Dimes and Dollars

This is a very touchy subject... money. It is the root of all evil, but seems to make the world go round. In 2012 a Gallup pole reported that the average American spent an average of $151 on food per week. Food, is a subject that Zack and I have decided not to skimp on because it is the core of health and well being (not to mention good food tastes darn good). Someone said something to the two of us that really got me thinking about the amount of money that the two of us spend on food each month. They said, "I don't have the money to be a food snob like ya'll." This was said in a jokingly manner but the wheels started turning in my head. How much do we really spend on food each month? Are we below average or above?

Produce:
For most of the year we are members of a CSA. Each weekly distribution of local organic produce comes out to be about $20 per week. On top of what I grow and put away we really don't buy much produce in the store.
$20x4weeks= $80 per month

Weekly CSA share

Dairy:
I buy Daisy sour cream in store. There usually isn't an organic option so I go with Daisy because it is just cream and cultures, here it costs about $2 for a pound. I also buy cream cheese because it's a weakness of mine for $3.50. I normally go with Kerrygold butter with is about $4 a 1/2 pound, which usually lasts us close to a month. We don't drink a lot of milk, but when we do, it comes from the farm for $3 a gallon. Sometimes I will get cream from the farm to make butter, but I started doing the math and because this farm's cows do not produce a lot of butter fat, like a jersey would, the yield of butter from a gallon of cream is very low. It really come out to be more economical to purchase high quality butter from grass fed cows.
$4+$3.50+$3= $10.50 per month

Meat:
We bought a whole grass fed/no antibiotic cow about 2 years ago. If my brain serves me right, the whole thing with butchering a packaging end up being about $1200. We got close to 600 pound of meat (I think... I don't really remember but that sounds right). We got half and Zack's parents bought the other half. Zack and I eat beef probably close to 5 days a week and the half of a cow lasted almost 2 years. Zack's parents on the other hand, did not like the taste of the meat, so we ended up buying what they had left back from them. So we should have enough beef to last close to another year.
This one is tricky but I think it comes out to be: $1200/36months=$33 per month (roughly)

Our whole cow 

Ok. So that's a run down of what we purchase typically. Lets run some numbers:
$80 for produce
$10.50 for produce
$33 for meat
Total: $123.50 per month.

These numbers are not exact by any stretch, but it's a rough estimate of the bulk of what we buy and eat each month. Flour, sugar, and other staples were not really factored in because I buy those in bulk and that last me awhile. Also, the amount tends to fluctuate depending on the amount of produce we get each week and how much I grow. Since we also have the chickens we have not purchased eggs in the store for over 2 years. I'm pretty proud of this number considering that Zack and I have become "food snobs" and are really particular about what we purchase and consume. As my hero Joel Salatin put it, "“If you think organic food is expensive, have you priced cancer lately?” Nourishing foods don't have to break the bank. Small steps make all the difference. Joining a CSA can help to cut the cost of organic, buying in bulk, or having a small herb garden or a few vegetable plants in you flower bed are steps in the right direction in driving down your food bill each month and steps towards self reliance.