... nice and compact and perfect for small spaces.....

Kitchen window sills are also awesome places for popping even just herbs etc that you use frequently.... great for easy pasta sauces, etc....

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h201/KJM1310/P1280143.jpg It's still very much in it's fledgling stage, but hoping I can get it to thrive and produce lots of yummy things.... and my balcony is by no means big....

[Veritas]

I'd love to have a veggie patch - only problem is - i only have HARD cement like dirt out the back - nothing will grow in it not even weeds

Use pots! Or even styro boxes.... or a raised planter bed and fill with lovely nutritious soil!

[bubbleandme]

i wish i had a balcony! lol and my kitchen faces a big house so it doesn't get much sunlight.. bugger this place.. otherwise it's nice :)

[Veritas]

i wish i had a balcony! lol and my kitchen faces a big house so it doesn't get much sunlight.. bugger this place.. otherwise it's nice :)

Bummer!

ETA: Just had a thought, are there any community gardens near you??? It's amazing how many are actually around.... often you can either have your own plot, or through contribution via helping out, some have all communal produce that you are free to help yourself to.... worth looking into! And a wonderful community based activity to boot!

[bubbleandme]

oo that would be nice.. have you been apart of one? i don't know how much time i'll have when i start uni.. unless i can take ollie..

i'll have a look now :D thanks!

[Veritas]

oo that would be nice.. have you been apart of one? i don't know how much time i'll have when i start uni.. unless i can take ollie..

i'll have a look now :D thanks!

No I haven't, but they sound wonderful.... there's none in my immediate suburb, but a few in the surrounding....

[bubbleandme]

there's none near me either (that i can find), bugger..

[supa_star323]

I was thinking of starting a vegie garden but have minimal space, and have no idea where to start as I've never gotten into gardening.

[Issey]

but you are comparing convenience unhealthy food to homecooked healthy food. If you are timepoor as well as cashpoor, then the convenience healthy food is often significantly more expensive than convenience unhealthy food. Subway is dearer than a MacDonalds burger for example. And when comparing ingredients for homecooked meals, often the less healthy option is cheaper (eg white rice is often cheaper than wholegrain rice).

Rollups are a treat. Today I sent my children to school with lychees as a treat that I would equate on a similar level as rollups. I'm not sure how much I spent on them, but I estimate that three lychess (which I think equates one rollup treatwise) would probably cost the same, if not more, than a rollup.

10 pack small chocolate bars for $3.50 so 35c each, whereas fruit will often equate to 50c each (30c each if you are lucky).

$2 for 200 potato chips which can be individually divided for the children is much cheaper than your do-it-yourself trailmix (which isn't even allowed at school due to the nut content).

Also, at the school tuckshop, a piece of fruit is 75c whereas a packet of chips is 65c. Which is the kid going to buy?

I'll give you this one. But a nice healthy museli with nuts and dried fruit is significantly dearer.

Again comparing convenience vs homemade is an unfair comparison.

Not sure why you are doing these comparisons as if you are on a tight buget it is NOT an option to go to Subway or MacDonalds.....


I have joined a Food Co-op, it is ok if you call past and get only what is useful, like the other week they had large boxes of rice bubbles for 50cents.

I now made my own yoghurt using EasiYo and put that in little containers (I got the recipe from another savings site which shows you how to make one packet of EasiYo yoghurt last for ages by using 2 tbsps not the full pkt for the same result). Costs about $1 to make 1L of yoghurt.

I use powered milk most of the time.

I buy fruit & veg at the markets (by the way lychees were $4 for a kg so quite good!) bananas $1.60kg etc.

I make my own bread or buy get it for free at the salvo's or 40c at the food co-op.

Use less meat in meals like noodle dishes as we like Thai food.

I have two planter boxes with herbs in them so I don't have to buy herbs and they are tastier than dried herbs.

I have a food dehydrator and use this for tomotoes etc instead of buying sundried etc etc.

there are many ways to eat healthy and cheap, saying your are timepoor is a lame excuss as you are making the choice and not looking to what else you could make with that money that could stretch your budget further.

has anyone seen the $21 challenge book?

[liesel]

sorry out of my zone but this grabbed my attention.

It is somewhat harder to eat healthier when you are a single parent (or a parent working 2 jobs and trying to put DP through uni) but Its more of a time thing with me and yes the $ are very tight here.

We have always made healthy food a priority at our house.

my tips.

1. cheep cuts of meat work well in slow cooking (thats the only way I eat red meat.)
2. fresh fruit is cheaper than rollups
3. make/ bake treats
4. substitute cleaning products for bicarb & vinegar to save $
5. take the time to spend one afternoon cooking 3-4 different bulk dishes and freeze them that way you have no excuse that you don't have time to cook something at home... :D

hope that helps

[MummyDaddy]

It depends really. Pasta and rice are still good foods if you buy the wholegrain varieties - more expensive than white but a bag of brown rice is still cheaper than a frozen pizza or a packet of hot dogs.

I can buy a bag of wholegrain spaghetti, a tin of crushed tomatos, 300gram mince, 1 carrot 1 zucchini and a 1/4 cup of dried lentils (with some herbs added maybe 10c worth) for less than a box of party pies.

