We have a budget of $400 to $500 per month for 2 adults and 2 toddlers (don't let their size fool you they eat as much if not more than we do) If we eat out at all it brings up the bill to $600 or so. How do I do it??

1) Farmers market once a week $40 to $50 on produce and 2 to 3 dozen eggs 2) Trader Joe's once a week for Organic chicken, applegate farm hotdogs, ham and bananas.$20 to $30 per week. 3) Costco once every 6 weeks for meat, nuts and frozen vegetables... Bear and wolf cans of wild salmon for lunches, frozen fish, organic ground beef...etc. We usually spent about $100 to $150 4) Once a week we buy a whole organic chicken or duck from a local butcher. I usually get 2 to 3 meals out of that for $11 5) Any extras like coconut oil or paleo flours we buy online once every 3 months or so. Mostly we use a site called Vitacost.com, but we shop around.

Tips... Plan your meals in advanced and use every part of your food. With the whole chicken or duck I first cut off the head and feet and save that with the organs. I roast the rest of it and have meat for 3 meals. When I roast it I save the fat drippings to cook with later. I boil the bones with the feet and head for a bone broth and make egg drop soup. One to 2 more meals. Finally I make a sundried tomato and basil pesto with the organs. Like a pate, but you cant taste the meat. Last budget how much you can spend at the store or market before you go and don't go over that budget. Cash works well. Also shop around and find where you can get the best deals on things. For us we know exactly where to get each item the cheapest and we stick to that...

Joined my local CSA, so that's a weekly bushel of organic veggies for US$23 a week. 1 package of Prather bacon (4 servings) $9; 1 pastured grass-finished roast from Fatted Calf (lasts 12-15 servings) $40; 1 lb pastured sweetbreads from Prather, $7; 1 dozen pastured eggs including Ameruca from Alexandre Kids, $7 a week; 7 organic avocados from Ferry Bldg market, $7 a week; fancy salad fixings to garnish CSA lettuce, such as edible flowers, purslane, lolla rossa, sylvetta, $10 a week(we eat salad every day); Kerrygold, $2.50; Artisana coconut oil (lasts 2 weeks) $11; raw cream, $12; Bariani olive oil & vinegar, $26 (lasts a month); kraut from Wildbrine, $7 a pound, lasts 2 weeks. We make our broth and sometimes fill in pastured bones from Fatted Calf, $4 a pound, if our roast bones aren't enough. We never eat out because not even Michelin stars offer this quality.

It can vary somewhat but I average $450-500 Canadian a month for an adult and a teenage boy - no junk or crap food at all.

$1000 a month for one person.

Cutting down to non organic meats as I just can't afford the organic stuff anymore. It is an investment in your health, but as long as you eat paleo you'll be better off than 95% of the world.

1200 for me and my girlfriend

$550 per month for 2 people.

About $200 a week at the moment, if we are out of staples it could be a little more to stock up on those again. This is to feed two adults. We are full-time college students and are working full-time right now while we are out of school for the summer and it is still kind of hard to get by on food, I don't know what we will do when school starts up again because we will be working probably about half of what we are now. We don't buy much organic/grass-fed anything either because that would be way too expensive. We do invest in good fats though like grass-fed butter and organic coconut oil.

$1100/month for 2 adults, $650 of that is groceries. Lately our grocery bill has been going up and restaurant bill has been coming down. I could probably cut our food bill in half if I really tried, but it's not a priority for us.

Timely question! I just realized that I am spending around $300 + a week to feed 2 adults and 2 small children. I have to tighten things up :-)

My partner and I are doing about $75-$100 per person per week in Canada. When I was living in a different area it was $75 at most per week per person, so I think it can really be influenced by the area in which you live. I get meat share for the most part, so good deals on all the proteins. Fresh vegetables I get from the market, so that is also a good deal (tend to buy in season, cheaper). I try and buy bulk for other items, and I always follow sales to try and get good deals. We rely on eggs as a large source of nutrients, even more so at the end of a semester when money is tight! I waste no food, and don't eat out for the most part. The wasting this is really important- good area in which many people can tighten their bills up.

$150-200 a month for me (single lady). I eat out about 3-5 times a month. When money is tight, I cut out cheese and nuts, eat more conventional produce (less organic), and eat more fish (less fancy grassfed beef cuts).

About $450 per pay period=$900 per month for 2 people and weekly guests (Mid-City Houston), including dining out, but that includes things like the salmon oil supplement and pancreatic enzymes I take because of my health situation, and luxury foods like Zevia soda, goat cheese, and specialty meats. When we're being very cautious, I can get that down to about $750 a month, especially if we eat a lot of organ meats, and buy whole chickens and use frozen greens instead of fresh leafy greens.

Groceries are ~$50-75wk/ for just me. I'm assuming you're feeding a big family at the $900 range. I'll never be able to afford a family if that's normal.

