What do you spend on groceries every month?

[laurabfig]

I'm interested to learn if eating raw is really more expensive. I've only been doing this a week, but already I'm feeling the grocery bill is WAY higher than normal. All the nuts and organic stuff are not cheap (initially up-front in the monthly budget I mean....i know over the long haul they ARE cheaper since i'm paying the price in so many other ways if i don't eat them..however, hubby does not see it this way most of the time!). I'm going to try to get things locally at farmers markets but there is always some recipe that i'm trying to make that i need one more ingredient for. anyone have suggestions on how to eat raw while living on a limited income?

[spicyfull]

Just keep it SIMPLE. Fruits and Salads. Even Sprouts that you can make yourself. Smoothies.

Trying new recipes, buying ALL the ingredients can take a big CHUNK out of your budget. Buy a New item each week.

Some food does not need to be Organic, Oranges, Bananas, Coconuts. You can peel a regular apple. Hang in there, you can do anything.

You can also GROW your Greens, they grow fast and are Organic.

I wish you everything you need to Stay RAW....Welcome to MY World...........

[PATH301]

Hi laurabfig,
I just recently went to the store and bought some items:

black grapes - 4lbs
red grapes - 5lbs
black plums - 2.5lbs
yellow onoins - 6 in a bag
green skinned avacados - 2 of these are equal to 4 of the hausses
cucumbers - 3 of them
brocolli - one head
oranges - 8 per bag
zuchinni - 3 per lb
romain lettuce 2 of them
sweet corn - 5 of them
mustard green leaves - one bunch
star fruit - 5
bananas - 19 lbs
1lb of almonds
2lbs of raw peanuts
all this cost me $47.00

If I was buying more stuff like oils, seasonings,cashew or macadamina nuts or pine nuts or raw honey or more oraganic items my bill would be alot higher.

I guess that I spend between $150.00 - $220.00 a month. - Depending on what stock items I'm being = oils, nuts,seasonings,, or exotic fruits, of course this does'nt include my gas mileage which would be be higher for the exotic fruits and organic stuff.

[eatyourbroccoli]

it is SO much more expensive (or so ive personally experienced) to make raw meals on a daily basis, than it is to just buy simple fruits and veggies and do smoothies or a cut up apply with cinnamon.

also..buying in bulk will help a lot too. i can get 1 pound of raw honey in a bottle for $5.69, or 2.82 lbs of raw honey in bulk for $3.29.

nuts and dates seem to be the most expensive for me here. maybe try to substitute out the nuts for avocado as an alternative fat source?

my grocery bill has definitely gone up. but its moreso because i eat a TON when im raw, and less so because the foods more expensive.

[Bingka]

I have been thinking about this alot. Every time I go to the store or farmers market I spend about $40. That puts me about $225 per month. So that is my entire food bill. I used to spend less on SAD food.

BUT, HERE IS THE KICKER -

I also used to spend about $20 a day eating out. Atleast twice a week that bill was $50 a day. Then add Drinking with friends at a bar/club. That was a $100 bill atleast 3 times a month. Plus all the quick sodas, bag o chips, etc, I am not even counting.

RAW = $225.00 + $100 extras = $325.00

SAD = $1500.00 (I looked at receipts - this is realistic for me)

Raw changes other areas of your life too. Not just your food bill. Try and look at the big picture. You may not have spent as much as me, but i am sure you are saving in other areas as well.....

Raw for life....

Ken

[carousel]

i'm still researching this. i have all my receipts stuck up on the fridge for counting later. i've only been doing this since sept 4, and not continuously. i've also been buying most of the non raw food my hubby eats, so its kinda hard to tell. i do know that i spend WAY more when i'm preparing "meals" or working out of recipe books. when i just buy fruits and veggies i don't seem to spend as much. i also need to go to the farmer's markets around here, but i never seem to find any fruits. it's just a matter of getting there early i think. i never get there until almost the end.

[Blissed]

the $150- 225/mo. range is typical for me, and also I realize all the money I'm saving on doctor's bills in the long run and figure this is WAY cheaper and healthier in the long run too :)

[rawlapalooza]

I go with my wife to the farmer's market every Sunday and we easily spend about $120 on produce. Then we buy stuff at whole foods that we can't get at the farmer's market (sun-dried tomatoes, coconuts, mangoes, pineapples, nuts, seeds, olive oil). That's probably another $100 averaged out.

