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Cynic wrote on 2012-04-04 02:51
@ Yoorah;
Money is an issue seeing as you have to buy food yourself. Sure, some less fortunate people get food stamps, but most of the time you end up having to shell out money from your monthly paycheck to buy more food anyways. My Mom is a master at cutting corners and saving money and we still had to spend an extra $150 on food each month. (around $350 in total, including food stamps)
Now, I can't speak for the people who refuse to cook out of sheer laziness, but most families don't always have the time to cook 3 meals a day. And even if, it is a fact that healthy food is more expensive than junk food. (or if you want to look at it another way, the worse the food is for you, the cheaper it tends to be) So even if someone happens to be pretty good at saving cash, they're not exactly going to be able to afford 3 healthy meals a day.
And again, this is assuming the person has time to go ahead and cook 3 full meals for themselves (and in some cases their families).
I'm pretty lucky. My Mom cooks as often as she can (actual meals) and I usually take over from there. But assuming someone isn't part of the upper-middle/upper-class, they probably have a fulltime job and/or school which already cuts down how much time they have to cook. Then there's also extra activities (chores, homework, sleep, etc) that cut in the time-frame. Then we also can't forget that they're probably tired after a hard days work.
I can't think of anyone who is a hardworking person in a hardworking family that has time to prepare that many healthy, non-microwaved/boxed/frozen meals.
And while that obviously doesn't apply to every single person below upper-middle class, it sure as heck applies to everyone I have ever met or heard of.
So yes, money is an issue. It's an issue for everything when you don't have enough of it to get by with leisure.
(Also not botherin' to spell/grammar check this so ignore any mistakes.~)
Edit; also a tl;dr;
Basically, it would help a fuckton of healthy food wasn't so expensive. Now, if people had a decent amount of time to prepare the food and a decent amount of cash to buy the food and STILL didn't cook for themselves? Then yes, it's completely their fault.
But, the only large group people I can think of who can afford a ton of healthy food while still having some extra leisure time is the upper-middle class and above. (and no, I'm not saying rich = having tons of time/money. I'm just sayin' I've seen a hell of a lot more people with money having time/money but not doing so than poor people with time/money)
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paladin wrote on 2012-04-04 02:54
the major issue is cheap junk food fits two prolblems americans have
speed-sorry but if you ever meet someone who works 8 hours+ at home related work stuff time is preacious
money-a hamburger-not super filling 1.07 -equable to maybe 2 apples in rough amount of hungry fullness 2.50 for 2 apples
More then double the price for the healthy stuff and the fact is that burger is dam appealing over two apples
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whocares8128 wrote on 2012-04-04 16:04
Of course the junk food is cheaper, especially with the crazy kinds of filler used in it.
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Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-04-04 16:11
Quote from Mythical Detective Loki;829917:
-eats a triple quadruple cheeseburger while slurping my ultra super gulp with chocolatechip cookies as fries while sitting my scooter-
Dear god...
Me, I walk to work everyday. 20 minute walk both ways. I tend to stay away from overly greasy foods. Dear god. Bleh!
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Rin wrote on 2012-04-04 17:17
Quote from RicochetOrange;829944:
We need more money and less work hours so we have time to actually prepare something decent to eat.
Less money = Less spending on things not part of your food budget
Like Yoorah said, you can feed yourself without breaking the bank. You just have less money to spend on things that don't contribute to your overall survival.
However, the more glaring problem is that the cheaper it is to make food to sell, the cheaper its price is. That's why healthy food are sometimes more expensive: because they're harder to obtain than mass-producing something else.
I'll have to agree with Cynic that not everybody can have the time and money to cook 3 homemade meals for the family every day with jobs and/or school. Because everybody's trying to make enough money to not worry about the bills, gas, etc. That by itself speaks of how much an average person has to pay for prices set by others.
This really isn't uncommon. Many Americans these days have been demanding the same thing for the solution: lower taxes, lower insurance costs, lower bill payments, etc.
Expensive healthy food and having little time to exercise are the least of an American's list of problems, in the light of the higher cost of living.
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BizarreJuju wrote on 2012-04-04 19:53
Well there are those "all you can eat places" that gives you the option of getting how ever much healthy food you want. They usually go for $5-8 for lunch and $7-13 for dinner, and this comes with salad bar and soup.
But if people want to improve their diet at home, go make some fucking rice!
