I'd rather pay more for food than pay more for prescriptions and doctor visits.

You can also save a lot of money by living in a tent under a bridge...

Yet many of the people who won't go paleo because of cost have no problem shelling out for digital cable, smart phone plans, big car payments, vacations, etc.

It's all about priorities.

the solution to meat theft is to encourage veganism so demand goes down. the thieves will steal mung beans instead.

and how about bringing back the butcher shop? would they steal from a person in bloody clothes carrying a cleaver?

Well I don't agree with the science or the solution posed in the article, but as a former vegetarian (15 years) and former vegan (2 years) I can tell you that eating Paleo style is much more expensive. Even to an extreme. When I was a veggie I ate whatever crap was out there as long as it wasn't meat (cheapest). When I was vegan, I went the expensive route and started shopping at Whole Foods. Being Paleo is about 1/3 more expensive than Whole Foods veganism. The meat has brought our grocery bill up $100 more per week.

I read a lot on various primal/paleo blogs that meat is among the CHEAPEST form of calories per capita. Vegetables are much more expensive because they are so sparse in calories. Never done the math though. Still, if it's true, it would be hard to make a vegetarianism is cheaper argument.

I haven't found all meats to be prohibitively expensive.

First off, the guy in the article cites the cost of premium cuts like NY Strip. Well durr, of course it's going to be costly! When was it ever cheap? Although I find that certain cuts that used to be cheap have risen slightly, and others, like lamb, have gone up enough that I don't buy it as often. Chicken is still inexpensive, organic livers are still $2/lb, and ground beef generally costs about the same. I'd say that my average weekly grocery costs are split 50/50 between meat and produce. Plus, I still have to buy non-food items like calcium supps, toothpaste, deodorant, facial lotion, hair stuff, etc about once a month. Since eating Paleo I've been more careful to plan my shopping, instead of just buying dinner on a whim every night. Although with all the rain we've been having here in FL, I did pick up some sushi last night for dinner (since going outside is like being underwater), along with a box of dates. Made for a tasty din-din, lol.

Perhaps cost depends upon which area of the country you live in? When you've only got Walmart Supercenter or Whole Foods to shop at, that doesn't leave you with very many options. And Walmart doesn't have great prices like they used to, so where does that leave shoppers? Butchers are few and far between (especially in suburban/metro areas), and meats come with the fat all trimmed off so stores can jack up the price.

I hope more people go vegetarian, that means more meat for me :D When there's a shortage in grains & beans due to droughts or natural disasters, don't come crying to me about it.

I have done both, and I'll tell you, being a natural-foods vegetarian is much cheaper. It is really unfair to make a comparison between a packaged-food vegetarian and paleo, since so few paleo foods are packaged.