Rising Costs are Impacting Our Health

If you have been feeling the pinch of rising inflation and interest rates, you are not alone. One area where it seems we are trying to save money is our shopping trolley. A new report by Healthy Life and Woolworths group reveals some changes in our shopping habits, and they aren’t looking good.

Research Shows our Grocery Buying Behaviours are Getting Worse

This highlights some concerning findings about Aussie’s buying behaviours over the last 12 months. These results show our buying behaviours are becoming less healthy. Some highlights include:

• Per person, 6.9 serves of discretionary foods were sold each day: These are ‘sometimes’ foods, including ultra processed and junk foods. The RDI for discretionary foods is 0-3 serves per day, and our buying behaviours are more than double that!
• Per person, 2.6 serves of vegetables were sold each day (a drop from 2.8 in 2021): Not only are we eating half the RDI for Vegetables (5 serves) but that number is lower than 2021.
• An increase in bulk foods (such as rice), and decrease in meat and vegetable purchases: Whilst I’m not too concerned about the drop in meat consumption (Aussies eat more than enough meat on a population level), the drop in vegetable consumption and increase in bulk foods does raise concerns about the nutrient quality of our diet.
• Two-thirds said it was less affordable to eat healthy than a year ago: This is concerning because this adds yet another (perceived) barrier to an already challenging task.
• 33% said the top reason for not eating healthy is because it’s too expensive: This is especially concerning as we are living in economically uncertain times due to conditions such as inflation and interest rates. And also this does not have to be the case (cue my tips below).
• 30% lack motivation and time to cook at home: We are tired, we are time poor, many of us are not confident cooks. And the alternative (Uber Eats, Guzman etc) is so convenient and tempting. All that makes the mountain of cooking too high, and motivation drops.
• 29% find it difficult to change eating habits: Habit change is hard, I’ve dedicated my career to it! I’m surprised this number isn’t higher TBH.

Note: The report uses many data points including the Woolworths aggregated transaction data 2020–2022 (900 million transactions) and the Woolworths Group Annual Food and Health Survey, which surveyed 2000 Australians aged 18-80.

Why are Buying Behaviours Getting Less Healthy?

The biggest shift in the last twelve months seems to be coming from economic challenges due to conditions such as rising inflation and interest rate rises. For many of us, our weekly grocery bill has increased exponentially. But environmental factors must also be taken into consideration. People feel time poor, feel tired, and cooking skills may not be as strong as previous generations.

The rise of attractive alternatives to home cooking, be it meal delivery services, take out, or cheaper restaurants all mean the alternative is very tempting. It’s also hard to see the added cost of eating out/take-outs when we spend $50 here and there, versus a weekly shopping bill that’s suddenly more expensive. But if you really are interested, do a weekly audit of the cost of take-out versus cook from home, and you’ll see that cooking from home usually is the more affordable option. 

Why Should We Care?

I don’t know about you, but I want to live to a healthy old age, so on a personal level I want to ensure my daily habits are serving the ‘future me’, the 80yo who still does pilates! On a societal level (and our environment is crucial to living a healthy life) less than 2% ofour national health budget is spent on prevention. Yet for every $1 we invest in preventive care we can save $14; meanwhile, 41% of all healthcare expenditure is directed to hospitals. We need to more than double spending on preventive care aligning with the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021–2030 target. Yet we seem to be going backwards!

• 38% of our health burden could have been avoided or reduced, being due to modifiable risk factors, meaning controllable lifestyle factors (such as managing obesity).
• In 2018 5 million years of healthy life were lost due to premature death or living with illness
• 3.4 million Aussies saw a health professional for mental health in 2020-2021
• 25% of Aussies meet the recommended daily activity levels 
• 50% ofAussies have at least one symptom of a sleep disorder. 

Some pretty compelling reasons to care right there!

Top Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget?

Healthy eating can be very affordable. Healthy eating can be simple, but it does take some planning and some discomfort if this is a shift from your normal food habits. It’s a discomfort that will pay dividends to your (and your families) health in the long run. This is also an evolution, not an overhaul or a success/fail scenario. Keep nudging you and your family in the right direction by picking and choosing the tips that might work for you.  

• Cook from home more: the more you cook from home, the cheaper it becomes. Initially it may be expensive (buying bottles of olive oil, pantry staples etc) but over regular cooking from home will save you a lot. 
• Meal Planning: Even if it’s just Monday-Thur to begin with, planning ahead means saving time and money, such as the ‘cook once, eat twice’ approach. Batch and freeze, save lists in your online shopping then the job takes minimal time. My weekly online shop now takes me 15min in front of my computer, then ten mins to pack away after delivery. That’s for an entire week!  
• Choose low cost per serve meals: Soups, slow cooker, stews and rice based dishes all come in at a lower cost per serve (between $2-$4 per serve) than meat-dominant dishes (eg a standard steak and three veg). They tend to be healthier with ample opportunities to add lots of veggies. 
• Pad out meals with legumes: Aussies don’t eat enough legumes so this is a great way to reduce the cost and amp up the nutrition of any meal. Take a spag bol for example, replace half the meat with lentils and it’s still delicious! Or take a mexican meal, reduce the meat and dial up the beans. Tinned legumes are affordable, reduce the amount of meat we need, are healthy and tasty. 
• Use Leftovers: reducing food wastage is a huge way to save money, in fact in the Woolworths report, it revealed that 70% of the food wasted every year is still edible! Frittatas, omelettes, fried rice are all great ways to use sad or scrappy leftovers. Storing in small airtight containers helps with shelf life (oxygen is the thief of freshness!). 
• Reduce discretionary foods: We often forget that packaged processed foods are not always cheap, and certainly not always healthy! Take processed foods for toddlers, a recent damning report found nine in ten snack products for toddlers contained more than the recommended amount of salt or sugar. Replacing these with fruit or veggie snack will save money and amp up nutrient quality.

Have you got a time or budget saving hack? Email to me ap@ameliaphillips.com.au and I’d love to share it in my next newsletter!