# Why does healthy and nutritious food cost so much money?



## jamesd (Feb 17, 2011)

I have been having a sushi/sashimi fix lately and it's so tasty but expensive. I'll usually order a few rolls and sides of sashimi. But the total usually comes to be $30+. That's just ridiculous. I could feed myself for an entire day plus snacks for that. 

Why does healthy food that also tastes good (important part here) have to cost so much money?


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## Fromheretoeternity (Apr 3, 2011)

Well I know why vegetarian/vegan foods are expensive because not many people are vegetarian/vegan in one constituency. That could be a reason why healthy foods are expensive because people prefer to snack on junk foods.


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## uchiha55 (May 16, 2011)

I thought it was because they don't use preservatives and they have to sell that stuff quicker or it goes bad.


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## rdrr (Dec 31, 2008)

In other countries the food that is bad for you is a treat, and not something you eat everyday, and it can be expensive. Sushi is a unique food that is always expensive. The preparation and materials used warrant the price tag.


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## proximo20 (Nov 25, 2006)

What makes you think sushi is healthy?


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## Phoenix Rising (Jul 7, 2011)

I've been wondering this for awhile too...I don't know =[


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## Event Horizon (Feb 23, 2011)

That's because the food that vegetarians eat and health conscious people eat are organic foods and foods that are not processed and require greater care to raise that food...not only that but that is only a small population that prefers the type of food, and all of those factors combined lead to the fact that "healthy" foods are not mass produced like hamburgers and junk foods, for instance. thus the key to the high prices.


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## jamesd (Feb 17, 2011)

rdrr said:


> In other countries the food that is bad for you is a treat, and not something you eat everyday, and it can be expensive. Sushi is a unique food that is always expensive. The preparation and materials used warrant the price tag.


Yeah I know right. Damn my sophisticated palate.



proximo20 said:


> What makes you think sushi is healthy?


So lean fresh fish, rice and veggies are not healthy? ??



Phoenix Rising said:


> I've been wondering this for awhile too...I don't know =[


I know right. Pfft. Sucks.:no


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## zookeeper (Jun 3, 2009)

Because processed food is cheaper to make (and I use "make" in it's most literal form, because it's actually manufactured).

Interesting article on nutrition & food prices.

(now, I think it's time for fast food for dinner. CRAP!)


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## proximo20 (Nov 25, 2006)

jamesd said:


> So lean fresh fish, rice and veggies are not healthy? ??


Why do we cook meat?

It is better than junk food anyway, so enjoy!


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## slushie87 (Jul 28, 2011)

Sushi with white rice isn't very healthy and I hear that some of the rolls are packed with high amounts of salt.


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## Wacky Wednesdays (Apr 10, 2011)

zookeeper said:


> Because processed food is cheaper to make (and I use "make" in it's most literal form, because it's actually manufactured).
> 
> Interesting article on nutrition & food prices.
> 
> (now, I think it's time for fast food for dinner. CRAP!)










article.

"*What to do at the supermarket:* The price of junk food is not just the payment at the checkout counter in the grocery store. It's the medical bills down the line. Heart disease is not cheap. Diabetes is not cheap. Just ask the pharmaceutical industry.
So buy less of the sugary / fatty / salty snacks, and with the money saved splurge on fruits and veggies; berries for example."


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## tb66 (Apr 10, 2011)

Should watch a movie called Food, Inc. that will explain why pretty good.


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## Sarahquel (Aug 12, 2011)

I'm so glad that I enjoy the taste of staple foods others consider bland, like beans, rice, soy products etc, I think I was born to be a vegan!

You are right, it costs more to live on healthy food, if you want to enjoy a huge variety of foods. If you are happy to stick to the same things it could work out very cheap, but also boring and not very nutritious on the long run.

I think we (as in western society) have created a food industry where everything is so mass produced that manufactured food has become incredibly cheap compared to the the more wholesome, locally grown, ethically produced food that costs more but is better for you.