6 carrots is always going to be cheaper than 6 roll-ups - no matter where you buy the carrots.

6 apples is cheaper than 6 LCM's etc (if you buy the apples that are on special - there is always a type of apple on special). Nectarines, mandarins, kiwi fruit etc are cheaper than chocolate bars.

A big bag of multipack (say 12 packs) chips costs around $8. For $8 I can get a small bag of dried apricots, small handful of cashews (maybe 1/4 cup), a few large walnuts, some pumpkin seeds and yoghurt covered saltana's (about 1/4 cup) and I have 12 snack bags of trail mix.

Porridge and weet-bix are much, much healthier than sugar laden cereals. A bag of multigrain bread is cheaper than crumpets (and has more serves).

Homemade soup made with lots of diced vegies and some meat is cheaper per serve than tinned soups (that are usually full of sodium and other fillers and not much goodness).

Sausages are good foods to have occasionally as they still contain protein - just have lots of fat. They are generally cheaper than other quick meals like a tin of ravioli. Sausages can be really yummy if cooked different ways.

Quite often sweet potato is cheaper than white potato and it's much healthier too.

Tinned tuna is a very cheap and versatile food - I always have some tins on hand. Anything cooked with tuna as the main ingredient is likely to be a cheap meal (eg tuna casserole, tuna bake, tuna fritters). It's also a cheap sandwich filling - much cheaper than ham which is also filled with sodium and nitrates.

Softdrink might be cheap but water from the tap is pretty much free. Milk is expensive but it's also fairly dense nutrition wise so you only need a little to gain benefit. You are also likely to be full after drinking less milk than you would after drinking softdrink (I have drunk 2 litres of softdrink and still felt thirsty but have felt satisfied after only 1 cup - 250 mls - of milk).

Same with cheese. I could eat a whole packet of rice crackers or jatz bikkies and still felt hungry but feel good after only a few cubes of cheese.

There are so many ways to eat healthily on a budget and for me it would not be cheaper to switch to an unhealthy diet.

This is a great post and I'm assuming as you are a single mum with FOUR children that you speak from experience on how to eat healthily on a budget.

I encourage everyone to take Confetti girls advice.

Sure, it might take a little extra time to cook the food up (maybe an hour less of TV time??) but it is so worth the health benefit.

It is shown that children behave much better when eating healthily.

AFM, just back from the market where I bought all my fresh fruit, veg, cold meats and bread.

I bought yesterday's bread (6 turkish bread was $2.50, you can split these in half they are then roll size and then freeze them, this turns out to be 12 rolls and will last a while).

What I try to do is do a massive shop where I can do a lot of freezing of foods.

I then do things like make bulk meals for freezing.

I then only need to spend a small amount each week on topping up.

I actually only shop at the supermarket maybe every 6-8 weeks and then I do a really big shop and it's usually for those things that are household cleaning items etc. But when I was cash strapped I only shopped for those things at places like the Reject Shop.

It can be done, eating healthily and still getting the necessities on a budget. It requires some change and effort but is worth it to have a little extra in the pocket for other things.

:hugs::hugs:

[tyler's mum]

I would have to say yes it is hard i can understand why some people would say its not. There are alot of things both me and tyler dont like to eat. We mainly eat chicken and thats not cheap. I normally only have about $50 to $80 a fn to shop by the time you buy tooth paste, toilet paper, sham, con so on there is'nt much left for food. I go to the cheap shops to buy them kind of things but still adds up. I will buy things in no name brand but not them types of things i find they dont work as good jmo.

[SassyMummy]

I always found it easier to feed myself well when it was just DD and I.

Firstly - I only had to feed DD and myself - adding another adult makes the bill so much higher.

Secondly - I didn't have to cater to the tastes of others. Instead, I fed DD and myself foods that I liked (and as she's a kid - she gets what she's given). I didn't have to stuff around trying to please someone else.

I ate a lot of pasta too - but pasta is healthy, particularly wholegrain pasta. Pasta with tomato-based sauces are healthy, and you can either pick up a $2 jar, or make it yourself with fresh tomatoes. I've done both in the past. I then freeze remainders for another night.

I dunno, I just always found it far easier to eat well, and within budget, when single, than I do now.

[Amara]

I do find it harder to eat healthy as a single parent but for me it's got nothing to do with the budget.

I work part time & can spend as much as I like on food, but tend to find I go for easy things or for takeaway food as I just can't be bothered cooking after a day at work & picking up a tired toddler. To be honest I'm not much better on a day at home. I often eat late or skip meals entirely & snack instead as it's just easier. My son eats very little of the food I eat as he's in a super fussy stage right now so I often prepare a meal for him & eat later. I have to get back in to better eating habits so that he will too.

[bubbleandme]

Issey: great post, i'm still learning so everything helps, and i'm member of that site too ;) it's fab isn't it?

[Teley]

Well, we do eat healthy and I don't really find I have a problem with eating healthy. Although lately I've found a good budgeting technique which is not eating:laughing: - I'm torn whether it's healthy or not lol. It probably isn't - but it's cheap! So technically my only problem with a tight budget is to eat really.