I’d like to thank Raine at Agriculture Society for pointing me to this chart from Windy Ridge Poultry about the cost of some common junk foods.
There are two numbers on there that are real eye-openers for me.
First is the Kit Kat bar. I was sitting here snacking on some beef jerky when I read the chart. I don’t often buy jerky, because it’s typically about $10 / pound. The part of my brain that comparison shops knows that that’s pretty expensive, especially for a snack.
But the candy bar is nearly that much. And it doesn’t take the edge off an afternoon hunger nearly as well as some dried beef does.
Next is the soda. I could be drinking milk for less than a third of what that soda costs. And I don’t, because I know what milk costs per gallon and it seems expensive — compared to what it was when I first started grocery shopping in college.
How stupid is that?
When I need an afternoon snack, I should be reaching for a block of good cheese, or some jerky. Maybe even cashews, usually a holidays-only luxury that also comes in at about $10 / pound. Any one of those tastes better, is more satisfying, and — hey look at that — is probably cheaper, too.
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
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As the daughter of a farmer, I have seen the difficulties that my parents have faced in their business. My mom proudly sports a bumper sticker that reads, “No Farms, No Food.” While I don’t necessarily agree with all of the “organic” hype, I do know the advantages of farm fresh foods. If anyone has a local farmers market or co-op near them, please support them!
Besides when scares occur (like the recent egg recall), you won’t have to worry about it and you’ll be supporting a local farmer.
How can you just believe their numbers without considering that they may be biased? The part of your brain that comparison shops should be telling you this is lies!
Now, sure, you can figure pop at 8.89 a gallon by some funky math. Or you can buy 2 2-L bottles of soda on sale at Walmart for 99 cents and get over a gallon for $1.98. And that’s brand name. Generics may be cheaper.
They figure Kit Kats at 9.49 a pound, which I admit seems astronomical, and I might suggest that you make your own chocolate snacks at home… but before you do, shop around. A 10 ounce bag of snack size packs is $2,99 at Walgreens. I think we can do better than that, though. The 6 ounce 8 pack is at Walmart for $1 (a quick internet search shows it’s even cheaper by taking advantage of deals at other stores), so figure $3 for over a pound.
Chips? 8.45 a pound? That does seem crazy. Right now I can go to my local grocery store and get 9 ounce bags of Lays for $2.50. So, more than a pound for $5.
How much is organic chicken at the local grocery? Around here, it’s $6.49 for a 14 ounce package. Organics may have many benefits, but price is NOT one of them.
Great post, Drew. I am sharing this with all my Facebook friends, too.
Melissa’s right. If you read the tiny footnotes, you’ll see that to get that price for soda, you have to be paying vending machine prices for a can, and nearly Starbucks prices for the coffee. They’re certainly not bulk prices.
Also, when was the last time you considered giving your family a pound of chips for dinner instead of chicken? The comparison isn’t between chips and chicken, it’s between organic and non-organic chicken — and that comparison occurs nowhere here.
Abby and Melissa, you’re both right, and you’re both missing the point.
Yes, the prices quoted are for vending machine sodas, and Starbucks coffee, and snack-pack chips. But people buy those all the time. The point of the flier was to say that people pay those prices for “convenience” foods. Why not spend it on good foods?
Good answer Drew. I sent the post to a friend who came back with the same comments as Abby and Melissa. Now I can just send him your response
Bravo Drew! I agree with you completely. We do pay those exhorbitant prices for convenience and fast food because we have become a society that is “too busy” even to feed itself properly. Further, we have abdicated this responsibilty to the marketing departments in the food industry corporations…and sadly, our best health is not the concern of their bottom line.
It requires a new thinking to abandon the pay cheap now..but pay the dr later mind-set in favor of buy good now…live better later.
Let’s all substitute one good food for one piece of junk and see how much better we fare!
I like this graphic, exactly because it informs the kind of shopper who is confused and frustrated by trying to provide good food vs. cheap food. When we were young, silly, and po’, we ate a lot of mac & cheese and other processed foods because we were “too poor” for decent food. We put on a lot of weight and probably didn’t do ourselves any good in the cardiovascular department, despite a lot of physical activities (hiking/birdwatching/playing frisbee)… and we probably could have done it all in a healthier way if we’d carefully prepared our protein. I’m savvier now, but I see a lot of reports where people are still making (slightly crazy) choices to buy unhealthy foods precisely because they think they’re cheaper.