220 x 4 = $880/per month

for 2 people.

Yeah that's freakin expensive.

Ok mine's way higher than the rest of you. Maybe I'm wrong on the whole foods bill but the farmer's market is accurate.

[laurabfig]

I go with my wife to the farmer's market every Sunday and we easily spend about $120 on produce. Then we buy stuff at whole foods that we can't get at the farmer's market (sun-dried tomatoes, coconuts, mangoes, pineapples, nuts, seeds, olive oil). That's probably another $100 averaged out.

220 x 4 = $880/per month

for 2 people.

Yeah that's freakin expensive.

Ok mine's way higher than the rest of you. Maybe I'm wrong on the whole foods bill but the farmer's market is accurate.

That seems accurate to me.

I know before i started eating raw we spent around 800/month on groceries and we're a family of 4. Now i think i've spent 300 this week alone....however, i have to remind myself that i am stocking up on things like nuts/seeds/agave syrup/coconut oil/etc. Those things that i never bought before that will now be staples on my grocery list just all hit the list at the same time, i think! I'm going to try to use up all the ingredients i already have to avoid spending more money.
:D

[Raine]

I read a study recently that evaluated what a Super Size meal REALLY costs.

It's about .39 - .50 to supersize but then you take into consideration the added calories & fat which makes you heavier which increases that mount of fuel you need to transport + additional medical bills due to the high cholesterol/diabetes/heart disease it averages out to about $7.00 in additional costs to your for each Super Size meal.

[misslinda]

Hmmmmm, gosh food bill is drastically down since I started this fast :confused: :p

I would say I spend $250-300 for all organic fruits,vegetables and water.

A typical day for example:


1/2 cantaloupe for breakfast ($3.50)

4 fresh figs for snack ($2.00)

pint of blueberries for lunch ($2.99)

lettuce with another veggie ($2.00)

:)

[pomegranatebliss]

I go with my wife to the farmer's market every Sunday and we easily spend about $120 on produce. Then we buy stuff at whole foods that we can't get at the farmer's market (sun-dried tomatoes, coconuts, mangoes, pineapples, nuts, seeds, olive oil). That's probably another $100 averaged out.

220 x 4 = $880/per month

for 2 people.

Yeah that's freakin expensive.

Ok mine's way higher than the rest of you. Maybe I'm wrong on the whole foods bill but the farmer's market is accurate.


Ours is almost as expensive as yours is. My husband and I budget $200 per week for groceries, and we're usually right there or $20 over. We have a new challenge though...when I first started high-raw, he tried it with me, but he didn't stay with it. So we're buying a lot of separate foods. Even when he was high-raw, our bill was that high though. If I eat a breakfast of ten kiwi fruits, for example, that's five bucks for one meal for just me (assuming I'm lucky enough to find them for 50 cents each around here).

This being pomegranate season, I'm sure the grocery bill will climb a bit temporarily. I don't do bottled pom juice. It may be available year-round, but it's not the same. I saw one yesterday labeled 100% pomegranate juice, yet the label said "from concentrate with natural flavors." What natural flavors, I wonder?

I'm too much of a purist when it comes to my poms....and I spend a good $20 or $30 a week on them during the glorious pom season. :D

[Goldsplinter]

i spend around 400-600 every month, just for me. :D

[misslinda]

i spend around 400-600 every month, just for me. :D


dang, what are you eating???? :eek: I end up throwing stuff away every month. Ugh, that's where the money for your Vitamix is goin my good friend ;)

[Goldsplinter]

dang, what are you eating???? :eek: I end up throwing stuff away every month. Ugh, that's where the money for your Vitamix is goin my good friend ;)
dunno if you implied that you're getting me a vitamix, or that I should save up some of the money I use to get a vitamix.

confusing-ass world.

[misslinda]

dunno if you implied that you're getting me a vitamix, or that I should save up some of the money I use to get a vitamix.

confusing-ass world.


oh goodness if I worded that for you to even think that I would....... :rolleyes:

You eat $$$$$$ for one person !!!! Why not spare some of that into a Vitamix? :cool:

[Goldsplinter]

I forgot to mention linda, that ALL that I eat is organic.

