There seems to be a general consensus that it costs more to go paleo, which is really not the case. My boyfriend and I live with four other people, and they, and all our other friends, seem to pay more than us. The photo above shows our groceries from last week. We got our fruits and veg from Subiaco Farmer's Market, and the meat and dairy from Farmer Jack's/Wholefood Jack's.

This week's meal:

Monday

Breakfast

Me: Juice

Him: Protein Shake

Lunch

Me: Ribs leftover from dinner on Sunday

Him: Nothing for him, so he had lunch outside with friends

Dinner

Both: Shepherd's Pie

Dessert

Both: Fruit Salad with Yoghurt

Tuesday

Breakfast

Me: Juice

Him: Protein Shake

Lunch

Both: Shepherd's Pie leftover

Dinner

Both: Barbecued Meat

Dessert

Both: Fruit Salad with Yoghurt

Wednesday

Breakfast

Me: Juice

Him: Protein Shake

Lunch

Both: Shepherd's Pie leftover

Dinner

Both: Barbecued Meat leftover

Dessert

Both: Blueberry Cobbler

Thursday

Breakfast

Me: Juice

Him: Protein Shake

Lunch

Both: Shepherd's Pie leftover

Dinner

Both: Barbecued Meat leftover + Chicken Breast with Sweet Potato Salad

Both: Fruit Salad with Yoghurt

Friday

Breakfast

Me: Juice

Him: Protein Shake

Lunch

Me: Free lunch provided at work

Him: Whatever is left in the fridge

We don't normally go Subiaco every week, probably once every fortnight, so those fruits would last us two weeks. The chicken breast is also something we had in the freezer so we didn't buy them this week. We came home and asked our housemates to guess how much we spent, and one of them guessed $200! All up, in fact, only cost us $110 this week. Our shopping ranges from $70-$110 depending on what we have leftover from the previous week.

It may look a bit bland, but the food is delicious, and I do normally cook twice a week, so we have a bit of variety. Considering it costs about $5 to get a fresh juice, 10 days of juice alone would cost around $50. So this is really not that costly. Some people we know spend around $100 a week (and they eat alone), and others spend $50 per trip (for one meal). I don't cook on weekends, apart from breakfasts so we either eat out or my boyfriend would cook up some meat on the barbecue.

So there you go... going paleo is not that expensive especially if you know where to shop. I do admit we usually also only shop the sale items. So instead of planning our shopping around the menu, we plan our menu around the shopping. Not only do you have to eat smart, you have to shop smart!

Of course, having your own vege patch also helps with the cost ;)