That’s a great price! I have two co-ops that have delivery drop offs near me in SE Michigan. One of them only does bulk (cases of 40 pounds), and the other one will do individual tubs/containers. I don’t have a chest freezer yet so I have only ordered from the second one. I haven’t done a ton of shopping around yet – only started raw feeding about 6 weeks ago. Between what I ordered and finding a special on whole chickens for $.40/lb, I think I’ve probably spent about $120 for that 6 weeks for my one 35 lb puppy. Granted, I got a little eager and ordered some fancy proteins – llama, beaver, and emu which inflated that price a bit but I got so excited about them lol.
Once I get my chest freezer, which will be free as a gift from a friend who is upgrading hers, I can order from the better priced co-op, and I think it will work out to be about $80/month if I want to really rotate in a variety of proteins (venison, duck, quail, rabbit), or I could get as low as about $60/month if I stuck to just beef, chicken, and turkey. This is just calculating pure pre-ground raw (which are whole animals with meat, bones, organs, some I have to add organs). The 40 cents a pound chickens seem to be a common deal around here, so if I stock up on those when I find them I could cut that even lower. I broke down the chickens and feed them as whole bony pieces, so no cost for a meat grinder. I have a local middle eastern/halal market that sells me goat liver and kidney at 29 cents a pound, and that’s such a minor cost that I haven’t counted that in the totals. They also throw in free duck and chicken feet for me whenever I go in there.
I set my budget at $100/month when I first got my puppy 9-10 weeks ago, and I was definitely spending that and then some in the first few weeks when I was feeding kibble and cans.
