I'm quite baffled reading this AND seeing people agreeing on it.. I mean, eating fish & meat is very healthy, but with not eating vegetables you are missing more than half of your vitamins, anti-oxidants and God knows what beneficial stuff is in there.

There are lots of scientific reports showing that eating vegetables will protect you from all kinds of diseases, and vitamins from a bottle don't give you the same benefits, although it will give you some protection for the worst kind of diseases.

It's possible to only eat meat, like the Inuit. But unless you eat exactly like the Inuit it wouldn't be wise to cut out all vegetables. Personally, from what seems most healthy in scientific reports I have read, I would cut down the amount of meat for the time being until the money issues have faded.

To answer your second question: I don't know ;) At least the population shouldn't grow much then. That's the biggest issue, there are already too much people on earth and there are getting more and more people each day. Interesting documentary on how many people can live on earth, by David Attenborough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwBgNF_4g7Q

Uh, people, how about some dirt and ten cents worth of seeds? I mean, window boxes with dirt, community gardens, neighbors' back yard, trades, CSA, You Pick farms? There are a LOT of ways to get vegies for pretty cheap or nothing, you just got to GATHER them.

And eat your vegetables 'cause grandma was right. They're good for you.

Variety is the spice of life. I love meat, but eating solely fish, eggs, meat and fat for all meals would get rather revolting and sends me straight for the carbs. I focus on the most nutrition for the money, buying shitake/cremini mushrooms, carrots, frozen organic broccoli (a bargain compared to fresh), cauliflower and sweet potatoes. Avoiding unnecessary extras.All organic, all local. Also I eat according to the season and whats at the market, everything tastes so much better that way!

Vegetables aren't there for calories, per se. They're included in my diet for their micronutrients, which, in combination with a moderate amount of animal products covers all my bases well.

For calories, I stick to fats (coconut, olive, avocado, butter, etc...) and starches (rice, poatoes, root veg, etc...)

I'd focus on the cheap nutritious ones. There are a million ways to eat cabbage and broccoli, squash and root vegetables. Ultimately fresh cut is not sustainable unless it's local and seasonal.

For $6 you can get a bin of organic mixed greens from Whole Foods that will last you a week and a half. Diet isn't just a race to fulfill your caloric requirements.

im in the same situation... for what you get vegetables are just not worth the price... i also only buy sweet potatoes to refeed on the weekends and once in a while ill get a variety of veggies for sauerkraut. the rest of the time i'm a carnivore. im just waiting for spring/summer to get here so my garden can get me all my veggies for free

I'm with you! I prefer to let animals eat most of my greens.

If given the choice, I'll take chicken liver paté over spinach any day.

I've actually thought about this, especially in the last day or two! I might be moving to a big city for an internship with a low stipend (career change, so it's worth it). After housing, my medical needs, savings to travel home for holidays...I won't have much left for food.

In order of importance, my list will go like this: fish, eggs, meat, coconut oil, vegetables/fruits. I figure that it will give me all all I need, and that supplementing with a vitamin (shame on me, for being so non-paleo) is actually cheaper than buying produce. I have been planning to purchase $10 of produce max a week. I might even do rice because of the cost and how it settles well with me.

I am going to source locally for meats and eggs, and that won't change since I won't buy CAFO and I think my protein quality is more important than vegetables. I also plan on not being so worried about BPA so that I can buy cheaper sardines as well. Vegetables seem to be of least importance...

I LOVE vegetables though. I freaking LOVE THEM SO MUCH. I love spinach, kimchi, kale, lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, etc. But when it comes to cost, the benefits of getting adequate calorie punch for cost seems more important.

I think veggies are important to a diet, but it is the quality, not the volume. When veggies are grown naturally, you don't need many to give you a great amount of flavor, vitamins and minerals. Our obsession with veggies that are high in sugar and volume, but little else, encourages waste of the land used to grow them.

No just eat meat and use your money on more Grass fed animals and pastured eggs. There is nothing in veggies that you can't get in meat. Meat is a complete food. Who is going to get deficient eating Nutrient dense animals and eggs. Impossible. I've eaten nothing but Meat for months on end. The mind likes variety, the body is fine as long as you get adequate calories and fat from healthy animal sources.

I'd say that I generally agree that you can get most of what you need from meat/eggs/milk. However there is one major caveat.. raw veg is good for the gut. We all know that the gut plays a MASSIVE role in overall health and that we have just scratched the surface of the role it plays. My approach is to play it safe and eat my veg.

They are only a waste if you do no eat them...

I just bought mustard greens and turnip greens at walmart for 1 dollar a bunch...just saying

This is a good question and something I've wondered about, as produce can be so pricey in Australia and meat is relatively cheaper. I think ultimately it will come down to individual preference and how you fare with more or less vegetable matter.

For me (although it's still early days) I find that vegetable matter on the whole feels good, especially starches and cooked vegetables like cabbage. The latter doesn't provide many calories but they taste so good in soups I don't mind spending a bit on them. I don't know about greens, which we've been told for so long are essential to good health. How much of their nutrients do we actually utilise? I'm not sure, but I won't lose any sleep over not having them sometimes :^)

Fermented vegetables may also be important for some. Stuff like saukerkraut is easy because cabbage is usually cheap.

Then there's the question of pleasure - mangoes are seriously heavenly! So when they're in season I'll buy boxes, no matter the price!

I like to have a varied diet so I try to include vegetables every day. They also add flavor to meals and are especially good when sauteed with the meat.

If you need vegetables on a budget there is always a deal whether that is for the cheaper fresh ones, canned or frozen. As to whether they are necessary, I do not know, but I would personally get very bored just eating meat. You can theoretically get everything you need from animal products as long as you eat organs but in my mind I ask why would you?

One of the best videos I've seen with regards to eating vegetables is a video that Dr. Terry Wahls. This woman seemed to have found the cure for MS by diet. And it was meat and videos. I say seems because it really is a n=1 self experiment. However, I think we all learn from it. I'm probably not far off from implementing this protocol myself. A couple of major differences since I'm on a low budget because I haven't had a decent paying job in over a decade. I can't go organic and grass fed anything. I'm not going to worry about that because even with conventional whole food I strongly believe your further ahead. Second, I could add some more leaf vegetables by probably growing them cheaply enough. Lettuce tends to grow okay in doors. At least, for the short time I tried it two years ago. Third, onions, carrots, tubers, cabbage can be quite cheap. Add in a couple other vegetables and you have a nice mixture on a budget.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc

I view vegetables pretty much as condiments. A nice green salad with a bacon/bacon grease and vinegar dressing is fine on occasion, as well, but I don't consider it necessary, and frankly, I wouldn't enjoy it that much if it weren't for the bacon dressing.

Oh, yeah, and I eat chocolate. I guess that's a vegetable, or a plant, at least. And spices and herbs are good for seasoning meat.

I do miss, this time of year, the first milk from cows on lush grass. The milk tastes grassy. I always figured that was a salad right there. But in general the idea that you "need" vegetables doesn't fly with me.

I wouldn't spend the money upgrading dairy foods, I'd spend it on nutrient dense seafood like shellfish and whole fish.

I don't eat calorie-poor vegetables either, except my chilies! Every couple of months I'll get a strange craving for a huge leafy salads, and I end of stuffing my face with salad for a few days, then I very quickly lose my taste for them for another few months.

Meat doesn't have fiber...