Keto for Broke People
Twibbly
Posts: 1,065 Member
With a sudden decline in the economy in our neck of the woods (y'all like low gas prices - we don't), my grocery budget is about to get pillaged, burnt, and razed to the ground. Granted, it was probably excessive to begin with, but still. I'm going to be trying to feed 2 adults and 2 part-time kids (ie, stepkids, every other weekend, yadda yadda yadda, can provide buns & tortillas for them) on as little as possible. I said something to my hubby about guessing that means I can't do LCHF right now, and he said it depends on how you do it. So, I'm going to post our ideas so far regarding how to do it cheap and would like any helpful ideas. Note that I cannot have wheat or gluten, almonds, soy, or any sweeteners besides honey and coconut sugar, which means no sweeteners for me (but I can make "cheesecake" and such for everybody else).
I figure we're going to be eating the same meats most of the time, and I'll probably pick 2-3 low carb veggies for each week. We have plenty of cream cheese, bacon, and cheese for a bit. I make tallow when I make beef broth and save bacon grease to cook with later. I can supplement mine with coconut oil, but nobody else likes coconut. I may have to lower my standards for butter, which will make me sad.
Meats:
Veggies
Some of this, I might be able to raid a garden or 3 for later in the summer.
Any glaring omissions? Recommendations? Recipes? Resources?
I figure we're going to be eating the same meats most of the time, and I'll probably pick 2-3 low carb veggies for each week. We have plenty of cream cheese, bacon, and cheese for a bit. I make tallow when I make beef broth and save bacon grease to cook with later. I can supplement mine with coconut oil, but nobody else likes coconut. I may have to lower my standards for butter, which will make me sad.
Meats:
- Burgers
- Chicken thighs
- Chicken breasts
- Breakfast sausage
- Bacon
- Eggs (which are not as cheap as they could be for me because I react badly to regular eggs & have to buy hippie ones...but I'm the only one)
- Whatever is cheap in the grocery ad - I want a roast!
Veggies
- Mushrooms (for me, nobody else will eat them)
- Cucumbers (ditto)
- Spinach
- Kale
- Bell Peppers
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Cabbage
- Asparagus
- Pickles (yup, I count it as a veggie)
- Summer squash (the yellow ones)
- Zucchini
Some of this, I might be able to raid a garden or 3 for later in the summer.
Any glaring omissions? Recommendations? Recipes? Resources?
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In situations like this I plan ALL meals from the loss-leader items in the grocery store flyers. Yes, I WILL go to three different stores to take advantage of their ridiculously low prices on sale items, and no, I don't see this as a waste of time or gas to do so if planned appropriately. I'm usually only cooking for myself these days, but I still buy family packs of whatever is on sale and divide and freeze. If I'm feeling especially "together," I'll spend a weekend cooking up a storm and portioning into foil packets to freeze for quick evening dinners.
So, recommendations? Buy the bulk of your meats from loss-leader items advertised. Don't forget to check the "quick sale" areas in the meat and seafood cases, where the close-to-pull-date items are...they freeze just fine for later. Also, sometimes it's cheaper to make your own hamburger from a cheap roast than to pay for pre-ground stuff (tastes better, too). And buy the majority of your produce by what is in season for better pricing.0 -
I'm interested to see what others post on this, because I'm so broke I can't even afford the extravagance of coconut oil right now. Cream cheese, butter, bacon/grease, heavy whipping cream, sour cream, eggs, cheese pepperoni, salted almonds, bullion cubes, etc. are my main stays. I also buy almost all my veggies frozen, except for what I use in stir fry. Not necessarily cheap, considering I have a fiance who isn't on board with the whole new way of eating thing, but I just buy bread and tortillas for him. He's coming around though...0
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Is it possible for you to get your own chickens? I hope things improve for you, I really do.0
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Do you have a big freezer? I buy my meat in bulk which saves some money. I have my own chickens but keeping them is more expensive than most supermarket eggs. What does save me money is growing my own spinach, lettuce, hwrbs etc and it doesn't take much room. also try asian shops for coconut oil and coconut cream.0
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I eat for under $6 a day. Some of what I eat won't work for you. I eat 4 eggs a day. When I buy them 5 dozen at a time, they run about $1.66 a dozen. I also shop at a warehouse club to buy in bulk. I eat lots of 75/25 beef patties. I buy the cheapest big hunk of meat (10+ pounds) they have. This usually is between $4-$5 a pound. Then some butter and bacon (if it's cheap).