Someone pointed out that the real cost of all this is with our health later on. Also there is the cost to the environment and the suffering of millions of animals in the factory farms.

It's a huge issue and at the end of the day, most people don't have the time or money to eat all organic, free range, home made nutritious meals. I know I can't. People growing their own vegies is becoming more popular. I want to try it, I'm not a very good gardener though. I struggle to keep parsley alive!


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## robtyl (Sep 2, 2010)

Sarahquel said:


> (Lots of interesting goodness)


+1.

I consider myself a meathead - rarely has a day gone by that I haven't eaten meat in some form.

I did, however, try to be vegetarian for a week last year - and I have to admit, I felt _amazing_. At the time I was running around 5KM three times a week, so I was reasonably fit - this, combined with _nice_vegetarian food (like couscous, nice salads with rocket, hommus, beans and stuff) made me feel fantastic.

I think I'm going to try it again and see if I can't maintain this on a semi-regular basis before moving to it permanently. Not because I don't want to eat meat, but because I realised the fitter I was, the 'heavier' meat felt to the point where it almost became too much.

Being healthy is difficult at the start - but after a while, you adjust, and you feel better than ever!

I have to agree with others though, convenience is a major problem. It's so easy to be unhealthy! Especially with busy lifestyles. Perhaps good planning can be all the difference. I mean if you do your weekly shopping and grow some herbs, rocket, tomatoes and stuff, how hard can it be to make a nice filling salad with some rocket, hommus, pine nuts and stuff? I think I've inspired myself with a fun little plan to take up over the next few weeks 

x


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## binny (Aug 5, 2011)

jamesd said:


> I have been having a sushi/sashimi fix lately and it's so tasty but expensive. I'll usually order a few rolls and sides of sashimi. But the total usually comes to be $30+. That's just ridiculous. I could feed myself for an entire day plus snacks for that.
> 
> Why does healthy food that also tastes good (important part here) have to cost so much money?


sushi is just overpriced regardless its one huge money maker and the japanese know that.

Just buy your own bread/veg and meat for your sandwiches you'll save a fortune if you can be assed.


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## Very Close (Aug 10, 2011)

Because its consumers are minority of people and there is no such competition between different manufacturers that produce it like in the junk food. Also, there are no sub-manufacturers that goes in hand with the manufacturers to make the basic substances to ease the productions. Well, it's a new industry that not so long started growing after the health crises that people have.

On the side note: How can you increase the price of something? lessen its production and make it exclusive.


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## UnseenVigilante (Jan 25, 2005)

Don't forget that junk food is delicious. om nom nom nom. I found out, if you shop around for healthy food, it's not that expensive. Not that I'd ever go into a store, but my parents. Also, since it's more expensive, you buy less, thus you eat less, thus healthy.


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## JimmyDeansRetartedCousin (Nov 28, 2009)

Do you live by the seaside? Logistically, unless the fish you eat is locally sourced then, you've got your answer.

As far as healthy foods being more expensive, the food industry (in America, I'm assuming you're from there) is skewed in such a way that the major soy bean, beef, corn etc companies hold the monopoly. (*check out Food inc.*) So It's cheaper to buy a bag of sweets with forty ingredients than it is to buy a carrot.

It's absolutely obtuse, I'd like to think that it's not a lost cause, but that'd be naive.

Thankfully where I live isn't that bad, no Mcdonalds for 30-35 miles

Give it time..


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## dominicwalli (May 12, 2011)

well..it all depends on where do u live,because in here it costs more a box of cereal than rice,with fish with beans and a cut of avocado(all that is 100% natural and organic) and we eat natural eggs,natural rice,natural bananas natural everything,the bad thing is that the good part of our poultry and beef goes to usa.....we even eat natural oatmeal,we used to plant tomatoes,aji,onions,beans,mango,orange,lemons,carrots and lettuce,but now we live too close to the beachO_O,thats why u cant say that healthy food costs more,if u lived in the country side of usa,something like kansas,i bet organic food would cost less,cause u could buy them straight from small,local farms


