Weston Price on a budget?

[LauraN]

Forgive me if this has been discussed elsewhere, but for those of you on a budget, how do you afford raw milk, raw cheese and butter?

I just ordered small amounts of those three items to try and they nearly broke the bank! $6 for 1/2 gallon of milk, $8 for a chunk of cheese, and $8 for a tub of butter. Those prices are actually OK, given that our local contact has to travel several hours north to find them. But with the price of gas and all, the delivery fee was $30! DH nearly choked when he went to pick up the food and had to pay $52! He didn't stop talking about it the whole way home.

So I guess it makes it better if you buy in bulk--enough for a month at a time--so you only pay the delivery fee once. But even with all that, I don't know if DH is convinced that the health benefits are worth the expense.

I know that what makes supermarket food cheap is the mass production, which in turn makes it unhealthy. I get all that. I just don't see how we can add that kind of expense to our budget...

Is it possible to eat good meat, eggs, milk, cheese and butter without breaking the bank (short of starting our own farm, that is)?

For produce, I've joined a local organic CSA, so that's actually not much more expensive than the supermarket... But the other stuff--man!

[nicolelynn]

I totally understand. With our current budget crunch I just get milk raw. I get Kerrygold butter and cheese, which are at least grass-fed and cultured...even if they are pasturized. It's only $2.29 for 8 oz of butter and $3.89 for 8 oz of cheese...so that balances out the budget spending almost $8 for 1/2 gallon of raw milk.

[pampered_mom]

: We're paying $4/gallon for raw milk which is super cheap compared to what other areas pay. It's going up to $5/gallon which seems to be the going rate in the state we live in. That being said the butter, cream, and cheese are too pricey for us. We occassionally get some as a special treat, but can't afford to do so on a regular basis.

As for delivery...we don't pay a fee or anything. We actually have a trip share going with a couple of other families. Everyone takes turns driving to pick it up.

We have a pretty small food budget at the moment so more often than not we have to make choices that involve trade-offs. Buying in bulk (like getting a 1/4 cow/steer) also helps.

[quietserena]

I don't do raw milk half the time because I didn't have a regular source so I did VAT pasteurized, non-homogenized organic milk and butter of the same brand. (HyVee, if you have one nearby.)

That might be an option for you. Raw is of course better but sometimes it's really hard to find and gets quite expensive.

[Lymeade Lady]

We do raw milk. But we get store bought organic, cultured butter. But it's for pancakes and such. We cook with EV Coconut Oil if the recipe calls for any oil or butter.

And we eat normal cheese in limited proportions. I just can't afford to do otherwise. And I can't get it raw anyway where I get my milk.

We eat venison that my dad hunted and gave us.

We don't eat processed food, so that cuts down on the bill and balances it out. We rarely eat out.

We don't need to pay doctor's bills! Well, actually we do pay them as I'm recovering my health and going to the naturopath, but I feel like the diet is cheaper and more effective than what she could give me, so it's a good investment. But my kids aren't often sick.

[blueridgewoman]

We kind of front load our budget..... So, we just sold a car and got a tax refund, so I bought 1/2 a cow, paid for our raw milk through July, and bought a huge family share (there are only two of us, the share feeds five, so we'll have plenty to freeze, etc) in a CSA through November. So that way, most of our food is already paid for and we can just do our thing for a few months and save money for the next things which will be paid for in advance and so on. We save a lot of money buying in bulk this way and finding CSAs, buying clubs, etc.

I do understand, though, that our situation is sort of unique. Starting without enough money to do this would be really difficult and unfortunately, I don't have answers for that!

[WildIris]

Honestly, at those prices, I don't know if it would be worth it to me. Do you get your stuff from the sea breeze organic folks up in Ft Pierce?

[LauraN]

It comes from Live Oak, I believe. There's a guy who buys everything, drives it down here to Miami and gets it to us. I guess the prices are fair, given what we're getting (he makes sure cows are pastured and fed nothing but green grass, etc) and the butter is super high quality, and really a beautiful color.

I'll look up Sea Breeze Organics. Maybe that'll be more affordable?

[WildIris]

I was going to say, I would not get it from the sea breeze folks. I was visiting FL recently and was going to get some foods from them but their prices were outrageous, and they were secretive and rude to boot. I went to local health food stores instead and heard from several places that they don't have a good reputation for quality or good customer service. It made me glad I didn't end up giving my money to them. I was just going to say, if you got your foods from them, be careful. :-)

[Junegoddess]

If you have the freezer space, I would recommend stocking up on that good butter. I don't know how big the tub is, but if it's really good... it's worth it. Grassfed magicky goodness... and it's concentrated into little tubs of golden deliciousness. LOL
If you could place one big order for it, you would make the most of the delivery fee.

I recently ordered some Anchor butter (from New Zealand) because it was on sale. It's DIVINE. Now I'm stuck wanting more, but not wanting to ship it from the other side of the planet. But, yeah... good butter is a health supplement.