I worked it out after my last food run. Including coffee and everything I eat, it was just under $6 a day. That's not bad, considering the "Thrifty Plan" for a many my age from the USDA says it should take $43.50 a week to feed myself. I sometimes get more expensive cuts and average higher (sometimes $65 a week... but rarely higher than $50).
Cheap fatty meats and bulk buys.0 -
What kind of grocery stores are in your area? Do you have an Aldi's? Our Aldi's is cheaper than most of the sales in my area. When the other stores do run decent sales its for crap like chicken nuggets and frozen pizza. Sometimes we have big sales on butter and eggs, 10 for $10 usually. Meat "sales" in my area are a joke. BOGO means they jack the price of one pkg of chicken to almost double what it usually is. So I stick to Aldi's. They have real butter, coconut oil for about $5 a jar, plenty of fresh, frozen and canned veggies and plenty of fresh, frozen and canned meats. We just got out of a major slump, though we are by no means rich now, and I used a lot of canned veggies. That meant mostly green beans, peas, and carrots but its okay. Also, cans of tuna and chicken breast can do a lot. For awhile my lunches at work were tuna + mayo + green beans. FTR I don't do Keto, though, just LC/HF in general.0
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Here's a good site for more ideas: http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/
Since you know it's coming, I'd say try to get a hog or part of a cow. It's pricey up front, but by far one of the cheapest ways to get meat (and you get some damn good cuts for the price of ground hamburger). For poultry, whole birds are usually cheaper than cut up ones, so go that route. That also gives you bones for stock. If you can't get the whole or part of an animal, then go for the cheaper cuts. They're usually more keto-friendly, anyway, as they're fattier cuts.
Scour farmer's markets, too. Get to know the local farmers, then explain your situation to them. They may be able to work something out with you to make things a little more affordable. Shop around, too. While a lot of places will sell for about the same price, sometimes you'll find gems that are a dollar or two a pound lower (I found this with bison in my area, most places sell for around $11-13 and sometimes upwards of $15 a pound, even ground, but I found a place that sells it for $8-$10 a pound).
Buy fresh and local when it's in season, and frozen when it's not. Place like Kroger have bags of frozen veggies for about a dollar a bag, which is something like 2-4 cups per bag.
Make your own of as much stuff as you can. Usually, the constituents are cheaper, or you can buy them in bulk, which makes them cheaper. The pickles, for example, you can make on your own and can make them in such a way that they're probiotic, which makes them better than store bought.
Find ways to save money in other areas, so you can re-route that money to food. You can make your own laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and all-purpose cleaner from Borax, washing soda, plain soap (bar for laundry detergent, liquid (ideally castile) for all purpose cleaner), and citric acid for pennies on the dollar. You can get these things in bulk from Amazon or your local store (get citric acid from Amazon, it's cheaper there; stores sell piddly little amounts for insane prices). Since you make your own tallow, you can even make your own soap for the laundry. Just get some food grade lye (sodium hydroxide), a pair of rubber gloves, and a silicon mold of some sort (if you don't already have one), and you can make it pretty easily and cheaply.
You can also save money on coconut oil by using refined (this will also allow you to use it for the rest of your family, since it doesn't have the flavor). Trader Joe's has the cheapest unrefined coconut oil I've found. It's even cheaper than buying it in bulk. So if you still want unrefined, check out Trader Joe's (they also have some pretty good prices on some things, so it's worth checking them out if you have one in your area, they're like organic Aldi's).0 -
Sadly, no Aldi's or Trader Joe's in our area.
I completely forgot about tuna...which I'm also the only one in the family who will eat it, but it makes an appearance in my lunches on a regular basis.
I'm pretty well stocked on cleaning supplies and soap and such.
Hubby has said he's ok with me buying the cheap eggs for him and the kids and keeping the expensive ones for me.
It should be nice out Friday, so I'm going to get one of the big boxes of cheap burger patties (still 100% meat) from Walmart and he's going to grill them all up so I have more than the 9 that are currently cooked & in our freezer. I've also been told that Sam's has a huge thing of pork rinds for $5.
This evening, I plan to make mayo, hard-boiled eggs, & cook up a bunch of bacon.