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## dominicwalli (May 12, 2011)

rdrr said:


> In other countries the food that is bad for you is a treat, and not something you eat everyday, and it can be expensive. Sushi is a unique food that is always expensive. The preparation and materials used warrant the price tag.


 lol,u hitted the spot,lmao i like ur posts,accurate and truthful.ur so far the best poster i can find in here


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## Ape in space (May 31, 2010)

That's not my experience at all. My food costs are pretty low, eating healthy foods. That's because I cook most of my food from scratch. I buy big containers of rice, lentils, vegetables, spices, etc. And they fill me up too, which is good because I have a big appetite. On the other hand, processed food is pretty expensive considering that it doesn't fill me up at all.


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## PickleNose (Jul 11, 2009)

proximo20 said:


> What makes you think sushi is healthy?


 I don't know it for sure but my guess would be that sushi _is _healthier than a hamburger and fries.


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## PickleNose (Jul 11, 2009)

slushie87 said:


> Sushi with white rice isn't very healthy and I hear that some of the rolls are packed with high amounts of salt.


 Salt isn't gonna hurt you unless you're very sensitive to it. I eat more salt in a month than most people do in a year and have been doing so since I was about 12. My blood pressure is always perfect.

Of course, I didn't start eating a high salt diet knowing this. I just didn't care.

Sushi with white rice isn't as healthy as sushi with brown rice would be but you can always eat other things to balance it out. Sushi isn't unhealthy as long as you don't eat it thinking it's going to be the only thing you need to eat.


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## sociallyawkward85 (Aug 7, 2011)

I think it all depends where you buy your good, one thing i notice if you go to any health food store it seems like every thing its 4 or 5 dollars, I went to a organic grocery store last week everything was really expensive opposed to a big box store like target 

i'm trying to eat organic and keep pesticide out of my fruits and vegggies but its seems like organic farmers have a tough time growing food then commerical farmers who put pesticides on there foods.


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## PickleNose (Jul 11, 2009)

By the way, I think it costs more because it's just plain better food. Quality costs money. People who are selling food that they claim is healthier are going to have to take extra care to make sure the product stands up to scrutiny of their claims.

Look at it this way. If you're selling health food, you pretty much know that sooner or later, someone is going to test it to see if it's actually as healthy as you say it is. Your best bet is to make sure it's as good as you say it is before you put it out there. And that isn't cheap.

Edit - Oh, BTW, I kind of missed that the OP was about sushi. I don't think sushi is expensive because it's healthy (whether it is or not is debatable). There are multiple reasons why sushi is expensive. Probably the main reason is because they can get away with charging a lot for it because it's popular Asian food (with varying degrees of authenticity). But also because (for example) perfect rice is a lot harder to get right than, say, a frozen hamburger patty. You can't just hire anybody off the street to make good sushi.


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## scarpia (Nov 23, 2009)

Fro Michael Pollan:


> "the most reliable predictor of obesity in America today is a person's wealth." A study by Drewnowski of the University of Washington determined that a dollar will buy 1200 calories of cookies or chips but only 250 calories of carrots. If you don't have a lot of money, the most rational thing to do is buy junk food to get the most calories for your buck.
> Why is a complex food like a Twinkie, with its 39 ingredients, processing, packaging and marketing so much cheaper than a bunch of carrots? Government subsidies and programs like the Farm Bill. we quote:
> "Like most processed foods, the Twinkie is basically a clever arrangement of carbohydrates and fats teased out of corn, soybeans and wheat - three of the five commodity crops that the farm bill supports, to the tune of some $25 billion a year. (Rice and cotton are the others.) For the last several decades - indeed, for about as long as the American waistline has been ballooning - U.S. agricultural policy has been designed in such a way as to promote the overproduction of these five commodities, especially corn and soy.
> That's because the current farm bill helps commodity farmers by cutting them a check based on how many bushels they can grow, rather than, say, by supporting prices and limiting production, as farm bills once did. The result? A food system awash in added sugars (derived from corn) and added fats (derived mainly from soy), as well as dirt-cheap meat and milk (derived from both). By comparison, the farm bill does almost nothing to support farmers growing fresh produce. A result of these policy choices is on stark display in your supermarket, where the real price of fruits and vegetables between 1985 and 2000 increased by nearly 40 percent while the real price of soft drinks (a k a liquid corn) declined by 23 percent. The reason the least healthful calories in the supermarket are the cheapest is that those are the ones the farm bill encourages farmers to grow."


