Eating Raw on a Budget

[~Summer~]

I have been on and off raw for the past year. My ds(10) also eats raw and it has healed him of his seizures, and we are hoping it will help with his autism as well. I am really wanting to get serious about eating raw to be healthy...but I am so sick of cooking two or three different meals for everyone in my family. My husband and other children are all willing to go raw...and they actually all ate raw for a while last summer.

I am currently buying separate food for the raw eaters and SAD eaters in our family...and I am thinking eating all raw will save money since I am not buying two separate meal plans. We do not have any good farmers markets here or foraging areas. My question is...do you think a family of 6, soon to be 7 can eat raw on a budget of $800-$1,000 a month?

[RawHemp]

I can barley feed myself on 315$ a month and i eat pretty conservatly. I also live in hawaii and have access to stuff pretty cheap, so I'm thinking its gonna be very very tough for u unless u sacrifice and dont buy organic(i wouldnt recommend that tho :p ). Have u looked into food stamps? Sounds to me like u would definetly qualify, they give me 315 a month and i know if u have kids they give u a shitload more

[Veronica01]

can you look into CSA's? Local farmers markets? Buying bulk?

[ruffsongraw]

that's hard...can you start a garden? can you agree as a family to all eat raw but the SAD eaters can have *one* (healthy??) cooked meal a week, to be agreed on?
It is very hard with kids....
& at first you eat a LOT of raw, then it eventually (i am told! haha) tapers off and you eat less. (the time period for that may differ but for me it has not happened yet and i am 6 months!)
Sam's or Costco helps.
Organic cna be your goal but as osmebody siad on here, her rule is Raw First, ORganic Second. sometimes it just isnt available and other tiems it'sd 4 x as much.
goodluck.

jen

[katchmoleen]

I think it is very doable, if you don't buy all organic produce. You can check out my blog for lots of shopping tips. Admittedly, the tips apply more to the SAD way of eating, but I am finding out that it will work for raw too. Buy nuts and seeds in bulk at the lowest prices you can find. I found that my Azure Standard coop will sell nuts and seeds at a lower price for organics than for the same item, non-organic. Same goes for produce with them. I can buy a case of organic apples for less than grocery store prices for non-organic. Right now I spend $100/week to feed my family of 8 plus a little extra maybe $25, to buy some extra raw stuff for me. I have thought that if we ALL went raw it would be cheaper, because meat is the most expensive item I buy (we don't like to buy grocery store meat, rather buy it off the farm), and if I didn't have to buy meat I could really get lots more produce and more variety. With buying produce in bulk, you will need to watch it closely and throw it in the dehydrator if you need to before it goes bad. I will be blogging more about this very subject, as we are on a very tight budget trying to pay some bills off, and I don't want my grocery bills to be sky high. I do think you have to be content with the less exotic produce also. Mangoes and coconut are not on my budget. Avocados just for me are ,but if I had to buy them for the whole family, I would be more sparing. Apples, oranges, bananas, frozen berries, and other fruits in season are what I can afford. Good luck to you, and you are very fortunate that your dh and other children are willing to go raw!

[~Summer~]

I was really hoping that we all could eat raw on $800-1000 a month:(. We are doing well financial...it is just that we are working on saving up money and really need to keep groceries around what I listed. I forgot to mention that our family consists of my husband and I and our four kids ages 10, 9, 8, & 6.

Everyone wants to eat raw and loves eating this way. My first goal is just to eat raw also, I am not as concerned with organic right now. We do have a Sams where I can get a lot of bulk produce, dates, and nuts. I was planning on only buying in season produce when possible and keeping things really simple like below:

Breakfast

Raw Cereal- Apple, Banana, Nuts, Almond Milk
Smoothie - Banana, frozen fruit, spinach
Homemade granola w/almond milk

Lunch

Salad - Garden Salad, Taco Salad, Salads w/pates etc...


Dinner

-Raw Lasagna
-Stuffed mushrooms w/guacamole
-Not Tuna Sandwiches - "not tuna" pate, tomato, cucumber, sprouts all inside romaine lettuce leaves.

Snacks

-Smoothies/shakes
-Raw ice cream
-Fruit, nuts
-Brownies, nut balls, etc....

