Where do you scrimp/splurge in your TF food budget?

[ginnybee]

We're having to make cutbacks in our food budget and are realizing that we simply can't afford to eat an ideal TF diet. (Seattle is expensive!) Wondering where you cut back and where you feel it is worth it to spend more. My husband thinks we should quit buying raw milk (7.99/half gallon), but NT seems to say that good raw dairy is the last place to cut back. Should I scrimp on the eggs? Cheaper butter and cheese? Start buying conventional produce (except for the "dirty dozen")? Are there things you feel better about buying conventional over organic?

(We've been eating local, whole foods for a while but are still fairly new to TF. Also, our freezer is stocked with enough beef and salmon for 3 meals a week, so we've got some good protein on hand already.)

[Magelet]

We don't do raw dairy. We could not afford it. we do non homogenzed mostly grassfed pastured in season milk and cream. Dirty dozen organic produce. Pastured eggs, pastured dairy, pastured red meat. Organic chicken though I need more animal protein while eggs are scarce so weay get some cheaper meat. 1 big roast a week isn't quite working for me no. Even if we stretch it several days with leftovers.
How much other stuff would you be sacrificing for you raw milk? Btw I personally think good fats are most important rather than milk. So if you can get grassfed non homogenized regular not ultra pasturized milk I'd drop the raw but keep good butter eggs and meats. You can always have raw eggs and meat for raw animal protein.

[deditus]

Our main concession is on produce: if we can't afford to buy organic for the dirty dozen, then we do without, but buy liberally of things not on the dirty dozen list. Especially in the Upper Midwest in winter. We eat lots of squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, brussels sprouts, etc.

I will not waver on meat, it is the main part of our diet since we have food intolerances to work around, including no eggs (for dd and I, dh does in 3 doz a week, though). We have pastured pork, beef, and chicken in the freezer.

If we could have dairy, I would do a minimal amount and kefir it to use primarily as a probiotic supplement, and I would go with good butter since it has the most concentrated nutrients and drop other dairy.

[JoyMC]

i'm in the Seattle area, too. we used to get our milk from Seabreeze Farm and pay $8/half gallon, but now we use the Kenmore Milk Shed. are you familiar with them? raw milk from Dungeness Valley Creamery (the same one Whole Foods sells) is $4.20/half gallon. now, the caveat is just this week she started having issues with the health department and will probably be moving operations to Lynnwood to be in Snohomish County where they won't bug her. she has grass-fed beef for $3/pound, too! google the website or PM me for more info. i'm guessing she's not taking anyone new on just while it all gets sorted out, but it's a future possibility.

money is super tight for us, too, but i've found that i'd rather cut back in other ways than sacrifice any of our food budget. use baking soda and vinegar for household cleaning, buy all our clothes at Value Village, make simpler meals, etc. make bread, yogurt, stock from scratch. use cloth for pretty much everything we used to buy disposable. etc.

[ginnybee]

Wow, the Kenmore Milk Shed sounds like a dream come true. I'm emailing them right away - I found a cached copy of the website. The regular one is shut down, so it's probably a future thing. I have seen two other local brands of raw milk - one at 6.99/half-gal and the other one you mentioned at Whole Foods. B/c I'm pregnant, I'm a little more skittish about buying raw milk from folks I haven't personally met (like the Sea Breeze Farm folks, who I've chatted up many times at the Farmer's Mkt.)

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions. I already thrift, make homemade cleaners, homemade yogurt, bread, etc. I could stand to do more planning ahead and bulk cooking on the weekends - that would save us some $$$.

[wife2jason]

Good question. We are still new to this way of eating, thus haven't converted all areas, but I don't think we can afford to at this point.

I do conventional milk for cultured dairy (yogurt and kefir making). Seems like I read even NT suggests that as a place to save. The raw we reserve for drinking straight. A bulk Coconut Oil purchase makes up most of my baking fat but I still use conventional butter when I use butter.

