Is junk food cheaper?

Not too surprisingly the answer is no, but it seems a common enough myth that even the New York Times recently devoted an article to it, with Mark Bittman arguing that "despite extensive government subsidies, hyperprocessed food remains more expensive than food cooked at home". As an example he supplied a typical McDonalds meal versus a roast chicken at home (as well as a number of cheaper meals) - with the roast chicken .

The is probably why you hear this thought stated, but Bittman's argument against this measure seems sound (as does the counterargument that most homemade food is healthier):

Another argument runs that junk food is cheaper when measured by the calorie, and that this makes fast food essential for the poor because they need cheap calories. But given that half of the people in this country (and a higher percentage of poor people) consume too many calories rather than too few, measuring food’s value by the calorie makes as much sense as measuring a drink’s value by its alcohol content. (Why not drink 95 percent neutral grain spirit, the cheapest way to get drunk?)