[misslinda]

I forgot to mention linda, that ALL that I eat is organic.


Me too but I spend at the most, $300 if I have a shopping frenzy. What do you normally pay apples/lb ??

[Goldsplinter]

uhhh... dunno what you asked, and don't want to answer either.

I'll just say you're mal-nourished....

[Rawzula]

I can spend anywhere between $100 and $170 a month. I don't eat organic because my store doesn't have a very good selection, not to mention its expensive:eek:

[Lay-Lay]

I spend about $30-50 a week for hubby and I. We buy organic lettuce, but that is about it as far as organic goes.

[misslinda]

uhhh... dunno what you asked, and don't want to answer either.

I'll just say you're mal-nourished....


wow, you've never seen that at the grocery stores?

apples/lb means apples by the pound. no wonder your spending an arm and a leg on groceries :cool:

[japonessa]

Anyone here live in NYC/Brooklyn? How much do you spend living here? (fully utilizing the farmer's market in Union Square, of course...)

[Goldsplinter]

wow, you've never seen that at the grocery stores?

apples/lb means apples by the pound. no wonder your spending an arm and a leg on groceries :cool:
I know what you mean, but I don't buy everything by the pound. Some things are like apple/apple, one each=something $. And greens by the bunches or bags. I get my food delivered to my door, and it's always fresh/great quality. Unlike the moldy-crap at the grocery stores.

[Rawism]

I spend about $500-$600 a month...only because I now have a raw chef that prepares my food- since I have no time.

[Goldsplinter]

I spend about $500-$600 a month...only because I now have a raw chef that prepares my food- since I have no time.
Awesome, I just told my mom some minutes ago that I want my personal raw chef.

[mershwista]

Wow....it must be nice to be so rich.

Any tips for a poor starving college student who, before going raw, often lived on $10 a week? My grocery budget has been killing me ever since I went raw a few months back...and I love being raw, but it's getting to the point where I don't know if I can afford it.

[mershwista]

Wow....it must be nice to be so rich.

Any tips for a poor starving college student who, before going raw, often lived on $10 a week? My grocery budget has been killing me ever since I went raw a few months back...and I love being raw, but it's getting to the point where I don't know if I can afford it.

[Aasyah]

For myself it runs from $150.00-$185.00 i buy fruit and vegetables weekly (depending on the fruit/vegetable, some last a bit longer). I buy my nuts and seed in bulk, so that can last over a few months. For now i am just keeping my eating simple with fruit and vegetable salads, fruit and vegetable smoothies and juice,until my body adjust to the changes and heals.

Cassandra

[exurb]

I spend about $25 a month. Then once or twice a year I spend about $100. Hubby grows many veggies and fruits, which we freeze, preserve outside in the garden over the winter, dry, cellar, etc. In the summer we spend about $50 for additional organic local berries from an organic farmer, and peaches, all of which we freeze.

$20 out of the $25 a month is some nuts at Costco and sunflower and or pumpkin seeds, the $5 is some bananas and avos on occasion. Sometimes we get some dates, on rare occasion dried apricots or other dried fruits, as part of the $20. The $100 a couple times a year is ordered items, like buckwheat groats, oat groats, raw cacao, hemp oil, quinoa, sprouting seeds, whatever. The sprouting seeds provide excellent variety in the winter. We have a friend who gives us raw honey and we give him some fruits/veggies.

We live in Canada and are able to eat mostly our own produce year round. There is an excellent book called something like Four Season Harvest... written by a guy in Maine.

You can cut kale in the snow, I am growing pea shoots right now in frosty weather (as well as wheatgrass and barleygrass), there are still cabbages, carrots, parsnips, parsley root, swiss chard, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, mache, arugula, sorrel, potatoes, etc outside in the garden, and tons of great stuff "put up" inside.

The compromise for the hubby who still wants some meat but doesn't want commercially raised meat, is that he buys a side of local grass fed organic moocow once a year, gives half away and keeps half for himself. That's in the freezer for him as needed. Sorry to raise this subject, but that's how we feed the whole family, not just me. (Aside: if it's any less gross, it's part of the organic protocol that the animal be unconscious when killed). ok, lets not talk about that anymore! I mention it only because I know there are many on here whose whole family isn't raw, and I feel better about doing it that way than the alternatives of purchasing this in a store.

