There have been threads comparing people's daily food intake and the variety of ways people live their own raw foods lifestyle. There have been threads that have generically discussed costs, too, but I thought it would be interesting to have a thread where people could lay out what their food budget looks like. Everyone's budget, and the price of food, varies, but we may be able to glean some tips from each other.

How much do you spend on groceries each week?
What are items you'll spend more on, not compromising?
What are items you don't mind buying the cheaper version of?

1. I don't know how much I spend on groceries, and don't want to know right now.
2. Organic leafy greens always. I primarily consider organics a very important donation, to not ravage the earth so much with nasty ag methods. And I can't *always* do it. But conventional leafy greens...too many pesticides

Also persimmons when in season--I spent ridiculous amounts of money on them. Mangos are worth it, too.

3. Sort-of raw nuts. And I'll take anything dumpstered.

-How much do you spend on groceries each week?
For the current Winter I average about 13-19 dollars a day.
I shop every 2-3 days.

-What are items you'll spend more on, not compromising?
Nothing really. If it's a good quality at a decent price I buy.
If not, I choose something else.

-What are items you don't mind buying the cheaper version of?
Anything, if the quality and ripeness is good.
I don't think organic is a guarantee of better in all cases,
even though I much prefer the taste.

-- 20-30 a week

30-40 juice feasting

-- spend more on organic exotics for a treat

otherwise nothing to note

--- low pesticide produce if its on offer

Normally I stick to all the organic special offers

oh god, you don't want to know...
heck, *I* don't want to know!

this is maui, where a GREAT deal on ANY type of produce is $1/lb. if something is on sale for a $1/lb i LOAD UP ON IT, whatever it is.
spinach is $7/lb on sale
apples are $3+/lb
tomatoes are $3-$6/lb

i spend more on LOCALLY GROWN anything. i don't mind paying more to (1) support local growers and (2) reduce my carbon footprint.

also, i will gleefully pay through the nose for longan, lychee, rambutan, persimmons, and sapodilla.

i don't mind buying conventional produce if its on sale or if its local.

How much do you spend on groceries each week? About $10 a day....or about $70 / week.

What are items you'll spend more on, not compromising? Avocados (I pay between .89 and 1.29 each for the small ones. I also like Asian Pears....and those end up being about $1.50 each - not cheap!

What are items you don't mind buying the cheaper version of? Everything. Ha! ha! I feel I receive excellent results with cheaper conventional produce - as long as it's still fresh. I would avoid non-fresh produce - conventional or otherwise.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I spend @ $80/week, or maybe $10-$12/day.

No prices will keep me apart from anything exotic that I adore--young coconut, durian, maybe some seaweed--but in my area, these things are cheap. I do pay out the nose for raw macadamias, and I'd like to order some more raw snackypoos off the internet when I have more cash to blow... (olives, cold-cracked cashews, etc).

The cheaper version is nearly everything I buy--I have the best Asian markets nearby!! It's the only way I can survive, I still need to eat a lot of bulk at this point in my journey. I can get knockout deals on anything conventional. My body is slowly starting to require less, and then maybe I'll switch to organic. But $8/1 lb of organic strawberries at my 1-2 lbs. of berries every day would have me on the streets. I'd rather eat $1/1 lb. of conventional berries as much as I like. As long as I'm benefitting. =)

I don't think about it, but if I did I would think too much! My awesome partner grows as much food as our yard will hold (right now we have lettuce, kale, arugula, cilantro and broccoli greens that we are harvesting out of our living room in Mass.),and he works in the produce department of our local co-op (100% organic produce!), so I feel pretty lucky. Still, food is the one thing we do not skimp on. I'll spend any amount I have on a good avocado. We take home for free culled produce from the market. I have a daughter who has already had cancer (she's fine now), and I have a suspicion that it may have been environmentally caused, so I'm pretty picky about most of my food being organic. If it is available, I'll pay more for it.

I've been spending about $70-$80 a week, plus $3.99 a day for a 16Oz carrot, apple, parsley and ginger juice from the local organic juice bar.

I've spent more on avocados: $2/each and pine nuts, $15 a bag.

I don't buy organic because I can't afford it, so I buy most non-organic with a few exceptions here and there: Berries being one of them.

I think I pay approximately $400 a week for my family of 3 on high raw it's a worry.

I only get organic grains, nuts, seeds, greens, berries, peaches and apples where possible. I also will buy local if I can get it. I also get biodynamic yoghurt and buy the majority of my water (fiji water) which is expensive.

I'll get non-organic fruits with thick skins such as pinapple, passionfruit, bananas and oranges and mangoes. However, depending on price I'll get these organic occassionally.

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How much do you spend on groceries each week?

About $70 +/- 10 per week on average.

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What are items you'll spend more on, not compromising?

Greens, I usually eat about 9 oz or more of greens daily VM blended.

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What are items you don't mind buying the cheaper version of?

Bananas, I get them at a Safeway store very near my house for .19 cents a pound ripe and ready to eat when available. They have both organic and conventional for .19/lb and I get all the organic ones I can get and then the others as needed. I use the bananas as my number one favorite "filler" food because they taste great and Knock Out appetite very well. I define "filler" food as food that I eat when I don't get a clear signal for a specific food from my body other then it wants some carbs to run on.

