Healthy Family Food Budget?

[Sarah Thompson]

Does anyone have a target budget for groceries that seems to be achievable? Especially grain-free families? My food expenses have doubled, and it feels scary and out of control. I belong to buying clubs and I cook from scratch, but still, it is breaking the bank. I know that my husband is shorting himself calories during the workday out of concern for finances, which concerns me. I can't garden effectively in my current situation.

[Kathryn Robles]

I'm anxious to hear if anyone has advice too.  We just cut out grains and our food expenses doubled.  We can't afford to spend that much and I already cook everything from scratch, have chickens  and a big garden.

[Sarah Thompson]

What I'm working on right now is figuring out what a meal costs. So, can I do dinners for under$15? So far, if I add in a lot of soaked sunflower see to a dish of veggies with a savory sauce, or make an egg dish, I can. So if I shoot for under $30/ day, tht's still $900/month (!), but at least it's a number. It feels crazy to eat the equivalent of beans and rice every night and spend that kind of money.

[Kamila]

Have you subscribed to a CSA?  A CSA for produce is economical if you can use everything.

I have a CSA for pastured meats, but it's still very costly.

I haven't added up what I'm spending, but I know it's an expensive way to eat, but my health care costs hopefully offset this.  And of course I spend nothing on lattes.  :)

[Sarah Thompson]

We do CSAs in the moste economical way we can, but they're still not cheap. I have been trying to eat as cheaply as we can, and we tend to feel a little deprived. When there is something rich, meat or fancy fish, everyone eats a ton and feels way better. My kids juste need more red meat than I can afford.

[Kamila]

I understand.  I eat mainly ground beef b/c it's the most affordable GF beef.

I recently got GF beef shanks for only $3.50/pound and made fabulous bone/marrow broth with it and had a ton of meat to add to soup and other dishes.

[Apryl M]

We are a large family, so this is a big thing here too. My kids/husband aren't GF, I'm grain free, but all dinners are grain free. (slowly converting them over lol)  I only buy some grass fed meat, though I would rather buy all that way. They do get those few processed foods I haven't gotten cut out yet. Best thing I've found, more me than the kids, but upping the healthy fats once the grains are gone, after an adjustment period, I actually have a smaller appetite. The fats are more sustaining, so though at first I ate a lot of meat, now less so. I'm lucky that 3 of the kids are still smallish, so don't eat full adult servings, but even so, we average about $150 as our target each week, and there are weeks over it. CSAs don't help me so much, since my family is so picky it means I have all that to eat alone. And haven't found a meat one locally yet.

[ME2]

I enjoy this blog. It's raw vegan but you could certainly tweak the recipes to include meat, or use them as ideas to develop your own recipes.

http://rawon10.blogspot.com/