What's your monthly (allergen free) food budget?

[FairyRae]

There have been multiple threads in the TF forum about monthly food budgets. I'm just wondering what you all spend (on average) for food each month. I realize this is a pretty personal question, but this has just got me wondering. Food is absolutely our biggest expense in our home (although we do not spend much on anything else--we have a small 1 bedroom apt with pretty low rent for our area and our few other bills are not very much). I think we spend far more $ on food eating allergen free (mostly unprocessed, whole) foods than we did prior to cutting out allergens...(and it is worth every penny IMO! )

So, how much, on average, do you all spend on food a month (for how many folks)? And if you spend money on supps, how much would you say you spend on those monthly as well? I'd say we spend between $500-600 on food a month for 3 people, and this is most likely including some of our supps (we do mostly whole food 'supps' anyway).

TIA for any responses! I've just been curious about this and wondering if folks avoiding various allergens spent a significant amount more than others...

[lil_miss_understood]

TOO MUCH.
Seriously, I think we spend between $800-1000 for 5 people- including a 4 mo and a 2.5 yo. However, I probably eat about 3500 calories per day (about enough for 2 people).
I should (hopefully) have a better idea in a month or so. I'm just now starting my cost assessment of our menu plan.

eta: cost assessment will be followed by cost cutting measures

e(again)ta: we're gluten, dairy, egg, nut, peanut, coconut and berry free. low/limited soy/goitrogen, banana, amaranth

[p1gg1e]

Our bill is about $600. We were at $500 but had to up it. Its so expensive.

We are DF/GF.

[crunchy_mama]

My current budget is $300. However, I do have grassfed chickens in the freezer that I bought this summer- that works out to about $50 month. I get free eggs from my mom- which saves me $10 month. Bulk items I have purchased or will purchase add about another $50 or so a month. Like this month I am placing a $350 Azure Order- $100 will come out of my grocery budget but the rest will be from dh getting some overtime and selling some things around here. Our budget will be increasing to $350 mo come January, but things are extra tight right now due to medical bills- mostly being the upcoming birth of this baby. We have no big splurges, other than netflix at $10- no satellite or cell phones- I don't spend money on myself- the kids are in handmedowns or yardsales clothes that were $1 or less. Our bills are a mortgage- phone/internet- car insurance and electricty. It is just that a good portion of our income is going to the medical bills ie about 25% (which we would have covered w/ savings but dh had to have unexpected surgery and wiped that out with our high ded. ins) which on top of our 401k and health ins/life ins taken off the top doesn't leave much. I am hoping that dh has good luck hunting deer this year as I would like that and the chicken to be the sole source of our meat. Right now we eat 1/3 conventional meat, 1/3 vegetarian and 1/3 grassfed chicken for protein. However, all our fat is nice and wonderful- CO, grassfed tallow, evoo, and grapeseed oil. I had horrible luck gardening this year being big and pregnant, I was just lazy, but hope for more luck next year.

Our diet is gf/df/sf- and I try to keep as grainfree as I can. I do low sals for the kids and try to keep to a Feingoldish diet for the kids as well- they don't tolerate things like apples, almonds, or berries well.
There is 4 of us currently with #5 on the way.

[kjbrown92]

Mine was $600/month when they're were 4 of us, regular food. With 5 of us, 3 with food intolerances, the bill is $900-$1200/month (I'm trying to keep it to under $800/month -- goal I haven't attained yet).

We are gluten, corn, soy, dairy free PLUS we're on a 4-day rotation, plus DS and DD2 can't have a lot of the same things (DD2 can't have beef, DS can't have chicken or turkey, DS can't have rice though I think he's getting that one back, DS can't have cane sugar, DD2 can't have beet sugar or honey, you get the idea).

Supplements run another $150-200/month I think (DS is on two from the osteopath plus Vitamin C, I'm on anti-inflammatory, Vitamin D, and 2 from the osteopath, plus Travacor, DH is on fish oil). I just ordered Vitamin D drops for the kids too.

[lil_miss_understood]

I don't even want to think about supplement costs.

[mamafish9]

We eat really well, very local, and we invest a lot in our food. Before dealing with allergies, about $700-800 a month for the four of us (including supps). Now, about $1200-$1400 a month (including supps - DS has some very expensive ones, but they're working very well, so for now, he stays on them).

