Just wondering who has been checking the cost of a carnivore diet? I have, and here is what I have found.

This is data for 2 adults, both eating a carnivore diet and cooking at home. We rarely "go out to eat". Data is taken from Credit Card spending reports and is NOT adjusted for yearly inflation. It is just dollars spent at that time.

Grocery costs

2019 $5300 this is for a full "3 meal a day SAD diet" including alcohol. We were still drinking back then.

2020 data not available from CC - So Sorry

2021 $5700. I started Ketovore in August of '21. My wife joined in a few months later. We were still drinking a little N.A. beer at that time

2022 $6500. COVID food costs hitting hard back then. Stopped all alcohol consumption including N.A. beer.

2023 $5600. We are both 99% carny at this point. OMAD is our usual eating pattern at this time.

2024 $5500. We are both fully in the Carny groove at this time. OMAD continues as out way of getting nutrition.

2025 ????

And these figures are NOT adjusted for inflation, Which makes it even better for $ savings! so the moral of this story is when someones tells me that they can't afford to eat a carnivore diet because of "the coast of all that meat", I now just laugh and say "NO!, would you like to see the numbers?"

So true, I wish I could get my family involved!

Eating just meats actually sounds more expensive. Without doing the math per item or per year the easiest way to show it is to map the route in the grocery store.

All in all, a carnivore is eating no more meat than the non-carnivore if we were to map it out. Most carnivores are down to 2 meals a day and large chunk is closer to one meal a day. I am guessing the total volumes are about the same.

My trip to the grocery store is basically in down thru the produce section, not picking up anything, and straight to the meat counter. I by-pass the sauces and such as well. I skip the vegetable aisle and leave the meat counter make a turn up the laundry soap and toilet paper aisle, a quick trip down the aisle for toothpaste etc, then on to the dairy aisle. Just milk, butter and eggs there. Then out the door.

When you minus the produce, the canned vegetables, the fruits, the sauces, the sugars and flours, the desserts and processed stuff at the deli, and of course the infamous ice cream aisle, things are much cheaper.

Although I don't think there is a minutes difference between the amount of meat eaten between a carnivore person and a non-carnivore person, maybe there is, and if there is a difference, it is more than accounted for in what you are not buying.

Now if you are eating prime ribeye 2-3 times per day, 7 days a week at $16-18-20-22 per pound then we would have to probably re-do the math. I haven't met anyone that is eating the expensive cuts every meal/every day.

However, (and with chickens it didn't really affect me) the way eggs were going up I could almost make the argument the way. LOL

Great topic.

Scott

Just one chic fillet meal was costing me $17 and making me fat. I can buy meat at 8 dollars or less per pound.

It’s funny that people will say that eating carnivore is too expensive as an excuse for not doing it but they shut up when I tell them that the fact that not buying all of the processed junk, sweets and vegetables that they used to buy offsets the cost.

Now if you are the only one in a family of 4 eating carnivore then yeah, the grocery bill is probably going to go up.

Ours has been cheaper with me on carnivore and my wife eating her way.

If I were not on carnivore I would be eating the same meats but odds are with the carbs and sugars even more meat. Then add in the vegetables and carbs and sugars and sauces, etc. etc. that I would be eating the cost would be somewhat higher.

I think my "part" of the grocery bill has went down but I think there are certain parts of my wife's "part" that has went up by a few pennies here and there. Certain canned foods and vegetables she does not buy the large cans/larger version as it is only her eating those things now. The smaller cans get slightly higher per ounce.

My part has come down and her part may be a few pennies different here and there, but overall "our" grocery bill has come down.

Basically, my volume has been drastically reduced overall and what I am eating does not cost as much as the total volume I was eating before.

Scott

I buy meat on sale, put it in freezer.

I safe money on, all other foods, you know the kind that arte overpriced and in boxes with who knows what in it?

Those boxes advertise FIBER! PROTEIN! ANTI OXIDANTS! nothing but slogans that make me poorer.

Proteins are no longer a worry, neither is a plethora of supplements, or the need to snack on overpriced candy bars (Seen those prices lately??).

How in the world can the carnivore diet not be cheaper??

Again, I get it if you're always on the expensive cuts, but the same can be said about other foods.

23 minutes ago, Orweller said:

I buy meat on sale, put it in freezer.

I safe money on, all other foods, you know the kind that arte overpriced and in boxes with who knows what in it?

Those boxes advertise FIBER! PROTEIN! ANTI OXIDANTS! nothing but slogans that make me poorer.

Proteins are no longer a worry, neither is a plethora of supplements, or the need to snack on overpriced candy bars (Seen those prices lately??).

How in the world can the carnivore diet not be cheaper??

Again, I get it if you're always on the expensive cuts, but the same can be said about other foods.

Around Wisconsin we have Quik-Trip gas stations which are little quick food markets. Most of the food they serve fresh is total crap but they have monthly sales and I watch for their fresh meat deals. Recently got 80/20 ground beef for $3 a pound. They had pre-cooked taco meat for $2.49 a pound. This month is brats for $3 a pound and they are fairly clean and taste great. Now I'm waiting for a bacon sale 😃

2 hours ago, Terry said:

Now I'm waiting for a bacon sale 😃

I do the same.

I don't think I look at the ads as much as my wife does but when something goes on sale we will try to take advantage of the savings. I have always been cheap so even pre-carnivore I am a marked down red meat guy. They mark it down and I stack it up.

Out total cost is down and if there were any increase it would be I do eat more red meat as I feel better than when eating on a variety. Still, cheaper than if I were buying the same meats and all the stuff that traditionally goes with meats.

