this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 118 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Something I haven't seen other commenters bring up that can have a huge impact, is the overall lifestyles people are living.

The unhealthiest years of my life were when I was working 2 jobs and struggling to keep a roof over mine and my 3 kids heads. Stress and depression were huge problems and money was tight, so sometimes the little bit of dopamine or serotonin from eating a "treat" were the highlights of the day. Add to that, the guilt of not being around to cook regular meals for my kids lead to 1) making large amounts of food on my one day off that could be eaten as leftovers throughout the week or 2) easy convenience foods (frozen pizzas, boxed Mac and cheese, etc) that the kids could make when I wasn't around.

Fast forward many years - my kids are adults taking care of themselves and I'm down to 1 good job that offers financial stability. My diet and health have completely changed. I actually have the time and energy to cook and plan better.

I'm not saying this to shift blame or responsibility, but to bring a different experience. When I hear (hopefully well meaning) people suggest "just cook healthier meals" it strikes me about the same as "stop eating avocado toast and you could afford a house."

[–] [email protected] 59 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Lack of free time to cook healthy food with a busier and more expensive life with salary raises that don't keep up with inflation or layoffs for many people definitely doesn't help. Healthy food ends up costing twice as much, if not more than unhealthy food. It's a multi-faceted problem and should be treated as such.

[–] TurtleJoe 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I don't think healthy food is necessarily more expensive, at least not if you know what you're doing. My personal experience is actually the opposite.

The problem, as you mentioned is the time, and the emotional and physical labor of figuring out something the whole family will want to eat and cooking it. Those things are all expenditures in their own ways, but not financial.

[–] A_Random_Idiot -5 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Tell me a healthy meal I can make for the same 5 bucks that I can feed 4 people with by buying a red baron pizza.

[–] SupraMario 13 points 9 months ago (2 children)

You're not feeding 4 people on a red baron pizza and no one is getting fat from sharing one with 4 people. Fast food is expensive, and so is pre packaged meals. To many people get home from work and just eat shit instead of learning to cook.

Steamed veggies are cheap, rice is cheap, beans are cheap, grab some seasoning and a pack of chicken breasts and you can eat good for a few days for less than a single trip to McDonald's for 2 people now.

[–] A_Random_Idiot 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

You’re not feeding 4 people on a red baron pizza

I guess the dinner I served saturday night was just a drug induced hallucination then, afterall.. You seem to clearly know what I do and have done better than I do.

[–] SupraMario 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Cool, then everyone in your family must not be what they're talking about in this thread since you probably don't eat 5000 calories a day.

[–] A_Random_Idiot -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Funny how the goalposts shift from “its easy and cheap to eat healthy” to “You’re not who we’re talking about, we’re talking about other, more convenient and strawmannable people”

[–] SupraMario 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's not shifting the goal post, it's calling out your bullshit that somehow a $5 red Baron pizza for 4 people is enough to make people fat. 380 calories is 1/4 of a red Baron Pepperoni pizza, if you ate one 3 a day, that's less than most adults can survive on, you're going to lose weight. So no I'm not the one moving some goal post or creating a strawman, that's your doing.

[–] A_Random_Idiot -1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Literally no one said a red baron for 4 people will make you fat. I asked for a healthy alternative that can feed a family for the same exceedingly low price. Nothing more, nothing less. Certainly nothing to deserve your insane aggression and bullshit over.

So now you are not only shifting goal posts, you are doing the classic internet bullshit of replying to your own imaginary idea of what people said.

[–] SupraMario 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

No shit, that's why I said you pointing this out was not the discussion at hand. You pointed it out that a $5 red Baron could feed 4 people, because healthy food is more expensive. I called that out as bullshit. This entire thread is about people who complain that it's hard to eat healthy and not be fat.

[–] A_Random_Idiot -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I called that out as bullshit. This entire thread is about people who complain that it's hard to eat healthy and not be fat.

.. where you proceed to lose your shit and act like a cunt when someone asks how to provide a "healthy" meal for the same low costs as an unhealthy meal.

[–] SupraMario 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

No you didn't, you proceeded to act like $5 red Baron was the only way to feed a family of 4 and that it would make people fat....