Just really getting edcuated about meat. Hopefully next year we can do a portion of a cow but it'll be organic as I find it on sale for now.

Hoping to squeeze more out of our little garden with the next planting!

[PeggyinNC]

If you don't use Azure Standard, you might want to check them out. Their selection and prices are amazing. In Seattle, you won't have to pay shipping, either. I live in North Carolina, so I do pay shipping, and it is still cheaper than anyone else for so many things, especially bulk Rapadura and stuff. I wish I was on their route and didn't have to pay shipping, I'd get just about everything there~

[FairyRae]

I've found really amazing (less expensive) local sources for a lot of food. As far as meat meat (not poultry) goes, I really splurge. BUT, my grass-fed meat guy is awesome, and I get patured pork (my new fave food)--chops, sausage, bacon--for not too much money at all. (His beef is really expensive so I don't buy that.) He also sells pastured chicken livers way cheap so I buy those. I also have an amazing farmer's market that is year-round, so get the majority of my fruits/veggies there--lots are local, some are organic. I go for local produce first then organic if I can get it, but don't stress too much over it. I also get amazing free range (orange, fabulous yolks ) eggs there for $2 a dozen. The produce, eggs, and even raw local honey I buy there is all WAY cheaper than similar products at the grocery store, which really helps me w/ budgeting.

We are gluten, dairy and more free. When I was getting lots of grains I typically did not buy organic rice, etc. Just conventional. I splurge on good fats like CO. I buy organic, 'free range' chicken legs w/ skin for cheap at the grocery market, but will also buy antibiotic/hormone free skinless poultry. I'll skimp on poultry where needed and eat it lean, adding other good fats to it. Nuts/seeds i buy in bulk, conventional. So, I guess I splurge on animal foods b/4 plant foods.

My best 'advice' is to look for local sources of your food--cut out the middleman and save $ while eating even more nutrient dense food! Good luck!

[fruitfulmomma]

I would start with the produce. Nina Planck talks about how pesticides work themselves up the food chain, so that if you are eating animals that consume other animals that would be the most important place to get good quality, then veg animals, then produce. Does that makes sense? I can't remember exactly how she said it.

[wife2jason]

Originally Posted by PeggyinNC

If you don't use Azure Standard, you might want to check them out. Their selection and prices are amazing. In Seattle, you won't have to pay shipping, either. I live in North Carolina, so I do pay shipping, and it is still cheaper than anyone else for so many things, especially bulk Rapadura and stuff. I wish I was on their route and didn't have to pay shipping, I'd get just about everything there~

I had written off Azure Standard b/c of the shipping (not on route). Thanks for mentioning this. Will look further into it. I do go through SomethingNaturalBetterFoods and United Foods co-ops.

Also appreciate the encouragement to look for local sources. It's exciting to find such!

[Straggletag]

We "scrimp" everywhere. It's not poverty, more of a hobby. First we fish three seasons and forage a lot. We're in an urban area, but still bring in all our summer fruit and garbage bags full of greens that last year round. My husband is completing his hunter safety and will be hunting with my father (needed a new hunting buddy) next year. Cost to us of the meat? Shells and license.

Then we garden. We have an apartment and we're too lazy to hoof it to the community plots, but we take in a nice haul. For my husband's birthday we'll be getting some dwarf citrus and other exotic houseplants to pad that out.

Finally, I love to barter. I've gotten game meat in exchange for our mushroom hunting skills (we're really not great at it, and we stick to the unmistakable stuff), and cheese for editing. For web design we've gotten free restaurant meals, of course where we got to eat was limited to the one restaurant.

Failing that, I cut back cross the board by upping the quantity of starch and legume we're eating, which is more or less what they do in traditional cultures. We eat sweet potatoes and organ meats a lot, and I get my eggs from a different farm, which are not as awesome, but still head and shoulders above storebought. Apartment or not, I'm thinking of getting a laying hen.