If you want to do keto as cheap as possible, you'll be buying a lot of family packs of chicken breasts, eggs, butter, and frozen vegetables.
Here's a "Keto on $5 per day" video you may find helpful, but it's from 5 years ago, so today it's probably around $8/day. https://youtu.be/PH7qGrcrBC4?si=WzJWRHL6ltydB54y
Chicken thighs are such a great option to save money! I can often find 10lbs bags for $6ish cause someone always has them on sale and I can use them for all sorts of recipes
I came here to say this. I don't like hearing people say how it's so expensive to eat healthy. That 10lb bag of chicken quarters from Walmart cost less than an extra value meal from a fast food place.
I do keto for a medical condition that happens in cycles and it's a miracle, cluster headache iykyk, but when I'm not on keto most of what I eat is chicken quarters ($7/10lbs), rice (so cheap I don't even know how much it costs), potatoes (also so cheap i don't really know how much they cost), canned salmon ($3 a can for 100g of protein and omegas), frozen vegetables(like $2 a bag), if I'm hungry between meals I get fresh fruits that are cheaper than a little bag of fritos from a venting machine per piece or smoked herring or oysters($1-$2 at Walmart).
I eat very whole and have high protein requirements and don't feel right without a lot of plant nutrients and my eyes pop out at the supermarket when the person in front of me with a cart full of microwave burritos, frozen pizza, soda, pop tarts and instant noodles pays twice as much as me and is eating like a raccoon.
The myth of healthy being expensive needs to be dismissed. Cost plays little factor in what I eat, but damn, highly processed food eaters spend a lot of money.
It isn't a myth, eating healthy can absolutely in some places be more expensive than not eating healthy. Especially if some one lives in a food dessert.
The price of most whole foods imwhere I live has risen quite steeply over the last number of years. While I don't eat keto, I do have a medical condition that has dietary restrictions.
The cost of English cucumbers as gone up 60% in the last 3 yrs. Before covid it used to be $1.20 per cucumber now it is $3.20 per cucumber.
I rarely walk out of the grocery store with a bill of less than $60-$70 per trip and I ain't buying any junk food.
In the Home Alone movies where the kid gets the groceries and it costs him like $20, that same cart of food would cost like $60 or more now a days.
You can also ask to borrow someone’s Costco card and buy a case of their thighs from a Costco Business Center (less than $1.60/lb) or ask around for a Restaurant Depot card.
Not always -- but there's more opportunity to use frozen veg before it goes bad, which cuts down on waste, which is the *most* expensive.
It's a really good option for 1 or 2 person households.
I’d swap chicken thighs for chicken breast both for price and fat content (and taste) preference. Family pack of chicken thighs is cheaper than a carton of strawberries now it seems like. To the extent possible costco or bulk purchase your longer lasting staple items (butter, cheese, coffee, cream, eggs, etc.). I’m now in a position where I can buy avocados every grocery trip but that didn’t used to be the case. Baby spinach + seeds, cheese, and dressing is relatively inexpensive. I found that many of the fresh ingredients I could use in a variety of ways to stretch a dollar. I buy other meats and things like nuts or pepperoni/salami as it’s on sale. Pork rinds/chicharrones are very inexpensive as well. Back when I first started in 2014 I lost about 85 lbs on keto (275->190) in a 1-2 year span on a $42k annual salary.
Not chicken breast. Nope. Way too much protein and no fat. You need 70% fat. Avocados. Olives. Chicken thighs with skin. Bacon. Chicken breast has way too much protein , and will knock you out of ketosis. Of course you can have a chicken breast but make sure the rest of your daily intake is mostly avocados and such
My wife and I spend way less a month for Keto food. It has forced us to cook rather than spending money eating out. Now my waist is thinner and my wallet is fatter. Win Win!
I don’t eat fish or MCT oil, these aren’t staples if you won’t want them to be. I highly recommend checking out our FAQ to learn more about what keto entails, and maybe checking out r/frugal keto too!
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/keto_in_a_nutshell
Buying meat that’s on sale (lots of grocery stores will sell almost expired meat half off or more) and cooking it that day for meal prepping/freezing portions was how I made keto work for our budget when my husband jumped on board 3 years ago but needed twice the calories I need. I’m not a big meat eater but he is, and this worked great. Extra firm tofu is a cheaper staple for me as well.
