Going out to eat at McDonalds is more expensive; however, if you buy heathy food and junk food from a regular grocery store, food that is more healthy is also more expensive.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

A bag of apples is 99 cents a pound at most, that's also how much a one person sized bag of chips cost. A tub of ice cream can be anywhere from $2-$6, a package of lunchmeat and some bread is about the same. A head of lettuce is only about 1.50, and salad dressing is about 3, this will make you multiple salads. For the same price, you could buy a frozen pie or box of doughnuts. Junk food isn't cheaper.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If people have the time to meal plan and cook large portions (for a family, for instance) than healthy food can be affordable. But a lot of people don't really have time to cook and must buy quick-prep meals. In those instances it can be very expensive to buy healthy. And don't forget just how cheap and convenient junk food really is. A 2 liter of soda for about $1.00. A package of ramen is about $0.25.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Healthy food doesn't have to take a long time to cook. You can cook up a steak on a frying pan in 10-15 minutes. You can heat up a can of corn in the microwave in 2. You could make a sandwhich. You could have a salad. You can eat a piece of fruit.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Steak??? Steak is NOT cheap.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I was using it as an example of something fast and healthy to cook. Chicken and pork chops fry quickly too.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Where do you get an 18 piece bag of chicken being $8?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Wal*mart has them for no more that $10. Sometimes I'm surprised by how much food I can get with so little money just from shopping the adds. You can find chicken for like 60 cents a pound.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That's a good tip. I'll have to check it out.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

And who eats only one piece of chicken a day?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm not sure what they mean by a piece, though. They could mean a breast or something.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Except don't put the can from the canned corn in the microwave, I learned my lesson there...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You can make a salad and microwave a can of soup in the time it takes the water to boil for ramen. Water 25 cents to refill a gallon.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Dollars/pound is irrelevant. What you need to look at is dollars/calorie. Stuff like watermelon might be cheap by the pound but it's mostly water so it won't make you less hungry.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

What difference does it make? Buy healthy food if you want. But if someone else wants to buy junk food, that's their right. There's no need to try to convince people of why there's no reason they can't buy healthy food.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't care if they buy junk food. I care that they justify being fat because junk food is cheaper.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But they don't need to justify it to you or anyone else. It's none of your business how they live their life unless it affects you.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Then why are they justifying it? I never said they needed to. Shit, I don't even ask them to. You think I ask people why they're fat?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

My point is it's not your place to criticize them. Besides, you don't know the circumstances. They may not have easy access to healthy foods or what is necessary to prepare them. So considering it's not your life, you have no place to judge.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Wow. Are you being serious right now? They don't need to justify it to me, but they are anyway, and that's stupid. If they wanna keep it to themselves, they shouldn't be bitching about it. No one is judging them for being fat lol

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Can you honestly read your post and tell me it doesn't sound a bit judgmental to you?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I just had a discussion with someone about this on another thread. Was it you?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If the person complains that they are fat, yet they're not doing anything about it, yea, I'm gonna say something. Especially if they use the "junk food is cheaper" excuse.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You have no place to say anything. It's not your life. We all complain about things we could change, it's human nature. Unless someone asks you for advice, you have no right to tell them what they're doing wrong and how/why they should change.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Why would you complain about something you //can// change? If a person sits on their ass all day eating cheetos and drinking soda like the soda company is going out of business, they're in NO place to complain they're fat. Then they go and say "I don't know why I don't lose weight..." Well, MAYBE, it's the fact that he/she lay around all day eating shit. You're basically saying people can't express their opinions. Going by your logic, people wouldn't get anywhere in life, and all the fat people complaining would just die of clogged up arteries and heart attacks.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If they are really poor and eat only what they can afford, you really can't blame them for eating junk food. Dieting however, has much less to do with poverty.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Canned food might not be the best type of food out there, but it's better than junk food, //and// it's cheaper. A 24-pack of Campbell's chicken noodle soup is $28.56, that's enough for 24 meals, whereas if you went to McDonald's and got 24 medium Big Mac meals, it would be $179.52.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You need to look at price per calorie not price per unit. One food might not fill you up as much as another food. You also need to look at access to food. A low income family might not have access to a grocery store that sells healthy food. They also might be on a free school lunch program and have to eat whatever crap they sell at the public high school's cafeteria.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Cafeterias in schools can't sell things that are too bad for a person's health. A can of soup is a meal. A Big Mac meal is a meal. Yea, the soup is lighter, but it's a meal nonetheless. If a person wants two cans of soup instead of one, it will probably fill up just as much as a Big Mac, yet it would still be cheaper and healthier.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Do you go to public school? Cafeterias serve crap. Again. Calories/dollar is the only relevant piece of information, not pounds/dollar or items/dollar.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yea, I go to public school and, legally, public school can't serve shit.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Schools*

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Then your public school is way better than mine is.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

No, //legally//, public schools can't serve unhealthy foods. A year ago, Obama signed and Act stating that, in order to tackle the issued of both, obesity and hunger, public schools are to serve healthy foods.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

What the government think is healthy and what is actually healthy is not the same thing. I swear to god most high school cafeterias serve crappy unhealthy food. This is the dumbest argument I've ever been in.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

If it's so dumb, you're more than welcome to leave.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Goodbye then. I'll come back when you have something rational to say.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You should read what you've been saying if you think I'm being irrational.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Fast food is also more convenient. You can find fast food every few blocks or so. Grocery stores are generally not as close to residential areas, and when they are its generally in the richer parts of town. If you take into account the transportation costs of getting to and from the grocery store, then it may be cheaper to go to a McDonalds instead.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But you don't have to go to the grocery store every time you buy a meal. You would go once and buy a bunch of food to last a while. If you get fast food, you would have to drive up there multiple times a day for every meal.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