Yes, you can make unhealthy stuff less expensively by making it at home (and I do) — but is that where we’re drawing our line in the sand, Melissa?
Commenting on the post from Melissa – Even if you figure $5 a pound for potato chips, you can buy (at least) a ten pound bag of potatoes for the same price (not on sale), buy a small bottle of cooking oil, slice your potatoes, add a little salt and have 10 pounds of FRESH potato chips for the same price.
Considering even $2 per gallon for soda – you can buy a gallon of milk for $2 which has necessary vitamins and health benefits, whereas soda has … sugar, nothing else.
And I have to agree with Drew. While some people certainly shop wisely and drive to every store that has the best sale for each item (which by the way, increases the cost of gas), many people purchase these at vending machines, gas stations, convience stores, and other impractical places on their way to and from work, on their lunch break, on road trips, when they’re out and about running errands.
So even though stores have sales all the time and the items can be purchased for less, people still pay the high prices on spur-of-the-moment shopping or impulse-purchases.
i am not paid by them, i just really love mine, but if you do really love soda and don’t want to give it up, check out the sodastream. it is really as amazing as the infomercial-like-site makes it sound, and has saved me so much money.
plus i actually drink more water now because of it, since i always have seltzer on hand (my preferred way to drink water – sans bubbles is boring!).
https://www.sodastreamusa.com
Thanks for the tip. I’ve been looking into seltzer bottle systems, but mostly interested in the old-fashioned kind. (I watched a lot of Three Stooges growing up.)
I’ve written to them to see about doing a review.
This sounds like a good idea but their flavors all have splenda in them, even their regular (non diet). This chemical was discovered when they were looking for a new insecticide. Not something for someone interested in a healthy drink. The carbonator would be great for making your own carbonated water or mixing your own flavors.
I feed my family of four mostly local, mostly organic food on what the USDA considers a “thrifty” budget (http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodCost-Home.htm). I rarely shop in grocery stores, as I find the food there expensive and poor quality. Instead, I get most of my family’s food through a food buying club that I help organize. We get our groceries delivered from a bulk natural food company (azurestandard.com), buy bulk produce for preserving direct from local farmers during the growing season, shop at produce stands/markets, buy meat from animals raised nearby on pasture, and sustainably caught fish direct from fisherman. By working together and buying in bulk, our club members save substantially on high-quality, real food, yet pay the people who grow it/catch it fairly.
Buying clubs aren’t new, but thanks to the Internet, online ordering, handy tools like Google spreadsheets and forms, they are a lot easier to organize than they were in the past. They’re also a great way to make connections with your neighbors, and strengthen your community’s food security, and support local farmers. If you *want* real food, but feel you can’t afford it, try finding a buying club or start one with some friends.
I just read your Salad Niçoise(ish) “recipe”. I love what you had to say about someone across an ocean and their idea of how something “should” be made.
Thanks for prompting me to look into buying clubs again. We have one locally I’ve been meaning to check out but haven’t made the time yet. I think I’ll put it on the calendar.
Soda for $8.89/gallon is insane. I’m sitting and enjoying my nearly free water that went from tap to Britta filter that’s also calorie free.
Also, I really don’t buy into the organic food costs so much more. Yes it does if you go to the general grocery store, but if you go to the local farmers’ market, it’s ridiculously cheap and so much tastier. I started canning this year and though I spent a decent amount of money up front (canner free via credit card points but jars and buying large quantities of fruits and veggies to can made weekly bills go up for a little bit), I don’t have to buy things like pickles, jams, tomatoes, etc. anymore. For $12 I made 10 quarts of pickles. With all this other stuff in my house and my purchasing my meat from Whole Foods in bulk when there is a sale, I’ve already seen my food bill go down since I don’t need to buy things for making dinner. My food is much tastier now because it comes from fresher produce and doesn’t have any of the weird stuff that you get when you buy processed foods from the store, and I enjoy eating things like homemade blackberry jam on whole wheat English muffins as a dessert rather than buying tons of pastries to feed my sweet tooth.
Hey Drew…
As you know, I bake my own sourdough bread loaves. The cost per loaf when I bake two is 60₵ each, a little less when I bake four. My sourdough is made from flour, water, the starter(yeast & lactobacilli), sugar and salt, no flavor enhancing or preservatives. An equivalent loaf at the store will be around $3. It would actually be a few ₵ less for most folks because we have the country’s highest electric rates.
I also make my own yogurt. Not only is it better than I can buy at the store, it costs around $1.65 for a half gallon, and at the store that would be between $5 and $6 ―when they have it. By better I mean richer and smoother without gelatin, agar, &c.
