The Organic Grocery Challenge was in danger of being discontinued when I realized I would need to follow not just a Paleo diet but a Paleo Auto Immune diet AND rotate my foods strictly so I don’t get any more intolerances. Add in a trial period of being gluten free, and our thrifty options that usually included bread, started to diminish
As a compromise, my husband and I decided to limit our spending to no more than the USDA’s low cost budget for a family our size, which is $203.30 a week. (Read my full explanation here.)
Obviously, I hope to stay well under the $203.30 per week, but still, we recognize that food is medicine, especially with my long road to healing, so we are willing to slash other areas of our budget so we can eat healthy, nourishing food.
This particular 6 week period of grocery shopping was very expensive because we bought our 1/2 side of beef and also bought the different cuts of meat that I will be rotating every week.
After I figured out how much our beef costs per pound when we buy it from my cousin’s husband’s farm, I realized that the meat CSA is actually significantly more expensive. We are signed up for the CSA through May, but after that, I will buy beef and pork from my cousin’s husband and the rest of our meat through both US Wellness Meats and Grass Fed Traditions. (Thus far I have been very pleased with the quality of meat and service from both companies.)
Just a heads up, the grocery challenge will be posted every Thursday from here on out. I also will include some pictures of the food that we eat during the week. That will start next week.
$203 is actually a pretty good budget. That’s for 4 people right? Good luck!
It is for 5 people. 🙂