The amount of money I'm spending on food jumped by 3x. It seems accurate to say that if you're poor, you're almost forced to eat sugar for economic reasons.
Almost all prepared, packaged, or preserved foods have one of those.
The solution is actually pretty simple: eat meals made from base/raw ingredients only.
Beans, nuts, meats, vegetables, fruits, vegetable oils, spices... Endless varieties of stuff to cook with, combine, and eat alone. People just aren't used to eating this way, because prepackaged crap has been the norm for so long.
You are right that if you're poor, it's difficult to eat this way, though.
> if you're poor, it's difficult to eat this way, though.
And it is difficult for some poor people to eat this way because their cultural poverty exacerbates or even causes their financial poverty. Their parents (if they were lucky enough to have two) didn't teach them to prepare basic meals, sharpen a knife, or care for a frying pan. Each of these skills is a barrier to entry, and they add up quickly for basic meals.
It's not the only major barrier, but I think that we have really pulled the rug out from the poorest by exchanging cultural norms for convenience and a net rise in costs.
I typically avoid buying anything processed, those items rapidly ruin my budget.
processed foods are on average considerably cheaper. Spam, hot dogs, bacon, deli meats, and the list goes on and on.
Where do you shop? I am highly skeptical of your claims.
The biggest thing I would suggest is to avoid canned foods, especially beans. Buy dried beans instead. They don't take that much effort to cook, the only thing is that you need to remember to soak them overnight (and discard the soaking water) before cooking. As an added bonus, dried beans, lentils, chickpeas and so on are inexpensive and widely available.
You could also get a pressure cooker, which is just a good idea in general, and will allow you to cook beans directly in about an hour.