heelsdown:

heloiseagrippina:

thecityhorse:

green-street-politics:

lifeisyourstomiss:

Pretty sure I’ve reblogged this before, but it’s so true and important. People claim to not have enough money or time to eat healthy, but that’s just a load of crap. I’ve SAVED so much money through cooking my own healthy meals, you just have to be smart. Cut coupons, take advantage of deals, and don’t be afraid to try new healthy things when they’re on sale. Produce can be really inexpensive if you go to the right places, and sometimes organic produce is even cheaper than the regular. When you go out to eat, you spend $5 on one cheeseburger meal. You could spend $10 on ground turkey and potatoes and have enough for 5 turkey burger meals. You do the math…

Let’s continue to ignore food deserts, economic/financial privilege, how FUCKING EXPENSIVE IT IS to be poor, and, y’know, even if all of that doesn’t apply to a person, people can still fucking eat what they want?

Also, $10 for 5 turkey burgers?  Where the fuck do you live?

 OP assumes that when people on a budget eat at fast food places to save money, they order EVERYTHING ON THE MENU. When I go to mcd’s because I’m broke my order looks like this:

1 mcchicken ($1)
A large coke ($1)

Dinner total: $2.

Multiply that by 4 and we are feeding 4 people for a whopping $8.

Why do you think the homeless in NYC beg outside mcdonalds more than a grocery store? Because a meal can cost you pennies.

AND the healthy food takes time and money in energy and/or bills.  I generally aim to eat healthy(ish).  (Slacking a bit with my life being more hectic since around Thanksgiving.)  And yeah, I do feel physically better for it, and my budget is overall better than if I did not eat as healthily…

But there are definitely a lot of nights when I’m only getting back home at 11 and haven’t had food since lunch, and I stop and get fries from McDonald’s instead of going home and spending the time to prepare and cook food.  And I never regret it, because it keeps me from having to stay up till midnight just for food.

While I personally enjoy cooking, it’s time consuming and if you screw it up, it’s a waste of money.  As with anything else, you don’t know people’s lives (budgets, schedules, ability [actual capability/knowledge and monetarily, including owning the right cookware] to turn the healthy food into a satisfying meal etc.).  So you have no right to dictate anything about how or what they eat.

Excuse me because I didn’t read all of the comments, however…

Can’t argue that McDonald’s may be a waste of money, it’s one meal for one night and for me it usually costs around $7. However, it’s definitely cheaper to eat processed, unhealthy foods rather than buying fruits and vegetables. I believe this point has been made, but healthier foods generally don’t last very long. Not to mention the tools it requires to make meals. I own a pot, a spatula, and a very small frying pan. On the otherhand, three Velveeta boxes which costs me less than $10 will make six dinners. Which one am I more likely to pick? 

I do want to get into healthier eating habits though. I just don’t know how… I should buy a cook book. 

Fast food works for me because sometimes I’ll have $5 to eat food for a week until I get paid, and I can get a sammich for cheap and just drink water.  I do try to go shopping in the beginning of the week so I don’t have to go out for food, and I do eat a little better when I do.  But like alexis said, it’s hard to buy fresh ingredients and use all of them before they go bad.  Especially since I live alone and I don’t want to eat the same thing every day, I do usually end up throwing things up that go bad before everything gets eaten.

The one thing I will say is great to eat on my budget is frozen vegetables, and this goes for anyone else who’s poor but wants to eat healthy.  Frozen veggies are usually frozen fresh, and when they thaw, the nutrients and everything are still there.  And they’re usually nice and cheap!