Affordable Paleo

Just a quick post here.  I braved the Sunday crowds today and went to Costco, Winco and Whole Foods.  Quite the opposites on the spectrum of costs and paleo options (Winco vs. Whole Foods).  For example, this is the type of people you run in to at Winco:

Anyways, back to my point here.  Following a true paleo diet, in which everything you eat is locally grown, grass fed, additive free can be very expensive.  So just like I use the 80/20 rule when decided when I'm going to eat paleo and when I might cheat, I follow the same rule, or similar rule, when buying my groceries each week.  While it's closer to 50/50, I still try to invest on the things I think are worth the money and save on other areas to make up for it.

So for example, today I went to Winco and bought some of the dairy products we add in (cottage cheese, whip cream) as well as bulk almonds and some veggies.  Now I know that organic veggies are better than normal, however to my next point.  I then went to Whole Foods where I bought all of the meat we would be eating (except the ground Turkey).  I ended up spending more money at Whole Foods for half the amount of items as I did at Winco, however at the end of the day splitting my groceries between the two places ended up costing the same as if I had gone to Safeway.  However I ended up with grass fed beef, uncured bacon, ketchup that literally has no sugar and a few other items that will be staples to the meals I make this week.

Had I done all my shopping at Whole Foods I'd need a second job.  So I decided what was worth the higher costs and what wasn't and split my grocery list accordingly.  Just one way to help make paleo eating more affordable.