Good topic here!
I live alone and have no kids to feed,so I figure I am eating for about $20-$25 a week for all my produce.Its true!Shop the perimeter of the store(excluding dairy and meat sections)and you can eat pretty cheap,and healthy.
I am in transition to 100% raw,and that figure is for totally raw.The "craving" foods can really make the bill add up over that.
Brian



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2008 09:51PM by Raw1228.

Before raw, I spent about $40/week. After high raw, about $70-$80. Now I am up to $100-$120, and that is almost exclusively from the Asian stores or sav-a-lot. Almost all conventional. The cost of my produce has increased by about 50% this year.

Mine is expensive, too, sadly. At least $100/week for myself. I get mostly organic except for tropical fruits.

I knew you were some sort of spy, SL!!! :p

What absolutely helpful, interesting and fascinating posts. Grocery shopping is something I've always loved doing. It's kind of like how some people enjoy discussing the weather or gas prices.

I'll put my grocery bill out here next week when I know what it is. Thanks everyone, for your posts. They really are very helpful!

I spend around $300 per week for a family of three, but once a month I spend about $400 when we get a 10% discount and I stock up on nuts/seeds.

I buy only organic and won't compromise. My husband for some reason feels that the organics should be saved for me and he'll go out and buy conventional fruits many times for himself. I don't know why he does that, but he does.

I've made purchasing organic produce our top priority, as far as our budget goes. We go without a lot of things (cell phones, cable tv, a second vehicle, etc.), but I am much happier. ;-)

XOXO

GypsyArdor, it's good to see you again! I haven't made up my mind if I'll be 100% organic yet or not. I'd like to, I just wonder if it will always be possible.

Budget-wise, I have nothing else I can cut back on. I'm as scaled back as it gets without cutting out the internet. No television, stereo, car, microwave, dishwasher, or even a toaster! I don't own a single remote control! I have a cell phone ONLY because it's cheaper than a land line telephone.

I don't rent/buy movies or CD's. I use the library to check out books unless I know it's a book I really want to own.

My food bill will definitely increase as a raw foodist. With cooked foods, I didn't eat very much at all. I rarely bought groceries! Right now, I'm living on one paycheck a month and using the second one to throw at my bills to get out of debt. I'll be out of debt later this year, Lord willing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2008 07:43AM by Simple Living.

Simple Living Wrote:
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> How much do you spend on groceries each week?

$70-80/week

> What are items you'll spend more on, not
> compromising?

fruits like: persimmons, mangos, papaya

> What are items you don't mind buying the cheaper
> version of?

I buy anything goes around $1/lb and under, especially when in season (fresh and fully riped - I like them even "over" riped).

Whenever I can get very good deals for the fruits and vegetables I like, I go insane buying large amounts (enough for 1 week).
This means up to 10 lb./day of mangos, papaya, persimmons, watermelon, plums, grapes, pears and max. 2-3 lb./day for Roma tomatoes, spinach, green pepper, celery, beets, sun dried black olives.

Pls. excuse my English - foreigner.

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Medicine, Food Industry and Commerce are businesses.
Is their goal to make/keep me healthy or to make more profit?
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I probably spend about $100 a week for both me and my husband. I buy groceries almost every day or every other day and I take my time shopping and try to keep things as cheap as possible. It takes work, but a $400 a month food bill keeps me pretty happy.
I pay a lot extra for organics. It's 100% worth it to me, I just don't like the idea of poison on my foods.
The stuff I get deals on are non organic fruits and veggies, but I'm very careful to only buy the thick skinned stuff. Apples are always organic. Bananas rarely ever are.
I know this is not an option for everyone but gardening and planting fruit trees has saved me so much money. Even someone in an apartment can have a small herb garden and maybe plant some tomatoes in those indoor planter thingys(wow I know that was descriptive, but if you look around online you'll probably find what I'm talking about). Going with what's local and in season is a great way to save money too. For me, living in Arizona means I eat a lot of citrus. When I pick my trees bare, I harrass my in laws and neighbors for it. Everyone has citrus trees and most people have hundreds more lemons, oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, and tangelos than they could possibly eat. To save money I would strongly recommend growing anything you can and looking for anything you can get for free around your area.

my man and i will spend about 150-200 a week. like gypsy said we don't compromise on organics. i am fortunate enough to be able to afford this. i look at like this, i'd rather pay for the grocercies than pay for the doctor. i imagine that once we have fully transitioned that our bill will drop but for now that's the way it is.
good day to all,
brooke

I spend about $50 a week on raw food, but I'm not 100% raw. I try to have at least my green smoothie each day - that's my main focus. COSTCO is a great place I just discovered. Their produce (specifically spinach), if you don't mind non-organic sometimes, lasts a LONG time. Spinach will last two weeks because it's triple-washed. That helps a LOT. Before I was wasting a lot because it got bad before I got the time to prep and eat it. If I was closer to $100 I'd probably be spending $400/mo on food (or $100/week) to satisfy all my body's wants and needs.


Me (30), Joseph (24 mo.) Jeremiah (4 mo.)

We are enjoying spring and being outside!!!