So, meal plan for the rest of this week:
Today:
B: BP Coffee
L: Tuna with mayo & pickle relish
Burger wrapped in lettuce with bacon & cheese & mayo
Tmw:
B: BP Coffee
L: Egg Salad Chicken & broccoli quiche
Fri:
B: BP Coffee
L: Tuna Salad Burgers (we have buns for everybody else)
Sat:
B: Scrambled eggs with bacon & spinach
L: Sausage (Andouille for me, Beddar Cheddar with tortillas for the rest) Chicken parmesan (breading made with parmesan cheese & Italian spices), topped with spag sauce (with shredded spinach tossed in for extra veg) & cheese 0 -
Your chicken parmesan sounds great: how do you get the parmesan to stick? With egg?0
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totaloblivia wrote: »Your chicken parmesan sounds great: how do you get the parmesan to stick? With egg?
...I'll let you know on Saturday or Sunday! I have a few things I might try if it won't just stick to moist chicken.0 -
An egg will be enough glue to hold it and it will give you more time to let the chicken cook before the spices burn.0
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Whenever I make chicken parm, I've always used breadcrumbs and parmesan together, but the texture is the same mostly between them. Also, I've made parmesan crusted tilapia, and it stuck with egg wash. Crisped up nicely with a butter drizzle during baking. I would imagine it is a transferable concept. Just remember when you use only parmesan instead of a mix, to not add extra salt...it's naturally that way...or season at the table.
And Wild Oats makes a great sauce that's only I think 3 carbs for half a cup of sauce. It is the Parmesan and Romano flavor.... I'm in love, and supposedly it is organic to boot.0 -
Buy the sale meat in bulk and store it correctly, that means taking it out of the styrofoam trays or big plastic bags and repackaging it with butcher paper or plastic and foil. Your goal is to have no air inside the wrapping with the meat, that's what causes freezer burn. Same with frozen veggies, you can use the low rent foodsaver trick - use a gallon or quart storage bag, fill a sink with water, put your bag of veggies or whatever in the water until the water is level with the zip. Shake the bag a little to get the last of the air out, then seal it before taking it out of the water. (obviously, this doesn't work with steamer veggie bags, but the regular frozen ones are cheaper anyway)
The first few weeks might not have much variety, but after a few weeks of only buying what's on sale each week, you should have a better selection built up. Within a month, you should start planning your meals based on what's in your kitchen, not what's in the store. What you get at the store should be restocking the kitchen, and if you don't already have something you want, make something else and wait until you can get that thing on sale.
Also, see if it's in your budget to use either amazon prime or their subscribe and save program. They sell pretty much any dry good you can imagine, including the weird keto stuff like almond flour, psyllium husk powder and erythitol, a lot of times cheaper than the store.0 -
SPAM, Vienna Sausages, hot dogs Bologna, organ meat like liver, gizzards, etc. (I eat all of these, and am not ashamed). And I CAN afford prime rib every night and for lunch too.
(Watch the paleos come out of the woodwork! LOL!)
Dan the Man from Michigan0 -
I am always stunned at the difference in the cost of living.
- $1.99 for a dozen eggs? Maybe in the '70's. I buy barn laid or free range and they are $5 a dozen.
- Steak from the butcher is upward of $25 kg (about $13 lb).
- Chicken breasts are about $18 kg (about $10 lb). And that's not free range. Add about 50% more for free range.
- Bacon is about $15 a kg.
- Coconut oil is around $20 kg ranging up to $40 kg if you buy from a Main St health food store in the local village.
- Avocados are $3 each at the moment.
Aussie dollars. So even more in USD.
Fortunately we can source meat in bulk straight from the farmer so that helps a lot.
Having said all that, it costs us about $1000 AUD a month in groceries for a family of 4. Kids are 11 and 13.
Fortunately, we can afford eat well. I do still carry thrifty shopping skills from when I was younger though. My Dad was a miner and I've been a starving, broke Uni student.
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I am always stunned at the difference in the cost of living.
- $1.99 for a dozen eggs? Maybe in the '70's. I buy barn laid or free range and they are $5 a dozen.
- Steak from the butcher is upward of $25 kg (about $13 lb).
- Chicken breasts are about $18 kg (about $10 lb). And that's not free range. Add about 50% more for free range.
- Bacon is about $15 a kg.
- Coconut oil is around $20 kg ranging up to $40 kg if you buy from a Main St health food store in the local village.
- Avocados are $3 each at the moment.
