Think Organic Food is Too Expensive?

I saw an interesting graphic today.  It was comparing the price of snacks and sodas with real food.  When you take snacks and price them per pound, the result is quite revealing.

For example, take a KitKat bar.  If you price out this bar per pound, it costs about $9.49.  There were other examples too.  A pound of potato chips costs around $8.45 a pound and a soda about $8.89 a gallon. Pretty interesting, eh?

Organic is Cheap Compared to Snacks & Fast Food

I decided to google the average price of a meal at McDonald’s.  I had no idea.  I hadn’t eaten in one in over 30 years.  The average price of a McDonald’s meal was between $4 and $5.  Did you know that you can feed 4 people an organic meal for about $8?   Even though I live in one of the most expensive areas of the country, (Southern California), I know of several stores where you can buy a pound of organic beef or chicken for less than $5.  Throw in $3 worth or organic veggies and voila, an organic meal for 4 people costing about $8.  That is half of the cost of 4 people eating at a fast food restaurant.

Organic food can be expensive if you buy it in some of the pricier health food stores.  Thankfully, lots of lower-priced stores have jumped on the organic bandwagon.  In many cases, I have found the price of organic to be about the same as non-organic.  Yes, you may have to shop around a bit and use those special buyer cards the stores love to give out, but it will will be worth it in the end.

There is really no excuse to eat bad quality food.  I won’t even go into the health care costs when your body breaks down from poor nutrition.  But I think you get the idea.  So, next time you feel like a chocolate bar or bag of chips, calculate the real cost of that item per pound.  Buy it if you want, but don’t say the next day that organic is too expensive.  Remember – fast food, sodas and chocolate bars are expensive!

To your Health!

Peter Gillham