Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?

Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?

This was a great article in the New York Times. To summarize: no! It's not cheaper. Just easier. And sometimes we all need easy.

I make dinner almost every night. I can't afford to do anything else. Sometimes I enjoy it. Sometimes it's a chore. But even on nights when it's a chore and I think we should just go out, I ask myself, "Where do I want to go out to? What do I want to eat? What do I want to spend on it?" Usually the answer is, "Nowhere, nothing, and nada." Which tells me I should just cook, feed the kids and go to bed.

Where I fall into the junk food trap is snacks! Nothing could be easier than a carrot or an apple, but is that what I go for? Sadly, no. Is it what the kids ask for. Sadly, no. They want the granola bars and fruit snacks that don't fill them up, but sure taste yummy. And which more expensive? An apple or a bag of fruit snacks? Well, I guess if the fruit snacks are on sale and the apples are out of season, then the fruit snacks. But seriously, at $0.50 for an apple from Kroger that I split in 1/2 for the kids to share or $3.00 for a box of 6-8 bags of gummies that the kids are going to devour and still be hungry I should be reaching for an apple. So why don't I. I DON'T KNOW!!

So to encourage healthy snacking I stopped buying the granola bars and fruit snacks, and I only buy chips when it's on the menu to have with a meal. So now what? Now I stopped snacking! I'd rather just go hungry than open the fridge, open the drawer, get out an apple, wash it, and cut it. Yep. Lazy. And the kicker, the kids still snack. I'll make them a cheese sandwich with some apple wedges, but I won't eat it because it was too hard to make. And now that I've realized that, I think I'm crazy.

So I guess I should snack with the kids. I'll continue to call the processed snack choices treats instead of snacks. I'll keep telling them, "no, we're not eating at McDonalds, It's gross and I hate it."

Healthy?

"home made" jelly filled donughts

What do you consider healthy? If you make something from scratch instead of buying a processed prepackaged alternative, or even a box mix, is it automatically healthy? Healthyier, maybe. You don't all the preservatives and you can control the amount of sugar and salt or even the type of oil you use, but that doesn't makes it "healthy."

I was reading the comments on a few blogs and cringed every time someone said, "Oh good! A healthy alternative!" Now don't get me wrong, the recipes looked wonderful and I'm sure they're much better for you than the processed, boxed alternative, but that still doesn't make them healthy. Does it?

Homemade Thai Hummus

Ok, maybe a different question. What makes something unhealthy? Sugar? Salt? Oil? Preservatives? Ingredients you can't pronounce? Should all be eating cardboard sprinkled with a vitamin supplement?

I don't know. I'm not a dietitian or a physician, but it seems to me that the obesity problem we have is because we eat too much. Ok, maybe now I'm switching topics, but these are my ramblings. Yes, home made is better than boxed. Yes, less sugar, salt, and fat is better than more. But more importantly, MODERATION. Smaller portions (for meals and desserts). More water. More walking. That's my two cents.

Now what could you make with this? Or, why make anything? Just dig in! Yum!