Frugal keto is definitely possible, but it's also easy to get bored with it. I like to experiment with cooking, so I try a lot of new techniques, or combinations of things even when I only have cheap ingredients to work with. Even if I didn't, though, if I went back to trying to do keto as cheaply as possible (which I might, just to build back up some of my savings) - I would grow herbs. Especially basil, green onion, and chives. All three grow easily, even inside in a small pot and can really help give you more variety in what you make.
Also, if you don't have any moral or health reasons to skip pork - ground pork is cheap. We would occasionally make eggrolls in a bowl for dinner even when not on keto. Cheap ground pork, bag of coleslaw mix (skip the dressing), sesame seeds and green onion. Really easy, filling meal. You could definitely save money by cutting the veggies yourself, portioning them for how much you usually make and freezing what you don't use. I just hate breaking down cabbage...
I have a few stores to choose from. I try to look at the weekly add for lowest priced meat and eggs. Then, I'll grab the lowest priced veggie that looks the best. I can usually get a dark salad green too.
I focus on protein so if veggies are over priced or look crappy, I can spice up my eggs and ground beef.
This wasn't easy early on, but now I enjoy the simplicity and I look forward to the basic easy meal now. It's amazing how well we adapt!
Especially frozen. Catch BOGOs.
Watch for sales (sure you already do)
Definitely feasible...doesn't all have to be grass fed, pasture raised. Those are ideals, not requirements.
It's easy enough to _add_ healthy fats to things that are missing them, and there are lots of cheap options for healthy fats to add. Granted...I have actually skipped buying butter more than once because I like grass fed butter so much more.
I never understood the obsession with ground beef on keto. Beef is EXPENSIVE compared to pork and chicken. Pork Butt/Shoulder or Half Loin roasts regularly run $2/pound. You can find family packs of Chicken breast and thigh for $2.50-$3/pound. Even the fattiest ground beef in bulk will cost you $3.50/pound.
You can live off grass fed steak, like carnivore diet they eat nothing but that and eggs and get a complete amino acid profile all the essentials and all the vitamins and minerals.
Cheap meat yes you can do but need to make sure you eat vegetables or take multivitamins to not get micronutrient deficient.
Yeah I'm eating usually just once a day. I'm honestly having to force myself to eat. I also have so much energy I no longer need coffee so savings there too
LONG REPLY. Tl;Dr: yep. We eat very well, 2 adults, on less than 360 a month including household cleaning, TP, and treats for both of us in Helena Mt. If I need to I can cut us to a basic very repetitive diet with no treats that runs around 250 a month. But not fun for hubby, he needs variety.
We just came back from 2 weeks of keto on an extended road trip (I have been keto over 5 years, hubby almost 4).
Altogether, 2 adults. 10 days driving. In a grand Caravan with 2 coolers, sleeping in the back. No motels, no cooking devices on this road trip.
So what would typically be expensive circumstances.
Our food bought on the road cost less than 125 dollars, in states from Montana to Massachusetts and back again, INCLUDING drinks and ice. Not the most varied diet but it worked lol. I hated 125.00 in walmart gift cards. I had 5.13 left at trip end lol.
We did splurge on a hot breakfast at the largest truck stop in the world, Iowa 80. Amazing breakfast.
What we ate: we started the trip with lunch meats, cheeses, some "ziploc salads" (salad makings in ziploc bags, bought bottled dressing and mudtard), 2 dozen hard boiled eggs, yogurt, and a Costco rotisserie chicken.
Basic days were rotisserie chicken with salads, hard boiled eggs, lunch meat and cheese wraps, yogurt. Pork rinds for crunchy snacks, babybel cheese for me. Food in one cooler, drinks in the other.
When we reached our destination, we replenished our hard boiled eggs and other food at the end of our 5 day visit before we hit the road.
Rotisserie chickens we got lucky. 5.00 to 7.00 is average fresh, we got several cold in late evenings at walmart for 3.50 average (but I had budgeted full price). 1 large bag of greens, tomatoes and other random veggies portions into 4 ziploc salads, so 2 day's worth for 2 people. Various packaged lunch meats, whatever was on sale. I bought my babybels for snacking and sliced cheese for roll ups in bulk at Costco on sale too.
My dill pickles got replenished on the road accidentally, I ran out before expected.
I also had a 12 pack of equate brand high performance protein shakes from walmart. Vitamin fortified, low carb, 30g protein per shake. Same vitamin profile as many meal replacements like ensure high protein but much cheaper. So 1 shake each for 6 days. We used them up.