1) Not everyone has the money to buy a bunch of food at once 2)Not everyone has the refrigerator to store a lot of food at once, considering they have a refrigerator at all 3)I was thinking that the fast food was within walking distance...no money to travel. But if not fast food, gas stations are much closer than grocery store and would offer junk food that could be purchased enough for a day or so at a time. 4)I realize my argument doesn't work for every poor person. Some might be closer to the grocery store than others. But it is especially relevant for people without a car who might have to walk or use the bus. They wouldn't be able to carry that much food for a long distance. If you take into account cost and time to travel, I do not think you can deny that junk food is cheaper for some people than food from the grocery store.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I have never ever seen a meal at McDonald's that costs $3.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I got a Mcdouble, a medium fries, and just water to drink yesterday from McDonald's. It was only a little over $3

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I think it's because I'm from a different area. Whenever I go it costs me minimum $8, and I usually get nuggests, a medium fries and a medium drink.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

A double cheeseburger and large drink is only 2.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

The cheap chicken from Walmart you speak of has been so pumped full of steroids and growth hormones that it's hardly chicken anymore. One of the many noted side effects has been a rise in obesity. If you really want to make sure what you're eating isn't "junk" then organic is usually the way to go, and it's very fucking expensive.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You don't have to eat organic to be healthy though. Eating fruit with pesticides won't make you overweight.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I think you do. I'm not fanatical about it, but I eat organically when possible. Eating enough of ANYTHING can make you overweight, Americans have a warped sense of portion control. And fruits and veggies grown with certain pesticides won't make you fat necessarily, but they have been linked to some forms of cancer. It really is better not to eat shit like that if you can help it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It's not like fast food chicken is any healthier. So between fast food growth hormones and grease, and grocery store hormones, I'll take grocery store. Organic food is irrelevant.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I never said it was healthier. The OP referred to "junk" food and I think it qualifies.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Where are these cheap prices? A McDonalds sandwich is now like $5.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

They have a dollar menu.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Who can honestly eat one thing I the dollar menu and truthfully say "I'm satisfied." or "I'm not hungry anymore."?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

On*

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Only in the states

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm not saying that they would never be able to get to a grocery store, but if you're poor and there isn't one nearby, it might not be the easiest thing to get to one very often. It's really not a ridiculous argument at all. Just because you're apparently ignorant to the limited opportunities of impoverished people, doesn't mean it's not a legitimate problem for some people; especially when combined with the cheaper prices and convenience, a fast food restaurant may be the only real option for some people at certain times.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

So because they don't have transportation it is easier to get to a fast food place than a market? Now... How does that make any sense? If they can't get to one how would they get to the other? Teleporting? Not saying I know the layout of entire world's cities, but in every city or town I've ever gone to, the grocery store is closer than fast food places....

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't know about where you live, but in most places there are far more fast food restaurants than grocery stores. For example, where I live there are 3 fast food places within walking distance. There is maybe one grocery store that I could walk to. Maybe. And I'm in fine condition to be walking. If I had any sort of disability, there's no way I could walk there. And I live in the suburbs. In my experience, the suburbs have more grocery stores than the city. So yeah, it actually makes perfect sense that a person might be able to get to a fast food restaurant more frequently than a grocery store. It's really not a difficult concept.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I was talking about proximity not quantity... Certain places even have transportation for free or a dollar so that those that are unable to buy cars can get around. Also people that can't even "afford to eat healthy" wouldn't be living in suburbs making your example invalid...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Please explain to me where you see this logic in my comment that no one would get anywhere in life and fat people would die of heart attacks. I'm interested to see where you got that from. My only point is that it's not your life so you should stay out of it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Read between the lines: if there are less grocery stores than fast food places, it is less likely that there will be a grocery store within walking distance. I didn't think I had to spell it out for you; it's kind of obvious. Where are these supposed places where there is free transportation? Not saying it doesn't exist anywhere, but good luck finding free transportation in most places. Not to mention, it takes a good amount of time to catch the bus all the time, and it's hard to take a large amount of groceries on public transportation vehicles. And it's not like there's a bus stop on every corner. Also, I know that most poor people would be living in the city as opposed to the suburbs, but as I said before, in the city there are even less grocery stores, at least in my experience; once again, not saying it's like that everywhere.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't know what's worse, havingg an eating disorder or being bad at having an eating disorder. I had a friend who would come home from school and eat a WHOLE bag of Lays potato chips, then skip dinner. She always says "Why am I so fat?" when she's gaining instead of losing weight. Well, stupid, a bag of potato chips has about 80 grams of fat which is 4 times the amount of what I'm supposed to have in a day. <--- Rant

by Anonymous 12 years ago

http://persephonemagazine.com/2011/09/even-a-chef-cant-make-it-on-food-stamps/ A top chef spent two months living on the budget of a person in poverty, and his body fat increased by 3%. And he's had training on how to cook with a healthy balanced diet, he already had a vegetable patch that he could use (most poor people don't have the space or resources for that) and he got other help along the way.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It is ridiculous to justify being over weight with "junk food is cheaper" because obesity is caused not only by diet, but also exercise. However, healthy foods are more expensive and harder to get than fast food and junk food. If you look at the correlation between income and obesity, you'll see that people with a lower income are far more likely to be obese. Their obesity is caused in part by poor health choices, but environment and social factors like income have a huge impact that really can't be dismissed. This is not something I made up. Comparing McDonald's to apples is not an accurate comparison. If you live in a poor urban area, chances are that your house will be surrounded by fast food restaurants and 7-11s. Grocery stores that sell fresh fruits and vegetables are not likely to open stores in low income areas as there is lots of crime and few people willing and able to spend lots of money on nice fancy food. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080313185713.htm

by Anonymous 12 years ago