Eat Badly to Eat Cheap

Think it over.

It's Good News and Bad News

Do you complain about how much you spend on food? Maybe it's time to put things in perspective: this article from Time had a shocking statistic about how much we're paying for what we eat. The end result? It's not as bad as we thought, cost-wise, but it's worse than we thought for our health (and the environment).

According to the USDA, we Americans now spend less than 10% of our incomes on food, which is down from 18% in 1966. What's the secret behind the savings? Corn, chemicals, and antibiotics round out the list.

Savings come with a price--a global one. Fruits and vegetables aren't given the same cost cuts as grains are, and one study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that one dollar can buy 1,200 calories of potato chips, but just 250 calories of fresh veg. Meanwhile, pigs are pumped with antibiotics, fed with corn doused in fertilizer and grown with the help of government subsidies. Sound tasty? Didn't think so.

Organic food is worth it, and more than ever, but Time pointed out that the stumbling blocks are still there: organic food remains costly and more difficult to access. If you can swing the price for a portion of your diet, food that causes less ecological damage and health issues might just be worth it after all.

Have you switched to organic? Do you think you ever will?

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