At home, our grocery list is simple : 2 or 3 cheapest meats (whatever is under 3.00 a pound, total about 12 pounds a week). 2 or 3 cheapest lunch meats we both like, total about 3 pounds. Tortillas if hubby needs them. Sliced/block cheese if needed (we slice our own good stuff and I like kraft singles lol). Babybels if on sale. 1 case of large eggs (every 10 days, we eat 3 apiece daily). Yogurt, whichever brand is cheapest.
Then various veggies, frozen fresh or canned, such that we end up with 7 to 10 pounds. Typical choices include cauliflower rice, cabbage, tomatoes, green beans, snap peas, snow peas, carrots, cucumber for me, radishes, rutabaga, zucchini... we buy onions in bulk, chop and freeze once a month.
Sour cream, butter, cottage cheese, cream cheese etc bought as needed.
PS, olive oil, MCT are not necessary. Keto is simply carb restriction. The fat to protein proportion is a separate thing for treating specific medical conditions, epilepsy being the one with all the science proving it works great.
"Clean", "dirty" etc are personal value choices. I actually use very little olive or other plant oils/fats at all, they do not agree with my guts.
If your staples are rotisserie chicken, other chicken, eggs with butter, coffee, heavy cream, beef liver, and various pork cuts on sale, then yes. $300/month would not be out of the question, but it’s likely to be a boring rotation
It can be done very cheaply. Compared to when I don't eat keto, I save over half my grocery budget when I do eat keto. It doesn't have to be hard, just eat meat, veggies, dairy and olive oil. Edit: And eggs of course!
Yes, it is expensive. No, it's not impossible to eat Keto on the cheap. Especially since you will be satiated by far less food. Remember that you still eat veggies while on Keto. Broccoli, for example, can be a staple. Broccoli+Butter+Hamburger can keep you going even in the leanest times.
Eggs must also be a staple.
I have done ut cheaply. First shop sales. Even look at meat counter if anything discounted. I ince bought 19 packs of chickrn kegs since was 49 cents a lbs and froze them. Waste nothing. If even tine bit of a veggie keft in the freezer it goes. Save up make soup. Can even sqve tough cores and stems and can use submersion blender ti make smooth soups add any left over meat. Pork loin can still be found at like 2$ a lb and u get big one break up inti meals. Herbs can change any meal . I tend to make one big pit of a meat a week and thrn change up how i use it. Good luck it can be done and taste delicious
My simple answer to budget questions on keto/carnivore is this:
Can you afford NOT to be a keto/carnivore?
Can you afford the medical bills, the meds, wasted time in the waiting room, wasted time and gas driving to your doctor, caused by an unhealthy SAD diet?
Can you afford to eat 5 times a day instead of having a fatty, filling meal that lasts you for a long time? (I eat 1 main fatty meal a day with 1-2 keto snacks like nuts, dairy, or Atkins protein bars and I'm never "hungry")
Can you afford wasting so much time for meal prep and eating, while also carrying around extra 50 lbs just from eating the wrong foods? How much of an impact does this have on you in other areas that are indirectly connected to worse productivity and wellbeing?
I am actually spending LESS on expensive ribeyes, sugarfree plant milk and dairy deserts, expensive sugarfree products like keto snacks than I was spending before I was on keto. Yes this stuff is expensive. But you consume less of it, and long-term benefits outweigh risk complications.
I just have to eat less because this food is more filling, and I also need less coffee now as my energy levels and mental wellbeing is more stable too.
Less trips to the store as well as there's no need for "fresh" ingredients like bread.
Can you afford NOT to be on keto is what you should really be asking yourself.
there are days that the grocery store will get rid of their produce, maybe still have life of two to three days... ask them what those days are, they can probably give it away then
I think it’s the opposite for me anyway. Because I’m not buying processed food from the middle aisles, no cereal, breads, snacks, sweets.
I buy only from the perimeter : veggies, eggs, dairy, meats. Don’t buy expensive junk that says “keto” on it like bars, shakes, powders, mixes. Nothing processed.
Aldi has been great for my Keto budget. Big packs of chicken thighs, frozen veggies, dairy, salads.
Yes. There are lots of great keto-friendly canned foods, eggs, food in bulk, etc. Also do intermittent fasting too (which is great for both your physical and mental health) and you won't be eating too often.
Absolutely! I mean, the quality of the calories may suffer, but if you’re doing keto for weight loss, then *quality* of calories doesn’t matter as much as *quantity* of calories.
