Now how much would you pay?

By Julie Cummins

At the risk of being viewed as obsessive-compulsive, I'll share with you something I did this past week. Well, yeah, I ate almost exclusively food that was grown and produced within 100 miles of my home. But that wasn't the most obsessive part. I also kept a notebook of my meals and made meticulous calculations of how much they cost.

I'd heard people doubting that eating local could be done on a budget. I've heard this kind of lament before, working at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco. It's true that some local, organic food can cost more than supermarket produce (which is often imported from nations with much cheaper labor and looser environmental laws), but you can also find quite reasonably priced produce at the farmers' market.

I was curious to see how much eating local would cost.

For my experiment, I didn't shop for what was cheapest. I bought what I wanted, as long as it was local. To me, what's most important is to enjoy what's in season and to get fresh food from a local farmer I feel good about supporting. I'd rather skimp on entertainment or clothes or toys than on food.

During the first seven days of the challenge I spent $58.40, for an average of $8.34 per day. To give you an idea of what I ate, here's the menu that came closest to the average cost:

Breakfast:
smoothie (milk, strawberries, honey)
Lunch:
chicken
potatoes with butter
chard with balsamic vinegar
Snacks:
apple with almond butter
dried nectarines and apricots
Dinner:
potato, leek, and sorrel soup
Dessert:
honey whole wheat cookies
mint tea

I thought $8.34 was pretty good, since one could easily spend that on a single meal, or on 2.5 lattes.

But just for comparison, I did a little research. I stopped in at that place of my childhood, you know, the burger place with the goofy redhead clown. I added up the price of a day of their food: egg and ham on muffin with OJ for breakfast, Asian salad for lunch, and a double cheeseburger and fries for dinner: $9.68.

I knew this comparison was apples vs. oranges, so I did some more research on the average American's food budget. The average American spends $8.48 a day on food (in a one-person household). So I came in a little under average, even though I shopped in the second most expensive city in the country.

I've lived on much less; I remember when ramen or mac & cheese could go a long way. Sometimes they still do. But my palate has gotten more demanding and so has my desire to be an informed consumer. I think about more than just the price of my food; I also consider the costs and benefits--social, environmental, and personal gratification (let's face it; I can't go without chocolate forever! But maybe I can look for fair-trade chocolate). For more on the external costs of our food system, go here and here.

I know that some people still can't afford the $8.34 per day. There are also people (myself included) who don't always have the time to cook all their own meals--or the know-how. But with a little shopping around and a friend to help, anyone can put a little local food on their plate.

Julie Cummins lives in Oakland, California and is the Director of Education for CUESA, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture.

Comments

[Sarah (Mrs. Irani)]

Wow! That is great! I imagine that we pay MUCH more than that. We budget $100 a week for two people. I feel like that is really expensive, but we believe that eating well is essential to living well, so we cut back on other things. What a great experiment.

[Laurie O]

Thanks for this post - it was much needed! In my case I already knew that my overall food bill had not changed since I began seriously shopping the farmer's markets for most of my food, but sometimes you have to take the leap to understand. For me, it is a matter of looking at the whole picture, and not just what this individual item and that might cost.

[VI]

Julie, I think it's great that you are able to eat local on that kinda $$.

Me, I accept that I am spending much more than I could for the sake of eating local. I've justified it, for no other reason, by saying it's my hobby. I mean yesterday, I bought two organic local chickens, whole. The cheaper was $1.59/lb and the more expensive, $1.99/lb. I could have bought a whole chicken at the supermarket for $.39/lb. At the farmer's market, I willingly pay $2/lb or more for items like potatoes and apples that cost a fraction of that in the supermarket.

Like I say, I think it's great (and inspiring) that you can do it cheaper than me, but I'm not mad that I have to pay.

[mimulus]

wow! very enlightening post, i wonder how much it would be if you ate meat.

[Stacie]

The numbers speak for themselves. and you got the most nutritous delicious meal ever!

[Justin H.]

You've probably also shown that reducing the amount of meat you consume can help to reduce the financial impact of moving toward a more local diet.

[Julie Cummins]

Laurie: Excellent point about focusing on the big picture rather than individual items. I paid $4 for a quart of raw milk, for example, and $10 for a jar of almond butter. The pricey items can be balanced by the cheaper basics like potatoes, greens, carrots, and beans.

