How much do you spend a month on food?

[Graciebeliever]

I'm looking at between $400 - $500 a month but I have 2 teenage boys that are 50/50 Sad/Raw.
As I am beginning to eat less and learn how to buy more efficently I am sure that will come down.
I don't eat out at all :) That is a HUGE savings hehe

[RawChicky]

I spend at least $300 a month on just me but it is 100% organic- mostly large volumes of fruit

[LovesAnimals777]

Just for me, around $200.00 a month on food. Not positive on an approximate amount since I don't keep track.

[Linda1970]

$250-300/month for myself. 95% organic (not necessarily certified) at the farmer's market. 5% at grocery stores.

[ephmeralgrl]

150.00-200.00 for mostly just me, although there are some things that my sweetie and I share. I would love to buy more organic but can't afford to right now. So I supplement and pick and choose what I buy organic. This is the first year I have not had a full on garden, and its frustrating me to buy things in the past I have grown. Next year.
~epgrl

[RawSun]

I spend 500-600 a month for two 100% Raw. We used to spend 400 a month for vegan cooked/proceed food. We try and buy Organic when available and reasonably priced, and we have been freezing fruit such as mangos for the winter well they are $4.00 a case! I'm scared of my first winter Raw... I guess we'll have to live on mostly bannanas and oranges - as other fruit is so expensive here, especially for organic.

[Spectatrix]

$300-400 for me and my fiance.

[juliebove]

This post was a good idea. With the three volunteer jobs and the two part-times jobs and the grant writing on the side (sometimes only generating 10-20 hours a month) I just couldn't afford to eat the way I desired. I usually get produce that can stretch (like bananas, salad greens, etc). I was just offered a job the other day and I believe I will now be able to shop the way my heart desires. I am going to try to go for a 100/month on food starting in September. My goal is to buy fresh as much as possible and not to go overboard on things like Lara Bars.

You know what is weird. I just think to myself that all the conventional and SAD food should be more expensive than organic. Organic is less trouble, more beneficial to our health -which helps in preventative care. The SAD food has to be processed with chemicals, dyes and all the other junk.

Actually it costs more to grow organic. For starters, you can't just plant any old seeds or any old plants because that wouldn't necessarily be organic. You have to make sure your seeds or plants haven't been sprayed with chemicals in any way.

Having grown vegetables all of my life, I know it is far easier, and often less expensive to just dump on some fertilizer and use some spray or dust if bugs appear on my plants. But then that wouldn't be organic. Organic pesticides are often less effective and need to be used on a daily basis. Sometimes it means going so far as to removed the bugs by hand and take them elsewhere. Crop failure is more likely and the end result, the produce does not keep as well as the chemical laden stuff. It also needs to be certified to be called organic. So actually it is more expensive.

I do not spray chemicals on the food that I grow at home. But the seeds and plants I start with are not necessarily organic. Not much I can do about the fruit trees and berry plants that were already here.

[faith4u]

I am not normally a budgeting type person, but I am trying to get a better handle on how much I spend each month. Last month my family (wife, 3 kids ages 6,8,11) spent just over $1,100 on groceries. My wife and I are 95% raw and the kids are probably closer to 70%. We buy organic when it is available and we get a basket of veggies every week from a CSA. The only free food we recieved last month was from our small garden and from our neighbors. Eleven hundred dollars seemed like a lot, but then I broke it down to $2.37 per person, per meal. Which seems pretty good considering we don't eat anything out of a box. Everything we eat is a whole food. (the only non-raw things in the house are sprouted wheat bread, oatmeal, and brown rice)

So I am curious, do you all know how much you are spending?

Yep, that is about what we are spending too. We have four children. Prices have gone up a lot on all foods.

[eachpeachpearplum]

I asked this question when I first started as i felt I never had enough money. . .to then find out most spent less than me so I crawed away with my tail between my legs.

We were concerned why we seem to spend sooo much compared to SAD others and that was just it. PB&J, Pasta, Potatoes, Bread, Hot Dogs, chips etc. These items are CHEAP and last a long time.

So, we do budget and I get $324 x 4 per month and all but maybe $20 go to food & toiletries which are very basic stuff like TP & soap, I wear no make up. I do most of my fruit shopping at Costco and the rest is between PCC (like Whole Foods) & Fred Meyer. We do not eat out.

We consist of myself my husband and kids 2 & 6. I am 100% my husband is healthy SAD and my kids are high raw.

I have included a picture of yesterdays shop. This is mostly Costco ($125) stuff & a bit of Fred Meyer ($55). I shop on T & TH so I will do most of my veg shopping next; as the pics shows that is mostly my fruit purchase. The one item missing is their FZN bags of fruit.

[Conscious Midwife]

I think our expenses is HIGh no matter what precentage of raw anyone in my family is doing. Reason beingis because whenever I get into a dietary kick everyone in the house wants to consume "my stuff" plus their suff. For instance I use to eat a lot of garden burgers, which you know are expensive frozen vegetarian foods. Well hubby can eat three in one sitting when normally he would only consume one large turkey burger from the grill.

Also my kiddos are all big on fruit. So with our household size it is nothing or us to consume 2 bunches of bannanas, a crate of strawberries ( 2pints) a couple of pounds of grapes and 1/2 a bag of apples in a day.

I also love nuts which is my greatest individual food item expense per serving, I guess.

[dreamrawalwz]

$300-$400 a month on just me I try to do all organic and when I do it's closer to $400. My parents spend maybe $80 a month...not sure how they do that haha. We also belong to a CSA farm and a little garden that we own in our backyard.

[Dimond]

Way too much on just me, which is why I'm cutting back.

[freespirit]

We go (two of us) to the store every three days or so and get whatever looks good, spend about 30 dollars. Every other week the asian market usually equals about 40, and wild oats once a month, 100. so, 500 for the month, but my hubby is 6'5" so he's a big guy and eats twice or three times more than I do. If he wasn't a giant it would probably be a lot less.

[RawFoodieMom]

EPPP, nice pic, such beautiful fruit! I noticed somebody snagged one of the nectarines before you took the photo, LOL.