BTW, hubby roasts his own coffee, the coffee costs $3 a pound green and unroasted for certified fair trade organic shade grown coffee. This is coffee that would sell for close to $20 a pound roasted. I didn't count this in the budget, about $6 a month because it's not food, it's drugs!

So it is possible to eat awesome local organic food for cheap.

It's just a lot of bloody work!!! :D


Any tips for a poor starving college student who, before going raw, often lived on $10 a week? My grocery budget has been killing me ever since I went raw a few months back...and I love being raw, but it's getting to the point where I don't know if I can afford it.

LOL, I ate for $5 a week when I was in grad school :eek: . I used to buy oranges from Mexican people who sold them on the on-ramps to the freeway, an enormous bag for $1, and shopped in a big supermarket in the less advantaged part of town, I also knew of an amazing avocado tree I could go and "liberate" some avos from. I would say get yourself some serious sprouting seeds, but try to find a cheap source for larger quantities, get things like big bags of carrots, beets (you can grate them for salads). Nuts at costco every now and again. (you can get a refund on the membership fee for any reason during the whole year, so you can shop there a while then return your membership for a refund :eek: ). Try to stock up on say some apples while in season as directly from a farmer as possible, they will store great. You can sprout effectively in a canning jar with some mesh under the ring lid, or just any old used jar, with an elastic and some screening or cheesecloth over the top.

Raw sure can be expensive but it doesn't have to be.

[mershwista]

Thanks everyone...most of these suggestions I'm already employing to the extent that I'm able...if I had room to grow plants, I'd for sure be doing a whole lot more of that....fresh produce is amazing, and home-grown is even better than the farmer's market. But the farmer's market is far away, and I have no car and can't get there very often, unfortunately...or anywhere, really, besides the nearest conventional grocery store. I guess that's part of the problem.

exurb...oranges for $1--that is amazing! I totally wish someone sold something reminiscent of produce for close to that price around here...lol. Thanks also for sharing the bit about keeping the rest of non-raw family happy...that may be useful someday. Although, I do plan to marry another vegan, or at least vegetarian. I was vegan before raw for ethical, health, and environmental reasons, and the tenets I hold that resulted in that choice represent some of my core beliefs and morals. I do miss cooking...I'm not bad at it, either.

I just got back from the grocery store today and spent about $25...I ended up with a bunch of fruit, some tahini, some nuts, some lettuce, and some wild rice. I'm going to try to sprout it and see if that works. Hopefully that will be enough for the week. It's not my ideal amount...but I a) don't want to be malnourished b) would break down in a panic attack if I tried to mono eat fruit all week (I've tried it--disaster!) and c) realize it's better than the $40 or so I spent the week before. So, that's good. That makes me happy. And perhaps I will get a chance to make it up to the farmer's market next week...well, maybe that's just a wish. It's hardly ever open, and I've always got class.

This would be so much easier in, say, California...lol.

[exurb]

mersh, one tip for farmers markets if you're not averse to trying to bargain or ask if they want to give you a deal, is to be there near the very end when they are packing up and try to get some deals. When the market is closing and they're having to pack up their stuff and take it back to their farm, they might be more amenable to giving you some deals. Also look for "seconds" like apples with "scab" spots on them (harmless spots that are usually avoided by fungicide).

[luckitri]

I haven't really tallied up my expenses because it is often entangled with my families SAD food but I am sure that it is cheaper. Sometimes I am shocked at how much just produce - nothing fancy like young coconut can add up so quickly. My advantage is that being older I just don't need to eat as much. I can buy a bunch of spinach around the corner for 69 cents and be full on just that for a meal. If I feel I need nutrients I will juice but my system runs cleaner on mono eating. I am lucky also that a health food store is on my block. It is still not in walking distance (as the blocks here are so large) but I can only stand my greens one or 2 days in the fridge max and then they have to go so the proximity allows me to indulge myself on things that I prefer as fresh as I can get them.

Now if I want organic it can easily triple or quadruple in price and I would have to go to several stores to get a mix of items. Food laws are getting so much stricter - I suppose because of lawsuits - but the store cannot give me its rotting produce for my compost - just in case I eat it instead, get sick, and sue them.

