Cost

[Tanya]

How much will it cost if most my family is not Raw,, and I go raw?

[Jamie]

I know alot of people say that raw is cheaper, but having 8 people in our family, I usually make meals from scratch which is cheap!! I find Raw to be very expensive for my whole family. Fruit for 6 kids can get outrageous!!

Plus people say that when you add up the medical expense, raw saves... but we hardly ever go to the dr. anyways.

But even still, I sprout which is cheap, very cheap. My kids love raw granola, and raw apple pie which isn't costly to make at all.

Just for me to eat raw, it is not that expensive. A few pieces of fruit a day is not too much. And vegies are cheap. But I find that if I"m having a plum, the kids want a plum. And how can I say no to that!!! Even at $1.98 per pound!

So, I think just for one person it wouldn't be bad at all. And of course summer makes prices much more reasonable, and that is just around the corner!! We can't wait to go pick strawberries, etc.

Dont' let cost discourage you! I feed my family about 50% raw because that is all I can afford. I do feel guilty when eating some grapes or something but they now that right now mommy is trying to grow a healthy baby!! And I tell them they can have all the apples and bananas they want! And raw granola!!

[rawpriestess]

well, it depends on your lifestyle.

if you are the grab and go type person, having fresh fruit available and grabbing it on the go, will be easy and inexpensive.

if you are a gourmet chef, then having all the spices, and herbs, and gadgets and stuff can be more expensive.

I am the gourmet type, so I have tons of stuff, I could feed probably 500 raw people with what I have in my home right now. maybe more

we have many gardens, and grow most of our own produce in the summer, in winter we do buy some produce, but not much.

we even grow our own hazelnuts and almonds, onions, garlic, and all our herbs, and some spices depending on your definition.

my hubby collects wild edibles every day on his bike ride, so we eat very inexpensively.

but each person is different, what appliances do you have? will you need to buy any?

if you can't live without crackers, you'll either need to buy them, or make them, in a dehydrator.

do you have a food processor? if not, you'll either need to buy one, or borrow one, or make do with something else, IF you wish to make alot of nut pates' and things like that

but if you want big luscious garden salads, with tons of fresh crispy veggies in them, and you like to drizzle a little cold pressed olive oil on it, with some fresh lemon then you're set, you won't have to go out and buy any appliances.

so, it really depends on your lifestyle, food likes and dislikes, the amount of time you like to spend with food prep.

because you can go raw, and eat only prepared foods, and have it all shipped to you, or just eat fresh fruit and veggies, with no prep at all.

[Jamie]

RP,

Your post made me realize (duh) how much more money we could save by growing even our own herbs. I do not have a green thumb at all!! But I wonder how I will continue to afford to feed us the way I have shopped this week for raw foods. I am going to start planning for a garden this year!!

I did forget about appliances too,, great point! I personally can't imagine not having my dehydrator. We use it alot. It was quite expensive, but we bought ours 2 years ago after income tax return came...An excaliber,, It helps to make so many more dishes that we would not be able to otherwise.

Sandra, even though my dehydrator and juicer are daily uses, I didn't have those for the first year or two that I was trying raw. You could always start searching the newspaper which would be a great savings.

Jamie

[rawpriestess]

Jamie,

the reason I started growing my own herbs in the first place was I went to the grocery store to buy some herbs,
basil
thyme
rosemary
and I think tarragon

for a raw dish I was making,

the 2 ounce packages were about $2.00 each,

no big deal, but still expensive, since I only needed about 1 tablespoon of each for my recipe, and fresh herbs don't last too long

then I was at the nursery, and I saw all these herb plants for only $1.49

which were bigger and more beautiful than the herbs I just bought.

so, I bought those herbs and a couple of containers, and returned the fresh ones, went home snipped off the 1 tablespoon of herbs off each plant that I wanted,

and figured even if they all died, I saved money, and maybe they would grow.

only two short years later, I found my lover Dragggon, and now we have tons of herbs in our gardens, still from those baby starts I bought so long ago.

life is funny indeed

but actually herbs are pretty easy to grow, just stick them in the sun, and give them water, and snip snip snip, they actually like to be trimmed.

good luck

[Misty*Mountain]

we have many gardens, and grow most of our own produce in the summer, in winter we do buy some produce, but not much.

we even grow our own hazelnuts and almonds, onions, garlic, and all our herbs, and some spices depending on your definition.

my hubby collects wild edibles every day on his bike ride, so we eat very inexpensively.



wow.. what a way to live! i dream of being that self-sufficient someday! :D

[Jamie]

WAIT A MINUTE!!!


