Why is it so expensive to eat healthy? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? I mean really. In this country, you can get a burger with who knows how many hormones in it for some change in your pocket, but if you want something that is organic and comes out of the God-given ground without pesticides, fillers, food coloring or preservatives, you’re going to have to pay at least ten times as much.
Shoot, even places like Whole Foods that specialize in healthy, nutritious foods has a nickname we use, calling it “Whole Paycheck” because that’s what you spend when you shop there: your whole paycheck.
Well, one grocery store is trying to change that.
Imagine Whole Foods quality and variety, but at dollar-store prices. A new company called Daily Table is shifting the power back to people of lower-income, so they too have the option of eating healthy.
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With over 30% of the national food supply wasted in the U.S., there is plenty to go around at affordable prices. This was the realization of Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s, when he founded Daily Table. The first store opened in Dorchester, Boston on June 4, 2015 and as the very first line of Time’s article reads in large bold text, “Tons of items are under $1.”
According to the store’s website:
Daily Table is a not-for-profit retail store that offers our community a variety of tasty, convenient and affordable foods that will help you feel and be your best; food that will keep you moving forward, not hold you back. We provide both “grab-n-go” ready to eat meals, and a selection of produce, bread, dairy and grocery items all at prices that will put a smile on your face, and designed to fit within every budget. Many of our items are prepared fresh daily in our own kitchen on site.
We offer an upbeat, clean and friendly retail store environment that is open to everyone in the community. We can offer these daily values by working with a large network of growers, supermarkets, manufacturers, and other suppliers who donate their excess, healthy food to us, or provide us with special buying opportunities.
In this way, we are able to keep prices affordable for all our customers. Our meals are priced to compete with fast food options, making it easier for families to eat healthier within their means. And all the food in our store is informed by guidelines set for us by a leading group of nutrition experts, which makes it easy for our customers to make great food choices.
“The answer here isn’t a full stomach, the answer has to be a healthy meal,” Rauch explains. “When 49 million Americans aren’t able to eat properly, and because of it their health suffers—and they get obesity, heart disease, diabetes, in their teenage and young adult years—this is going to be a health care cost tsunami that hits all of us.”
Even though the store may not be in your neighborhood yet, the company has well over 5,000 members and new locations are currently in the works. Anyone can shop at Daily Table, you just need to…
… sign up for a membership. This allows the company to keep track of where they’re generating demand, and what neighborhoods are finding the resource useful.
Some people are even seeing this as an alternative to food banks. The benefit of cheap food, opposed to free food, is that it allows customers to buy with dignity and feel assured that they are eating something healthy, not just in a can.
Rather than charity, Daily Table allows for a larger reduction of food waste, and smaller impact on customers’ wallets.
For more on DailyTable, click here.
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