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Study: Convenience, Not Price, Limits Veggie Consumption

12 Replies

String Beans in bulk at a supermarket

A research paper published in Public Health Nutrition posits that price is less of a factor in deciding to buy vegetables and fruits. Rather, it’s the convenient access to quality produce that increased purchases.

The research was conducted in low income neighborhoods in Chicago, where you would expect every dollar to count.

Participants who agreed that they had “convenient access to quality” produce were more than twice as likely to eat the FDA-recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, compared to those who said they did not have such access. read more from the Washington Post…

While this proves a correlation, it does not necessarily mean causation. The laws of economics have taught us that low prices are indeed a factor in food purchase decisions. Obviously not the only factor.

What we’ve heard and seen (qualitatively) is that many people don’t purchase vegetable because they don’t quite know what to do with them. Or can’t be bothered with the cleaning and trimming which takes time.

That’s why simple and quick recipes need to be made a part of kids’ curriculum in school and extra-curricular activities. If it’s too late for our generation, perhaps our kids can come from school one days and teach us how to prepare broccoli that doesn’t stink.

What’s holding you back from consuming more produce?

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1047872231 Christine Youngblood

    Convenience is definitely holding back a lot of people. If you live in a small town and the nearest grocery store only carries the standard veggies, like carrots, broccoli, lettuce, you’re very limited in what to eat. The nearest town that has a bigger grocery store here is 20 minutes away, and while their selection of vegetables is way better, people in this town can’t travel that distance every week anymore because gas prices and fixed incomes limit them.

  • http://www.rainbowplate.com/ Janet Nezon

    I can’t agree more! Teaching our kids how to cook and feed themselves is just as important as teaching them to read and write.  Maybe they’ll help show their parents what to do with those veggies!  As it happens, I just wrote about this very thing today, including a ridiculously simple recipe for how to make cauliflower taste amazing. http://wp.me/p1iZrA-oh  Love your site! 

  • Sarah

    Frozen veggies are a good solution to this for me. I’m only paying for what we eat (no waste) and they are frozen fresher than most “fresh” veggies are, especially where I live this time of year. I stock up every couple of weeks and always have a big variety on hand to add to meals, without worrying they’ll go bad before we can eat them. This might be a more attainable solution for “food deserts” than trying to have all of them carry a wide selection of fresh produce year-round.

  • Jason Hardt

    “What we’ve heard and seen (qualitatively) is that many people don’t purchase vegetable because they don’t quite know what to do with them.”

    I’m in that boat.  In an attempt to help overcome
    it, I’ve signed up as a CSA member for this upcoming growing season.  Starting in a few
    weeks, I’ll get a box of produce weekly and will either have to figure out what
    to do with them or throw them out.  Hopefully this will motivate me expand
    the number of vegetables in my “comfort zone” as well as expose my
    daughter to different foods.

    • My own beat..

      love reading this– you are changing your child’s life enriching her future, and making your future longer.

      Veggies are wonderful— can be eaten raw… steamed or baked– little bit of seasoning can go ALONG way.  Sometimes I toss a little bit of butter on it *rarely*

      Go to farmers markets and “play”… find something new, something you have never tried before… and check it out.  The more you do this, the more you will fall inlove with these healthy things.  

      Sometimes you may strike out and taste something you really dont care for, but maybe thats when you should look up a recipe, and see if it is better when it is cooked within a meal..

      Have fun and GOOD FOR YOU!

  • FrugalArugula

    I surround myself with good options for veggies. When we move to a new location, proximity to Whole Foods (and other less expensive options of course) drive that decision. We’ll venture out to go to a good restaurant, but day-to-day, we’re cooking, and that should be easy.

    Whenever I go out of town, it’s one of my biggest concerns. What am I going to eat? In rural areas, all their groceries have are onions, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, celery and lettuce… which is pretty devastating to me. I feel like I’m topping a Subway sandwich. The selection makes one understand why availability is an issue. The sad part is that we’re SURROUNDED by farms. It’s like going to the ocean and not being able to find any local fresh fish in the local megamart.

    If they put real veggies in an airport, I’d eat them. They might need to be labeled organic, of at very least, 5x washed…but I’d buy them for sure.

  • Fat Steven

    You write that “…many people don’t purchase vegetable because they don’t quite know what to do with them”. I think  that if vegetables were cheaper than junk food, then suddenly people would purchase them, and LEARN what to do with them. 

    Price is a huge factor. If fresh broccoli was 50% cheaper than instante dinner, I bet many people would put in the effort to utilize this cheap source of food.

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  • stinkeyemom

    I agree that most people choose foods out of convenience.  I am an educator for a small, rural clinic with a very poor patient population and many of the people and families I interact with eat fast food and soda-EVERY DAY. 

  • Tanyajwalker

    Its a combination of both…If I don’t know how to prepare it, I can’t afford to experiment.  Two of my children and I love fresh asparagus after my sister in law showed me how to prepare it, but I can’t  afford it very often at $5/lb.

  • Michael

    Strikes me it’s more likely to work the other way round – grocery stores will sell more fresh produce if people will buy it, so areas where people want to eat lots of fruit and vegetables will get access to them.  The challenge is not to provide more produce per se, but to make people really want it.