A basket of healthy food costs more than double that of less healthy options, according to new analysis.
The Food Foundation found that 1,000 calories of healthy food such as fruit and veg costs £8.80, compared to £4.30 for the equivalent amount of less healthy food, such as ready meals and processed meats.
The charity is warning that low-income families are being priced out of being able to afford to eat healthily.
The government has said it is committed to introducing an ‘ambitious’ food strategy that will tackle unhealthy diets.
The analysis carried out for the Food Foundation looked at the average price of 450 items that the Office for National Statistics uses to calculate monthly inflation. It graded foods based on their nutritional value, according to guidance from the Food Standards Agency.
The analysis suggests the gap has widened in the last two years, with the price of healthy foods rising by 21%, while unhealthy options increased by 11%.
The charity warns that 60% of an estimated eight million households dealing with food insecurity in 2024 have reduced how much fruit they buy, while 44% have cut down on vegetables.
Its research found that the poorest families would need to spend 45% of their disposable income on food to be able to afford to eat the government recommended healthy diet, rising to 70% for those with children.
Healthy food is a loaded term, the average advice is expensive because you need organic food raised cleanly and delivered fresh, all of that has cost.
Fat is being vilified and replaced with, oils? That has a cost too
For a ASF based diet:
- My butcher gives away fat, pennies per lbs.
- Cheap ground beef is (2-3)£ / lb (1100 kcal)
- Liver is very inexpensive as well.
So 1,000 kcal of ASF is a bit less then 2£, and full nutrition as well
I mean, people have been saying this for a long time, in multiple places.
I’ll eat both. I’m only here once, so if I want a greasy burger, or a fried breakfast, or a salad, I’ll crack on.
The Food Foundation found that 1,000 calories of healthy food such as fruit and veg costs £8.80, compared to £4.30 for the equivalent amount of less healthy food, such as ready meals and processed meats.
That seems to be cheating a bit because convenience food tends to be more calorie dense. You could buy a cake for that but you couldn’t have it as your main meal.
Yeah, in one of the “frozen food shops” near me, I can get 4 chocolate-covered flapjacks for £1 - they’re about 500 calories each, so I can get 1,000 calories for about 50p, if I need to.
This is why calorie count alone is an imperfect measure of how “healthy” a food is.
Also, I’m pretty sure that even the idea of calories is flawed, and practically useless as a nutrition indicator.