[–] A_Random_Idiot 1 points 9 months ago

And now we're right back to ignoring whats actually being said in favor of replying to your own imaginary arguments.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Ok, yes on everything but damned if Chicken is cheap. Just noted as $6+/lb the other day...

Maybe I gotta take advantage of being out in the farm fields and get some of those yard chickens.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Where are you located? It’s only $3.10 here, and $2.80 or less when it’s on sale (fairly often).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Western MN, in part possibly because it's a small shop

[–] SupraMario 0 points 9 months ago

Ouch, most major shops it's like $3 a lb on average.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Ingredients: rice, black beans, eggs, onion, garlic.

The night before, let the beans soak. Before cooking, change the water on the beans. Heat until boiling, change the water again, add salt and let the beans boil slowly for 1.5-3h.

Slice the onion and garlic in small chunks. Fry in a shallow pot, in just a bit of olive oil. Add some oregano or whatever spices you enjoy. When it is fried to your taste, add the rice. Mix it for a bit, and then add 2.5 cups of water for each cup of rice.

Let it boil until the water doesn't cover the rice, then turn the heat down until it's just evaporating water (I like my rice dry). Meanwhile, fry a couple eggs, use a strainer to get the beans out, and add everything to the rice (or you can serve the eggs on the plate).

• 1kg of rice: 2€ • 1kg black beans: 4€ • A carton of eggs: 2.5€

YMMV but this is tasty and pretty inexpensive, if you don't count the 2h of boiling beans, but I prefer them on the soft side :P

[–] captainlezbian 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Black bean tacos with onion and bell pepper.

Pasta and homemade tomato sauce

Basically anything lentil based

Rice and beans

[–] brygphilomena 5 points 9 months ago

Tacos and burritos.

Pre marinated carne asada or pork is fairly cheap. A pound can go pretty far, at least 15 tacos.

Pre marinated pork for tacos is $3.29/lb Tortillas $2.49 Premade Salsa $3.99

It comes to about $0.54 a taco. So two tacos a person it's a bit over $4. 3 tacos and it's $6.50 for a family of 4.

Serve refried beans and rice instead of another taco and it'll be even cheaper.

You could get that down if you marinated your own meat.

[–] RBWells 3 points 9 months ago

Beans and rice. (Red beans and rice, black beans and rice, garbanzo beans in curry on rice, you can make probably a hundred delicious variations on beans and rice)

A can of pureed pumpkin and a can of white beans with seasoning and a little chicken broth, heated and blended, makes a healthy and delicious soup.

A can of tomatoes, an onion, a couple dried Chiles and a can of pinto beans also makes an incredible pureed soup.

Up until recently I'd have said eggs and toast, but eggs are expensive lately. Still probably under $5 to feed 4 though.

We bought a frozen turkey cheap after Christmas and my God that made so many meals, I still have 3 quarts of stock too.

I don't think a frozen pizza is a good deal in terms of nutrition but we do sometimes have that or the Little Caesars one if I can't cook that night.

None of us are fat, husband is overweight but fit, and the rest of us are on the thin side.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Love how everyone is like "beans and rice!" and totally ignoring the energy and time it takes to make such things. And not everyone is a fan of beans and rice. At the end of the day being able to have a slice of pizza may be the only bright spot when you're living paycheck to paycheck.

[–] A_Random_Idiot 3 points 9 months ago

and some combination of beans and rice is the only example they can come up with.

Who wants to eat beans and rice every single day for the rest of their lives?

[–] Shadywack 19 points 9 months ago

Well said, that's what we call canard advice. Unhelpful advice that's obvious to everyone and does no fucking good to say whatsoever. You can cook more when your primary financial needs are met, so you can just work 40 hours in a week. That and the RTO mandates going around are robbing people of a significant chunk of time yet again ontop of overemployment. When you have to work a 10 hour day and commute an hour plus each direction, then come home and "cook" something, it usually translates to heating up frozen shit and then wishing you weren't miserable.

Been there and done that, fuck hustle culture.

[–] dexa_scantron 14 points 9 months ago

Yep. My boomer dad: "When I was a kid, we walked everywhere! Nobody walks anymore!" Also my dad: "I'm afraid to drive into Portland because my truck might get stolen."