The Prudent Pantry: Can You Save Money on the Paleo Diet?

^{By HTO (Own work (own photo)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons}

The Paleolithic, or Primal, Diet has been gaining popularity lately. People seem to be pretty divided about its health benefits, but I was curious how it holds up financially.

First, what is the Paleo diet? In short (and this is surely an oversimplification), it is the foods our primal ancestors would have had access to--in other words, mostly meat, vegetables and tree nuts. Grains and legumes are avoided, as is anything processed and fruits are kept to a minimum.

Initially, I thought it would be impossible for a meat-heavy diet to be budget-conscious. I've written many times about the benefits of eating vegetarian or vegan, even for just one or two meals a week. But I suspect that it's possible to eat Paleo without spending more--though the jury is out on whether you can actually save money.

Meat is expensive. If you find cheap meat, you get what you're paying for: inferior cuts from animals most likely treated with growth hormones in a factory-type setting. Meat from animals raised on humane ranches is increasingly harder to find, and the cost is appropriate to the additional work that goes into raising it. However, it is possible to shop smart. Go to farmer's markets or butchers rather than grocery stores if possible; buy whole chickens, rather than pieces, and roast whole or cut them up yourself; look for a CSA-type arrangement that includes meat; or find a ranch that will sell you a quarter, half, or entire cow or pig.

Grain-based foods are not typically expensive, but they can really add up. A package of pasta might just be a dollar, but how many are you buying at a time? What about bread, crackers, chips, cereals, cookies, pretzels, rice, and tortillas? I suspect that eliminating all or most of those items from your grocery list would leave plenty of money to put toward meat. Plus you'll save money by skipping canned beans and the like.

As for vegetables, 25-50% of your grocery budget should already be produce. There's no reason for that to change on this diet.

I'm not necessarily endorsing the Paleo diet. It has a lot of aspects that could be problematic, and is nearly impossible for a vegetarian to live on without some major modifications. But is it a budget-conscious choice? I think it can be.

Annika Barranti is a writer living in Los Angeles and blogging for the Savings.com personal finance blog as well as her personal blog, Through the Looking Glass. She and her husband are raising two children and trying to eat well on a tiny budget.