4 ms·

There's a popular internet myth that junk food is cheaper than veggies. Of course it isn't true; junk food is more expensive by weight than anything in the pro

There's a popular internet myth that junk food is cheaper than veggies. Of course it isn't true; junk food is more expensive by weight than anything in the produce aisle, with possible exceptions for exotic imported fruits. How this myth survives people wandering around a grocery store looking at price stickers is beyond my comprehension. A 5lb bag of potatoes costs less than a half pound bag of potato chips.

huijzer 4y ago
It's probably the difference in looking at weight versus calories. A cauliflower is, on average, 0.7-0.9 kg (1.5-2 pounds) and provides about 25 calories. A McDonalds burger is, on average, 0.2 kg (0.441 pounds) with about 250 calories. The cauliflower currently costs about 3 euros (yes, you read that right) in the Netherlands while a burger costs around 7 euros. So, calories per euro is 8 for the cauliflower and 35 for the burger.
- frumper 4y ago
  I want to see this mythical almost half pound burger that is only 250 calories. The "hamburger" that is 250 calories has a patty less than 2 ounces, and hardly anything on it. I doubt the bun weights 1/4 pound.
- amon22 4y ago
  A head of cauliflower is around 210 calories when cooked, similar to the cheeseburger in your example.
  - amrocha 4y ago
    A head of cauliflower is not a meal
- hexedpackets 4y ago
  A cup of cauliflower is about 25 calories. A 2 pound head of cauliflower is 224 calories, only about 10% less than the burger.
dghlsakjg 4y ago
The myth isn’t a myth. It refers to the price of calories, not the price of food by weight. You end up with the cheapest calories being lightly processed grains like rice and flour, then you end up with more processed grains like white bread and ramen, then move to things like peanut butter, before hitting junk food. The point is that the cheapest calories aren’t exactly healthy. The produce aisle tends to be pretty expensive per calorie, potatoes excepted, since veggies aren’t calorically dense, and are sold mostly by weight.
- stametseater 4y ago
  > It refers to the price of calories See: potatoes. They're basically pure calories and they're several times cheaper than any junk food. Junk food is the most expensive food no matter how you slice it. The only metric by which junk food might win is in the lazy glutton category; if somebody is too lazy to put a potato in their oven 45 minutes before their meal, then a bag of potato chips has an advantage. But in no other sense is junk food more efficient. And even for lazy people, there are plenty of cheap as dirt veggies that require less cooking or no cooking at all. A bag of apples is a very cheap way of getting a sugar rush without any food prep, but fat people would rather spend that money on several gallons of cola a week.
- akiselev 4y ago
  An eight pound bag of pinto beans costs $6.88 at my local Walmart and contains over 12,000 calories - that's six days of the 2k calorie diet! Lots of healthy grains like buckwheat and brown rice are available at similar price per calorie and they all require little effort beyond setting a timer for the unattended boiling. Add a couple cents for spices from the value store and a dollar or two for frozen veggies and you've got a meal going for the family! I challenge you to find any junk food that comes even close to that kind of caloric density per dollar. The cheapest junk food has a tenth of the calories per dollar than a bag of rice from Costco (4-5k calories per dollar), at best. The problem is that the cheap stuff takes a little effort to make tasty compared to the hyper-palatable junk food. The whole "junk food is cheaper than whole foods per calorie" is nonsense.
  - 4y ago

huijzer 4y ago

It's probably the difference in looking at weight versus calories. A cauliflower is, on average, 0.7-0.9 kg (1.5-2 pounds) and provides about 25 calories. A McDonalds burger is, on average, 0.2 kg (0.441 pounds) with about 250 calories. The cauliflower currently costs about 3 euros (yes, you read that right) in the Netherlands while a burger costs around 7 euros. So, calories per euro is 8 for the cauliflower and 35 for the burger.

frumper 4y ago
I want to see this mythical almost half pound burger that is only 250 calories. The "hamburger" that is 250 calories has a patty less than 2 ounces, and hardly anything on it. I doubt the bun weights 1/4 pound.
amon22 4y ago
A head of cauliflower is around 210 calories when cooked, similar to the cheeseburger in your example.
- amrocha 4y ago
  A head of cauliflower is not a meal
hexedpackets 4y ago
A cup of cauliflower is about 25 calories. A 2 pound head of cauliflower is 224 calories, only about 10% less than the burger.

dghlsakjg 4y ago

The myth isn’t a myth. It refers to the price of calories, not the price of food by weight. You end up with the cheapest calories being lightly processed grains like rice and flour, then you end up with more processed grains like white bread and ramen, then move to things like peanut butter, before hitting junk food. The point is that the cheapest calories aren’t exactly healthy. The produce aisle tends to be pretty expensive per calorie, potatoes excepted, since veggies aren’t calorically dense, and are sold mostly by weight.

stametseater 4y ago
> It refers to the price of calories See: potatoes. They're basically pure calories and they're several times cheaper than any junk food. Junk food is the most expensive food no matter how you slice it. The only metric by which junk food might win is in the lazy glutton category; if somebody is too lazy to put a potato in their oven 45 minutes before their meal, then a bag of potato chips has an advantage. But in no other sense is junk food more efficient. And even for lazy people, there are plenty of cheap as dirt veggies that require less cooking or no cooking at all. A bag of apples is a very cheap way of getting a sugar rush without any food prep, but fat people would rather spend that money on several gallons of cola a week.
akiselev 4y ago
An eight pound bag of pinto beans costs $6.88 at my local Walmart and contains over 12,000 calories - that's six days of the 2k calorie diet! Lots of healthy grains like buckwheat and brown rice are available at similar price per calorie and they all require little effort beyond setting a timer for the unattended boiling. Add a couple cents for spices from the value store and a dollar or two for frozen veggies and you've got a meal going for the family! I challenge you to find any junk food that comes even close to that kind of caloric density per dollar. The cheapest junk food has a tenth of the calories per dollar than a bag of rice from Costco (4-5k calories per dollar), at best. The problem is that the cheap stuff takes a little effort to make tasty compared to the hyper-palatable junk food. The whole "junk food is cheaper than whole foods per calorie" is nonsense.
- 4y ago