The Cost of Food

Listen, I know. I GET it. I do. I go to the grocery store for our family and just yesterday I left with 6 bags and a total of $92. I keep thinking the total won’t be so bad - that I’m just getting a few things today so it won’t be very much. And then. . . .

So why? Why are some things so expensive these days and other things so cheap? Why can I get junk food for literally half of what I pay for nutritional items? Why are my vegetables double or triple what Little Debbies are?

But before I answer that question I do want to keep things in perspective. In the grand scheme of things Americans pay on average 12% of their income in food prices these days. That has waxed and waned over the past 100 years - in the 1950s we were paying an average of 25% of our income in food prices and pre-covid (2017-2019) we paid 7.5% of our income in food prices. So up and down for sure, but WHY?

Well if you know me (and if you’ve been reading this blog or following us on social media you know this is NOT going to be a political post) you know I’m going to answer the question(s) with scientific facts and not my opinion. The answers I have found do have some roots in politics, it’s true, and this IS a Presidential election year so that might have a tiny bit to do with it. Historically during a year of a presidential election we do have some fluctuations of market prices. This year is no different. And I don’t get into politics. So. 

The main reason some foods are astronomically expensive and some are so cheap you want to grab the entire shelf (from the research I’m doing) seems to be found in the ingredient listing for the item(s) you’re looking to buy. In my research one of the main reasons for food to be either expensive or cheap is the presence of Ultra-Processed Ingredients.

If you go to your grocery store - or even a “quick market” type setting you’ll see so many “foods” that can sit on a shelf for YEARS. Think about that. Pop-Tarts, the aforementioned LIttle Debbies, cereals, some chips - their shelf life can be YEARS. And they’re CHEAP. So cheap. So much cheaper in fact than a head of Romaine lettuce or a bag of carrots or apples. 

Ultra-Processed Ingredients and Ultra-Processed Foods make up the majority of the average American diet. (Which boggles my mind and makes me a bit sad.) In America over 20% of children are categorically overweight or obese. This level has tripled since the 1990s and it’s the highest level it’s ever been for our kids. Today at least 60% of our kids’ calories come from foods containing these ultra-processed ingredients. The more processing you do to a food, the less nutritious it becomes. The less “usable” it is for our bodies. The more foreign it is the less our body is able to use it for nutrition which brings about all kinds of issues including digestive issues and obesity.

So what are these ingredients? Things like xantham gum, guar gum, emulsifiers and glycerine. Palm stearin, palm kernel oil and emulsifiers. (Here I need to say that every time I type this list into my laptop my computer changes the word to another because IT DOESN’T RECOGNIZE THE WORD AS AN ACTUAL WORD. And what does that say about it being an actual food???)

These ingredients mimick real food, food like eggs, milk and cream. But they do so in a much cheaper way. Think about ice cream. When you make ice cream at home, you do so by adding milk, sugar and salt. You churn and churn and churn and churn (I’m assuming we all remember how long it took??) which is essentially whipping it in an ice bath until it became a semi-soft frozen treat that was worth every single calorie ever even THOUGHT about. And how long did that ice cream last? I mean, I know there was never any left over but really? How long would it have lasted if you hadn’t eaten it all right then and there? Well we made some last summer just to make sure Marshall had the experience and we DIDN’T eat it all. We put the remaining amount in the freezer and got it back out the next day. It was sub-par but we ate it anyway. The next day (48 hours after making it) it was crystallized and really not enjoyable. (I mean it would do in a pinch but not at its best.)

Contrast that with the ice cream you get from the grocery store that could be frozen for YEARS and then when you try to scoop it out it’s so hard you can barely get the task accomplished and then it never really truly completely melts in your bowl. It’s because the ultra-processed ingredients that make up the industrialized ice cream (or “ice milk”) are cheaper alternatives of the real ingredients. These ultra-processed alternatives are generally extracted from crops grown for other purposes (animal feed or the beauty industry or even for the automotive industry) and are highly subsidized by governments which makes them cheap. And also more science than food if you want to argue the point. 😉

Food scientists say they can replace almost any ingredient with a cheap modified version of the real ingredient. For instance (and you can look this up online or read about it in multiple books), in the 1930s Kraft Foods began using ultra-processed ingredients in the production of mayonnaise. They used a paste of corn and arrowroot starches in place of eggs and oil because the modified/processed ingredients were cheaper than eggs and oil but still gave “the same creamy mouth-feel” (Ultra—Processed People, p. 21). Kraft Foods really paved the way for itself and other companies to research and then use modified/processed ingredients as food ingredients to change the food landscape. These modifications brought about “food” that’s cheaper to make, takes longer to degrade and therefore better for the companies and their profit margins. And some people think better for consumers. After all, these foods are cheaper to purchase, right? 

Right. They are cheaper to purchase at the outset. But are they the most inexpensive option for the long haul? I tell people a lot (And it’s not jut me saying this. People like Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin say the same day in and day out.) that you will either pay for your health up front with quality food or on the back end with pharmacological intervention. Yes cheap food is cheap and it’s cheap for a reason! You CAN purchase cheap food! You can get your calories from cheap food with modified and ultra-processed ingredients! And you will pay for them on the back end with doctor’s visits and medication. (Did you know the average Tennessee adult takes 17.3 prescription medications?? The US average is slightly lower at 11.3 prescription medications - that’s still a LOT.)

You can also purchase high-quality food grown and raised as locally as possible and not take ANY prescriptions. It’s really your choice and you get to vote for your choice three times each day with your dollars!

So that’s one of the main reasons our food system is whacked out these days. The presence of, or lack of presence, of ultra-processed ingredients.

I hope that helps some. I know it doesn’t answer all the questions or issues going on with our food system. But I hope it answers something for you. Makes something clearer. Or even makes you want to dig deeper. These issues are complex and the solutions to these issues won’t be found, I don’t think, in a tweet, a GIF or a meme. The issues are so much deeper and more complex and the solutions will be as well. We need time and space to dig into the issues and find the answers. We owe it to ourselves and our kids.

If you’d like to join me for more, please let me know.

Aliceson