Used to be a section of quick sell items that were getting old and priced to eat right now - they may still have that in your state. Now we only have it for the meat that I buy for the dogs but not for produce - go figure.

[RawsomeRed]

I'm very new to the raw vegan world and although I'm excited and eager to jump into this lifestyle, I have found that it is pretty expensive especially when compared to the SAD way of eatiing.

Although I had anticipated it would be more expensive (quality usually is) I didn't realize how much more expensive it is.

I'm looking for ways to make this a little easier on my wallet especially since I have yet to convert the rest of my family to this lifestyle.

Any tips would be appreciated.

[mershwista]

A lot of good ideas have been suggested...just read the earlier posts in this thread. For one, don't focus on the recipes...those are guaranteed to break the pocketbook.

[Missrawdiva]

I thought this way myself.. and to prove to others in the future that going raw wasn't as expensive, I shopped for a whole month on only budgeting myself $20.00 a week. I did it to see if it could be done, so when someone says its more expensive I can tell them ITS NOT! I got the majority of my fruits and veggies from Save-A-Lot and Aldies. Those two places you can save a bundle. Mind you I was not buying any nuts and my fruits and veggies weren't always organic.. like I said, I just did it to see if it could be done if someone was really on a tight budget.

[Shmoopie]

If I work all the possible angles, I can buy a weeks worth of SAD food for $50 a week. I eat a LOT when eating SAD food, so $50 actually gets me a ton of food. Eating mostly raw, I can buy a weeks worth of food - some of it organic - for $60 a week. I've found I eat a whole lot less when eating mostly raw foods and would proabbly eat even less if I ate 100% raw. Still, $60 a week buys me enough cabbage, spinach, romaine, collards, beets, carrots, apples, lemons, olive oil, raw walnuts, raw almonds, bananas, raw sunflower seeds, raw peanut butter, quinoa bread (obviously not raw), cucumbers, green peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and brown rice, and I end up throwing a lot of it away, even though I make a lot of juice with a lot of that stuff. Occasionally, I'll buy some pineapple too, for juicing...so that's an extra $4. Once in a while, I'll get some eggrolls, so at a dollar a piece, that's a few extra dollars as well. Man, I miss eating this way! lol

It can be done...you just have to eat more simply and less meals that require so many ingredients, like everyone else here has said. Also, like you said, you're buying oils and things to get yourself started and that's making your bill a lot more expensive, when you won't be buying that stuff very often.

[rawpriestess]

well, I have several large organic gardens, so do I still count?


I spent about $30 this past summer on food, mostly pineapple and oranged, I don't buy anything else at the store.

I wild forage for food and eat out of my garden, but my monthly food bill on SAD was far more
I would go out to eat at least 3 to 4 times a week at an average cost of $15 per meal, and I would drive to that place, which is about $3.00 in gas, plus clothes wear and tear and laundry soap, and electricity to wash and dry the clothes.

plus I would take antacids and aspririn because I didn't feel good, and I was always cold, so electricity for the heat, and I would be sick so I would sleep in the afternoon, so no work got done for about 4 hours out of the day, and I would have to be up late, to finish the work, so electricity for the electric lights, and I'd want a hot cup of tea because I was cold, so electricity for that, and and and

the list goes on,

raw is easy and better, by far, MUCH Less expensive in the long run.

think about the big picture, NOT just the food, think about it ALL!!!!!!!!

[Shmoopie]

EXURB: if you don't mind me asking, what state do you live in? I ask because I'd love to grow my own food and have some for the winter months as well. I'm just wondering how you do that, and are still growing stuff this late in the year. Also, what is ok to freeze and what isn't? I can only think of very few things that can be frozen as far as produce goes, but I really have no clue. Can you freeze peppers? Any fruits? Carrots?

Thanks.

[greeninloanageles1]

I spend about $30-50 a week for hubby and I. We buy organic lettuce, but that is about it as far as organic goes.

Wow! How can buy all of your food for so cheap? Do you have a garden? What do you buy? I spend about 80$ a week just for my food(my 3 year old eats it too, but he does not eat that much, and every other day my husband eats a salad from it.)
I usually spend 40-45$ in first farmers market, and then some in the store and some in the other farmers market.

