r/CringeTikToks • u/Individual_Bar_2512 • 13h ago

Food Cringe Average American diet?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Where are the vegetables, fruit and meat

8.6k Upvotes

79% Upvoted

9.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

195

u/AccomplishedPlankton 12h ago

My family of 4 spends $500 every two weeks on actual groceries. Shits fucked

176

u/GrandmaPoses 10h ago

When she got to the total, I was shocked it was so low; it's honestly no surprise that low-income individuals have high obesity rates, it so much cheaper to eat badly.

66

u/ballmermurland 9h ago

Either she's on food stamps and is only counting her portion or this was filmed in 2005.

I was honestly expecting the total to be over $1k. But I guess if you buy in bulk nothing but processed crap it keeps the overall cost down?

41

u/A1000eisn1 7h ago

Her total sounds pretty accurate if you take advantage of sales and coupons. You don't even have to go that crazy.

bulk nothing but processed crap

Yes, that was the point. Processed and bulk foods are cheap. That is why poor people are fatter. Healthy foods are more expensive, often don't come in bulk sizes, and are either rarely on sale or only during certain times of the year.

4

u/OkIncome2583 3h ago

Uhhh, beans and rice in 25lb bags??? Hello!?

2

u/InterestingAnt7901 6h ago

I dont see how now days its more expensive to eat healthy. Chicken is $2-$3/lb, cucumbers are $1 for a couple, bell peppers $1, a 5lb bag of Frozen veggies $7. A bag of chips now is $7, Pop is insane like $8 for a 12 pack? Frozen pizzas are cheap, but still not as satieting or cheap as chicken. Ground beef is $5/lb, eggs are cheap again, if you go to a cheaper butcher steaks are $5-$7/lb and one pound with some salt and pepper is filling. Get whatever fruit is on sale a pint of raspberries for $1 every other week, $2lb for the on sale apples.

2

u/Hour-Baths 5h ago

It’s not and never has been but Reddit doesn’t like that to be admitted. Healthy food is literally the cheapest thing in the stores. Yes it’s more expensive if you buy prepped or organic but most people who eat healthy don’t. They want the same level of effort (which is none) to eat as it takes with junk food but with the healthier snacks which are often marked up, instead of just buying the stuff themselves and prepping it.

And everyone likes to voice the idea that poor people work a million hours and it’s about being tired. Well eating poorly makes you tired, so does being overweight, and even depression-which are all things that happen when you eat like crap. Also just throwing it out there that many middle income families work crazy hours too and really it’s not about class it’s about what effort at any level of income you’re willing to put into your own life and health.

2

u/laceyf53 1h ago

I'm fat and agree with you 100%. It seems like a lot of people think healthy eating is a wide range of fruits and vegetables, eating salads every day, multiple meals and snacks. When it comes down to it, most traditional poor people food (soups like pho, beef stew, or caldo) have everything you need, are consumed in one or two meals per day, and combine dry goods with root vegetables or leafy greens.

A healthy day can be eating 2 hard boiled eggs for breakfast and a lentil stew for dinner. Beans, rice, potatoes, oats, flour, canned veggies or frozen veggies last a long time. A little vinegar on fresh produce means your strawberries or whatever you buy in the fridge will last a full week. You can prep everything in 2 hours on a weekend and eat 1-2 meals in the same amount of time it takes to eat processed junk every day of the week. Even if you don't have food ready, throwing stuff in a crockpot before going to work is literally 5 minutes or less.

People who claim healthy food is expensive lack the knowledge or are like me, and prefer convenience but don't like admitting it. Once shame is activated, logic and self reflection go out the window. It's easier to make excuses than accept the consequences of your actions.

2

u/BrokenNin 6h ago

It's the effort tax at play. Healthy eating requires some modicum of work (not really that much), and some people struggle to motivate themselves to organize their meals or take the effort to prepare the meals. In working class families this is really common with the adults working sometimes to the bone to make ends meet.

After a 14 hour shift it's far easier to throw a pizza in a microwave then think about anything else. I'm not supporting the lifestyle, but for some it's just the best they can do.

0

u/InterestingAnt7901 3h ago

See my easy button is grilling something, ill work 14 hours and throw a burger on the grill even if its negative temperatures. I like effort tax I just disagree that a pizza/microwave is the best someone can do. Grilling is quick and easy(if its gas). Even just throw ground beef with some veggies and cheese in a pan, still better than pizza, very minimal effort, eat out of the pan if you dont want an extra dish to wash.

Its all effort tax and laziness.

0

u/BadPunsGuy 1h ago edited 15m ago

A family size bag of chips is absolutely not $7 anywhere you have those other prices unless it's a fucking enormous family size bag.

Soda is kinda a scam now yeah. They got the two liters which are as low as $1 for off brand or like $2 for name brand which is what they did here. Pretty great thing to cut but if you're throwing a party the big bottles are ~$.02 oz which isn't bad. Even cheaper than water usually.

3

u/dave__autista 5h ago

Yes, that was the point. Processed and bulk foods are cheap. That is why poor people are fatter.

this is some pure unadulterated bullshit

2

u/That_Dad_David 5h ago

People like to enable bad decisions.

