Illini, agree with the cost being high. It's just a shame that our health care system and the insurance companies haven't caught up with the fact that an ouce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and have started covering these sort of things rather than paying the hundreds or thousands of dollars for the drugs with so many side effects we have to take more drugs to counter them because we don't use the holistic approach in the first place.
The Absorb Plus cost $53.xx USD per tub that contains 10 servings. If you're in the continental US the shipping is free for orders of $300 or more and you get a 15% discount for orders of $350 or more. So, you order 7 tubs, shipping is free in the continental US and the cost comes down to $45.86 per tub. That's approximately $4.60/shake plus any additional ingredients such as flax oil, etc if you add those.
That's about 370 calories, give or take about 5 depending on which flavor you use, if you don't add anything other than water.
So, if you're existing on this alone and targeting a 2000 calorie diet that's 5.4 shakes / day or $27.60 ($4.60 x 6) / day for an approximately 2000 calorie, elemental diet of a quality that just can't be beat from what I've seen on the market today.
Depending on your budget for food $28 may be high or it may be low, it's just a matter of perspective but the fact that an elemental diet has been as successful, if not slightly more effective, in producing remission than Steroids and has no side effects it has a value much higher than the dollar value when compared to those other products IMHO.
I've only used Absorb Plus by itself for a couple of stretches around a week in length over the past 2-3 years, otherwise I use it as a substituete for one meal a day, more if my symptoms warrant it. I'm willing to sacrifice in other areas in order to be able to afford that but that's a personal decision and comes down to how much your health is worth to you.
Having said that I don't want to be misunderstood as to be saying that Absorb Plus in and of itself is the answer to everything and you'll be off your meds in no time. There have been people who have expressed that it didn't agree with them but I believe those have been few. It's just one tool in a holistic approach to what we call our healing journey but like anything else it has it's weaknesses (sure I'd be happier if it were less expensive but in order to get that they'd have to compromise on the quality and I wouldn't want them to do that) and it's not for everyone.
My hope is that this info helps others as much as I feel the Absorb Plus and Jini's books and resources have helped me (no I'm not being compensated for saying this or anything else for that matter).
In Health,
Robert