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Too Expensive?

“It’s too expensive to eat healthy.” is used all too frequently as an excuse for poor eating habits, especially when living in a society that is blessed with an abundance of food and super-sized portions. Is it really too expensive to eat healthy? Or is this just a myth? To disprove this statement, I started adding both nutritional information and cost information to my recipes. To go the next step, I am even going to put my most expensive and fatty recipe: “Grilled Sockeye Salmon with Peppered Lime Butter and Asian Pear Salsa” (oh yes, this dish includes real butter, chips--the kind that are fried in oil, salmon, and avocado, all very fatty foods) head-to-head against one of the fast food industry’s ‘healthy’ options, a salad to show that my most fatty meal is just as healthy as a fast food salad. And, I’m not stopping there. I’m putting my least expensive option “Peanut Butter & Asian Pear on Blue-Mash Potato Bread with Asian Pear Wedges” up against the good-old cheapy standby: mac & cheese in the blue box. I added some additional meals for good measure; all around 400-500 calories per meal, which is the maximum amount of calories that I want from a single meal, considering my daily calorie requirement. Here’s the table: First, take a peek at the sodium. This is the first number that really screamed out at me when I put the chart together. I read that the recommended daily intake of sodium is less than 2400 mg per day for someone who eats a 2000 calorie per day diet. I eat much less than that and have reduced the sodium correspondingly to about 1800 mg per day. Second, notice the percentages in the final column. It is recommended that we eat no more than 10% of calories from saturated (and trans) fats. It may appear that the “Salmon with Peppered Lime Butter and Chips & Asian Pear Salsa” recipe is too high in fat. However, 8 grams of the total fat is Monounsaturated. This is the best fat. Monounsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and are believed to raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol. 3 grams of the fat is Polyunsaturated. This is possibly a good fat. It's similar to Monounsaturated in that it is liquid and room temperature and lowers bad cholesterol, but it also lowers good cholesterol and may be a factor in colon cancer. Finally, check out the prices. Even my extravagant salmon dinner becomes an option by comparison, especially if you are able to find salmon for $10/lb (which I did just last weekend because of the timeliness of the wild salmon fishing season.) By purchasing ingredients within their high supply season, you can get great foods for great bargains. Yes, the mac & cheese dinner is only about 68¢ per serving (if you only eat 1/3 of the box.) However, I am willing to bet the people who tell me that “It’s too expensive to eat healthy” do not consider a $4 dinner too expensive. Now, let us consider one more option: growing your own produce. I grow my own potatoes, tomatoes, and Asian pears and have further reduced the per meal costs in my recipes (the range in price is the difference between homegrown produce and store-bought.) Potatoes are pretty cheap, so growing your own isn’t going to save you a bundle. However, there are other benefits of growing your own: 1) you control the chemicals. My vegetables are chemical free, 2) you choose the varieties that you like, and 3) you get to pick and eat them when they are at their fullest ripeness. (Did you know commercially-grown tomatoes are picked while still green, even the “vine ripe” varieties, and gassed during transportation with a chemical that turns them red? However, they do not soften; they retain their unripe ‘golf ball’ texture.)