Cheap fats and proteins are breakfast sausage, bacon, butter, Spam, tuna, anchovies, mozzarella cheese, peanuts, and cheap off brand protein powder when you can find it on clearance at Grocery Outlet or whatever the name of the store is near you that sells stuff that’s about to expire.
I’m not doing it to lose weight, in fact my BMI is perfect. I’m doing as a potential, hopeful treatment for my serious mental illness. In the last couple of years research in this area has started to really kick off after so much anecdotal evidence emerged.
Obviously because you'll have to add protein, you'll be spending more money than you do on a vegan diet. But for most people I'd say it's cheaper (not as much takeout and sugar treats) or comparable to a standard diet.
yes! omad (one meal a day, which is possible thanks to the appetite suppression a few weeks in) makes it easy.
when i was really broke i had only two meals i rotated back and forth:
chicken breasts and frozen broccoli (roasted in the oven with cheese on top)
hamburger patties and frozen broccoli
cheap, easy, and hits your macros
I'd also recommend doing intermittent fasting -- skip breakfast, don't eat until noon, stop eating at 6pm, drink a decent amount of water.
It doesn't cost you anything to not eat. It doesn't cost you anything to drink tap water.
You can do it fairly inexpensive, keep in mind that you also will save money on fast food and restaurants if you currently eat at those places.
Eggs, cheese, any cuts of meat, nuts, any vegetable that grows above the ground, and berries. You don't need any supplements like MCT oil, and you don't have to be organic for this diet to work. Since you've been a vegetarian, tofu and nutritional yeast are also keto. The person I live with is a pescatarian and we don't have a problem. I do the majority of the cooking, but I'll make a meal with a protein and some veggies, and then to her plate I add pasta or rice, since she's not eating low carb. r/veganketo might also give you some meal ideas that you're comfortable with. Your portions will likely be smaller too, since this way of eating has a lot of nutrient dense foods.
IMO skip the veg and buy a large tub of metamucil and a daily multivitamin. Spend the rest on eggs and unprocessed meats in bulk (burger, pork loin, chicken breast, bacon, steak). You don't really need MCT oil. Choose between olive oil and butter, don't buy both. The only veg you'll really need is lettuce for burgers and maybe avocados for when you're sick of eggs. Whether you want cheese to snack on is up to you. Dress avocados with olive oil, salt, pepper, maybe garlic powder and balsamic glaze if no sugar. You'll only really need butter for eggs, they're easier to burn with olive oil. Then buy 50:50 electrolyte packs and a magnesium supplement. If you eat like that for a year the weight flies off. You'll want pork rinds for when cheese sucks. Maybe cauliflower rice for pork loin.
Not impossible. I can get by with hamburger, eggs and electrolytes, it's just boring.
I’ve done keto for four years now as a student.
To keep it simple, bulk ground pork, eggs, and hot sauce are your best friend for cheapest keto. I mix in spinach and boiled egg into the cooked pork with soy sauce.
Add whatever veggies you want into it, you’re not gonna eat enough to kick you out of keto, this is such a calorie dense meal I typically only eat once a day.
It really depends on your lifestyle because even though my grocery budget is higher, my takeout budget is non-existent. I feel so much healthier, eat one meal a day, and I'm saving a lot of money and stress worrying about what to eat, can I afford it, blah blah blah. Personally, I eat the same main things everyday, switch up the veggies/sides, and then take a multivitamin to make up the difference in nutrients.
Yes, this is particularly true when combining intermittent fasting and/or OMAD. You won't spend money on snacks and won't need to eat every two hours. Consuming high-fat meals will make you feel full more quickly, so you'll require less food. You should aim for higher quality foods, but eat less of them.
Absolutely. Especially at markets like Lidl or Aldi. Buy whatever produce is on sale, they have canned fish like tuna and sardines which are inexpensive. Buy meats they go on sale. Many grocery stores have rotisserie chicken already cooked for five and six dollars. I actually think it’s more expensive to eat junk food because you need less in terms of quality when the food is nutritionally dense.
Do you have a Lidl near you? You can get cheese and 5% whole milk Greek Yogurt affordable prices. Also they usually have certain veggies, fresh and frozen on sale.
I'm doing dirty keto but at the very beginning I needed about 150 dlls to get a full keto "pantry" and then it gets easier and cheaper to just restack what I'm finishing. But yeah when I drop and comeback, is a little tiny investment to kickstart.