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-04-05 01:17
Indeed, the problem is not in the price of healthy food. While, it costs more than a 99 cent fast food burger and other comparable shit, the comparison should be void as the latter isn't to be considered proper food in the first place. People simply need to realize that they have to set aside a proper amount in their budgets for food, set their priorities straight and cut back expenses on less important things (ie TV/net/phone packages, pointless shopping adventures at walmart, and whatever other stupid expenses "poor" people love to make), if they cannot afford to feed themselves real food.
So as I've said, the problem lies in the mindset of the people, and not in the money. So long as you're not an extreme case, chances are that you can make your limited funds work if you really want to. I would know this well from experience, as my family has been through some pretty tough times, at one point living off of just our limited savings, other times my parents working on minimum wage jobs, but we've never compromised on food. And food here is more expensive than in the US.
And the part about the lack of time being a cause is also incorrect. First of all, who actually cooks 3 meals a day? I personally get cereal, oatmeal or toast in the morning, a sandwich or salad for lunch, and only for dinner do I actually have to cook something for real. Granted, you can spend a lot of time cooking dinner if you choose such a recipe, but there's plenty of healthy meals you can prepare in around half an hour or less. I just made rice tuna salad, which took me about 20 minutes to prepare--it was healthy, delicious, and cheap. Yeah, perhaps my meal was just too plain for the people of such refined culinary tastes as those who frequent McDonalds. I dunno.
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Chillax wrote on 2012-04-05 01:41
Quote from Yoorah;830981:
And the part about the lack of time being a cause is also incorrect. First of all, who actually cooks 3 meals a day? I personally get cereal, oatmeal or toast in the morning, a sandwich or salad for lunch, and only for dinner do I actually have to cook something for real. Granted, you can spend a lot of time cooking dinner if you choose such a recipe, but there's plenty of healthy meals you can prepare in around half an hour or less. I just made rice tuna salad, which took me about 20 minutes to prepare--it was healthy, delicious, and cheap. Yeah, perhaps my meal was just too plain for the people of such refined culinary tastes as those who frequent McDonalds. I dunno.
Sure, if you're preparing something for yourself and yourself only.
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Lan wrote on 2012-04-05 01:43
Quote from Chillax;831010:
Sure, if you're preparing something for yourself and yourself only.
Ok then what about a pot of pasta with some stew? Should take a little over an hour. (Hell I made Fettuccine Alfredo with garlic bread in about an hour that could feed 3 people)
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-04-05 01:52
Quote from Chillax;831010:
Sure, if you're preparing something for yourself and yourself only.
Nope, the difference is really not that significant. If you're gonna need to cook more rice, it'll add to the cooking time by only a few minutes. Many meals will cook in the same amount of time regardless of how much you prepare, within reason.
Unless you're referring to families with picky eaters who each want something different, or whatever. In which case it is again a problem with the mindset and discipline.
And really, I actually made enough to feed 3 people.. and ended up eating all of it myself. Took me longer to finish eating it than to prepare it. <_< Which was probably a bad idea, but I digress. >_>
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Nomadic wrote on 2012-04-05 04:07
Was it delicious? And I have to deal with a family like that. They get surprised when I eat something healthy, or something that doesn't seem like I'd eat. :tea:
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Chillax wrote on 2012-04-05 06:23
Quote from Lan;831013:
Ok then what about a pot of pasta with some stew? Should take a little over an hour. (Hell I made Fettuccine Alfredo with garlic bread in about an hour that could feed 3 people)
That's mostly or all carbs.
Quote from Yoorah;831018:
Nope, the difference is really not that significant. If you're gonna need to cook more rice, it'll add to the cooking time by only a few minutes. Many meals will cook in the same amount of time regardless of how much you prepare, within reason.
Unless you're referring to families with picky eaters who each want something different, or whatever. In which case it is again a problem with the mindset and discipline.
And really, I actually made enough to feed 3 people.. and ended up eating all of it myself. Took me longer to finish eating it than to prepare it. <_< Which was probably a bad idea, but I digress. >_>
My bad, I was thinking about actual cooking.
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Lan wrote on 2012-04-07 04:49
Quote from Chillax;831321:
That's mostly or all carbs.
Really see nothing wrong with carbs :D
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Yoorah wrote on 2012-04-07 22:51
Quote from Chillax;831321:
My bad, I was thinking about actual cooking.
Quote from Yoorah:
Yeah, perhaps my meal was just too plain for the people of such refined culinary tastes as those who frequent McDonalds. I dunno.
xd
Very relevant:
[Image: http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4297/acidpicdump67f.jpg]
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Cucurbita wrote on 2012-04-07 23:01
Quote from RicochetOrange;829944:
We need more money and less work hours so we have time to actually prepare something decent to eat.
Americans are leading in the world for free time. First world problems.