RP, First time I missed the " grow our own almonds"!! I didn't knw that was possible around here! Do you mean the nuts?? Those are very costly lately! I think I paid $32 for 5 lbs 2 months ago!!

[karenisraw]

Hi I find it is very expensive to be 100% raw. I used to eat on about $75 per month. I now spend about $65 per week. And I buy inexpensive items for the most part.

Here are things I do to save money:

1. sprout
2. buy apples, citrus and bananas
3. buy lettuce
4. buy carrots, tomatos, and broccoli
5. I buy sunflower seeds mostly instead of nuts
6. When I make raw crackers I blend in sprouts along with grains and nuts
8. I go to asian and specialty markets such as "Bills Imported Foods"
9. I make my own treats to take care of occasional cravings instead of going to the raw vegan restaraunt down the street.

I also do not buy ANYTHING unless I ABSOLUTELY need it. If I do need something, I buy it at the thrift store, or get it for free on www.freecycle.com. My roomate and I just got a perfectly new looking microwave for free (for her) and an perfectly good color television for free. They also give away things like excecize equipment, furniture, appliances, etc. Perfectly good stuff that people never use.

Shopping this way and being frugal saves me about $300 per month over what I used to spend when I had a better job. (wish I had a garden).

Good luck,

k
:p :p

[Shivananda]

How much will it cost if most my family is not Raw,, and I go raw? You did not fill in your location, so it's hard to make specific recommendations.

Here's what I have found... DISCLAIMER: YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY... on a raw food diet my total food bills have dropped. Sure, if you load up on fruit at $2, 3, 4 a pound (and more) you can come home with very expensive sacks of groceries, which are mostly water. But greens are much less expensive staple, and dried raw staples like sunflower seeds and buckwheat are ridiculously cheap (Both 29 cents a pound on my last shopping foray) and when soaked overnight in water you supply wind up around 15 - 20 cents a pound. And what I save on meat I am not eating?!?!?!?

And what about sprouts? I can take 10 cents worth of seeds and in 3-5 days easily turn it into $4 worth of produce. Better yet my broccoli sprouts are 140 times more effective by weight in fighting cancer as whole broccoli is, so one bite of my cheapo sprouts is roughly akin to eating a whole head of broccoli, healthwise. And it only cost me a penny. And it is simple and fun to do. Kids can do it as a daily chore, and then relate it to the food they eat, thereby completing the circle for them,

There's more. Get Allissa's book. It's a huge help.

[fiddler]

One should also look at medical costs incurred for health problems caused by eating cooked foods. Think of all the savings of not having to pay for trips to the doctor, hospitals, clinics, pharmacy, etc... FWIW, I no longer have the need for sinus medication, allergy medication, gout medication, cholesterol drugs, etc... That's a huge savings over the long haul -- hopefully:)

I find its cheaper for me to eat raw -- but, then again I don't prepare alot of gourmet dishes. There's lots of posts here that discuss how to save money eating raw (i.e. buying wholesale, farmer's markets, sprouting, etc...)

Good luck to you.

[theresaann]

uh, I have to say, being raw around these parts has proved to be an expensive venture. I live in west bloomfield, MIch. Broccoli right now is like 1.99 a bunch, as is kale, parsley and everything else. I can get apples for abotu 1.69/#, citrus, I forgot-I bought a big bag, mushrooms are like $4 for a carton of organic and nuts-forgettaboutit!

I also use frozen berries for green smoothies and they are like $3 a bag, going through half to a whole bag a day. young cocos are $1.60 each-that's what I can remember at the moment.

we are joining a farm co-op this summer for fresh produce. that's $550 for 19 weeks of deliveries, but things come in at different times so I'll have to supplement from the store still.

But here's the thing. I don't spend any money in restaurants anymore-THAT was expensive. I feel fantastic and won't need a nursing home when I'm older-THAT'S REALLY expensive. when my family is all raw, our medical expenses will still go down (although we don't have any now).

I'm starting a garden for the first time this spring-just got the book "square foot gardening" -that's the bomb!! Rawpriestess-I LOVE your example-thanks for the inspiration!!!