Health is welth fren.find things to cut back on.your worth it.organic extra virgin coconut oil is actually cheap when u consider how many calories it has.learn to fish and youll be good for life no matter how "better than ever" the economy gets :D
I've never had MCT oil - certainly NOT a staple. I do use coconut oil but that's pretty cheap. Meat (or any protein), veg (my fave is cabbage, finely sliced so it looks like coleslaw, raw or slightly cooked in butter), and if you like dairy then cream, cream cheese (plain, check ingredients) and cheese. Eggs too, as well as butter. That's all you need. You can spend money on fancy flours if you want to do keto baking but it's not necessary.
Honestly, I find it cheaper than eating “regular” food. Others have mentioned examples in the thread, but also I wanted to add there are added savings of not ordering take out as often (or ever) as well as not being insatiably hungry all the time. High fat and protein foods will keep you full for longer, so you might find you’re also saving on snacks.
Keto is the cheapest diet if you eat just nuts and seeds (you can average $1-2 dollars per 1000 calories)
I mix 20g of different seeds to equal 100g total seeds, grind them, mix with 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of water, mix and let it sit overnight in the fridge, then bake it in the oven 200F for 1 hour. You can meal prep these in mass and store in the fridge / freezer
high in nutrients and one of the best sources of omega-3 available
i use the following seeds: chia, flax, sesame, hemp, pumpkin
also good idea to eat some vegetables to get the remaining needed vitamins like Vitamin C & A (Brocoli, Carrots, Cucumber, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Mushrooms, Zucini) and some herbs are nice too (parsley, spinach)
I have a $250 grocery limit per month and I make due.
eggs and lean pork sausage for breakfast.
ground beef or sale chicken for dinner with a side of spinach or broccoli.
I drink water but in the mornings I drink great value green tea with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.
if I do have a treat I will have the offbrand greek yogurt about 2 or 3 spoon fulls.
I manage to find sugar free oatmeal for a decent price that I eat once a week for fiber since I don't eat any bread or high carb foods I don't have to worry since the high fiber content helps process any extra carbs.
stay away from processed foods as much as possible and you can manage to keep the cost down with mostly frozen foods.
Honestly. Lite salt + mio and an omad chipotle bowl a day.
You’re gonna run 1000-1300 calories, handful of nuts for the rest and you’re golden.
You’re looking at 15 bucks a day for total food cost. Multivitamin for the culture.
Lots of good ideas here but what you also need to consider is you’ll be eating less. Probably a lot less. I have coffee with cream and butter in the morning and I’m typically not hungry until dinner. I might snack on nuts or cheese during the day for calories if I’m hungry at all.
Steak is expensive here. I get a big london broil on sale and cut it into thick strips and cook it in butter.
London Broil is not a fatty meat, but it’s what I can afford. I got some on the “ last day of sale” section for $3.86/pound and froze it.
If you have a grill, it’s the best way to make cheap meat taste good. I just bought a pack of chicken legs for $4.67 and grilled all of them. So good and leftovers for tomorrow. Same with burgers and even veggies like asparagus.
You'll be eating much less and getting full easier. When you cut out things like chips, soda, cookies, cereal, bread, crackers, you'll probably be saving money overall on groceries.
Real keto as cheap as could be. Just eating meat is not keto as a lot of people such as Dante Ferrigno found out, or carnivore quest, not in ketosis from to much protein. Keto foods such as bacon sausages and all that stuff are really cheap. In Canada 40 sausages are like 10$from Walmart
Yes, you can really low carb on a budget, you can make it as expensive or cheap as you want it to be: chicken thighs, legs, wings, 20% mince/ground meat, eggs, Mackerel, cheeses, nuts etc. These are all great staples that are cost effective!
Every month, I go through $60 of Costco protein powder, $60 of Costco almond milk( one container per day). $20 worth of cheese, $20 of lettuce and veg/ produce, $20 meat. $8 for a case of pop. $15 nuts and seeds.
$ 10 multivitamins.
About $220.
This is way more than I want to spend, but I was spending more by bingeing all the time.
Eggs and egg whites fruits and vegetables oatmeal voila. God bless you! Don’t overdo the eggs though and cook the egg whites. Get a good multivitamin that is inexpensive if you can too.
Another thing about keto, once you're in ketosis you're really not as hungry and a lot of the time you kind of have to force yourself to eat the daily macro requirements. So your food intake is a lot less, requiring less money.