[exurb]

Schmoopie, I live in Ontario Canada, which is "zone 5" according to gardenspeak, basically the same zone as Maine.

There is a nice book called "Four Season Harvest" by Eliot Coleman that is extremely useful.

I'll take a little time here to explain some of it.

The basic premise in that book is that things really do most of their growing in the hot season, but many things can also just sort of keep in the garden in the winter season. Other things you can freeze, dry, cold cellar, etc.

For instance, carrots and parsnips aren't going to do much growing in December, but if you leave them in the ground and cover with straw bales or a cold frame, you can pull them out all winter, and next spring. Leeks are very frost hardy, we're picking them now and will continue to until the ground is too frozen, then they just overwinter fine and we can pick them in early spring when there's less stuff ready in the garden. Kale you can pick under the snow and it's great, though it had to do most of its growing in the warmer season. The only things I planted last week were pea shoots and barley grass. We have had frosts for a few weeks now. However, still in the garden are (uncovered for now and frost hardy) lots of red cabbages, some delicious salad greens that are frost hardy, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, sorrel, leeks, parsnips, carrot, parsley root, some potatoes, beets, Jerusalem artichokes, red celery (more frost hardy), and fennell and Swiss Chard (those two are covered), as well as herbs, horseradish, etc. Some apples are still on the trees that are ok in this weather. Soon they will need to be picked, but apples will store for a few months.

Then the stuff that is harvested that is "put up" for the year is something like this... strawberries, raspberries, peaches, thornless blackberries in the freezer, tomatoes in the freezer and some sundried in jars, peppers in the freezer, squash, garlic, pumpkin, potatoes, onions, shallots, etc., just dried and in the root cellar, herbs dried, sugar snap peas and green beans in the freezer (we blanched those), corn cut off cobs and in the freezer... some things blended into soups and in the freezer. We also had a fantastic asparagus harvest and what didn't get chomped through fresh is in the freezer. There's some watermelon and canteloupe hubby grew in the freezer, but with those mostly we just pig out on them in season. Though we still have one watermelon in the fridge. The squash we grow includes two varieties that will keep at room temperature for a year.

Basically the lighter months in terms of what's to eat in the garden are December - April, but it's amazing all the things we're eating during those months too, between what we can still get from the garden (protected) and what's stored. We can also sprout indoors in mason jars in the winter to enhance what we've got, and we bring herbs indoors for the winter every year. Also there are some frost hardy salad greens we can keep through the winter in a cold frame, mache is a good one that many gardeners don't know about, it is delicious and very frost hardy.

The garden is basically hubby's weekend project. It gets neglected all week, then he pretty much goes to it on the weekends while in season. Once the garden's in, it's probably 8 hours a week of maintenance. Getting it in takes some work every year over a few weeks, but it gets easier as some stuff is perennial, and you also learn when to plant what and some stuff can be planted in the fall to come up the following year.

I can't tell you how much more delicious the food is, even compared with purchased organic from the store. Also we were able to amend our soil with good nutrients, minerals, etc., and theoretically the food should be packing extra nutrition.

It's nice when I want to go "shopping," I don't even have to leave the house and I either stroll out to the garden or to what we've got stored. So I think you save some of the time back there. The other time you save back is that things taste so darn good plain, you find yourself just savoring the fresh asparagus right from the garden you don't need to add a bunch of ingredients to make a recipe out of it for it to taste good.

Best wishes, if you're thinking of doing something like this I would be happy to answer any questions. I encourage everyone to grow whatever they can in their circumstances.


Can you freeze peppers? Any fruits? Carrots?

just to make sure I answered those, the peppers can be frozen no probs, just cut up. They don't come out like a crispy fresh pepper, but they are totally fine in recipes. Hot peppers can be dried. We freeze the berries and peaches and they are delicious, we also freeze a few apples for recipes for after say April when our stored fresh apples have started to get mushy. Apples can also be dehydrated into chips. I've never bothered to dehydrate berries, but they are fabulous. Other fruits like melons can be frozen for sorbets/ice creams. Carrots (and other root veggies) we keep in the garden under straw bales, or you can keep them outside in a cold frame, or in your root cellar, garage or basement packed in a box with either moist sand or peat moss. Carrots are not really nice frozen raw out of the freezer.