I spend about $600 a month, I guess, on this raw adventure, and I'm the only one eating it full time at home-but I do bring dishes places. It's worth it!

[karenisraw]

My food expenses went up because I did not really eat meat that much and if I did, I ate chicken pretty much. I also ate stuff like spaghetti, pasta, potatos, rice...stuff like that that was cheap. So now that I am not filling up on cheap stuff, my expenses went up.

k
:)

[ljannise]

One of the 1st things I realized was how expensive meat REALLY is.

We got so used to (in a s.a.d. diet) to include meat in with all the other grocery expenses.

I dont know what it would be like to feed a family on ORGANIC. For me, the only way to do that would be to have a huge garden of our own, but for a lot of ppl that's not possible. That's sad. It should be EASY for more ppl to have a garden, not difficult.

Wish I could give views on a FAMILY. I'm just in the process of trying to convert my hubbs. I see how beautiful he is & I picture how amazing he would feel being so much happier. I can tell such a difference in the outcome of our diets. He is so tired & uncomfortable & moody.

[Denise Nicole]

It can be costly if buying SAD for your family and buying organic for you. I have been preparing more and more Raw dishes for my family which has helped with the cost for me. I was orginally veganso didn't have the cost of meat to begin with, but did pay for a lot of pre-prepared processed foods such as, veggie hot dogs, veggie burgers, Amy's frozen pizza and other Amy's convenience foods. So all in all my costs aren't too much as long as I take advantage of sales and buy in season. I am looking forward to the Farmer's Market opening which will also assist in costs. Gardening is strictly forbidden in my development so that's a no go (I'm on a wooded lot anyway), but I will start to grow my own fresh herbs.

I am always learning which dishes are more cost effective and which ingredients are more cost effective so I can substitute without losing nutrition.

Great thread!

[vickiesltw]

You did not fill in your location, so it's hard to make specific recommendations.

Here's what I have found... DISCLAIMER: YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY... on a raw food diet my total food bills have dropped. Sure, if you load up on fruit at $2, 3, 4 a pound (and more) you can come home with very expensive sacks of groceries, which are mostly water. But greens are much less expensive staple, and dried raw staples like sunflower seeds and buckwheat are ridiculously cheap (Both 29 cents a pound on my last shopping foray) and when soaked overnight in water you supply wind up around 15 - 20 cents a pound. And what I save on meat I am not eating?!?!?!?

And what about sprouts? I can take 10 cents worth of seeds and in 3-5 days easily turn it into $4 worth of produce. Better yet my broccoli sprouts are 140 times more effective by weight in fighting cancer as whole broccoli is, so one bite of my cheapo sprouts is roughly akin to eating a whole head of broccoli, healthwise. And it only cost me a penny. And it is simple and fun to do. Kids can do it as a daily chore, and then relate it to the food they eat, thereby completing the circle for them,

There's more. Get Allissa's book. It's a huge help.

I am in Tulsa ok. Yesterday I went to Wild oats and 2 oz of broccoli seeds for sprouting was 5.99, sun flowers are 3 a pd, and buck wheat 94 cents a pd.

Oh and while I am asking in another post you mention coops and such how do you find those???

Lil' Brat

[Tanya]

You did not fill in your location, so it's hard to make specific recommendations.

Here's what I have found... DISCLAIMER: YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY... on a raw food diet my total food bills have dropped. Sure, if you load up on fruit at $2, 3, 4 a pound (and more) you can come home with very expensive sacks of groceries, which are mostly water. But greens are much less expensive staple, and dried raw staples like sunflower seeds and buckwheat are ridiculously cheap (Both 29 cents a pound on my last shopping foray) and when soaked overnight in water you supply wind up around 15 - 20 cents a pound. And what I save on meat I am not eating?!?!?!?

And what about sprouts? I can take 10 cents worth of seeds and in 3-5 days easily turn it into $4 worth of produce. Better yet my broccoli sprouts are 140 times more effective by weight in fighting cancer as whole broccoli is, so one bite of my cheapo sprouts is roughly akin to eating a whole head of broccoli, healthwise. And it only cost me a penny. And it is simple and fun to do. Kids can do it as a daily chore, and then relate it to the food they eat, thereby completing the circle for them,

There's more. Get Allissa's book. It's a huge help.