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## frillylove (Sep 11, 2010)

Healthy food is not expensive. Stop going out to eat and stop buying junk food, and you'll be surprised by how much you save. You could always stick to the produce section and meat counter at your grocery store and cook your own food. Eggs, lentils, beans, oatmeal, oat bran, and brown rice are also cheap if you buy them in bulk.

The people who complain about healthy food being expensive are often the ones who refuse to cook and end up buying processed crap out of convenience, not financial reasons.


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## zookeeper (Jun 3, 2009)

scarpia said:


> Fro Michael Pollan:
> 
> "the most reliable predictor of obesity in America today is a person's wealth." A study by Drewnowski of the University of Washington determined that a dollar will buy 1200 calories of cookies or chips but only 250 calories of carrots. If you don't have a lot of money, the most rational thing to do is buy junk food to get the most calories for your buck.


Income, class, & location have a huge impact on how easy it is to get healthy food at a somewhat reasonable price.



Washington Post said:


> You don't have a car to get to a supermarket, much less to Costco or Trader Joe's, where the middle class goes to save money. You don't have three hours to take the bus. So you buy groceries at the corner store, where a gallon of milk costs an extra dollar. A loaf of bread there costs you $2.99 for white. For wheat, it's $3.79. The clerk behind the counter tells you the gallon of leaking milk in the bottom of the back cooler is $4.99. She holds up four fingers to clarify. The milk is beneath the shelf that holds beef bologna for $3.79. A pound of butter sells for $4.49. In the back of the store are fruits and vegetables. The green peppers are shriveled, the bananas are more brown than yellow, the oranges are picked over.


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## AshCash (Oct 31, 2009)

A lot of the crappy/unhealthy/Fast Food is cheap because of the big corporations having cooperation with the government. Without that there wouldn't be a dollar menu.


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## elenlili (Jan 24, 2012)

I don't know the facts why the healthy and nutritiousness foods are so costly but the one fact i know that these are 100% pure so that is why these are costly.


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## FoggyMirror (Oct 23, 2010)

May have to do with how much work goes into the food for preparation. Just an educated guess...


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## Mack Swain (Nov 4, 2011)

Ape in space said:


> That's not my experience at all. My food costs are pretty low, eating healthy foods. That's because I cook most of my food from scratch...


Yep, I agree. Eating healthy isn't expensive at all if you cook/fix your own food with a little time and care. The fact is most people now want it made for them ready to eat NOW! with no effort on their part. And the same people like carbs, sugars, salts etc... Thus the big FOOD COs give them lots of what they want cheap and ready in formulations that easily slide down their gullets by the pound.


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## enfield (Sep 4, 2010)

another person attesting that healthy food can be cheap:

my diet is primarily a a lot of on sale vegetables, olive oil, coconut oil, tallow, almonds, 100% chocolate ($5/lb), and grass-fed meat and organs which i order from a farm in texas for ~$3.50/lb.

also i have salmon and fruit every once in awhile. and i spend money on a variety of spices too, which i buy in bulk now. 

all in all i'm spending around $4-5 a day at the moment


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## DubnRun (Oct 29, 2011)

THey do not want a healthy populus. The government that is. Also, they do not want a clear thinking population either. "Control the food and you control the people" This is why most people are living on GMO junk food, high fructose glucose etc..They strip all the goodness out of Gmo (salvestrols). The biggest company to blame is MONSANTO (Illuminati)

Im buying organic soon, even though its stupidly expensive


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## lazy (Nov 19, 2008)

DubnRun said:


> THey do not want a healthy populus. The government that is. Also, they do not want a clear thinking population either. "Control the food and you control the people" This is why most people are living on GMO junk food, high fructose glucose etc..They strip all the goodness out of Gmo (salvestrols). The biggest company to blame is *MONSANTO *(Illuminati)
> 
> Im buying organic soon, even though its stupidly expensive


They talk about them in that Food Inc. documentary. It's so weird, like a deluded person's confabulation coming true, now it's reasonable to be paranoid. If you can create a coherent confabulation, then what is the barrier in making it a reality?