I'm massively hoping the dairy trial we just started works - ironically, fresh local raw cow's milk would actually save us a LOT of money, if it could replace the goat's milk and alternative milks we are drinking.

We're also eating more meat right now (since DS seems happiest on a high meat diet), and we buy local pastured meat. We're about to buy a freezer and a side of beef, however - that should cut our meat costs in about half. And DS is starting to tolerate beans better, so we will be able to eat beans more often (something we used to do a lot, which also keeps costs down).

It has felt kind of insane to spend all this money, I'll be very glad to start getting some of it under control. It's been hard, because we can't really buy in bulk or anything because his reactions have been changing so much. I also expect he'll be nursing less through the coming year, so by next summer, I'm thinking he may be weaned. If he's still gluten or dairy free or corn free at that point, I'll probably cook special for him, instead of having the whole house eat that way - e.g. make him gluten free bread, but not all of us. He's not sensitive to trace or cross contamination, so that would also cut costs.

And we can't spend $100s of dollars on supps a month long term, but I think we're doing some good healing right now - I see it as a short term intervention, with a more basic set of supps long term. And once I'm not nursing him (and taking expensive supps myself to pass to him), that will cut back on the supps costs as well.

But it is crazy...

[crunchy_mama]

Oh, I don't really buy supplements anymore- save for fclo, SA and epsom salts(those come out of the grocery budget). I got tired of chasing rabbit holes. However, we have had wonderful improvement from listening to our bodies and chasing the whole foods route, so that works for us so that is what I do. My body says I need low/no grains/ no sugar- no gluten/dairy/soy and lots of veggies- especially leafy greens- having my diet like that has given me 100x return over any supplements. So, that is what we do.

[FairyRae]

Ok...that's more like it! We are gluten/dairy/corn/soy free, and I was feeling a bit crazy reading about folks spending just $200 a month on food for their families. (And I feel for those families!! I cannot imagine it!) I know I feel like I am pinching pennies each month to get the most good food for my money (and we eat a pretty TF diet, making everything from scratch, etc.) so I was shocked to read a/b folks spending so much less...

But I feel much more sane knowing how much all of you are spending!!

Thanks for the replies!!!!

[Chloe'sMama]

We are just gluten and wheat free, but I do try and buy mostly organic. My budget was $300 per month, but I just upped it to just around $400 a month.

It is me and DH and DD (15 months). That is including all supplements for all of us as well.

I can say that it has been much more expensive since going GF.

[deditus]

I don't know for sure but I think it is a minimum of $700 for me, dh, and 3 yo dd. We are gluten, dairy, and soy free, egg free I guess (I keep trialing them and they keep failing but I think I will try to rotate since it takes a few weeks for a build-up reaction). DH eats tons of eggs though, but I will only buy from local farmers which means they are like $4/dozen and he eats 3-4 a day. He's a garbage man and needs the protein and wakes up at 4:10 am and wants something quick. He takes pb & j on millet bread for lunch.
This is spent on
CSA: $72 (we qualified for a subsidy so the value of this is really $112)
Farmer direct meat: $70 (6 lbs grassfed ground beef and 4 fat pastured chickens)
Breakfast meat from co-op (Beeler's): $80 (uh I eat 20g of protein in bacon or sausage every day for breakfast or my life falls apart)
Farmers market: $40+
Trader Joe's: $40+
Co-op: $300+
Azure: $75+
A few regular grocery store trips thrown in once in a while for bananas or dd's frozen mango addiction, and to the gluten free store in the next town every once in awhile. We also had a small garden this year.
So this doesn't really include supps except now that Azure is carrying fclo that will be convenient! I think we spend an additional $100/month on supps. Dd has been taking the Klaire Labs probiotic and that is AWESOME for her so we are keeping that up for now -that's $28/month, I ordered some Klaire chewable enzymes for her to try instead of Houston so that will be $25/month instead of the $50 we were spending. I am pretty sure we spend about a third of our income on food. It is crazy. We will have a little extra money coming up soon and I think we may be getting a freezer so we can get our meat in bulk, there is a farm around here that uses gluten free spices, I think the wife is gluten free.

[terrabella]

Originally Posted by JacquelineR

TOO MUCH.
Seriously, I think we spend between $800-1000 for 5 people- including a 4 mo and a 2.5 yo. However, I probably eat about 3500 calories per day (about enough for 2 people).