We are currently spending $800-$1000 with that going to a mixture of raw and SAD. The most expensive SAD things we bought were eggs and meat. Also...my kids eat a lot of cereal and milk. I was thinking since we wouldn't be buying those things we would have a lot more to buy raw foods.

What do you think is a good budget for a family of my size? I am just trying to plan that way I won't be totally shocked if it turns out to be more.

[~Summer~]

I think it is very doable, if you don't buy all organic produce. You can check out my blog for lots of shopping tips. Admittedly, the tips apply more to the SAD way of eating, but I am finding out that it will work for raw too. Buy nuts and seeds in bulk at the lowest prices you can find. I found that my Azure Standard coop will sell nuts and seeds at a lower price for organics than for the same item, non-organic. Same goes for produce with them. I can buy a case of organic apples for less than grocery store prices for non-organic. Right now I spend $100/week to feed my family of 8 plus a little extra maybe $25, to buy some extra raw stuff for me. I have thought that if we ALL went raw it would be cheaper, because meat is the most expensive item I buy (we don't like to buy grocery store meat, rather buy it off the farm), and if I didn't have to buy meat I could really get lots more produce and more variety. With buying produce in bulk, you will need to watch it closely and throw it in the dehydrator if you need to before it goes bad. I will be blogging more about this very subject, as we are on a very tight budget trying to pay some bills off, and I don't want my grocery bills to be sky high. I do think you have to be content with the less exotic produce also. Mangoes and coconut are not on my budget. Avocados just for me are ,but if I had to buy them for the whole family, I would be more sparing. Apples, oranges, bananas, frozen berries, and other fruits in season are what I can afford. Good luck to you, and you are very fortunate that your dh and other children are willing to go raw!

Katchmoleen,

Thank you for your great advice.

[RawHemp]

You guys need to put more emphasize on eating organic, eating pesticides that can cause major neurological problems is on the same level as eating cooked food(if not worse). Not to mention everytime u buy that non organic produce your supporting the blood sucking scum that pollute our earth. Also think about this for a minute organic grown fruits and vegetables can have anywhere from 2-10 times the nutrional value of conventional produce, so that organic fruit thats 4 time the price actually gives u more bang for buck. Also if i were i would still try to get foodstamps, with that many kids your almost guarnteed to get them unless your making a pretty sizeable income(100k+ a year). If you get those u'll probaly have another 1k+ to spend on food which would be oerfect

[~Summer~]

We do not qualify for food stamps....my husband runs a bank and he is in the Army National Guard so we have two incomes. We also receive child support my two step children. I am not sure why people are pushing food stamps...we make plenty of money.

I was just sitting down to do our budget and I thought I would ask what everyone thought was a reasonable amount for the size of our family. I don't see what is wrong with planning ahead so that we are not shocked if it turned out to cost more. Smart people plan and budget their money.

I do not undermine the benefits of buying organic. But for someone with a large family that can add up to a lot of money. Some people just do not have that option. I buy organic whenever I can...but just because I can't buy ALL organic doesn't mean I am going to go buy a box of twinkies instead...:confused:

[JuanaV]

I think that it should be doable. At one time there were 9 people living under our roof, now we are down to 8 - me, dh, dd22, ds20, ds17, dd12, ds9, dd7months. I can't remember ever spending that much money in one month for groceries.

We have never really been into the whole "prepackaged" name brand food. We just didn't buy meat like that - we usually bought in bulk. Vegies & fruit - even organic ones aren't as much money as name brand packs - fruits & vegies and whole grains are much more filling than the other stuff.

[Raw Angel Mom]

If you don't buy bulk, don't have a farmer market and buy organic, yes, it will cost more.

You can consider to sprout and grown some foods in plant pot etc...

Your health will improve and therefore you will save in health medical care.

It depends how your family will eat, nuts are costly.

You may spend $200-$300more per month. At least in the beginning to get started.

Since i was eating already organic, i didn't see the difference in cost going raw, now i start to see that i don't spend as much. I personally don't use nuts much. I started to sprout and i go to the market on Saturday.