If about organic like grass-fed cows...

If that Food Inc. documentary is right from 2008, it's because the government is subsidizing the wrong companies.

The organic farmer on there said something about grass-fed cow costing just about the same as corn-fed cow if you take out the subsidies and take into account all the other crap you gotta do when you mass produce cows; e.g. environmental damage, health risks, other fancy technologies, etc.


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## Donnie in the Dark (Mar 15, 2011)

I am a veggie at uni
I like to make my own meals, not eat ready meals and stuff, but buying lots of fruit and veg means I end up spending a lot more cash.
Still worth it though.


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## bear in the shell (Jan 24, 2012)

Sushi normally expensive. Fresh fruits dont cost that much and you can buy a bundle. But it does depend on the country u gettin from too.


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## artynerd (Sep 3, 2011)

sushi are normally expensive..


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## DubnRun (Oct 29, 2011)

GMO is cancer causing and evil. No conspiracy. You really think our bodies were designed to ingest genetically modified food?, anyone that believes GMO is good for health is retarded, yet me and millions of others continue to eat it because we cannot afford an alternative.

New world order is real and so is the Illuminati, they are to blame.


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## candiedsky (Aug 7, 2011)

Ever heard of people who get fat in recessions? It's because the only food you can afford at the time is completely unhealthy, like a steady diet of ramen, chips, soda, and saltines. You can forget about fresh produce if you don't have the money, and people often do. This isn't a coincidence. It's just a sad truth. But in the same vein, farmers, if anyone, deserve to be payed a good wage for all the work they do.


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## cold fission cure (Aug 31, 2010)

Better to grow your own (what you can anyway). Planted spinach in two small containers at end of November now I've got fresh spinach seven days a week - till summer at least.


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## tjames (Jan 31, 2012)

I was listening to NPR a while back and some college, I believe, did a study and found that middle class people are more likely to eat fast food than poor people because of the price. I concider myself reletivly poor and I could not loose weight when I lived at home. Now with higher bills I can't go to fast food places as much *** I use to. Healthy food is actually cheaper than fattening food. 

You can buy a head of cabbage for the price of a bag of chips, guess which last longer. Brown rice is not that much more expensive than white and cheaper than most things. Pinto beans are extremely cheap. Carrots are one of my staple weight loss foods. Cheaper than most other snack foods and very light in calories. Bananas, apples, frozen spinach, sweet potatoes, soy beans kick but for protein, chicken gizzards, tomatoes... Outside of chicken gizzards which are as lean as breast but half the price, lean meat is the only expensive healthy food. Processed foods are more expensive if you look at how they don't actually fill you up.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

There are varying levels of unhealthiness. My family wasn't the best. After my mom got sick, we ate fast food dinners everyday. We would go to the supermarket once a week and my dad always let me buy as much fruit and veggies as I wanted but only one super junky item. I did get more junk throughout the week by raiding his brief case for coins and hitting the local convenience stores (only dimes, nickels, and pennies; quarters were off-limits because they were used for doing the laundry). 

But I was quite surprised when I went to my friend's house and her dad would come home with a f**k load of food from McDonald's or Burger King. I think she had 5 brothers and sisters and they would all swarm around the food and grab as quickly as possible. My friend and her mom were quite fat. Never really understood why they had so many kids cause the mom was out to lunch much of the time due to some disease that made her tired all the time.