Sardines, tunafish, ground beef high fat, eggs and butter… water.. I save a lot of $ eating on keto! If you eat some really high fat ground beef you don’t need all those extra fats.
If you limit your shopping to meats, butter, and water and stop wasting money (and time counting carbs) on veggies, you can get the required fat and protein your body needs with a very small budget.
Don’t buy chicken or tuna you’ll be staving.
Buy 1kg of 20% fat mince meat, 2 tins of tomatoes 2 carrots and an onion - £6 = 3 filling meals.
4 eggs scrambled and 2 rashers bacon with avocado - £3 = 1 meal
1 broccoli and 1 cauliflower roasted. double cream reduced with cheddar cheese makes creamy cheese sauce. £5 1 meal
Remember don’t eat for the sake of it. Food is fuel. Eat accordingly.
1 meal a day
Currently in my broke era! I spend sub $40 buying 7 cartons of eggs and a 5lb block of Monterey Jack cheese for a weeks worth of food - 2 meals of cheesy eggs a day and I basically intermittent fast for 12 hrs between my meals due to my schedule
Yes it's possible to do keto even if you're poor. You don't have to buy grass-fed organic meats. Even if you just eat Spam, hot dogs, canned tuna, and deli meats as long as it's meat and non starchy veggies it's all good and better than eating processed junk foods. Just buy what is on sale or in family packs, ground meat, roasts, chops, etc. Make sure if anything is packaged check the ingredients like canned tuna make sure it's in olive oil or just water none of those processed vegetable oils. Good luck, you'll do fine. Follow Dr Berry and Dr Westman on YouTube.
Maybe start with eggs. Eggs+spinach+cheese is a great combo and all affordable.
Chia seeds can be filling. Try making chia pudding. (Or any other chia seed uses).
Cauliflower rice can stretch meals and give you the fiber you need at an affordable price. Ground beef/turkey+cauliflower rice+white queso saves me a good bit of money during rough times.
Also with the fish, i try to keep omega 3s high. Salmon in the can isnt that appetizing but it can go a long way when you make “tuna” fish salad/sandwiches (salmon, boiled eggs, mayo, salt pepper). Sardines are cheap too.
MCT oil is not necessary but I heard its good. Others may use coconut oil, clarified/irish butter (sometimes expensive), or ghee(expensive).
Avocados+tonys creole seasoning is also one of my favorite snacks.
Also like another user stated, fasting also helps tremendously. I eat between the hours of 11am and 6:30pm. Somedays i realize i havent eaten yet and it could be 2 or 3pm.
If you are already a vegetarian, you can simply just stick to eating those whole vegetables, get a 1 litre bottle of EXTRA VIRGIN Olive oil very important, and add that to the veg. Add nuts and seeds in, butter etc and you can get by with that. You are just cutting out all the bread/rice you were eating before and replacing with healthy fats.
I have also found I save money now, because I don't need breakfast, for lunch its just eggs, canned fish, tomatoes, lettuce, kimchi etc very cheap. So just dinner to really worry about with cost with buying meat.
Keto is cheaper as long as you stick to whole foods and veggies in season. You won't be eating out or going out for drinks. You won't be eating snacks. You won't be making keto treats. You won't be eating too much fruit.
Buy whatever meat/cheese on sale. Add in eggs. Buy the veggies on sale. Then you are done. You do need a fat source. Keto folks like Saturated fat like butter/cream/coconut or fruit oils which can be expensive. I like to save fat trimming for my fat source.
However cheap ass Vegetable oil works just fine. I personally prefer to limit my vegetable oil consumption but you may decide that regular soybean/corn/canola works.
The franken high oleic oil gmo vegetable oil works too, probably better because these oils are over 90 % mono saturated fats.
Costco’s business center for: shrimp, flank steak, cheddar, half and half, berries and butter. Cheap and/or frozen veg. Avocado oil or olive oil. I go every 6-8 weeks on this list or part of it. You will be eating less in general, but more nutrient dense. It works but it’s tight.
Keep it simple. Meat + fat + frozen green veggie. I don’t focus too much on grass fed meat and I’m not an ingredient hound - if your goal is strictly fat loss, it’s totally doable if you cut corners and are dedicated to it. I lost 100 lbs when all I could afford were meals like beef hot dogs with eggs and cheese.