Now I don’t do this to save money, for me living alone it’s about $10 a week, I do it for other reasons. However, like Ben said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
I’ve also started making kombucha, as a substitute for purchased beverages. I haven’t run the numbers, but 2 cups of sugar and a large tea bag gives a couple gallons. A store bought 12 oz. bottle of kombucha (when the Feds let them sell it) runs $4. Plus kombucha keeps in a refrigerator so it’s very convenient, not to mention healthy.
http://cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/author/keepitsimpleengineer/
Why not compare an organic chicken to a non organic chicken?
Going off the top of my head I am thinking at Costco I can get two non-organic chickens for a similar price to one organic. Admittedly I hadn’t compared for a bit, probably because I compared in the past and said “Bite me, organic chicken. I may respect your values, but I’m not paying $14-$20 bucks for one stinkin’ bird.” I’m not against organic food, and I understand the arguments for organic. But I’ll pick my fights. I’ll buy local produce. But not the organic chicken. At least, not as anything other than an occasional treat.
As for the person who mentioned local being cheaper…not necessarily. I picked up a free-range organic bird for $15 at my farmer’s market before the holidays….I know the meat isn’t ‘ridiculously cheap’ at my local farmer’s market, or at least, not any cheaper than I could get its equivalent at the grocery store. $5/lb grass fed organic ground beef, 6.50/lb for pastured pork bacon (which is really tasty, but cheap it ain’t). These are not even cheap compared to equivalent items at a store. I have to agree with Melissa on this. If you are referring to produce, you may be right, but it’s not true for meat.
The line item costs of not eating the tasty expensive organo-bird are interesting. Particularly the one about the loss of export markets due to our use of GMO foods. No offense to some, but I think the anti-gmo thing is a little disingenuous. Humans have been genetically modifying food for ages upon ages. Being against it when we can select traits faster and far more specifically seems…silly. Maybe it’s just me.
I never mentioned that meat is ridiculously cheap, but that the produce is compared with the stuff you get at the store. I made 9 jars of organic blackberry jam that’s without all the crap preservatives for $15 – blackberries, sugar, and limes. If you buy organic blackberry jam at the store, it’s not going to be under $2/jar. 10 quarts of pickles for $12 was also great for me since the best ones I found at Whole Foods were $5 for a jar about the size of a pint. That’s not even going into how much money I saved by making and canning homemade spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce this year so now I just need to go into the pantry and pull out a jar of fresh stuff to use for some really quick dinners.
With all that money saved on produce, I spend a little bit more on the antibiotic free meats at Whole Foods. I buy in bulk when on special and freeze as 1 lb portions. It’s still only about $1/lb extra to get that meat than what the normal store does here and it tastes so much better.
The bigger problem is that people are lazy and won’t make efforts. I started making almost everything myself because I’ve found it tastes so much better than getting processed stuff at the store, and I like to eat. I usually make things that take a lot of time and can be stored in some way safely in large quantities and have it for quick meals when I don’t have time. After I started eating real foods, the added benefits came – I managed to lose a bit of weight without trying (I’m a petite person that didn’t need to lose weight) because I didn’t have preservatives in my diet anymore and my weekly food bill has gone down. And the decrease in food bill has continued even as I start treating myself to more seafood and better cuts of meat.
Dani, why shouldn’t we compare the price-per-pound of organic chicken to Kit Kat bars? Don’t we eat both of them? If $6 per pound is “expensive” for food, why does it become acceptable if it’s individually wrapped and really bad for you?
That’s the whole point of the flyer, to get us to think about why we will compare organic chicken to non-organic, but we’ll never compare organic chicken to convenience foods.
As for GMO crops, I don’t think the greatest hazard is direct health threats from the food. The biggest problem is what the crops are being modified for today: pesticide and week-killer resistance, and patentable markers.
The reason farmers use GMO seed is so that you can douse it in pesticides and weed killers. I’d rather they used more environmentally friendly methods to control pests and weeds.
And with the patented genes, the manufacturers can sue farmers out of business who try not to use the GMO crops, because contamination from neighboring fields makes them “guilty” of growing a patented crop without permission.
