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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

According to this study http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/healthy-vs-u... healthier diet patterns--fresh meat, vegetables, etc.--cost about $1.50 more per day. So, yes, there is some difference and meal prep etc. certainly takes longer. However, the processed food is so much cheaper argument can also be overstated.

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So for a family of 4 you are talking about $6/day, which is $2,190/year. For a working class family with an income of $20,000-$40,000/year it represents roughly 5-10% of their total income for the year to eat healthy.

That's not a small chunk of change for families like that. Sure they'll almost certainly earn that back in lower medical costs in the long run, but in the short term it's a serious burden.

By percentage of household spending, the US spends less on food than anyone else. There are several articles about this. This was the first search result for me:

http://www.ibtimes.com/us-spends-less-food-any-other-country...

That's fair. It's worth pointing out though that that particular comparison was between healthy and unhealthy food. There are various other studies out there that look at the cost of fast food vs. home-cooked healthy meals and things of that sort and found that the healthier meals were often cheaper. Of course, as others have pointed out there are other costs and other types of costs associated with food prep.

>" a working class family with an income of $20,000-$40,000/year"

A "working class" family doesn't have an income of $20,000. That would put a family in the bottom 12% by income. Median family income was $67,000/year in 2014.

"Working class" is a common euphemism for "poor". Often implied is "very".

At least in chicago it just means you have to work for a living, in contrast to people who are wealthy enough that work is optional.

"Working class" is definitely much poorer than "middle class" no matter where you are, and middle class people still work for a living.

At least where I am from "Working Class" implies skilled labor like Electrician or Carpenter, and some white-collar jobs like realty agents, nurses and teachers. People who make $35k-$60k.

People making $20k, like landscapers, janitors, forklift operators, and loaders, are generally called "Unskilled Laborers", not working class.

It's still about the same amount of money, if not less, than they probably spend on e.g. cigarettes, cable television, etc.

It's not only meal prep (which I think you are understating the cost of), it's also having access to a kitchen and cooking supplies (knives, pans, bowls etc.) that allow you to easily cook, which is not cheap.

I actually agree that there are a lot of understandable reasons that people (perhaps especially Americans) eat crappy food rather than cooking something more nutritious--time, knowledge, living environment. I'm just arguing that, while the relative cost plays some role, it's not the overriding factor that it's sometimes made out to be.

See jandrese's response to your comment. It's not a trivial $6/day is not a trivial cost for even lower middle class people.

On the contrary: http://www.ibtimes.com/us-spends-less-food-any-other-country...

Don't forget, you also need to have some cooking skills, access to recipes, and time. Lots of time (relative to fast food.)

In Latin America 'fast food' like hotdogs and hamburgers is usually the slowest to get to the plate.

I can sit in a restaurant chair and be taking my soup within 60 seconds of sitting, in lots of places.

And it is usually (but not always) healthier than 'fast food'.

At a sit-down restaurant, yeah, a burger will often take longer than most other items. That's because it's being prepared fresh. A real "fast food" place doesn't prepare its food fresh like that. An actual fast food burger can be prepared and put into your hands in less than a minute if people aren't busy (and it's not held up by the rest of your order).

if you want cooking hardware cheap its fairly easy in the u.s. Thrift stores' more reliable items to find are always cooking hardware, all manner of containers, utensils. things like a large crockpot can be had for under $30 new. Also people state that fresh veggies are expensive, but frozen vegetables can be found for cheap. The practice now has been flash freezing for a lot of these I think so nutrients are preserved.

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