NRR - if more people ate organic, would prices go down due to economies of scale?

Yes

No

maybe

I know there are examples of how you can get natural food cheaper going to trader joes and what not...but say you go to Shaw's or Stop and Shop and both these places usually designate an aisle or 2 as Natural Harvest or some BS name like that. OK now usually these Natural Harvest or Natural Paradise-type aisles contain like Vegan crap, Gluten-Free Crap, Luna energy bars, often expensive but tasty cereals, granola, Kashi/NaturesPath/StonyfieldFarms/BareNakedgranola,etc, and all natural foods, etc. you get the idea? now Dont get me wrong. I love the food in these aisles because it all tastes great and it's fun to try new weirdo selections in these aisles. but it'd just be better for everyone if all the food in these aisles wasn't like 25-50%+ more expensive than the REGULAR food made with crazy long lists of ingredients, etc. not trying to TROLL here just venting some frustration....

Chyeah man ATC wrote:

not trying to TROLL here just venting some frustration....

because heck, i run 90mpw, BMI of 18 so it's not like im fat, and im probably spending more buying natural crap for myself than what people in poor area spend for entire 4-5person families

Chyeah man ATC wrote:

because heck, i run 90mpw, BMI of 18 so it's not like im fat, and im probably spending more buying natural crap for myself than what people in poor area spend for entire 4-5person families

sorry if that came across as bragging/obnoxious, but what i was trying to do is make sure that there is an understanding that im not fat and that im typical of letsrunner in terms of height/weight, etc

Chyeah... the aisles you mention are still loaded with packaged foods with brand names. People who buy the expensive "health foods" are kidding themselves. The food you should eat doesn't come in boxes or plastic. Buy fresh fruit and vegetables, and buy bulk grains like brown rice and quinoa. Buy seasonally and buy what's on sale. You only need a few ounces of meat each day, so buy organic and locally grown products. Hunt or get game meat from a hunter friend. Shop at the farmers market or join a CSA. Organic is always a good choice, but for some foods it's just as safe to eat non-organic. If stuff like power bars get you excited, then make your own out of dates, nuts, seeds, oats, honey, and dried fruit. Just read the label on a $2 Larabar and copy the ingredients. A small food processor is all you need. Make your own cereal with brown rice, flax, walnuts, pecans, coconut, honey, and cinnamon. There's nothing magical in a box of cereal.

I find it amazing that people have no problem dropping money on a nice car or television, or they can spend hours doing nothing productive, but they can't bring themselves to buy and prepare good food. It's easy to make food from a box or open a wrapper and eat, but if you want to eat healthy for less, then just buy the right products and learn to cook. You'll eat healthy and save money. And to answer your question, yes, if everyone ate organic foods the price would come down. That doesn't mean there still won't be a market for expensive boutique items that cost a lot of money but aren't necessarily good for you.

Chyeah man ATC wrote:

NRR - if more people ate organic, would prices go down due to economies of scale?

Perhaps, but the price of manure would skyrocket. Start saving!

Prices would go up due to the law of supply and demand. If I had to hazard a guess, the economies of scale on a lot of the organic stuff is pretty large already. At a normal grocery store, a lot of the organic items are pretty close in price to the normal stuff. Now if you shop at whole foods, you have other problems.

Chyeah man ATC wrote:

NRR - if more people ate organic, would prices go down due to economies of scale?

mlj wrote:

Chyeah... the aisles you mention are still loaded with packaged foods with brand names. People who buy the expensive "health foods" are kidding themselves. The food you should eat doesn't come in boxes or plastic.

Bingo, don't eat the processed foods. If you want to you can spend more on organic fruits, vegetables, free range chicken etc. and still come out way ahead on your grocery bill compared to that processed crap. In a lot of cases the labels are very misleading, so I am not necessarily advising that.

Re you joking? The most expensive things you can buy at a grocery store are the fruits, vegetables and meats. The processed crap is cheap.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Bingo, don't eat the processed foods. If you want to you can spend more on organic fruits, vegetables, free range chicken etc. and still come out way ahead on your grocery bill compared to that processed crap. In a lot of cases the labels are very misleading, so I am not necessarily advising that.

Basically, the true cost of organic (natural) food is much less, to grow, to harvest, to transport, to eat.

The artificial cost of organic food is purposely kept high, so chemically grown food is able to come out costing less to consumers. Otherwise no one would buy the chemically grown products.

The solution is to get your food as close to the ground as possible. Either grow it yourself, get it direct from the growers, or have it delivered to a food group or coop in your area.

asdfasdfas wrote:

Prices would go up due to the law of supply and demand.

I would guess this to be true. If more people started wanting the limited supply of organically grown food, it would force prices upward.

Industrial farming is more efficient so costs will always be lower then organic. There is a reason these techniques were developed. We could not feed our current population if we relied only on locally grown, organic food.

J.R. wrote:

Basically, the true cost of organic (natural) food is much less, to grow, to harvest, to transport, to eat.

The artificial cost of organic food is purposely kept high, so chemically grown food is able to come out costing less to consumers. Otherwise no one would buy the chemically grown products.

The solution is to get your food as close to the ground as possible. Either grow it yourself, get it direct from the growers, or have it delivered to a food group or coop in your area.

Aghast wrote:

Re you joking? The most expensive things you can buy at a grocery store are the fruits, vegetables and meats. The processed crap is cheap.

Processed crap is still crap, so you might as well throw your money away. Other than a few whole grains, what do need other than fruits, vegis, and meats?

The OP was talking about the price difference between "healthy" and regular eating, but he was mainly pointing towards processed items such as cereal and fruit/nut bars. The point I'm making is that processed "health" foods aren't a great option and they cost a crap load because they are still processed and branded foods. If you buy organic fruits and vegis, bulk foods, and organic local meats your grocery bill won't be much more than if you buy fruit roll-ups, juice in a plastic jug, canned/frozen vegis, processed cereal, pasta, and commercial meat from a feedlot. Plus, if you prepare meals at home you pay way less than eating out, so it pays to buy organic. What's the harm in buying good food?

Aghast wrote:

Industrial farming is more efficient so costs will always be lower then organic. There is a reason these techniques were developed. We could not feed our current population if we relied only on locally grown, organic food.

Industrial farming is cheap because it is heavily subsidized by the government, and it will remain that way because the food and fertilizer lobbies are in bed with your senators. There is plenty of land to grow food, so saying "we could not feed our current population if we relied only on locally grown, organic food" is complete BS. Have you heard of the conservation reserve program? Farmers are paid to keep land out of production or we'd have a huge excess of grains. There are small family farms all around you if you just look for them. With a little effort you can buy completely local, even in an urban area.

Aghast wrote:

Re you joking? The most expensive things you can buy at a grocery store are the fruits, vegetables and meats. The processed crap is cheap.

This is a huge myth that is based on faulty accounting. Your processed crap is not going to give you the amount of micro and macro nutrients that you need at the same price. You are going to need to buy more of it. Fruits and veggies are not expensive. Meat can be, depending on what you buy but if you buy good meat you should not need to buy and consume large portions of it.

I suspect that organic (or "organic". It's not very well regulated at the moment) farming doesn't scale up particularly well.

[quote]J.R. wrote:

The artificial cost of organic food is purposely kept high, so chemically grown food is able to come out costing less to consumers. Otherwise no one would buy the chemically grown products.

/quote]

You want to try this statement again?