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Comment by WarmWash

4 hours ago

Processed foods are not cheaper than healthier options. People constantly repeat this, but it's flat out wrong.

The best way to apologize for people who, is to say that they don't have enough time to cook between all the jobs they have.

19 comments

WarmWash

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Retric  3 hours ago

> cheaper than heather options

Due to spoilage concerns grocery stores price food based on shelf stability not just production costs. Processed foods are generally shelf stable enough for this not to be a major concern.

Similarly economies of scale apply in many situations. Slow cooking beans takes more energy the smaller the batch size due to surface area to volume ratios etc.

Combined with the opportunity costs associated with cooking + cleanup means there’s very few healthy options that can compete with highly processed foods.

  • WalterBright  3 hours ago

    I bought over a pound of steak the other day for $5. (Yes, it was on sale. But it is frequently on sale.) Along with a potato for 50 cents, that's cheaper than a bag of Doritos.

    Oh, and I bought a banana for $.22.

    Cooking a steak takes about 10 minutes.

    Microwaving a TV dinner ($7.50) takes more time.

    • Retric  1 hour ago

      Potatoes have a long shelf life and even then it’s not a clear win.

      A medium potato is around 110 calories. 15 * 150 calories servings = 5$ that’s 20.45 medium potatoes for 5$ or 24.4c per medium potato. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Doritos-Nacho-Cheese-Tortilla-Sna...

      The potato requires prep, 10 minutes in the microwave ~= 1/4 kWh, and presumably a little salt and butter. A microwave meal is a more complete nutrition source and takes less time, making them more complex point of comparison.

      5 replies →

    • tolien  2 hours ago

      This canard again [0]? You're comparing one piece of beef with a massive bag of Doritos. The banana's irrelevant, but last time you compared it to an enormous block of chocolate [1].

      From experience a microwave meal should take about 3 minutes to cook so I don't know how you're taking more than 10 minutes unless, like your food item comparisons, you're cooking enough of them to feed an entire town.

      0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49314864

      3 replies →

    • asgraham  2 hours ago

      Microwaving takes less attention and less skill, though. And less cleanup. And you don’t need to own a pan. And you don’t need to own spices (steak is a bad example ofc). And you don’t need to think about the side dishes. And you don’t need to agree on what’s for dinner. And I think it’s worth repeating, you don’t need any skill and can’t really screw it up. And you don’t need to worry about it going bad because you were too lazy to cook it. Etc.

      Processed food may not be cheaper, but the flavor:effort ratio is waaaaaay higher.

      1 reply →

    • nosmokewhereiam  2 hours ago

      Wait til you find out what's in a $5 steak!

      Our cheapest grass-fed tenderloin is $10 for a half pound cut. One. In a poor northern state.

      We had that cow two years and didn't supplement grain. Cheap as you can grow them.

      With a $5 steak, it might as well be corn chips.

      1 reply →