What Is Eaten in One Week
December 30, 2007 by Ingrid Schlueter
If you missed this in the comment section in the post below, I’m reposting a link sent to me by a reader. This is a very interesting comparison of what is eaten in one week by families in different parts of the world. This ties in with my post below about being content and grateful for what we have. Also note how much junk food is in the US family’s diet and how much healthier the diet is in some of the other countries. When you get down to the country of Chad, well, little needs to be said. Thanks, reader, for sending this in.
It’s shocking, isn’t it? I felt so guilty looking at those families! I may need to really take stock of how and what we eat. Our food bill hasn’t seemed all that high to me, but I think if I made more things from scratch, I could probably bring the dollar amount down even lower.
Although I feel compelled to say that eating junk food is often times cheaper than eating healthy food. Soda is much cheaper than juice, ground beef and pork are much cheaper than most leaner cuts of meat.
A couple words about economics:
It takes about $2/day/person to have enough food (based on the cost of grains and oils at a global price). At $1/day/person starvation will set in in the long term.
The Chad family budget was not accurate. They were in a refugee camp with donated food and should be considered outliers in any analysis.
Rose makes a good point that junk food is cheaper at times than good quality food. However, this is largely true in the United States only.
That junk food is cheaper in the US comes as a result of our ingenuity and productivity for a very American problem - individualism. If the pictures were to be accurate, the American family should have had separate photos for each person, as many Americans eat alone…a unique practice among cultures of all times and places.
It is sad that junk food is cheaper than real food. Another reason why poor families eat more of it.
We do eat too much in the US. Especially as Christians - there is food at every function & lots of it.
This is very educational and much appreciated. As far as soda, juice, etc., this is an area that families could really save money. Most juices are basically sugar and of very little nutritional value.
Dropping juice from the diet is a great way to lose weight. Water is more nutritious in my opinion.