My daughter's food is more expensive. We get organic frozen strawberry, hemp sees and bananas for her. We are going to try to find an organic farm and pick up our own strawberry to freeze for the winter.

[RaeVynn]

I would think that you could do very well on raw!

Select lower-priced nuts and seeds to replace the higher priced ones in recipes.
Maximize your bulb purchases -- I shop Costco, but it's similar to Sam's. Buy 10# bags of organic carrots, those large bins of organic spinach, cases of organic apples, etc. These become the foundation of a lot of meals. Don't forget those sacks of bananas!

Finding a CSA, or a Farmer's market, or a food co-op, is your next tactic. Food co-ops, especially, I think are great. You can usually get case discounts on things (like, for instance, an entire case of raw sunflower seeds -- you might score them for $2 a pound, instead of the usual $2.60) that you need for making recipes.
Do you have a yard? You can give your children a valuable skill, and appreciation for living, by growing some of your own food. Greens grow fast, they are easy, and you will use them in smoothies! :p

Our very own Mattye Lee has a book on Frugal Raw. I bought it, and it has some great ideas in it!

[katchmoleen]

We do not qualify for food stamps either, and even if we did, we would not take them. We take care of our own family and do not expect the government to do so. If I had to buy all organic produce, we would eat very little produce. Not because we would make that choice but because we simply don't have the actual dollars in the bank to do so. I buy organic as much as I can, and pray that the benefits of non-organic produce out-weigh the risks. I know all about pesticides....we used to be organic farmers! To make it sound like there is no point in being all raw if you can't be all organic is really counterproductive.

Summer, if I had $1000 to spend per month, I KNOW I could feed my family all raw. And I live in Montana, where not that much is available. You buy what you can afford and plan your meals around that. Lately for me, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds are less per pound than decent meat, and you don't eat as much per meal as you would meat. So round that out with low cost produce and you will do great. I also recommend the frugal raw cookbook.

[MelanieC]

I think that is totally do-able, that's around $250 a week. We certainly don't spend that much and I buy my foods and the rest of the families (they don't eat like I do). My foods this week for myself were just over $100 for tons of fruits and veggies, organic raw almonds, raw organic cocoa, raw organic hemp seed and much more.

[jane b]

Summer, you don't say where you are and that can make a difference. I have a Sam's about an hour away, and their produce is expensive compared to what I can buy locally.

I live in southwestern Virginia and we have Krogers, Food Lion, Walmart and a few local regional chains. Yesterday I ran errands with DH, and bought several things for my Raw diet. DH still eats SAD, but he'd doing better.

Krogers: Organic golden delish apples $1 per pound; 2 packs of baby bellas total of $3; whole watermelon $3; zuchs $1 per pound; organic carrots 5# for $3; organic bananas 40 cents per pound; lettuce (leaf types) at $1 per bunch; mangoes 2/$1. DH got some power bars and a few other things, but my part of the bill was less than $20.

Walmart: Huge bag of kale $2.50--enough to keep me in smoothies for well over a week, and I drink smoothies like nobody's business; 5# grapefruit for $3; papaya 88 cents per pound.

Local chains: Large Athena cantaloupes $1.50 each (bought 6); 4# oranges for $2.50; package of alfalfa sprouts for less than $1; cukes 2/$1; local tomatoes 59 cents per pound; thai coconut for $2; spinach bunch and more lettuce at $1 each.

Granted, I already have nuts at home as well as seasonings, etc. I also have raw grain granola, but I rarely eat it--usually only when I'm going to be literally plowing a field or something. But all the above is more than I will eat in a week, and I'm not starving myself plus DH eats some of the bananas and salad fixin's. I can do a cantalope or watermelon all by myself in a day or so. I know I spend well under $100 per week, and actually, it's probably more like half of that. So we're actually finding it cheaper eating raw than SAD, since I'm not doing meat.

Back in the day, I had 7 kids, lived on a farm, and had a rep at the local grocery for being a phenom when it came to shopping. It can be done, but like I'm sure you already know, it takes being creative sometimes.

Good luck. Been there and done that.