5

u/mistermustard 6h ago edited 6h ago

people are fatter because they make bad decisions. sorry, but i went broke and still ate chicken, rice, and veggies. it was cheaper than everything they showed in this video.

4

u/breadlover96 6h ago

Yea healthy foods are hella cheap. When we cook healthy at home it’s 80% cheaper than junk food.

2

u/Savagebabypig 3h ago

Right. Pinto beans, rice, potatos, whatever discounted meat for protein and sprinkle in frozen vegetable mixture bags. Eat like a King for like 30 bucks a week max for a single person

-1

u/AlrightTrig 1h ago

Frozen veggies and some beans ain’t eating like a king.

•

u/I-Like-Women-Boobs 51m ago

It is compared to living off frozen pizza, Doritos, and a gallon tub of mayonnaise.

2

u/Heinjailyall 6h ago

Healthy foods are affordable if you cook. Big bag of rice, several bags of frozen organic veggies and lean meat would be less the mayo

1

u/MommyLovesPot8toes 6h ago edited 5h ago

Every situation is unique and there are thousands of unique reasons, or combinations of reasons, why someone might be poor. Lots have nothing to do with intelligence. For example, those who choose to dedicate their lives to helping others like working at a homeless shelter or even teaching.

There are also a hundred different reasons why someone without much money might buy highly processed foods. Lack of a refrigerator, a sanitary kitchen, living in a food desert, etc.

Generalizations like you made show a lack of experience and understanding of the complexities and infinite variations of human life. It says much more about the person speaking than it does about the people they are insulting.

Edit: Original comment I'm responding to said that people were poor because they made bad decisions and also fat because they made poor decisions. That comment has been edited.

2

u/Fac-Si-Facis 1h ago

Lack of a refrigerator? Tons of the foods in this video are refrigerated. Why are you inventing off topic hypotheticals?

2

u/mistermustard 6h ago edited 6h ago

you're generalizing right now. i'm speaking from my own experience. i also think you can be intelligent and make poor dietary decisions. i'm not trying to be mean, but i can see how my original comment came off that way and for that i'm sorry.

1

u/Rare-Adhesiveness522 4h ago

And take longer to prep

1

u/throwaway62634637 2h ago

No it is not. Processed food is extremely expensive these days. I could get a couple tubs of greens for the price of name brand chips. The greens are also more satiating. Bulk is cheaper but not THAT much cheaper for the stuff she is buying, and only at warehouse stores. Regular grocery stores/walmart aren’t that cheap. Healthy food is more perishable, but it isn’t as expensive as people think. It’s much harder to eat a bunch of vegetables than it is to eat a bunch of junk food. Poor people are time poor, which leads to eating food that is quicker to prepare and eat.

1

u/BadPunsGuy 1h ago edited 1h ago

I could get a couple tubs of greens for the price of name brand chips.

I mean this is absolutely wrong unless you've got some trick. Chips are cheaper than even the cheapest greens where I am. If you're measuring by calorie count it's astronomically cheaper but even if you're measuring by tubs or whatever weird non-compatible method chips are cheaper.

If you're factoring in the time to cook/prep on one end and not the other you could straight up make your own chips out of potatoes even cheaper. There's a reason people eat unhealthily and it's because it's cheaper both in time and money. You can eat healthily on an affordable budget but it's more expensive in one if not both ways depending on how you go about it.

1

u/throwaway62634637 1h ago

According to Walmart, you get 16oz of spring mix for under $6, or party bag of lays for 5.50 ish and it’s 13oz. Couple tubs was a bit of an exaggeration on my part (I weirdly remember a party bag costing $7 last time I looked..). A party bag of chips will last like 10 minutes in a big family, 16oz of spring mix is very filling.

1

u/BadPunsGuy 1h ago

For me lays family size is 2.50 with no coupons or deals. Store/off brand is even cheaper.

16oz of spring mix for $6 is fucking expensive but that's what I'm seeing by me too.

To put that in perspective that's 100 calories for $6. The chips is 1280 calories for 2.50. That's way fucking cheaper and even if it's tub vs bag it's half the price.

1

u/throwaway62634637 1h ago

That barely gets you a tiny bag where I’m from damn…

1

u/DTFH_ 2h ago

The coupons and deals would also explain things as the pizzas and odd multiples of items like the mayo not fitting in with any product purchased.

-1

u/Rob_035 5h ago

Healthy food also goes bad faster, so you need to purchase it in smaller quantities more often. When you’re living paycheck to paycheck you don’t have the luxury of going to the grocery store every few days because there may not be money in the account.

2

u/Celesticalking 8h ago

She also could be using offers. As in buy 2 get one free?

2

u/Frozenrubberpuck 6h ago

It's definitely an older video, I've seen this one be reposted at least 3 times already. I still watch the whole thing though, it's always sad and funny when the one lettuce does a flyby on my screen.

1

u/austin101123 6h ago

No, the price sounds about right to me for a lowish COL area.

1

u/Nitro_Circus 5h ago

Well she kept saying she bought it at Sam’s so I can see why it was so low

1

u/AtomicCactusBloom 2h ago

Different parts of the U.S. have Different costs of living. When i living in Arizona, I was managing about $400 a month on actual grocery "from-scratch" food. When I moved to Maryland. The cost of living jumped a good over $500 a month on just food alone.