We shouldn’t compare organic chicken to non chicken in a discussion of savings because when I go out to the store for chicken I don’t compare the money I could spend on chicken with how much junk I could get with the same money. It’s a disingenuous method of argumentation and comparison, if only because if I am comparison shopping I compare the same thing. If I am trying to cut my food budget, I may try to get beans as protein instead of meat, but mostly I’m comparing like items. (If your idea of comparison shopping is comparing a chicken to a Kit-Kat, then I cannot help you. Nor is this argument a fruitful one.)
I mean, is it fair if I say “Well, I could get organic grass-fed filet mignon for $21/lb…but I can ramen for 10 cents a package! Take that you stupid hippy cow! Organic beef sure is stupid expensive compared to ramen, and that makes buying it dumb!”? I don’t think it’s a fair method to try and argue for organic’s superiority. You can argue its superiority for health reasons, or humane treatment reasons or a host of other tactics, but I do find this “Oh it’s cheaper really!” tactic to just be slightly dishonest, because of the vast difference in the type of foods we’re comparing. Which is not to say I’m against organic, I’m just against the tactic being used in this flyer.
Pesticide resistance may not be the best, but certainly something along the lines of pest resistance is. I’ve heard of plants being tweaked to take less water, which may be helpful in dry places and for water conservation in general. I can see the argument against seed patents too, but I don’t think GMO is inherently bad. I think it can be a useful thing if we select good traits. Admittedly, the companies designing their seeds should be compensated for their investment and such, and the patent system is a clunky tool to use for something like plants.
You keep focusing on the Kit Kat vs. organic chicken. How about soda vs. milk? Cashews vs. chips? Home-brew coffee vs. Starbucks?
“But wait,” you’ll say. “Of course if you make it yourself it will cost less than buying it pre-made from somewhere else.”
Exactly. That’s the point. We tell ourselves that organic food is too expensive, but then we buy pre-made junk. Oh, you don’t buy pre-made food products? Then no, you won’t save anything by switching to organic. But for the vast majority of people — people who do buy pre-made food products — this chart just might get some people to think about what’s worth a few extra dollars per pound and what isn’t.
As for GMOs, they cost more and they don’t work:
Feel free to read the entire report, but the executive summary is clear:
Um, while I’m all for getting rid of junk foods, this chart seems to be a bit misleading – at least on the soft drink portion. I don’t eat chips, drink coffee, or eat chocolate bars (unless it’s that time of the month and I can’t whip up a batch of brownies, but I digress), but I’ll admit I am a serious Diet Coke drinker.
A 12-can case of Diet Coke is over a gallon. I never buy cans of diet coke at the store unless it’s less than $3 a case. But the non-sale price of a case of Diet Coke is $5.49 at the high-priced grocery stores. Where are they getting this can of diet pepsi for $8.89/gallon? A 2-liter bottle, about 1/2 a gallon, is regularly on sale for 99 cents – regular price is $1.69. That makes a gallon of Diet Coke in 2-liter bottles about $3.38 a gallon.
This misleading price of soda pop makes me more skeptical of the other prices in the ad, knowing the error made in that can of pepsi.
If we’re going to make any headway in getting people to stop eating boxed/canned crap, we can’t have mistakes like this – it only fuels the fires of the debate and then we’re the ones who have egg on our face (no pun intended!).
This ad is aimed at people who think that a Kit Kat or a Diet Pepsi from the vending machine is within their budget, cheap enough for them, but organic food is not. I know plenty of people with that opinion.
The “genetic engineering is just like selective breeding, only faster” argument only makes sense until you know what they’re introducing into the genome of the food crops–there’s no amount of selectivity, natural or by man, that can introduce a fish gene, or one from e.coli or soil bacteria, into a plant. Those are some of the sources for the genes used to make GMOs herbicide-resistant or more shelf-stable.
I don’t buy chicken frequently, but I have been so disgusted by the way conventional chicken is reared that when I do, I buy organic and free-range, from a local farmer I know ($3.50/lb! and I live in a big city). I don’t want to eat a bird that’s grown so fast its legs can’t support its weight, whose everyday water has been fortified with antibiotics and hormones just so it can survive in living conditions so cramped and unsanitary that humans must wear a mask, and a large percentage of chickens don’t survive their 5-week life span to be slaughtered. Plus, the dung that collects on their feathers inevitably makes it to the surface of the meat, no matter how carefully they’re skinned (and doused in bleach). No thanks.
Excellent response.
Ally, thanks for putting it in once sentence for me: “This ad is aimed at people who think that a Kit Kat or a Diet Pepsi from the vending machine is within their budget, cheap enough for them, but organic food is not.”
THAT is exactly what I’ve been trying to say.