[michigan roman]

thread on raw shopping

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=22555&highlight=budget

concerning autism have you met the member here shine72 ,
shes seriously working on the ailment and has several sites
with info . i'll bring back a link

[michigan roman]

heres link to one of the awesome shine72's sites

http://www.rawtism.com/

[iwuvmydoggy]

okay.. i was just watching this guy's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud6yoJsjJ2M&eurl

he talks about how simple and practical that salad that he made was... but where i live (oklahoma)... organic fruit & vegetables cost EASILY 3 times as much if not MORE than the normal cancer causing, pesticide infested lowly, average waged peasant variety. that salad that, that guy made would cost me probably $70.00 to make, since i'd have to go buy all that stuff to put in my salad... split that between 3 people & that's a little over 23.00 per person for ONE meal...

i have all sorts of family and friends interested in going raw, but no one can afford it. we have a plethora of food available... we live where there's lots of farms in this state... but all the stuff has chemicals on it.. local growers use pesticides and have lower quality produce than the big chain stores.. everything in whole foods is jacked up 10 times higher than normal stuff... food is more expensive here in Oklahoma than it is in New York City. I have friends that live in various areas of New York & all of them have less expensive produce than we do. It is absolutely ridiculous...

So while I hope you can do well on a raw diet with that many people, and I want and wish nothing but the best for you, I don't see it happening, unless you live in a place where your produce is cheap. Everyone on here on this forum is very optimistic about things, and I asked them what their food bills were... They all (well most of them) have food bills that are insanely low... I am not saying that they are lying, but I really have a hard time believing they are telling the truth, because where I live, it costs 200 to 400 dollars PER WEEK just to be able to feed my family... yes, we are all overweight, but we don't eat THAT much more than the skinny minnies.

if you qualify for food stamps, go for it. one of my best friends is on pretty much every government program she can get on, and she got a huge tax rebate back because of her kids yet she still can't afford anything for her family. i am telling you, this world is crazy! i don't know how ANYONE has money to feed themselves. i can barely afford going to a 50 cent movie with my mother once a week!... AND I MAKE $70,000.00 A YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and just in case you were wondering, i have excellent credit, zero debt, NO credit cards, NO credit card debt, no mortgage, no car payment, yet I am BROKE.. if you looked up "BROKE" or "POOR" in the dictionary, my face would be next to it. lol)...

[jane b]

That guy's salad reminded me of a segment on one of the national morning chats. They spotlighted a "frugal mom" who was thrilled to show how she had found a $500 sweater for her toddler for only $50 online!!!! OMG, that thing had better be goldplated!

It *is* hard to creatively shop. I'm fortunate that I don't have to work so I can devote a bunch of my time to getting our garden in (still only eating berries out of it, nothing else) and remodeling our house. Still, I watch the ads carefully and even call around to compare prices. As for Walmart, *if* their produce looks decent, I will absolutely make them pricematch the lowest store around. Some of the other chains will also do it if you ask.

Organic is of course the best, but even some of the most hardcore advocates recognize that for some fruits & veggies, it's not quite so important because you are removing the outer cover/rind. For those things most heavily sprayed like grapes and strawberries, absolutely organic.

As for food stamps, there is a big push to include more funds for fresh fruits and veggies. The WIC program has also been criticized in the past for the skimpy allotment for fresh fruits and veggies. All the juice you want, but no fresh fruits. And like one pound of carrots per month. I'm a recovering social worker who used to work with pregnant and parenting teens, and I can tell you that's not nearly enough.

Everyone should be able to grow SOMETHING no matter where you live. If you have a sunny window, you can at least grow some lettuces or other greens. And kids love to be involved, so put them in charge of your new mini farm. I have a little 3 year old grandson who jealously tends to his "food plants"--basically a 5-gallon bucket with some carrots, cilantro and a patio tomato. Puts on his hat and everything, just like grandma. ;)

Hang in there. We're all learning together. That is why we're here.

[iwuvmydoggy]

That guy's salad reminded me of a segment on one of the national morning chats. They spotlighted a "frugal mom" who was thrilled to show how she had found a $500 sweater for her toddler for only $50 online!!!! OMG, that thing had better be goldplated!

