The Unhealthy Dollar: Food You Can Get with a Dollar

What can you eat with a dollar? Lapham’s Quarterly published a very interesting infographic that lists common grocery purchases and food from fast food chains worth a dollar. Basically, if you had $1, it seems you would have a difficult time choosing between healthy and unhealthy food.

While this infographic may not be entirely accurate (prices for goods may vary from store to store, after all), burgers and carbonate drinks have indeed become cheaper while a dollar’s worth of fresh meat products might not be enough for a single meal. While you can choose healthy alternatives, you would have to shell out a few more dollars.

This is the unhealthy reality.

More disturbing truths

Just when you thought the unhealthy truth ends there, there’s more. Apparently, one of the reasons why fast food orders are cheaper is because the government supports companies that produce meat and other products in bulk. According to Time Magazine, the government has spent more than $50 billion to make sure prices for crops such as corn and wheat stay low, thereby keeping a single order of a BigMac and Coke cheaper than any healthy meal.

What can consumers do?

A huge chunk of the responsibility to keep healthy food prices low lies in the hands of the government, but for now, consumers have to rely on their own eating habits and financial planning if they want more bang for the buck.

It’s all about conditioning—to survive in a world run by fast food chains and unhealthy burgers, you should always think of your health.  In the long run, eating healthy is cheaper. Come to think of it, what benefit is it to you if you save some money buying BigMac meals but gain unnecessary calories in the process?

At the end of the day, it’s not always about the cost; It’s always about your health.