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Cost of food

Hi everyone,

I am currently preplanning all the things I need before going raw. One of the things is an estimate for the cost of food weekly/monthly. I'm trying to figure out if I can go raw and want to be sure I can support it financially. I know there are so many variables, but i'd love to hear your experiences!

Thank you!! ^_^

xo

Comments

  • I'm a newbie to whole raw thing and was a bit worried how expensive it was gonna be because i have a very small budget. Veg & fruit are pretty cheap here in the UK of course apart from the organic stuff which tends to be more expensive, but i find it's the specialist stuff that's the most expensive. I don't have that many health food shops where i live, and the couple that we do have are pricey. But those sort of products are more likely to last you a while so i supose that kinda equals out the cost.

    It's the same with everything really, you have to shop around, i know some people on here check in dumpsters for stuff so i suppose that's an option.

    I can only really say what i've been doing & that's just starting off slowly, i've bought loads of fruit & veg & some nuts & i've just been using them & when i get a bit more commited then i'll start to buy the more expensive stuff.

    I've rambeled on a bit- sorry! :D

  • I am also new to the raw thing, I have been visiting this site for a while looking to gain the inspiration and find recipes that I can easily and cheeply make. I have experimented with the raw diet in the past, however back when I was at home with my parents. Now I am back in school for the final year, and decided to make the transition. While I dont have to buy all my own food our dining hall options are minimalist at best, so I can get apples pears and a very minimalist salad there. I feel it is necessary to keep social with friends so I will take those options, but the bulk of my food I have to buy. I dont make a lot either $40 a week doing odd jobs, and I found a week's worth of food for me (sharing a meal or so with my boyfriend) comes to around $25 for the week for me. If I had to buy all my own food I would probably estimate that at $40-$50. I suggest eating the same thing for a good portion of the week...its less expensive that way

  • joannabananajoannabanana Raw Newbie

    it used to cost me about $120 a week when i shopped at giant eagle (big chain grocery store), but now i go to aldi's (small store) and it's like $60 a week. granted, aldi's doesn't sell organic produce, so i wash the heck out of it when i use it. i love it because giant eagle sells pineapples for $5 and when i go to aldi's, it's 5 for $5!!!!!! i don't know how they can sell stuff so cheap. i guess i should ask them ahaha

  • KittyKitty Raw Newbie

    Agreed Joanna.. Aldi is amazing for cheap produce. I do avoid buying the high pesticide foods there tho like grapes and peppers. I got pineapples and mangos this week for .99! My hubby walked in the kitchen and actually said Wow, our counters look like Aldi. Haha. When I started out Raw I tried buying tons of varieties of produce but now I find I'm more content and its much cheaper to just stick to basic things you really like - for me, bananas and apples.

  • M42M42

    Hello Sara,

    Well, the diet is significantly more expensive than you could otherwise eat. You could

    * Find cheap places to shop (Aldi was mentioned)

    * Eat many banana's, they provide relatively cheap calories

    * Eating many nuts or other high-fat things, but I find it decreases energy

    * Obviously, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, basically all berries increase cost significantly (but make great smoothies).

    Overall, don't expect the diet to save you money :-)

    Mark

  • powerliferpowerlifer Raw Newbie

    it depends where you buy if you have farmers markets then you can get some great deals sometimes free if you get chatty with them, get to know your farmers is the best way. If they know your going to be coming back for a fair amount of produce weekly then there happy to undercut shops ive found.

    I have a family who juices so we tend to go through a fair bit more and all organic of course.

    a dehyrdator although i dont have is great you can make your own biscuitey type, crackers etc for peanuts(no pun) where as the prepacked ones cost like

  • superfood2superfood2 Raw Newbie

    i agree on buying in bulk and finding cheap markets in your area. you should be able to find a cheap wholesale/discount produce place in almost every city.

  • grapefruit.fanaticgrapefruit.fanatic Raw Newbie

    In the winter there are no farmers' markets where I live, so Costco is a good place to go (aldi's too, as mentioned).

    Even though there's a $50 annual membership for Costco, it's well worth it because it is SO much cheaper than grocery stores. They have several organic staples, too.

  • Blue_EyesBlue_Eyes Raw Master

    OH YES! do get to know the people at the farmers markets. I got a lot of free food from them. They get really excited when you let them know what you are doing. They treat their regulars great. and the taste of free, AWESOME

  • cupcakes revengecupcakes revenge Raw Newbie

    hmmm i guess it depends on what you plan to eat.

    there's the standard eat seasonally, that always keeps things cheaper. Of course, it's a bit hard (for me at least ) to eat seasonally in winter (because i love lettuce and other summer-y veggies). But, that being said there are still a lot of great produce items that are seasonal.

    the specialty items can add up, but you don't need them for the most part, so you could just do without. I'm trying to think about which specialty ingredients are most commonly used...cacao powder and nibs, agave nectar and coconut oil...? none of those items are too expensive (in toronto at least) and all last a fair while.

    Nuts can add up, but you can get protein and other things in nuts from sprouted beans/legumes that are much cheaper. And for nuts and seeds, just stick with the cheaper ones like pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts and stay away from pricier pine nuts, macadamia nuts and pistachio nuts

    there are also some veggies that are pretty low on price and high in nutritional value: bananas, cabbage, squash...

    shop around, check out flyers, and stick to seasonal items and you should be fine.

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