Scott

16 hours ago, Scott F. said:

even pre-carnivore I am a marked down red meat guy.

Me a too!

I'm cheaper than am anything else. LOL

Scott

1 hour ago, Scott F. said:

I'm cheaper than am anything else. LOL

Scott

I'm 64 and of Germanic heritage from both parents, plus my father grew up during the great depression SO I am CHEAP and Frugal 😆. I learned it from the best! A great day for me is seeing a bunch of yellow tags in the walmart meat area. Unfortunately I don't see them often enough but the freezer is full So I'm not complaining. just got a package of stew meat yesterday for 60% off and turned that into a stir fry for lunch today.

I'm 55 and come from parents/grandparents that didn't throw anything away. It could always be used for something.

When my mother-in-law passed she had amassed quite the collection of cool-whip bowls and butter bowls (which make excellent cereal bowls), even washed plastic forks and spoons to re-use. They come from a different time and I guess I picked up a lot of those habits.

My Pops and brothers framed houses for a long time. He called it babysitting but I called it work. They had taken down an old two story house from the 1800's and was using the salvageable material to re-model/re-built another old plantation house on that farm. As an 8-10 year old my job was to straighten the old cut nails they used way back when. I had a big block of wood and a hammer. I spent many days straightening nails during that re-build.

And at the same time I have no problem dumping money in my 1972 K5 Blazer nor the 1950 Chevrolet truck I am doing now.

Go figure.

Scott

Carnivore is saving me money on groceries. Back when I ate SAD, all the sauces, processed food, and junk ate at my wallet, particularly because it's expensive and eating that garbage just made me want to overeat more often with more of the same garbage. Meat and eggs on the other hand satiates me, and I am not constantly having my hand in some snack bag.

Even when I was heavily focused on a fresh vegetable heavy ketogenic diet, much of the time these would spoil because it was easier to just indulge in some "keto" bread, tortillas, protein bars, etc.

Carnivore is not only healthier for my body, it's healthier for my wallet as well.

I still have to buy all the things because my husband can't live without bread, mayonnaise, beer etc. The kid frustrates me, he has texture issues. Last night I made cheese sauce like Kerry Mann's daughter Emma did on her cooking channel it tasted like Mac n cheese sauce. He said it was good but got half way through his very small portion then rejected it due to texture. and my husband had to eat the rest 🤨 He does like stringy fatty globs of stuff. He is one of those burn the bacon types

2 hours ago, Miranda said:

I still have to buy all the things because my husband can't live without bread, mayonnaise, beer etc. The kid frustrates me, he has texture issues. Last night I made cheese sauce like Kerry Mann's daughter Emma did on her cooking channel it tasted like Mac n cheese sauce. He said it was good but got half way through his very small portion then rejected it due to texture. and my husband had to eat the rest 🤨 He does like stringy fatty globs of stuff. He is one of those burn the bacon types

I got lucky because my wife joined me with carnivore just a few months after I started. I do most of the cooking and that surely helps with food prep. If she wants something that's "Not on the menu" that day then she makes her own thing and all is cool. How old is your child, if I may ask?

On 5/8/2025 at 5:31 AM, Miranda said:

The kid frustrates me, he has texture issues.

That's definitely a kid thing. Mine used to drive me nuts with their fear of textures. I would give them stuff that is delicious and I KNOW they like the taste of, but would work themselves into a tizzy with anxiety over textures.

Thankfully as they have gotten older they have expanded their pallet.

On 5/8/2025 at 8:27 AM, Terry said:

I got lucky because my wife joined me with carnivore just a few months after I started. I do most of the cooking and that surely helps with food prep. If she wants something that's "Not on the menu" that day then she makes her own thing and all is cool. How old is your child, if I may ask?

He is going to be 10 this summer.

18 hours ago, Bob said:

That's definitely a kid thing. Mine used to drive me nuts with their fear of textures. I would give them stuff that is delicious and I KNOW they like the taste of, but would work themselves into a tizzy with anxiety over textures.

Thankfully as they have gotten older they have expanded their pallet.

Praying for him to come around. He only likes bacon reliably. I have been feeding him taco bowls with refried beans and sour cream. He will only eat eggs on hash or if they are wrapped in a tortilla. I am going to try to make some cloud buns this week because he loves hamburgers. Won't eat plain ground beef though. He was a big chubby baby and hasn't grown out of it despite being a light eater. We don't have a lot of Ultra processed food other than the above mentioned bread and tortillas.

1 hour ago, Miranda said:

He is going to be 10 this summer.

Praying for him to come around. He only likes bacon reliably. I have been feeding him taco bowls with refried beans and sour cream. He will only eat eggs on hash or if they are wrapped in a tortilla. I am going to try to make some cloud buns this week because he loves hamburgers. Won't eat plain ground beef though. He was a big chubby baby and hasn't grown out of it despite being a light eater. We don't have a lot of Ultra processed food other than the above mentioned bread and tortillas.

Good luck with your child's nutrition. I was a very fat human my entire life from baby onwards. I've tried Many crazy ways of getting nutrition over all these years and It took me until age 60 to find this proper human diet of fatty meat and eggs. I'm never going back to a SAD diet as long as I have anything to say about it. I weigh less now than I did in middle school. Hopefully he can adjust to the texture and or taste issues while he is still young. I'm sure peer pressure has to affect his attitude also.

OP that's pretty cheap for 2 carnivores.

I am OMAD and just feeding myself not the wife we spend 3.5k annually. That's 1 trip to costco business center for ny strip /month.

Eggs and bacon cheaper of course 😋