The pain of grocery shopping as a young person while trying to save money for fun, travel or a house (hell no) can feel insurmountable during an ongoing cost of living crisis. Trying to be healthy can look a lot like picking up a punnet of blueberries that costs nearly $10 and placing them quickly back down. According to a new study however, shopping for healthier foods can actually save Aussie households up to $150 a fortnight. Please tell me more.
A recent study led by the health promotions team at South West Healthcare in Victoria, found that healthy eating is actually more affordable than the average Australian diet, which doesn’t fall within the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
Those guidelines include the five serves of vegetables a day recommendation that you were most likely taught at school.
The typical Aussie diet, according to the CSIRO, looks a lot different. It includes packaged foods, cakes, takeaway food, alcohol, and way less fruit and veg than the recommended intake, which means we are actually spending more money on the unhealthy stuff.
But that’s just on paper, right?
Well, a team of health professionals from the Victorian study went shopping at a number of local supermarkets to test the theory and put two different trolleys through the checkouts.
Trolley one contained fruit and vegetables (31 per cent), grains and cereals (like oats, cornflakes, bread, rice, pasta, Weet-bix), lean meats and alternatives (such as mince, steak, chicken, tuna, eggs, nuts), milk, yoghurt and cheese and oils and spreads.
The total number of items made up a fortnight’s worth of groceries for a family of four.
Trolley two also contained what would be considered the “average Australian fortnight shop” for a family of four. Fruit and vegetables only made up 13 per cent of the shop, while 57 per cent was spent on processed and packaged foods, of which 21 per cent was takeaway.
The second trolley still had grains and cereals like trolley one, and lean meats, milk, yoghurt and cheese. But a lot more desserts, snacks, processed meats, convenience meals, soft drinks and alcohol were added to the pile.
At the end of the checkout, the cashier charged trolley one (the Australian Dietary Guidelines food) $535, whereas trolley two came to a total of $691. Which means the healthier option would save you a whopping $156 per fortnight.
Project coordinator of the study Caitlyn Hoggan told the ABC that the cost of living is overwhelmingly the perceived barrier to a healthy diet for the average Aussie family.
“There is a perception that healthy food costs more, but our research shows that eating [according to] the Australian Dietary Guidelines saves money.”
While Hoggan pointed out the guidelines are “nothing groundbreaking” the study is a good reminder of how going “back to the basics” can help with healthy eating.
“It’s the good old fruit and vegetables; five serves of vegetables, two serves of fruit a day,” she told the ABC. “Those healthy wholegrains and dairy as well, we recommend eating those five food groups.”
It’s important to note that for a lot of Aussies packaged food comes with convenience, especially for those having to feed lots of mouths while working full-time.
“It is really challenging,” Hoggan said, as per ABC.
“We’re absolutely not saying that to be able to eat this way all the time is easy, but we do know that any small change that we make, any increase in fruit and vegetables, is a positive step in our health.”
While the punnet of blueberries might be still out of reach, next time some fresh bananas or a bag of grapes come calling, it might be worth putting them in your basket.
