I am becoming increasingly annoyed with the fact that healthy food costs twice as much as "regular" items. Why should my lean ground beef be double the price of regular ground beef? If I wanted to die of a heart attack by the age of thirty, my grocery bills could be drastically reduced. Actually, cheap and unhealthy have become linked in my mind. The cheapest frozen dinners are the ones with the highest percentage of saturated fat. The same generally goes for crackers and chips. Light chips taste the same as regular chips, but they come in smaller, higher-priced bags. If I want to avoid hydrogenated oils by purchasing organic wheat thins, the box is smaller and higher-priced. I have always been irritated by this due to my own health food...er...obsessions, but now that I have a son who only eats cereal, chicken, hot dogs, peanut butter, raisins, chips, and cookies, I'm always looking for the healthiest alternatives.
I suppose that for the most part, most individuals just aren't as concerned with being healthy until they have to be (i.e. illness or losing weight). Perhaps producers are simply trying to make up the cost due to having fewer consumers. But somehow I don't think that's it. And I seriously doubt that processing is THAT much higher for these items. As long as individuals are willing to pay the price, nothing will change. Even I will continue paying the price because I refuse to sacrifice well-being in order to make a point. Annoying.
1 comment:
Hey, this is Jessica Zabell. I completely agree with you about this, due to my own recent changes to more fruit/veggies/nuts/seeds/organic snacks kind of stuff. I hate that it costs so much more, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my health to save some money. I can't take money to the grave with me, so I figure I ought to go ahead and spend it on healthy stuff now rather than when I'm 35 and working on my second double-bypass. I hate that a loaf of 12-grain bread costs $3.50 while a loaf of regular white bread costs $1.20, and I don't know exactly what's going this, but it's irritating. Especially as a grad student on a bit of a budget. I'm not in your position where I'm feeding more than just myself, and maybe Charles, on a daily basis, so I can't understand the costs associated with that, but I feel ya. I hope the new mommy life is treating you well :)
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