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right now I’m spending about 400 a month for me and my husband but we aren’t fully raw. I’m about 70% and he’s probably less. I hope my costs don’t go up too much as I try to go more and more raw cuz I really can’t afford it.
To be honest, my food bill on raw is very high! I don’t even spend much money on more expensive items like nuts and dried fruit. I eat relatively little calories, usually between 900 and 1200 a day, mostly lettuces, greens, fruits of all kind(when I say “fruits”, I mean apples, tomatoes, cukes, oranges, anthing with seeds), and other veggies like zucchini. Keep in mind I try to buy all organic, and it’s more than conventionally farmed produce.
My bill is $80 to $100 a week, I’m embarrassed to say. For a comparison, when I was a struggling physics major in college in the 1980s’, I ate vegetarian but cooked and CHEAP. I literally didn’t have enough money for proper food and ate mostly potatoes fried in Crisco(horrible, I know!). My bill was no more than $10 a week. You read right, ten bucks a week at most. Today it would be around $13 if I lived like that, not a huge difference.
I am spending about $350 a month right now for our family of five. I am high raw, my hubby is a SAD eater, my three boys (5,2,1) eat about 60% raw. Fortunately, I live in a very agricultural region (south GA), so I am able to buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies that are locally grown. I also have square foot gardens that are producing lettuce and spinach right now. I have been raiding my mom’s freezer for frozen fruits and berries from last year’s harvest…that is helping get me through until blueberries are ripe. Also, I cloth diaper, make my own laundry detergent, and cook from scratch a lot. I mostly live on salads and green smoothies. I don’t buy a lot of nuts or anything. I wish I could spend less, and hope to expand my square foot gardens next year, as well as start incorporating more fresh fruits and veggies into the hubby’s diet. I love what the rawmodel.com is doing. I have been thinking about that…I would like to get to a point of being completely sustainable, as far as food goes, but I am a long way off yet.
1650.00 a month … and thats for a family of 3….. all organic
I spend at least $350 per month for me raw & my 6-yr-old son not raw. That’s only because that’s how much I CAN spend – I spend every spare penny on food beyond that. I’m able to do raw with that amount only cuz I buy in bulk as much as possible (nuts, herbs, spices, oils, sweeteners, etc.) and I don’t get all the things I really want.
I don’t even want to think about it! hahaha! :)
Well, I guess the record goes to me. I spend $350-400 a week or about $1600/month, not including meals out. Family of 5—one raw, one vegetarian, 1 vegan pre-teen and two SAD teens. I’m buying it all. They’ve all been informed the meat is not coming into the house after Memorial Day. I just can’t even smell it or touch it anymore and no one needs to be eating chicken, even if it’s organic and hormone-free. I won’t buy into the politics of the meat industry and hopefully next the dairy industry anymore!!!
Well it’s hard to say. Depends on my budget for that month, but spend between 45-120$ for two people. Varying month to month on what comes up, and some months I have to cut down to 55-75% raw (Raw is generally cheaper or as cheap as other food, EXCEPT beans,oatmeal and Whole wheat flour…which I use in rough periods along with powdered greens). Dandelions,sheep sorrel, and clover are inexpensive ways of making my salad go further. Free, grow all year(at least the dandelions do), tasty, and healthy. I also intend to start a garden this year.
I am spending $700 per month for a family of three. I shop at whole foods and try to buy in bulk online when I can. Amazon usually has good deals but a limited selection. My hubby and daughter do not eat raw and I eat 70% raw. Just two months ago I ate an organic omnivorous diet and our food bill was $400. It’s a lot more now because I juice a bagful of organic veggies every morning. It seems that the healthier I get, the more it costs.
lzhpt – look at ardesmond’s bill – he wins!
I spend $120 per week for all organic food for myself. I eat all raw, and I buy anything I want to eat, regardless of cost. I don’t have a car by choice, so that I can afford to spend money as I feel that it is a worthwhile investment in my health.
Every week, I tend to buy nuts, dates, seeds, nut butters, expensive items like organic peaches, red bell peppers, cacao, jicama, blackberries$6, strawberries, avocados, mangos, pineapple, ($2-5 for one fruit or bushel) semi expensive items like herbs, kale, spinach, celery swiss chard, ($3-4 for one bunch), and more. I make one complex recipe every day, have green smoothies, mono meals, fancy salads, snacks, etc. I typically consume 1500-1700 calories/day. In addition, I spend $40/week on going out to eat at a raw vegan restaurant.
Eating cooked vegan, I spent $100/week. Being raw, I don’t need expensive supplements, medication, prescriptions, which added up to $20 per week. I also don’t need to miss work from sickness/exhaustion, which saves me money as well. I admire folks who can eat raw more cheaply – I aspire to do so, but I also love delicious food, and would have spent the same amount eating cooked. I know that one can have lower grocery bills by eating more simply.
Some folks I know criticize the amount of money that I spend on food… should I feel bad?
Winona – Should you feel bad because someone criticizes something you do? What kind of question is that? Who is in charge of your life – them or you? Love ya!
Winona, you just made me start drooling with your list! Mmmmmm.
I saw that. I beg to differ though as Hubby and i eat out every Sat. Nice restaurants, good wine, big bill. Add on another $500/month just there and figure in $80/month kids only eating out and another $80/month for friday night pizza for all the teens hanging out here. Who even knows what else! I’m moving to Ardes’ house!
