Times are tough. People are losing their jobs! Most of us need to pay more attention to where our money is going because of the uncertainty about the near future.
When disasters happen, people often say:
Well, at least we’ve got our health.”
I think people need to make sure that they really believe that, and are not just saying something that sounds good to make themselves feel better, like they are attempting to look on the bright side.
Being healthy, and maintaining health should always remain a priority, and we should be especially diligent about paying attention to that in hard times!
I always think it’s rather odd when people I know brag to me about how inexpensive something they ate, or are about to eat, was. This doesn’t seem like something I would want to brag about.
Think about it like this: What’s the most common thought that someone has when discovering that a material possession they have that has broken, was inexpensive and/or cheaply made?
I guess you get what you pay for!”
Indeed!
Shouldn’t this phrase have ten-fold meaning when talking about food???
When I hear someone bragging that they bought a food product or a meal for “x” amount of money, and it seems relatively pretty cheap, I just CAN’T HELP but think about all of the resources that it took to plant, grow, harvest, produce, package, transport, market, and retail that item or meal, and wonder how it is possible that anyone is making any money off something so inexpensive! They do it by cutting costs every way they can, and often that means providing a sub-par product. Cutting costs when it comes to something I’m going to eat, does not sound good to me.
Cutting costs results in salmonella and e-coli contamination.
Cutting costs results in unsafe food temperatures during transportation.
Look… Modern transportation, refrigeration, and manufacturing has provided us with more and more food products daily, and at lower prices. This of course can be a good thing too! Produce is available year-round in most places. To me, that is convenience food.
I’m certainly not made of money, and I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be frugal at the grocery store too if we’re concerned about money. I’m just saying that maybe we should put a little more thought into it when picking our battles over what to spend our money on. Food choice is an important battle to think about.
I’m glad to see you posted again. I missed your posts showing up on my RSS feed!!
I totally agree with you. I have a hard time understanding people who buy super cheap (usually nasty looking/tasting) food. I’d rather cut costs somewhere else and buy good, healthy food instead.
As you proved in your article about Burger King’s “apple” fries, sometimes eating healthy can be cheaper. :]
AH! I totally know what you’re saying.
I have this co-worker that is always telling me about how he gets these huge boxes of hot dogs or frozen beef pattys at Costco for so cheap. He loves to tell me about it because he’s like bragging! I don’t get it. It just sounds so discusting to think of that food as being so CHEAP (under many senses of the word). I mean I like a good burger from time to time, but I wouldn’t eat those tasteless frozen hockey pucs.
There’s a lot of prepared foods that seem pretty inexpensive, and of course are easier, but I don’t think it’s worthit. There are so many more benefits to spending a little more money and getting better quality food than just for your health…
I see a lot of fat, out of shape people with nice clothes, cars, expensive nails and hair styles, etc. They could afford to buy healthier food – they choose to spend their money elsewhere.
Someone in good physical condition looks good no matter what they wear. However, the most expensive clothing, jewelry, hairstyling, etc., won’t help someone with a weak, flabby body.
There’s so many ways to be frugal without compromising your health. If you plan your meals ahead of time and set a budget that you can stick with, you can have healthy meals without breaking the bank. People are using the economy thing as an excuse to gorge on fast food and all types of junk…they are depressed and need their comfort food. Instead of dealing with whatever issues they need to face, they are leaning on food (unhealthy food) as a crutch.
Kroger (a chain of grocery stores mostly in the South and Midwest) has lowered a lot of their prices in their produce section. It’s also starting to be farmer’s market season (cut out the “middle man” you pay less and you support a local farmer AND have fresher, yummier food). If you buy loose carrots in the grocery store they’re usually pretty cheap – I always have carrots on hand – at the closest store to my house they have then for 69 cents per pound, I never pay more than a dollar for 8 or 9 big carrots. I go for whatever produce is cheapest/on sale at the time. And I’ve been able to get a giant bag of veggies that I could barely even finish at the farmer’s market for less than 10 dollars.