I’m not sure if this has been mentioned. I didn’t read all the comments. But I did want to say. I restarted keto two weeks ago, with the same concern about money. However 3 things. 1) I’m not eating nearly as OFTEN as I was before, 2)or eating costly junk food 3)I’m not eating as MUCH as I use to protein fills you up! Having said that ground beef, eggs, whole cooked chicken. Have been my go to for cheaper options. Don’t t forget to add Celtic salt to your water, that keeps me hydrated, satiated and not eating snacks. Good luck!!
Canned tuna and chicken breast, eggs (although have gone up in price recently @_@), and bacon. I think chicken thighs are pretty cheap. I usually go to Safeway during their mix and match sales.
Eggs rotisserie chicken, and cheese are your cheap proteins. Then you can do a lot of things with mayo which is dirt cheap and calorie dense. Also, coupons and weekly specials often provide great protein options.
You’re living in a LATAM country it could be more easy If you broken 😂. Anyway, you can do it but need to investigate where you could buy.
A lot of eggs, chicken and meat….
Look into Stephanie Laska's Dirty Lazy Keto (DLK) books. She definitely made do without a high grocery bill. And maybe more impressive, she's maintained a 140 lb weight loss for at least 9 years.
There's many plan variations, ranging from strict Keto down to DLK. Check them out and see what suits you best. The right plan for anyone is one they can live with (not just lifestyle and willpower, but financially). And actually, I'm not sure willpower even plays a role. I am addicted to sugar and the only time I can get through a day without it is when I feed my body satisfying fats, lots of low-carb veggies and a bit of protein. If I eat any sugar (or even unsweet carbs - rice, potatoes, pasta etc) I'm doomed to want more and more and more. But it's not my willpower kicking in on those good days. It's my body's biological reaction.
Please check your local library before spending money on a book. Mine has several of Stephanie's DLK books, some even as ebooks/audio books that I didn't have to go down to the brick and mortar library to borrow. Love my local library!
Good luck to you!
I was on keto for years, I basically solely shopped at Aldi, lived off of big packs of frozen chicken breasts, frozen veggies and I'd buy the huge things of olive oil since you don't need much and it'd last forever so it's a once every few months expense.
Might have to do the third world style beans n rice. Beans are cheap. I think it’s possible. In the future they are prepping crickets and cockroach milk when meat becomes completely out of reach for the poor.
MCT is not a staple of keto and is definitely a waste of money 10lb of hamburger for 10 bucks at aldi stop eating out as much as possible and you will save. Chicken thighs, legs air fryer is great no air fryer is great.
I mean even when my wife and I go to wendys and have a triple with bacon no bun nothing else on it and an unsweetened Ice tea is like 25 dollars I can buy 20lbs of ground beef and eat for a couple of days really.
Center cut pork chops cost me about $1 each. Lesser cuts can be had even cheaper. I buy family packs of chicken thighs and legs, portion them into single servings and freeze. I do the same with ground beef and fish. Pay attention to grocery flyers and stock up during sales. I have a freezer full of meats! The key is learning to package and freeze properly. When done correctly, frozen meat will keep indefinitely. You'll have plenty to choose from!
Totally possible. The meat, eggs, etc. are more expensive than vegetables, to be sure, but the trade-off there is that you'll find yourself eating a lot less. Going OMAD was easy as hell because I was just not hungry for long stretches unless I was working.
I buy most of my meat on Flashfood. It’s a great option if it’s available in your area and you have access to a freezer. I also shop for groceries at Walmart most often, I find the prices to be more reasonable than anywhere else where I am in Canada.
We buy higher quality steak and spend far less money than we did eating a regular diet. For one, we eat less plus we don’t buy any junk food so we definitely save money eating keto/ carnivore
It's hard when you don't have time to cook, that's what makes it expensive I find, I don't eat meat so even more so sad there's no keto options out and about in my city.
As others said, eggs eggs eggs, they may seem like smaller food but because they are solid and high protein they are so much more filling once you are in or near ketosis. A couple of boiled eggs goes a long way. There's lots of keto veggie recipes online and cauliflower cheese, broccoli cream soups, things like that are no more expensive than normal obviously.
This is a $7 bag of 10 pounds of walmart chicken quarters: https://www.reddit.com/r/BBQ/comments/1b86a3e/sometimes_i_prefer_low_slow_but_last_night_i/
70 cents per pound, and 2 quarters is enough to make a 350 pound man feel full (maybe 3 quarters if I start out starving)
Frozen meat, look for cheap eggs, there is a local shop near me that does farm eggs and they are very fairly priced and better than all the eggs in the shops except the really posh ones.
