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?"

I did the math, and for just me eating carnivore, I spend about $10 to $12 per day eating twice a day plus the cost of my coffee.

I don't know how that really compares to what I was spending before, but my weekly grocery bill definitely has gone down. I was spending $250 per week for 2 adults. My husband eats low carb, but not quite keto or carnivore.

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

I think most can attest it is actually cheaper.

But I do admit with the price of most meats and even eggs for a stretch, it sounds like it would be much higher. I guess form the outside looking in it looks like we spend our normal amount for groceries like always, then buy a bunch of meat on top of that to eat carnivore.

In reality, the meat is replacing a lot of the really expensive stuff we no longer eat.

It is a hard ticket to sell to most.

Scott

Last weekend at Walmart I found 2lb (appx) porterhouse steaks for about $11 each they were expiring that day.

59 minutes ago, Miranda said:

Last weekend at Walmart I found 2lb (appx) porterhouse steaks for about $11 each they were expiring that day.

Walmart clearance meat is always a good find. We have a walmart 7 miles from our house in both east and west directions so one of the stores usually has a deal or two. Stew meat and burger patties usually available on clearance. In wisconsin we have Quik-Trip gas stations which are like Tiny little markets mostly selling crap for quick on the road eats but their meat and dairy items are top quality. they own their own dairy company and beef supply and lately they have been having some great month long bargains 70/30 beef chubs for $2.99, butter for $2.99, little 5oz fillets for $2 each, pre-cooked taco meat chubs (clean ingredients) for $2.49. I got a freezer full of stuff from them. Our little town of 27,000 people and we have 5 of those gas stations right here. it's kind of crazy. They are the #1 rated employer in Wisconsin.

5 hours ago, Katlyn Gommerman said:

I did the math, and for just me eating carnivore, I spend about $10 to $12 per day eating twice a day plus the cost of my coffee.

I don't know how that really compares to what I was spending before, but my weekly grocery bill definitely has gone down. I was spending $250 per week for 2 adults. My husband eats low carb, but not quite keto or carnivore.

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

I'm 4 years in and my wife is close to that. We just don't eat that much for our OMAD any more. Never hungry, never feel the need to stuff our faces with huge amounts of chow. Feeling great. Carnivore is working great for both of us. Food bills are WAY down from our old SAD diet WOE. We're lovin' it. Wish other would/could get the message.

2 hours ago, Scott F. said:

I think most can attest it is actually cheaper.

But I do admit with the price of most meats and even eggs for a stretch, it sounds like it would be much higher. I guess form the outside looking in it looks like we spend our normal amount for groceries like always, then buy a bunch of meat on top of that to eat carnivore.

In reality, the meat is replacing a lot of the really expensive stuff we no longer eat.

It is a hard ticket to sell to most.

Scott

eggs at our local ALDI are under $3 now. I only buy the standard cheap eggs which are good enough for us. compare that to a 14oz bag of doritos @ wally world for $5.49. I'll take the eggs!

I know they went up for a stretch and have heard they are back down again. I seen an issue on TV in Arizona with another outbreak. I imagine there will be a slight tick up again, if nothing else, geographically.

I usually end up giving eggs away to my mom and a few of the ladies in her apartment complex. A couple years ago I hatched too many chickens and now the eggs can come in waves.

There are stretches where I buy $10 bag of corn, a $9 bag of wheat, and get a couple three dozen eggs in return. That math hurts. Then there other waves, like this week, where I am getting 15-20 per day. Maybe it averages out, not sure. If I did the math I would probably just eat the chickens and buy my own eggs. LOL

I never seen the point in pasture this and pasture that. I am sure it is meaningful but just not to me. I'm more of an egg is an egg.

Scott

I know the more expensive eggs have better looking yolks and are slightly better nutrition wise but in the end I'm of Germanic heritage (AKA - Cheap) so.................... 😀

Also just last week or so, in the midwest region there was salmonella reported in some pasture raised, brown, organic versions sold at Wallymart. So organic isn't always best, at least as far as eggs anyways.

In my local area we have lots of backyard chicken coops (1-6 head) which have been popping up since the first $8 eggs hit a few years back. I laugh at the people who didn't "do the math" before committing to their decision. Now they have expensive little pets that they can't get rid of and it's costing them a small fortune to feed.

My old boss raised several batches of some type of "super atomic" 10 week! meat chickens. He was always bitchin' about the feed costs, and the losses he would get. These poor birds were so stressed that if you didn't make a little noise before you approached them, at times one would just flip over dead from a heart attack. What a great life for a meat animal. I have NO problem with the "raised for meat" part, I just feel they should be treated much better while they are alive. He was an old midwest farmer and animal welfare was not on his priority list. ☹️

Because we are rural we do our major food shopping about once a month with the exception of buying cream so we shop locally for that. Our grocery bill has dropped substantially but we need to monitor longer term to answer your question. But we find there are other savings and benefits as well like in hydro/gas, less requirements for cooking paraphernalia, time savings, less stress around meals and way less food waste, and fewer health related expenses.

I do look for clearance meat but most of my MEAT shopping is business costco my new go to is brisket burger.

Eggs I prefer to hit sam's club pasture raised.

Sorry I missed the point but our grocery bill is hella cheaper than it was a year ago because we're not buying all that garbage

we use to buy.

The same here. The meat bill is probably slightly cheaper but I can give a little and say 'maybe it is about the same'. Where carnivore saves me is not buying all the other crap in the grocery store.

We grill a lot, and we tried sauces anytime we here 'that's a good one'. There was a time when our refrigerator door would have $100 or more of steak and BBQ sauces, dressing and what not.

I'm not shopping that aisle so there is maybe $8-10 a week I'm no longer spending. That is pushing $500/year, but being a tad bit conservative, pushing $400 a year in sauces alone.

So if I buy $200-$300 extra in meat (which I don't) I'm still a hundred spot to the good.

Scott

I just bought a whole ribeye roast at 13.95 a pound and cut 15 one pound steaks and one 14 ounce steak out of that roast. That’s a pretty good savings.

On 6/24/2025 at 6:34 PM, Scott F. said:

There was a time when our refrigerator door would have $100 or more of steak and BBQ sauces, dressing and what not.

My fridge doors still have all that crap because of the other family members. Many of them is some sauce they bought to "try" and after using it once it just sits in there until we take note that it is well past it's expiration date, lol.

1 hour ago, Bob said:

My fridge doors still have all that crap because of the other family members. Many of them is some sauce they bought to "try" and after using it once it just sits in there until we take note that it is well past it's expiration date, lol.

We are living in a parallel universe. My son and my wife still buy the sauces. Our refrigerator in the house is starting to ease up but the one in the cabin is slam packed with what looks like every sauce and rub known to man.

We had ten or so partial bottles once and I poured them all into one saucepan and made a 'concoction sauce'. It turned out to be amazing. Months later we had a number of partial bottles and I did it again. No exaggeration, the dog walked away from it.

Spending $$$ and using all the sauce is one thing but spending $$$ and tossing an unfinished bottle in the trash is quite another.

I now look at the refrigerator door and do the 'sauce to ribeye' conversion math.

Scott