I am in Rio Rancho New Mexico

[rawpriestess]

Hi Jamie,

YEP, we grow our own almonds, we bought three trees, and the first year we had 65 almonds, not alot, I know, but if you just think of them as pretty trees, but they also give you food, it's great,

they are flowering right now, gorgeous, and have such a pretty silouhette, like a bouguet kind of pointed at the bottom, and full and lush at the top.

Each year we get more and more almonds, and then we shell them and freeze them, they are wonderful, organic, and our very own grown with abundant amounts of love.

we are just now planning our gardens for this year,

but to everyone, we ONLY have 1/4 acre of land, and a big house and garage and several decks and a temple on our property, and a big wide driveway, so we don't have that much land to really garden, we just make alot of the oranamental stuff edible.

Here is an example.

to the right of our driveway, is a 30 foot long 10 foot wide space, difficult to do anything with, but I used to just have grass and mow it.

Well, I bermed it, and plated three almond trees there, then under the almond trees we planetd a bunch of strawberries, so now it is pretty, and we have almonds and strawberries.

then across the front of our property we have a huge raised garden, much like you would have a hedge, and we planted onions in it. viola' edibles, and it is interesting to look at.

then along the side fences, we have raspberries, on our High Priestess temple, which is made of iron, we have planted grapes, so it doubles as a grape arbor, and then at the waterfront, we have two small raised gardens, one with garlic in it, and the other sometimes is tomato or peppers.

We have a unique situation, as we have a gentle slope to our property, so we've added a couple of small retaining walls in the back/side yard, and allowed the front/side yard to flow genlty to the water.

We use raised gardens at the property edge, that doubles as fencing/borders/protection from falling into lake/gardens.

We only have one large cherry tree, so our property is in 100% Sun pretty much all day long, except where the house or our side/neighbor fence blocks it for a few hours a day.

since we are on the water, is it a little warmer here than other places, and the plants, always get alot of moisture from the air too.

it's realy an ideal setting for gardening, except our neighbors, can' seem to grow anything.

I personally think it is Dragggon (my hubby) who is the master gardener wizard.

and he does plant quartz crystals at the base of all plants, and crystal pyramids at the corners of the gardens, I know this helps.

we do use alot of sacred geometry in planning our gardens, and then Feng Shui and astology, so we figure everything helps.

But we do have a truly abundance of produce that grows on our little property.

[Shivananda]

Oh and while I am asking in another post you mention coops and such how do you find those??? Lil' Brat
Google natural foods coops

[monkeyboy]

Hi Everyone,

What's with the Jesus bible stuff?


Peace in the Middle East,

M.B.

[Allison]

For us, eating raw has been a lot more expensive. But I look at it this way...a lot of times it's all about what's important to you. Eating healthfully is important to us, so we're willing to spend the extra money on it. And with fourteen people in the family now, that's a lot of produce!

Allison
http://www.tribeofbarberi.com

[Jamie]

Gee Monkeyboy,
I think that is the perfect example of a post that is not needed. It has nothing to do with raw, or the original post of the cost of eating raw...

Allison,
You are beautiful!! I have read your journal and am so inspired at how you feed your large family raw! Glad to see you posting :)

Jamie

[monkeyboy]

Hi everyone,

Ah....I stumbled onto this post and saw my name mentioned.

What's up? What post are you talking about?


Peace from a founding member of this site,


M.B.

[monkeyboy]

Hi everyone,

To my blessed friends, I spend about $8 a day on raw food.

Peace,

M.B.

[Jamie]

Monkeyboy,,

HMMM,, maybe you deleted it??

[Frog]

Fruit in the UK can be very expensive especially soft/exotic fruit as we dont have the temperatures to grow these things successfully here.

A small punnet of blueberries can cost £2.00!! Large pineapple £2.50, peaches/nectarines £3.50! for 4!!

As we dont all eat raw ( I am just starting) we have to buy all the regular stuff for the rest of the family too so it does cost me more to buy extra fruit and veg at the moment.

[marigold]

def expensive to eat raw way more than what i was eating before.. we have gone int dept since we got raw - i think though for me its cos then i was happy to make meals out of lentils and onions say when i was skint..on raw i have to have what i like - i have to be tempted to eat it so i couldnt just eat all the cheap raw things..so i would say it depends as someone else says what kind of raw food you like to eat..having said all that its worth it though eh