How Does The Cost Of Food Affect Eating Habits

Personally, I love eating healthy in order to create for myself good eating habits. To me eating healthy means to maintain a well balanced consumption of nutritious foods versus junk food. As food prices rise it appears that the healthier foods in a grocery store cost more than the convenient prepackaged foods. But what drives the cost of food, and what are the determining factors for food choices? Considering many perspectives, I have come to the conclusion that people are influenced to buy less nutritious foods from the easy convenience they offer and the lower prices ultimately promote negative eating habits, and as a result the more costly foods are an inconvenience that could create beneficial eating habits and better health in the long …show more content…
As the cost of food rises people will not want to buy those foods, therefore they will settle for the convenient alternative. For example, fresh fruits and vegetables versus canned fruits and vegetables, the fresh produce costs a lot more than the canned produce, but it is worth buying because there are no added preservatives or other artificial additives that fundamentally have more calories and fat in them. Accordingly, the fresh fruits and vegetables offer healthier eating habits compared to the canned fruits and vegetables that could have added salt, sugar, or fat indicating poorer quality eating tendencies. Although the fresh produce might not last as long as the canned goods it is important to understand the quality of the fresh fruits and vegetables. With being more cost effective, canned goods can find their benefits in low-income households who are trying to implement healthy eating habits, also when there are large and unexpected increases in food prices it forces people to adjust quickly, (Meerman) therefore the canned goods would become a good substitute for the fresh produce. All in all, the cost of food does impact what and how much food consumers buy, if the cost increases people buy lesser quality foods and if the cost decreases people buy the better quality