Aussie dollars. So even more in USD.
Fortunately we can source meat in bulk straight from the farmer so that helps a lot.
Having said all that, it costs us about $1000 AUD a month in groceries for a family of 4. Kids are 11 and 13.
Fortunately, we can afford eat well. I do still carry thrifty shopping skills from when I was younger though. My Dad was a miner and I've been a starving, broke Uni student.
Australia doesn't count. It's expensive all the way around. I think even Los Angeles and London are cheaper.
Around here, at least, the factory farm eggs can be as cheap as a dollar or two a dozen. I get mine from a local farm from pastured, non-GMO-fed chickens for $5 a dozen, too (it's still pretty cheap, when you consider that $5 is 3-4+ servings, compared to other protein sources, which are often $5 for 1-3 servings).0 -
Dan - I actually randomly decided to try Spam today. I'd never had it before. The scary thing is, as much as people rag on it...the ingredients were better than some of the ham steaks at the store! It's not bad.0
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Um um. Fried Spam and eggs0
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Talking about Parmesan Cheese. I scored 6 8 OZ containers of it for $1.00 each the last time I was at the dollar store. I will keep my eye out for them again. It was not Kraft but it is delicious.
We paid $5.00 for 4 dozen eggs, on sale, not organic. 97 cents a pound for pork roast called some thing else we dubbed Mystery Meat. Very good. I carve it off the bone and slice it for steaks then use it as I choose. Boil the bones for broth. Butter was on a great sale of $2.00 a pound. I miss my cow for the fresh butter and cream and cheese I used to make all the time. My hands are too arthritic to milk now. She had such nice creamy milk.
There is talk of some one opening a farmers market in the old closed down grocery store some day. We have a very generous person that will leave large boxes of organic produce in the post office for any one wanting it. Every one goes to the post office. There is no home postal delivery. There are perks to living in a small town.0 -
Do you have a food processor?
Use HWC you get on sale and make your own butter. Its fun for the whole family. Science you get to eat. For one price, you end up with two products. Butter...and Buttermilk you can use for...something ingenious i'm sure.0 -
Runnerduck123 wrote: »Do you have a big freezer? I buy my meat in bulk which saves some money. I have my own chickens but keeping them is more expensive than most supermarket eggs. What does save me money is growing my own spinach, lettuce, hwrbs etc and it doesn't take much room. also try asian shops for coconut oil and coconut cream.
Great advice! Thanks0 -
Find a youth/teen who breeds their own animals for fairs, if we have too many we'll private sale them to you for cheap and most of us totally get the im broke and just want to buy a few things situation, our paychecks come once a year.0
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »Whenever I make chicken parm, I've always used breadcrumbs and parmesan together, but the texture is the same mostly between them. Also, I've made parmesan crusted tilapia, and it stuck with egg wash. Crisped up nicely with a butter drizzle during baking. I would imagine it is a transferable concept. Just remember when you use only parmesan instead of a mix, to not add extra salt...it's naturally that way...or season at the table.
And Wild Oats makes a great sauce that's only I think 3 carbs for half a cup of sauce. It is the Parmesan and Romano flavor.... I'm in love, and supposedly it is organic to boot.
thanks for the tips!0 -
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totaloblivia wrote: »Your chicken parmesan sounds great: how do you get the parmesan to stick? With egg?
...I'll let you know on Saturday or Sunday! I have a few things I might try if it won't just stick to moist chicken.
can't wait!0 -
Or butterfly the breasts, put the cheese & spices on the inside, wrap in bacon and hold together with toothpicks.0
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Keith - I think you just came up with Monday's dinner to use the butterflied porkchops in the freezer! I was planning to put herbed chevre in them, but hadn't thought about wrapping them in bacon.0
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Dagnabbit. Anybody know of a cheap tuna that DOESN'T have soy in it?0
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Um um. Fried Spam and eggs
Yup. I'll admit to being a Spam lover, too. ;-) I like to eat it BLT style...fried, slather w/ mayo, tomato slice and lettuce. Mmmmm...
And a blast from the path for any fellow Python lovers:
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/anwy2MPT5RE?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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LOL i always hear Monty Python's spam, spam, eggs and spam skit in my head when people talk about spam.
I really need to try spam. It always turned me off all gel covered and greasy looking. But maybe it tastes like heaven? The fried spam with lettuce and mayo on a Flax seed muffin/bread sounds good.0
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