It *is* hard to creatively shop. I'm fortunate that I don't have to work so I can devote a bunch of my time to getting our garden in (still only eating berries out of it, nothing else) and remodeling our house. Still, I watch the ads carefully and even call around to compare prices. As for Walmart, *if* their produce looks decent, I will absolutely make them pricematch the lowest store around. Some of the other chains will also do it if you ask.

Organic is of course the best, but even some of the most hardcore advocates recognize that for some fruits & veggies, it's not quite so important because you are removing the outer cover/rind. For those things most heavily sprayed like grapes and strawberries, absolutely organic.

As for food stamps, there is a big push to include more funds for fresh fruits and veggies. The WIC program has also been criticized in the past for the skimpy allotment for fresh fruits and veggies. All the juice you want, but no fresh fruits. And like one pound of carrots per month. I'm a recovering social worker who used to work with pregnant and parenting teens, and I can tell you that's not nearly enough.

Everyone should be able to grow SOMETHING no matter where you live. If you have a sunny window, you can at least grow some lettuces or other greens. And kids love to be involved, so put them in charge of your new mini farm. I have a little 3 year old grandson who jealously tends to his "food plants"--basically a 5-gallon bucket with some carrots, cilantro and a patio tomato. Puts on his hat and everything, just like grandma. ;)

Hang in there. We're all learning together. That is why we're here.

LOL! That is so cute about your grandson!!!! Kids are awesome! :)

I have an 8 x 4 square foot garden... I don't have anything in it right now. The past couple years, all we've had were zucchini, a variety of cherry tomatoes and some lettuce and shiso... But this year, we haven't planted anything (need more soil).. But I totally agree, if you can grow anything, you should! I want to start sprouting some stuff! :)

I didn't know that food stamps were regulated like that.. I just thought you got a card and could get whatever you wanted, so thanks for the education!

[rawmiss]

Breakfast

Raw Cereal- Apple, Banana, Nuts, Almond Milk
Smoothie - Banana, frozen fruit, spinach
Homemade granola w/almond milk


Hi Summer, I noticed that you llike nuts for breakfast and I think it could be a waste of money to be eating all those nuts for breakfast since they wouldn't digest optimally - especially if they are mixed with fruits.

If you've heard of the circadian rythm, which is the idea that the body likes to do its digesting from noon-8pm you'll know what I mean. Eating hard to digest foods early in the morning is kind of like eating late at night, you're out of the window for optimum digestion. The fruits on your breakfast menu are great since fruits need no digestion before thay are assimilated, because the ripening process pre-digests them.

If this was my menu I would move the nuts to lunch, but you already seem to be eating nuts there already - if the pate is made out of nuts too. You might be eating too many nuts, and nuts are expensive, so maybe it would help financially to cut back on the nuts. I've heard that the most nuts/seeds a person should eat in a day is just a small handfull.

Maybe your kids would like banana/strawberry ice cream for breakfast? My kids eat a lot of bananas, and bananas are cheap. I peel them and freeze them and the kids get them out of the freezer by themselves whenever they are hungry. They wrap a paper towel around one end and eat them like a popsicle (But I wouldn't recommend this if any of them have caps on the FRONT teeth, since this has pulled off one of my daughter's caps)

Good Luck!

[~Summer~]

We live in Kansas so yes things can be more expensive here. But I think that $250-$300 a week will be more than enough for all of us. We already were currently buying A LOT of produce. Even though my husband and other three kids ate SAD...it was very healthy with lots of vegetables and fruits for snacks. In addition to all the produce we were buying we were buying meat, eggs, etc.

Here we have a SAMS, Walmart, and a Dillons (Kroger). A few store offers some organic stuff that is not outrageous in price...and when I can I will buy it. But just because it is not organic does not mean I am going to quit eating fruit/veggies all together and only eat meat and bread. We have to eat...and some things here in Kansas we can not even find organic. So I have to work with what I can find here.

I do not remember all the Sams prices off the top of my head. But we once went there and filled our cart all up with fruit, veggies, nuts, and dates for only $150. So I don't think I am too worried. I am just going to stay away from exotic produce and gourmet meals. I will see how it goes;). Thank you everyone.

[~Summer~]

heres link to one of the awesome shine72's sites

http://www.rawtism.com/

Thank you for sharing this link with me! I am off to check it out.