As for cost, we have gotten to the point where we don't even need to buy seeds in general, we save our own, and we have taken care of the soil so we don't need to use any amendments or pest control or anything that we have to buy. The first couple years we had to spend to get it going, but now it's pretty much free, unless we see something new we'd like to add to the equation. :)

EDIT -- forgot to mention, this year someone gave us some black walnut trees, so we're looking forward to also having those too in a few years.

[kaybee]

exurb--

You and your husband are AMAZING! I wanna be like you!

Im still moving around too much to be able to really set up a "homestead..." (still in grad school and all) (and dont really want to be doing it just by myself anyway) so had to settle for working on a small organic vegetable garden where I was in Ireland last summer and hopefully for this next summer as well, but I WANNA BE LIKE YOU GUYS! amazing. i feel like thats what the world is supposed to be like--everyone having thriving gardens to feed themselves, etc...

Just wanted to say this :D

-kaybee

[shiva777]

If you live in the Northeast US find a Trader Joes. Their nuts are about 1/2 the price of any other grocery store an they have everything!

~shiva

[Shmoopie]

Yeah, Exurb, I'm with Kaybee; I wanna be like you!

Thank you so much for posting all that information. I'll definitely pick up the book you mentioned, along with several others, I'm sure.

[Rawkinlocs]

bumping up for newbies...

[cassidy]

I could easily spend $1000 a mos. (for two people). I'm working on $500 though! Due to financial constraints I'm working on $100 a week... time to get that baby of mine potty trained! I would save a lot if it wern't for diapers :p ! She's almost there...! It's hillarious, I bribe my daughter with seseme st. band aids. She will do just about anything for a bandaid! :rolleyes:
One of my favorite things to do is by groceries!

[paprika]

About $100 per week, Canadian, to feed one person, not all organic. Sometimes my bills are much less, but then when I stock up on dates and nuts my bill goes up. Most of my meals cost $3-5 to make, and I have four or five meals per day.

[darkchild]

Last month our grocery bill was $569.00 for two people. That includes eating out at a local raw food restuarant 2 times. I had a very small garden last year, but this year I am tripling or quadrupling the size. I also bought a book on edible wild plants because I plan on adding that to our diet. I am also going to start growing sunflower greens and such for salads. So we'll see if our budget gets adjusted because of these changes. I must say that we were spending over $1100.00 per mo. before, due to eating fast food several times a week for my Husband and every day for me :eek: . I am normally a very frugal person, I don't know how that one got by me. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, I guess. Anyway, I would pay as much as I had to to eat this way, or find a way to do it just for the health benefits.




Dawn

[Nutz Over RAW]

It was expensive to start out (nuts, dried fruit, shredded coconut, etc.) and now I just buy fruit and veggies for recipes that I want to try out, so I go to the store every few days so that I can buy fresh.
Go to www.localharvest.org and click on the CSA tab. Type in your zip code. CSA = sustained community agriculture. I was amazed at how many farms are in my area. 2 years ago, I signed up for one of the programs. It was $16 per week and I received a huge bin of veggies picked that morning and I barely went to the store. I didn't sign up last year because I travel for work. I'm going to do it this year and I'll just have to work out the travel details. They will deliver to my work if I can find 4 other people to sign up. What's great about this is it's local and the more the community supports it, the longer organic gardening will stay in the area.

[RowanC]

I just signed up 3 weeks ago for organic local food delivery. I've tried 3 different bins, ranging from $25 to $35 per week. I find the $25 bin works fine for one person.

This is in addition to my staples which cost maybe $40 a month, so I guess about $150 for one person is my budget these days.

[christiahall]

I have a family of 4. The first week we did raw, we spent $140 on groceries. That was scary. Then everyone else quit and I have been spending about $50 a week on just myself. That is still scary to me since my entire food budget is about $300 a month or less. I am trying to make my eating habits simpler so that we can survive. My husband wants me to stop eating such an expensive diet (I never go to the doctor or buy medicine anyways, so I would just be suffering through more colds but not spending money on them.) Its been kind of hard, but I think that its been easier just eating peices of fruit or salads through out the day and nothing fancy. I firmly believe that you can make anything happen that you want to happen. I didn't take into account all the extra money spent on going out to eat or buying snacks.