Do working parents sacrifice grocery budgets and nutrition?
Escalating food prices are a sign of the state of the economy. People are spending more and more at the grocery with fewer things to show for it, and the healthiest items are among the most expensive.
Predictably, the topic of food budgets is in the news and covered on news websites and it seems everyone has something to say about it.
Even though I allow for a certain percentage of crazy commenters when I read a large media outlet site, I have been struck by a theme in many of the comments lately: It’s still easy to eat healthy on a budget, but people don’t because families have two working parents and they’re never home to cook properly, so they just feed their kids fast food all the time.
Now, I’m used to working parents being portrayed as the downfall of society (that was a joke, relax), but being judged as a working parent by what I call the “sancti-foodies” is a new one to me.
You know the type, when you mention that you saw a dancing pig with his hair on fire playing chess at McDonald’s the other day, they respond, “Oh, I wouldn’t know, we don’t ‘do’ McDonald’s, you can make a healthier, cheaper version of it at home, you know.”
Working parents, like all parents, have to provide meals for their families. The average parent wants to feed their family healthy and nutritious meals and stay within a budget, and they try.
It’s no secret that some meals are fancier that others and some meals are more nutritional than others, at least at my house, but it’s just life, it’s not because I work.
Food is getting expensive, there’s no way around it. Sure there are exceptions to most anything, but subscribing to the stereotype that families with two working parents continually feed their children expensive junk because they’re “not at home” is wrong.
Tags: convenience food, grocery budget, McDonald's, Working-ParentsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Busy Parenting
4 opinions for Do working parents sacrifice grocery budgets and nutrition?
Chris Wage
Jul 8, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Well, I think it has far more to do with class than it does with working status. Working full-time makes finding the time to get/make healthy food a little harder, but this pales in comparison to the difference that income class makes. Healthy food is expensive. Unhealthy food is cheap — and marketed to poor people.
DBN
Jul 9, 2008 at 7:00 am
I think Chris is probably on the right track. I work full time and shop on Sunday… when I have just as much time to plan and prepare as the next parent. I really work to avoid bringing sugary junk into the house. I know they get it other places, so I feel like not having it accessible is important. 90 calorie special k bars are a special treat. I try to buy more whole grain foods, and talk to the kids about candy and sugar. I am still not at a place that I would like, but I don’t think its because I work, its because I am not a very good meal planner or cook!
paula
Jul 9, 2008 at 9:17 am
I think it will increasingly become about economics sadly it’s easier to eat off a value menu for a buck than provide a decent dinner for your kids.
Like DBN I work full time but I plan my menu & shop on the weekends so home cooked meals are not that difficult to provide with a little bit of foresight.
then again some nights it’s just let’s order a pizza or get chinese food night!
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