Six people. Gluten and dairy-free, organic and vegetarian. It's expensive for us.

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by FairyRae

Ok...that's more like it! We are gluten/dairy/corn/soy free, and I was feeling a bit crazy reading about folks spending just $200 a month on food for their families. (And I feel for those families!! I cannot imagine it!) I know I feel like I am pinching pennies each month to get the most good food for my money (and we eat a pretty TF diet, making everything from scratch, etc.) so I was shocked to read a/b folks spending so much less...

But I feel much more sane knowing how much all of you are spending!!

Thanks for the replies!!!!

If you can afford it then I say feel no guilt! If I had the money I would spend it in a heartbeat! We would be eating less beans, more organics and wider variety of fruit and veggies- as it is right now we are stuck to cheap basics- carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, kale, beets, celery and some frozen plain mixed veggies. I am lucky that I have good chicken in my freezer though and can get local pork(make my own sausage) for $2lb that is our b-fast meat. Eat well, be happy!

[WC_hapamama]

We're mostly just peanut, tree nut, sesame and shellfish free... we buy dairy free stuff especially for dd, but not for the entire family necessarily.

The only specialty products we buy on a regular basis are Sunbutter, soy/rice milks, and soy/coconut yogurts. Occasionally I buy Enjoy Life chocolate bars for DD, or a box of Cherrybrook Kitchens cookies, or a pack of Divvies, but not really on a regular basis.

Getting egg, soy and wheat back made a BIG difference.

[LaurieG]

$600/ month for 5 of us - but only DD and I are on a special diet at the moment. That doesn't include supplements which are at least $100 for everything we do.

We buy whatever we can at the local farmer's market so that helps.

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

If you can afford it then I say feel no guilt! If I had the money I would spend it in a heartbeat!

I am fortunate to be receiving over $300 in FS a month, and supplement that w/ my own income. I really think I could find ways to spend even more on food if I had it at my fingertips!

ETA: It's not that I feel *guilty*--I just felt kind of crazy for a moment reading about food budgets b/c we spend so much more than others... I REALLY think purchasing allergen free foods is a huge part of it (even when we are buying mostly whole, unprocessed foods, etc.--to get certified GF grains etc. just costs more, yk?)

And, I do hope to purchase some kind of a freezer when we've got the space b/c I think buying meat in bulk from local farmers [who are abundant in my area--luckily] could save us a lot on meat as well...Building up a supply of various bulk foods is something I'm hoping to do at some point...just slowly...

[Alyantavid]

We spend $300-$400 a month for our family of 4. That includes all household stuff as well.

We eat mainly in season, local, organics. We raise most of our own produce and meat. The only specialty stuff we buy is rice milk, tofutti cream cheese and nondairy "butter". The boys are dairy free, dh and I do eat dairy.

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by FairyRae

And, I do hope to purchase some kind of a freezer when we've got the space b/c I think buying meat in bulk from local farmers [who are abundant in my area--luckily] could save us a lot on meat as well...Building up a supply of various bulk foods is something I'm hoping to do at some point...just slowly...

Yes, the bulk buying saves soooo much money!! We bulk buy our chickens and have for a while, but I am just getting ready to make my first bulk dry good order since going gf. When we first went gf a year ago I wasn't for sure what we would like or actually use, so mostly I have just bought family small amount of things. I am so glad we have gotten into somewhat of a groove now, besides the money saved it saves so much time and effort to have it all. I see our food bill continually going down as we seek out more bulk sources.

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

I see our food bill continually going down as we seek out more bulk sources.

That's awesome! And wonderful to hear!

Now I just need to put aside some cash for those bulk purchases...

[fyrebloom]

When we were peanut/treenut and low milk we were spending $400-$600/month for our family of 6. Now that we're also GF it's more like $800-$1000. We try to eat beans 1-2 times a week, learning to love rice. Cheap stuff that's still safe and healthy. I do get alot of organics and not alot of processed stuff but the organic produce is all co-op and about the same as conventionally grown stuff at the grocery. The other big perk of eating this way is I used to be a HUGE fastfood junkie and now I can't eat at those places at all. That's a huge cost savings for us and all in all we're probably only spending a little more for food in general then we used to. We're all GF and all avoid peanuts and treenuts at home at least.