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## gusstaf (Jan 1, 2012)

Is there a farmers market in your area? I used to go to the one near my college all the time. The food was inexpensive, delicious, and definitely healthy!


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## gusstaf (Jan 1, 2012)

tjames said:


> I was listening to NPR a while back and some college, I believe, did a study and found that middle class people are more likely to eat fast food than poor people because of the price. I concider myself reletivly poor and I could not loose weight when I lived at home. Now with higher bills I can't go to fast food places as much *** I use to. Healthy food is actually cheaper than fattening food.
> 
> You can buy a head of cabbage for the price of a bag of chips, guess which last longer. Brown rice is not that much more expensive than white and cheaper than most things. Pinto beans are extremely cheap. Carrots are one of my staple weight loss foods. Cheaper than most other snack foods and very light in calories. Bananas, apples, frozen spinach, sweet potatoes, soy beans kick but for protein, chicken gizzards, tomatoes... Outside of chicken gizzards which are as lean as breast but half the price, lean meat is the only expensive healthy food. Processed foods are more expensive if you look at how they don't actually fill you up.


Exactly. Processed foods really aren't as cheap as people think they are. It is more than possible to eat healthy on a low budget...you just have to put more time into shopping for and preparing your food.


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## dkriot (Dec 12, 2011)

gustafsg said:


> Exactly. Processed foods really aren't as cheap as people think they are. It is more than possible to eat healthy on a low budget...you just have to put more time into shopping for and preparing your food.


I really suck at cooking. I eat a lot of raw foods and foods that require very little prepping and cooking. I envy people who have girlfriends and wives who cook delicious meals for them. Being single sucks.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

dkriot said:


> I really suck at cooking. I eat a lot of raw foods and foods that require very little prepping and cooking. I envy people who have girlfriends and wives who cook delicious meals for them. Being single sucks.


I suck at cooking too but making rice meals is pretty easy. Like cha-han for instance. Chop up onion, green bell pepper, carrot, maybe add some frozen peas and corn. I put a whole bunch of diet margarine on it and spice it up with soy sauce, pepper, Japanese curry powder, and garlic powder. Most everything goes well with rice. I only make it like once a week or so in my rice cooker and put half of it in the fridge.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...g&biw=1302&bih=647&sei=hhMvT6O6OOGpiQLo5bCgCg


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## dkriot (Dec 12, 2011)

komorikun said:


> I suck at cooking too but making rice meals is pretty easy. Like cha-han for instance. Chop up onion, green bell pepper, carrot, maybe add some frozen peas and corn. I put a whole bunch of diet margarine on it and spice it up with soy sauce, pepper, Japanese curry powder, and garlic powder. Most everything goes well with rice. I only make it like once a week or so in my rice cooker and put half of it in the fridge.
> 
> https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...g&biw=1302&bih=647&sei=hhMvT6O6OOGpiQLo5bCgCg


I really like jambalaya and rice dishes with a bunch of stuff in it. I guess I could look up some recipes. Thanks.


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## sociallyawkward85 (Aug 7, 2011)

I took a sustainable course, the reason organic food is so expensive is because their is a lot more labor that is put into how food is grown and it take more time and energy to grow chemical free crop apposed to commercial farmers who shower their crops with all kinds of chemicals to kill the insect but some insects are good for the crops

this store is hard to come by but "whole foods" is a really good grocery store for natural foods

i'd suggest to buy a little at a time when it comes to organic foods.

also try http://www.localharvest.org/ as you buy food from local farmers in your county.


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## tjames (Jan 31, 2012)

dkriot said:


> I really suck at cooking. I eat a lot of raw foods and foods that require very little prepping and cooking. I envy people who have girlfriends and wives who cook delicious meals for them. Being single sucks.


I suck at cooking to. You just have to take baby steps. Tonight I am having Coconut curry gizzards, baked sweet potato french fries and some mixed vegetables. Do you like soups? That is an easy area to start out with. Start with the very basics and then build from there. You say you even men with women who can cook for them. If you are looking for a significant other women LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, a man who can cook.


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