Mimulus, Justin: You're right that it's much cheaper when you eat less meat. I did eat meat, but not a lot. I bought a whole chicken at the beginning of the week and ate it until I got tired of it, froze about 1/3 of it, and made some amazingly rich stock. I also used a lot of eggs for protein. Yeah, they're 50 cents each, but $1.50 makes you full and happy!

I must admit that this week is off to a more expensive start--I bought a little $10 wild-caught Pacific salmon filet and a small chunk of delicious Cowgirl Creamery cheese for $5. But the other costs are still relatively low when you're eating almost exclusively at home.

[Tea]

What a great post, Julie! Have you seen the Poverty Line Challenge that Raspberry Sour is doing at the Sour Patch? She's living on $4.50 a day, to see the food options for those on minimum wage. Very interesting. I think the economic-food option issue is really important. Thanks for doing this.

[Dolores Ferrero]

Thanks for sharing. I've actually done a similar accounting on a weekly basis, but haven't broken it down by the day yet. That looks like a rewarding exercise; I'm going to try it out.

The one thing I *have* discovered in my quest to eat locally is that I'm generating far less "wasted food" and economizing that way. There just *is* no stopping for takeout because I don't feel like cooking tonight -- so I'm eating what I've bought and prepared for the week and there just aren't leftovers to throw out at the end of the week.

[Paul]

Out of curiosity what did you do with the apple and almond butter, spread the almond butter on the apple?

[Sarah (Mrs. Irani)]

VI- The word "hobby" has become an obscenity after reading the article about hobby farming from newagrarian.com. Ha ha! Seriously, you don't have to justify it as a hobby. I think that spending more on food because of an ideology carries more weight.

I have found that in season, much of the produce I buy at our co-op is cheaper than the stuff at the supermarket. Mostly, meat and dairy is going to run you up. I cannot eat dairy and only eat a little bit of meat, so we do OK.

[Julie Cummins]

Paul- Yep, I just spread the almond butter right on the apple. It's an adaptation of a previously beloved shack of apple and peanut butter. But I must say, it's a lot better when the apples haven't been in cold storage all winter!

Dolores- You're right; I'm wasting a lot less food too. I'm also creating significantly less waste in the form of packaging!

[Erika Rathje]

I keep all my receipts to see how much the two of us spend on food. I shop at our local farmer's market 2 - 3 times/month, and I usually come away with $8 - 15 of goods... for one to two full bags. It is SO CHEAP. I got honey there for a comparable price to supermarkets, and I got it in a glass jar. It's local, too, and doesn't taste like plastic.

Recently, I complained about having to throw out most of the organic cherry tomatoes I was so excited about. I knew I'd hardly paid more for them, but that the non-organic cocktail tomatoes lasted a long time. Well, guess what... those cocktail tomatoes DON'T last a long time when it's near the end of the season. Most went mouldy -- some within 3 days and the rest within the ensuing week. And because they don't taste amazing, I wasn't too inclined to eat them. I'm starting to think the reason why the organic ones started going bad (besides not eating them fast enough) was that I bought them at the end of October. It's just weird I never found them there sooner. They tasted so amazing!

[Laura Gisbourne]

you are on the wrong site

[Tamara]

For the first 5 years of my eldest sons life I was a struggling single mother putting myself through university with no support what so ever from his dead beat dad. The neighbourhood I lived in gave me many options for shopping. I could go to the neighbourhood safeway or shop at several "specialty" stores, ie the produce store, the fish monger, etc. I can tell you that we managed to eat very well shopping at the specialty shops and eating fresh and primarily local. We did not eat much red meat, but did regularily enjoy fresh fish. True, I still avoid safeway as to expensive compared to say walmart or superstore, but I think this just shows that you can afford to eat locally and in many cases, I think people on low incomes have a misconception that they can only afford prepackaged crap to feed their kids. With a little forethough, eating local, fresh and healthier is easy and affordable.

[Carla]

I think it really depends on what your diet consists of. Personally, I cannot eat gluten, dairy, soy and most other grains (besides gluten). Those are the cheapest foods that can be found, but they don’t agree with me to say the least.

I spend more on food in general because of my food allergies and intolerances. I noticed your diet/menu was heavy on the starches. Since I eat a raw diet (with the exception of cooked meat) and no grain, my vegetable, fruit and nut intake is much higher and can cost a considerable amount of money. Its still cheaper than my doctors bills would be if I ate differently though!