[MelanieC]

Like I said - I have faith you can do it. I promise my family does not spend that much a week. Maybe that much every two weeks.

And I agree about the garden. We just went and straightened up our garden this morning (well actually DH did - i just went and looked at it, lol). Zucchini is showing, there are flowers on my canteloupe, tomatoes have flowers, habenaro plants look great and green beans are looking good too. Our lettuce didn't take at all - second year in a row? NOt sure why.

Good luck you can do this. I grew up in Kansas when I was little. My uncle used to have an awesome garden. Stuff grows great there.

[RawHemp]

that salad that, that guy made would cost me probably $70.00 to make, since i'd have to go buy all that stuff to put in my salad... split that between 3 people & that's a little over 23.00 per person for ONE meal...



I make salads exactly like that everyday for 10$ or less usually, did i mention every single thing is organic? You should consider moving if a salad like that cost u 70 dollars to make...

[raw_danceruk]

I make salads exactly like that everyday for 10$ or less usually, did i mention every single thing is organic? You should consider moving if a salad like that cost u 70 dollars to make...

agreed.... seems mad.. salad would cost me £5 if I bought from a store.. if I used bulk produce maybe half that amount..!!

I think for raw families its all about planning, checkout the threads in recipe section. It is doable...just more planning involved than feeding one!!

Wish you all the best with your and your families raw journey

[iwuvmydoggy]

I make salads exactly like that everyday for 10$ or less usually, did i mention every single thing is organic? You should consider moving if a salad like that cost u 70 dollars to make...

You can go and buy all organic ingredients, including the spices and oil used for 10.00? You can get a big jug of flax seed oil, a huge thing of 2 kinds of sprouts, 2 heads of organic lettuce, a jar of organic cayenne and dried cilantro, a big can of nutritional yeast and buy everything needed to make that salad from scratch, at home, just as he did for 10.00? I seriously doubt it. It's not so expensive if you just happen to have all the ingredients, but if you have to go out and buy all that stuff it's not so cheap or very practical. That bottle of flax seed oil would probably cost 10.00 where I live just by itself... Organic cayenne pepper & dried cilantro- probably 3.00 per small spice bottle... Some spices are 6 to 15.00 for a SMALL bottle! So that's nearly 20.00 already, just on 3 items. We haven't even gotten to buying 2 heads of lettuce, a lemon, a cucumber, and all the other stuff he put in there.



agreed.... seems mad.. salad would cost me £5 if I bought from a store.. if I used bulk produce maybe half that amount..!

I can buy a premade salad at a store for $2.00 or $3.00. I'm talking about buying everything that, that guy had used & making the salad from scratch. It'd be impractical and expensive, especially if you just started going raw & had to go buy all that stuff. Buying spices and oils and kitchen gadgets can be quite expensive when you first start... But once you get going, you just need to replace one or two items at a time, and it becomes less and less expensive. That salad would only be good in that kind of a situation. You know what I mean?... But to get started, you could spend a butt load of money. My point was that this salad recipe is completely impractical for someone new to being raw or who doesn't have all those ingredients on hand or who doesn't buy them on a regular basis... And no one seems to take that into consideration.

[raw_danceruk]

I can buy a premade salad at a store for $2.00 or $3.00. I'm talking about buying everything that, that guy had used & making the salad from scratch. It'd be impractical and expensive, especially if you just started going raw & had to go buy all that stuff. Buying spices and oils and kitchen gadgets can be quite expensive when you first start... But once you get going, you just need to replace one or two items at a time, and it becomes less and less expensive. That salad would only be good in that kind of a situation. You know what I mean?... But to get started, you could spend a butt load of money. My point was that this salad recipe is completely impractical for someone new to being raw or who doesn't have all those ingredients on hand or who doesn't buy them on a regular basis... And no one seems to take that into consideration.

...I dont mean buying a premade..washed in chlorine salad..

dont think you need fancy oils or this or that

as for organic, I have to buy what I can afford.. keeping roof over my head comes first.. I buy what I can organic..n the rest conventional.

if you buy bulk produce.. you can make those salads everyday for a few pounds! ..or dollasrs..lol

Dont eat spices or oils so cant comment on how pricey those may be!