Midnight Bacon for Weight Loss & Budgeting/Recipe Ideas

TheAngieScott

Hi everyone! I am Angie and before we begin I apologize for my math as it is only meant to be ballpark and not really approximations. But on to why you clicked this....

When I lost the biggest amount of weight, I was keto and eating bacon at midnight. Yup, midnight bacon was a common term in my household at the time. By consuming protein before my 16 hour fasting window, I lost 56lbs in only about 8 months, which was only doubled from roughly 25ish pounds down by simply keto and fasting alone. After 6 months of keto and fasting alone, I had hit a wall around 185lbs and couldn't get the weight off, even by increasing my workouts and cutting my food. Once I added Midnight Bacon to my diet, however, the additional 20+ lbs just melted off in only 2 months. Unfortunately, I lost my job during Covid and have been too tight financially to do the Keto diet, so I gained roughly 30ish pounds back. Heart wrenching, I know! lol! I have been struggling ever since to lose the weight and have been unsuccessful. I'm currently at 172ish and trying to get down to 109 so I have a VERY long journey ahead of me, and with my tight finances I just don't know how to organize my meals or come up with affordable recipes. I tried googling this, but nothing was showing up under $3.76 per portion which is severely over my individual meal portion budget of, preferably, not more than $1, but max max is $1.50ish. Like I said, I recently found some recipes to help me do some keto for cheaper, but still not within the affordable range. My grocery budget is at MAX $150 for 2 people for 2 weeks, which makes it kinda hard to do Keto when my daily food budget is only $5.36 per person for the entire day and all of our meals, snacks, and protein shakes. It hasn't been feasible for me to feed myself keto for less than roughly $9 a day which is almost 2 days food budget, double what I have to spend which is my I've been eating junk food, leftovers, fast food, carbs, sugars, basically anything just to fill myself up so I'm not hungry.

To that end, does anyone have any really affordable meal suggestions/recipe ideas that are Keto and can be served for, hopefully, less than $1.50 per portion? Also, has anyone else who is Keto found that they achieved greater weight loss by consuming protein right before bed in conjunction with fasting rather than if they only Keto'd and fasted? Would love to hear ya'lls feedback and suggestions! Thank you!

jkfroese323

I don't do keto but I do find that if I go to the grocery store first thing on a Saturday or Sunday morning, they have lots of discounted raw meat! I usually get it and toss it in the freezer right away. Then it's good for a while longer. Or I cook it right away and then freeze.

TheAngieScott

That's a great idea! I had no idea about that, but will definitely check it out! Thank you so much!

COGypsy

jkfroese323 wrote: »

I don't do keto but I do find that if I go to the grocery store first thing on a Saturday or Sunday morning, they have lots of discounted raw meat! I usually get it and toss it in the freezer right away. Then it's good for a while longer. Or I cook it right away and then freeze.

My dad shops that bin all the time. He calls it the "used meat" bin. Dad humor, got to love it!

Jthanmyfitnesspal

You have a very low food budget, and that breaks my heart. Do you qualify for SNAP? You deserve it!

It is very counterintuitive that having a tight food budget would lead to weight gain. In parts of the world, it leads to insufficient nutrition. I don't wish that on anyone. I understand that it does.

But: If you eat fewer calories than your body burns, you will lose weight regardless of macro breakdown

Meals based on brown rice and beans are price and nutrition performers. I'm just throwing that out there.

Wishing you health and prosperity in the 2023!

reginag0980

Hi there! Have you tried doing cabbage soup? It's pretty cheap to make and very versatile. The recipe I have is from dinnerthendessert.com and when I put it into MFP it says it is 68 calories, 11g net carbs and 4g protein but you could use fewer carrots and replace with a lower carb veg and add some meat into it too for more protein to keep you fuller longer. You can freeze leftovers easily too or jar it up and pressure can it to have individual servings ready to go anytime (that's what I do with it).

JaimeMad

I get the Walmart brand bags of frozen veggies like broccoli and cauliflower for $1 per bag. This usually gets me 3-4 servings per bag. Walmart also marks down their rotisserie chicken at night which would make multiple meals. I would suggest looking on pinterest for cheap keto recipes. I would agree with the above post that cooking in bulk, dividing into portions, and freezing or doing leftovers would be good. Also, try shopping at Aldi as I have seen several posts about affordable keto from there. I personally get their chicken breast in the large pack and cut it into smaller portion sizes because it is cheaper than buying the smaller packs of chicken strips. Good luck!

penguinmama87

Budget Bytes is not specifically nutrition-related, but that website saved me (not even close to joking) when my husband and I were just starting out and had very limited income. I would also second the recommendation to see what assistance you might be eligible for (and offer sympathy because it's also usually a really grueling process just to apply.) But if you are eligible for SNAP, it can be really generous if you a smart shopper and may give you the opportunity to begin building up a little bit of a pantry and freezer stash if you have the space for it (having this flexibility really, really helps save money in the long term.)

Some of these you may know already but if you don't or for others reading the thread: If you get the grocery flyers in your mail, check these for deals on produce and meat and meal plan around these items. You can also check online. Depending on how far you have to travel and cost of gas, it MIGHT be worth it to go to different stores. Aldi is a really good store if you have one close to you, or other "grocery outlets". If you have a friend with a Costco membership, they are even better in recent months (can't speak for Sam's or other membership stores but possibly them too.) I regularly pick up items for neighbors using my membership. Keep a price book if you don't already (though these all seem so subject to change lately, and I commiserate.)

If there are farmer's markets where you are, you can often do well at end of day. Many accept SNAP now especially in low-income areas. You do have to take what's left. Learn how to cook the weird cuts of meat and use up all of it (bonus: these are often the really nutritious parts!) Make broth with the bones and scraps and ends of veggies. I don't know if soup is keto, but it is very low-calorie, incredibly flexible, cheap, nutritious, and filling. Most of the ones I make would be considered low-carb.

I don't know if you can do keto with a really limited food budget, but I do know you can do nutritious with a little time, know-how (which can be learned if you don't have it yet) and storage capacity (which you can work up to over time.) I wish you the best of luck - it's not easy! But learning good habits in adversity can yield an awful lot of good and I hope your budget doesn't have to be like this forever (that's the other part of the equation though out of the scope of the thread.)

jyoti_0

Kindly check YouTube for "extreme grocery budget for keto diet"- there have been lots of videos about healthy eating on low budget and I'm sure you'll get some useful ideas from there.
And yes, I have also found that eating protein at night (in dinner) makes me quickly lose weight.

DebbsSeattle

Tinned sardines…Walmart Great Value brand are $0.99 per tin…healthy, nutritious, delish, portable, shelf stable long shelf life, available and affordable.

MaggieGirl135

@TheAngieScott Also, many/all communities in the US have food banks, which give out free food. This is true even in small communities, such as mine. I volunteer at our local non-profit and they have one, open 4 days a week. They are also frequently at churches. If you can’t find one, you could call a local church and they could direct you to the closest food bank.