Good point angie! You said it!! Thanks for the support – budget and raw food is a very hot topic, and a challenge for a number of people.
I made a very careful decision to eat all organic and all raw, and I have cut some things out of my budget in order to do so. It’s important that I remember that I decided on this investment in my health, and I should not feel guilty about buying groceries. I want to sympathize with anyone who feels that organic produce is expensive and hard on the budget – I can’t wait for the day when organic is actually cheap, like it was before the era of pesticides.
Thanks Joyce!! It’s wonderful to hear the support. My health has improved without a car – I bike and walk everywhere, and get 10 times more exercise. I’m so happy I made the choice to budget in tons of raw organic produce!
Alix – glad you like my food list. I take absolute joy and pleasure in preparing my raw food dishes. Every dish tastes like the best food I’ve ever eaten in my life!
Winona – I know what you mean about eating the best food you’ve ever eaten – makes me grateful & joyous and I just smile inside when people ask me what in the world I eat – carrots and salad? heeheehee :) If they only knew – fresh pineapple, raw lasagna, chocolate pie…Mmmmm! Now I want to go make a raw meatloaf!
I also don’t have a car so that I can afford to eat raw. :) I had the opportunity last year to buy my friend’s car really cheap, and the insurance would have been cheap, too, but I wouldn’t have been able to afford eating raw. Great decision for me, too!
this has been such a sore topic in my home. I am raw vegan (aspiring 100 percent), husband is a vegetarian. I tend to spend about 700 dollars a month on our grocery’s. He is freaking out about that!
Angie – do you have a favorite raw meatloaf recipe? I can’t wait to make it, sounds scrumptious! I love to hear that you also passed on a car to eat raw – it is a hard choice, but every day I’m grateful that I made the right decision.
I guess we spend about
Winona – I love the spinach-stuffed meatloaf recipe on this site, but I sometimes make it without the spinach and just dehydrate it in patties so it’s faster. I make whatever barbecuey sauce and put on it. I have also made the mixture with less sun-dried tomato and it reminds me of tuna, so I sometimes use that for a sandwich, undehydrated & without the bbq sauce. Yummy! I am also grateful I decided to keep with raw food over a car – I can’t go back to feeling miserable and never having enough energy to do the things I want and need to do. :) I’d have to use that car to drive myself to the doctor all the time, lol :D
Angie I guess I have to try that meatloaf you have been raving about it a lot.
I spend between $15 and $20 daily.
How I yearn for the simple life—just me and maybe one of these crazy dogs, a renovated farmhouse on top of a mountain in Vermont—a bike ride to the food co-op,a single treatment table and a GYROTONIC to keep the income rolling and a big sunny spot for my vegetable garden. OK-maybe a yearly trip to Belize for my Vitamin D in February…and MAYbe my husband could come and my kids could visit sometimes. MAYYYbe I would get a little cold there and in my old age wipe out on the ice that I’d be too lazy to take care of and I’d break my hip, thereby ending up in a Nursing Home eating institutional food and refusing my drugs only to die alone with my dog standing guard by the door…OK I’ll stay in Sunny Georgia! Athomelaurelyou’ve got it down! I remember those little stair stepper days with 3 kids under the age of four. Actually, I don’t remember any of it. Now with 3 teens—I’ve learned to close the door and do yoga.
Izhpt—I really admire you for keeping the meat out of the house. It’s gotta help having one kid who is on your side.
We spent about $100 a week when vegan (and budgeting) and now we are up to maybe $150. I do think this will go down in the summer due to farmer’s markets and more time on my hands due to not teaching.
I consider it a worthwhile investment as well. I was spending $1,000 on my health (and still am) and I am hoping that my investment will pay off. It is in some ways, but I am patient.
Two people asked about my meals today at work. They are vegetarian but tired of the same old SVD (standard vegetarian diet).
Oh, and I am not including the weekly raw restaurant meal either. :-)
I spend about roughly $400-450 a month for myself. Where I shop at is pretty expensive but they have the best variety of organic foods that is closest to where I live (and plus, I work there now). I’m not old enough to shop online, and my dad is kind of iffy about my raw diet anyway. Hopefully, though, I can convince him to by me a dehydrator soon!
I spend about 200-230 a week or roughly every 8 days. I am hoping to spend less very soon. I’m growing some of my own greens, and I really wanting to learn to grow some stuff year round, so I always have fresh stuff. Oh, and this is for a family of 5. I am the RAW foodie, the kids are about 60% raw, and my dh and kids eat meat. I am slowly trying to phase a lot of it out. I’ll buy one lb. of beef, and use it for 2-3 meals. Oh, and I have two boys who need to eat gluten/dairy free.. So, I actually think it is cheaper to eat raw, than to buy stuff for replacements on a gluten free diet. The pasta is 3 times the price, and the bread is like 5 dollars a loaf. With the cost of rice going up, It will be quite a bit more I’m sure. I should see if I can grow my own quinoa or something.. I’m tired of depending on other people to grow my food for me.
saraw—i have been gluten/dairy free for years. i think it is outrageous what they charge for the gluten-free stuff. i think raw is so much easier actually. i was so sick on converting all my recipes! quinoa is an amazing food. it is super-easy to sprout. we just made some into crackers. if you get a dehydrator and make raw breads it will save you a bundle.