In this day and age, it is very common to see working parents coming back from work late. Sometimes they must work two or three jobs which can make balancing home and work chaotic. Students barely have free time because of homework; imagine having a part time job on top of that. With stress in our busy lives, often eating healthily is not an option.
People have eaten prepackaged food because they think it’s more convenient, but that’s not the case. Packaged food appears to be cheap; however, it becomes extremely costly overtime. Although store prepackaged boxes do seem cheaper and easier to serve, they are high in sodium and have minimal nutrients. A diet of this food can result in fatigue, dizziness and headaches throughout the day. They are also very bad for the environment since most of the food are in plastic wrappers that take 50-80 years to decompose. But how are we supposed to eat healthy when vegetables have risen in cost by 14% and fruits by 11% since 2016, making unhealthy food seem more reasonable.
So why do we keep buying this high sodium no nutrients food? Is it because we were lazy? Maybe! It’s because we don’t want to take the time to cook our own meals. We would rather have our food easy to make; for example, microwavable food, easy baked food and fast food ready to eat in minutes. Although it’s convenient, buying pre-made meals compared to buying fresh grocery foods may seem cheaper, cooking healthy food will last a week instead of getting junk food that will only last a day.
So just buy the costlier fruits and vegetables. They will last a longer and have more nutrition than prepackaged boxes. They will also be better for the environment.