My husband and I spend £40 ($61) a week on paleo at the moment. We could definitely do with more food, but we can't really afford it. We used to spend £56 ($86) a month on vegan and ate more (crap) so this is crazy spending for us! :P

We can't afford anything organic on our budget... our luxury is grassfed butter and we get our meat frozen in bulk packs and our vegetables from the cheapest places nearby. I'm sure the meat isn't grassfed but it's either what we're doing now or full-on cheap carbs again, which was seriously damaging the health of both of us.

$900-1200 per month for 2 people depending on whether we have some dinner parties or if I need to restock my coconut oil, spices, etc. I buy exclusively strict Paleo - organic, grass-fed/pastured meat and eggs, ghee, all organic veggies, fruit, etc. I cook everything from scratch and don't eat out at all - not ever, really, which has cut into the social life, but I have yet to find a restaurant close to me that doesn't feel like I've been poisoned after

We also juice green smoothies quite often as a meal replacement - which being all organic can be rather spend, but I feel it's justified from the energy I get and the fresh enzymes. I know most people freak when they find out that's how much I spend, but I figure it's worth it - I cut my cable and Netflix subscription down and go outside more now that it's FINALLY summer in Seattle. I just feel it's worth it to spend money on high quality food, especially while I'm still healing inflammatory conditions that Paleo has 99% cured at this point. I'm also grateful we can afford it and if there comes a day we can't, then I will do my best on a budget.

Between $200 and $275 a week, mostly in the $225 range. If I only buy actual food and basics like toilet paper, I can definitely keep it in that range--the higher price tags come with things like vitamins. I shop pretty much exclusively at Whole Foods and am feeding 2 adults, a 7 year old and a 2 year old (both female) on that.

About £50 a month on meat, lamb and chicken from the Organic butchers for two of us. About an extra £50 on grocery shopping for salad and vegetables. About £30 for coconut oil and other paleo staples.

That excludes eating out which comes to about £100 a month.

So ALOT less than you!

I spend about 600 a month. I feed myself during the day. And make dinner for 2 every night. During the day I eat 3 medium medium meals at work. I have a bit of a different situation though, as I work at whole foods, in produce, so I get a 20% discount and get to snack on fresh produce all day.

$60 a week for one adult (22, F): about $35 on meat and $25 on produce. So that would make $240/month. Meat comes from Whole Foods (not grassfed because JFC who can afford that, but at least it's not the worst of the worst); non-meat comes from the super cheap grocery store. I could cut it down to less than $200/month but that would involve going back to lousy meat from the cheapo grocery store and/or giving up my attempt at gaining muscle mass (my bills were so much less before I was trying to hit a caloric surplus every other day!).

I think I would have a heart attack if I looked at my bank statement and saw that my eating out expenses were $400, but I'm also prioritizing paying off my student loan debt; YMMV depending on your priorities.

$100-$150 per week for 2 adults and 1 kid, my 18 yo nephew for several meals during the week, and a guest or two for an evening meal or two each week. When my 20 yo son is home, it increases about $20 each week.

Edit: Approximately $40 of that is veggies and fruits from the farmers' market and the rest is meats, dairy, spices, etc. We eat a lot of grass-fed ground chuck and organic chicken. I will occasionally splurge on a flank steak or tri-tip, but for the most part it's either ground beef or chicken. I try to cook dinners that will produce enough leftovers for a day or two of lunches and/or an additional dinner for the entire family.

Great question, Shawn. We should all learn a lot on this one. I gave you a star and a +1.

I think that I pay less. I do not have the numbers. But I make and consume lots of my own kefir. I have calculated that that is a 28 fold increase in monetary value. This could be as much as 50% of my intake (I did say lots of kefir) I make my own sauerkraut, which is a 2.9 fold increase in value. I also do not spend money on as many supplements, and that is getting better and better by the day.

(The whole Life Extension thingie is so absurd; I had so many pills to take every day that I feel ashamed to think of it now. Even when I was doing it I thought, "There must be something wrong with this.")

I'm embarrassed to even admit it but for my husband and I plus our toddler who eats paleo + breastmilk, I think we range 900-1100 a month. We don't eat out very often. Abe once a month. At some point I'll get on the cowshare train, I just prefer unfrozen meat and we have a small downtown apartment and getting another large Appliance hasn't interested me yet. When we move At the end of this summer we'll probably change over to that style. We could probably save money by eating less muscle meat and seafood but I feel best this way. Also I have a soft spot for artisan cheese and liverwurst/pâté. Sad to say, I could Probably spend a LOT more if I had the funds. Hahahaha

I hit about $50 a week, I believe. It's easy being frugal when you're a college student.

I believe that when I'm out of this ghettup, I'll probably hit closer to $120 a week, I'd think.

