The cost of Healthy Eating?

[Jellyfish]

I think the biggest factor is time, many families need and desire convenience. Another side to it is portion control; eating unnecessarily large meals bumps the cost.

I also find it strange that junk is cheaper... we earn very, very minimum wage (I'm at home, DP is an apprentice butcher) and we wouldn't dream of buying anything in a packet, it is just not worth the cost. When we need to watch our budget, first thing to go for us is meat and cheese in favour of bulking up with more veggies. We also grow veggies which has been a great investment (we have survived 'rego week' on $27 because of that gold mine lol), maybe I need to set up a charity that helps low income families create their own sustainable veggie patches... that seems a good idea to me! But we do have a lot of time, I can watch a pot making stock all day and don't have the stress of rushing around after a day of work to throw something together. I think time really is a big part of the picture.

[wysiwyg]

I think the biggest factor is time, many families need and desire convenience.

I agree I do think time is a massive contributory factor - I doubt it is a coincidence that the rise in obesity correlates with more people working and less time at home. Not only the time to cook but the time to buy - I know our diet is better when I am not working, if you can only shop after work then you are limited to the big supermarkets and is easier to be tempted by convenience there than shopping at markets for example. Time is also a factor in things like veggie patches.

But to a certain extent is all about individual choice - for some people maybe it is better to have a quick convenience meal so they can then go and spend two hours playing in the park with their kids, others the choice might be different. Depends on the individuals, depends on the kids, but it is a shame that price and lack of education on the matter effect that choice. I can be lazy about food choices sometimes, but I acknowledge that and in my mind the time I save with the laziness is put to good use in some other form that is good for my families overall wellbeing (activities, arts and craft, exercise etc).