Cutting out breakfast and doing a 16/8 leangains approach makes saving easy as well.

I spend about 300 a month on just myself. I usually have some combination of these things in my kitchen:

1. Wild Alaska Salmon (I live in Alaska)
2. Some sort of white fish, usually halibut
3. A few assorted cuts of beef (some is pastured, other is just organic)
4. A few dozen eggs a month. Local. I find it hard to find fully pastured chickens, but I do my best.
5. Chicken
6. Shrimp
7. For fats, I have ghee, rendered bacon fat, a gallon bucket of coconut oil, and olive oil.
8. Bacon, sometimes.
9. Pretty much whatever veggies look good, often bell peppers, red leaf lettuce, cucumber, squashes, zucchini...
10. Sometimes, I'll have potatoes (regular or sweet) and full fat greek yogurt, if I'm needing a boost somewhere.

I also buy young thai coconuts occasionally.

Two adults, one child - we spend about $250/week on groceries and we do not eat out.

We also eat mostly cafo meats unfortunately at present, as I am broke. Lately I've been reintroducing some cheaper starch foods to bring down our grocery bill (Rice noodles, potatoes, oats, and grits). I know it's not paleo. At this point, not caring because I have bills to pay.

But after the next few lifestyle changes I'm working on (moving to an apartment 1/2 my current rent, paying off a car payment), I'll be back where I need to be. Unless, of course, I end up just as healthy eating the rice fun noodles and other veggie carbs (so far, my lower GI has been punishing me with the PAIN TRAIN), I see no reason to not continue eating them. I am enjoying the strength gains from the extra carbs. Not enjoying fighting the binge urges after a high carb feed though...

About $300-350/mo. 2 adults, no kids. That's just grocery food items. We might spend...$40/month eating out. Tops. It helps when there are no good restaurants in our little town. We also live nowhere near a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Closest Sprouts is an hour away, and we shop there once a month for things we absolutely cannot get in our town (Kerrygold, quality fish, assorted real-food condiments, etc.)

Half that money is spend on animal foods between the local rancher, a sardine subscription off Amazon, and quality seafood here and there when I find it. Admittedly, though, I'm not 100% paleo (more like, WAPF without the huge emphasis on grains, beans, and raw milk. I eat those things, but on a more limited basis), but even with that small confounder, the cost difference is minimal (bag of potatoes is not much more expensive than a bag of beans).

Looking forward to a change in income in the next year. The idea of going to the grocery store without a strict list and a calculator sounds like bliss, but I'm still feeling pretty grateful because just three months ago our budget was only $200/month.

Last week I spent about $15. I mostly shop for myself but some of the food I share. I bought 2 whole chickens, a head of cauliflower, 1.5 pounds of turnips, celery, onion.

I cooked each of the chickens on the stove making a chicken soup which I shared. For 2 chickens I used the onion, half of my celery, pepper, and a couple seasoning I already had and some water.
I made some mashed turnips, steamed cauliflower, and mashed cauliflower, and celery sticks for my vegetables. Since I am the only one eating vegetables I have to be careful not to over buy and have some go bad.

This week I spent $12. I bought 3 lbs of ground beef, cauliflower (guess I am in the mood for cauliflower), celery, onion, mushroom, and spinach.

My meals look like spinach salad, maybe a paleo shepards pie, meat with sauteed onions and celery, some of the ground beef cooked with a can of no salt added stewed tomatoes that I have.  And of course leftovers.
When I buy strictly organic my shopping is more expensive.  I try to look at the store adds and figure out what store is the best overall value for the week and be realistic about how much I will use.  I prefer having to pick up a couple things during the week instead of wasting food.

My husband and I spend about the same each month. Stock items from Sprout's (we don't have Trader Joe's here :() plus veggies from the local CSA and meat from U.S. wellness (about 40 lbs a month) runs us close to $500. Then we usually spend about $400 eating out which, as you said, could definitley be lower. But hey, wine and tequila aren't cheap and neither is a restaurant steak!

Roughly 800-900 a month. 2 adults, just groceries. Would really like to get it down, though, more like 400-500 with a baby on the way.

Off hand, someone mentioned Costco for meats above -- are they carrying grass fed beef now? anyoine had luck getting meat from a local farm cheaper than can be gotten from whole paycheck or tj's? seem's to be a lower limit on ground beef of 5-7/lb

i don't even wanna know. i am the only one in my house that eats paleo- the other 3 eat SAD. my mom buys all the food and they do order pizza/hoagies once a week. there's also a subway or boston market run one night a week.

i'm sure my food is more expensive since i eat organic meats. my main thing is that i don't throw anything away. my family is ALWAYS throwing leftovers away or stuff they buy and throw in the fridge and never use. i keep track of everything my mom buys me, so i use that up before getting new food.