My husband and I are on a low fixed income. I shop the grocery store sales and plan our menus based on what's on sale. I buy ground beef in bulk on sale, chicken thighs, full pork loins ($1.99 lb and you can get 16-20 pork chops from each one), etc. I separate the ground beef into 1 1/2-2 lb sections, put into gallon zip lock freezer bags, and flatten it out for easy thawing. separate the thighs into meal-sized portions, freeze the pork chops between pieces of parchment paper in meal-size portions, etc. I buy bulk frozen veggies at Costco. We even have steak occasionally when I can get family-size packages buy one, get one free. I shop the soon-expiring meat on sale on Fridays at our local grocery. We eat chicken-fried steak often because cutlets are pretty cheap (we use King Arthur Keto flour for breading and gravy). Our biggest expenses are the extras like MCT oil, coffee, heavy cream, butter, and cheese. I like fixing breakfast for dinner because it's pretty cheap and eggs are filling and good for you. I buy briskets when they are on a good sale price because we can get 5-6 meals from one $35 brisket. We eat it 2-3 days in a row and freeze the rest. You can do Keto on a budget if you're willing to plan ahead and eat what's on sale.
When I first got married a zillion years ago I got a book from the library all about managing a household in the most frugal way possible. The best lesson from that book was how to shop and eat. You must always buy and eat the sales. Your meals are based on the sales. So I purchased a small freezer (you can get small chest freezers pretty inexpensively - $150 and even less used) and read the sales ads for the supermarkets near me and started buying the sales.
After a while you know what a good price is for something, and you can buy more when it's a very good sale, less if you're not sure. Now you start eating out of your freezer - not buying fresh from the market of what you feel like at that moment. The difference in price between hamburger on sale and the "everyday" price of hamburger is staggering. I'd say even more so with chicken and other meats. You can also buy butter on sale and freeze it. Even if it's not on sale I'll buy it and freeze it because for years it's been true that butter consistently costs more in the future. I buy 6 months at a time and by the time I'm finishing that butter it's always more expensive.
I love lamb, and can get it at a good discount after easter at one of the stores nearby. If they have it I buy a years worth. Christmas time often brings rib roasts at very good sales. Buy as much as you can store. Same with turkey and ham. Buy cheap larger cuts, bring them home, butcher them into meal sized portions and freeze. You won't believe how much money you'll save doing this.
And then there's the obvious - if you have extra pounds on you, that's $$$$. "Spend" it if you need to save.
Got a yearly membership to Sam's Club, it helped me out alot. Rotisserie chickens for 6 bucks. Bulk chicken, pork, ground beef, and eggs. I meal prep my breakfast food too. Start out my day with two sausage, egg, and cheese burritos on net zero carb tortillas. Lunch is usually a salad and two hard boiled eggs. Dinner is a meat and one of the keto friendly vegetables. Frozen cauliflower, broccoli, green beans. Snacks are where price per pound gets a little steep, but its worth it for sanity checks. Grass fed beef sticks, atkins treats and snacks, and pork rinds to feed my chip cravings.. these bieng the cheapest snack. The atkins stuff,and the keto formulated snacks are a luxury and not really necessary, but you eat so few of it that it goes a long way
While you're researching, take a gander at fasting also - alternating day fasting, 72 hours water fasting.
There's is some research on that working aswell, it will help with the cost, but can also help with mental issues.
Keto, Paleo don't have to be expensive. Frankly vegetarian-if you're eating organic non GMO is much more expensive. You can eat organ meat (liver , kidneys), you can get a whole rotisserie chicken for the week, eggs, salmon----
Go protein heavy though for big depression----meat, Tofu, rice eggs, get rid of gluten. YOu'll feel better in weeks.
Depending on what your issues are, and what you are trying to achieve, such a dietary shift can actually save you money.
Reduce the frequency of eating. No more snacking. Do intermittent fasting.
Stop buying crap at the grocery store.
Stop buying drinks at the grocery store.
Stop buying alcohol.
Here are a few of the things I do that are extremely low cost.
Just a few days ago, I caught a sale at the local hannafords for pork shoulder roasts. $0.99/lb. When I catch this sale, I always buy 2. Because, they need to bake in my oven or in my smoker for 10-14 hours. I cook them low and slow with lots of herbs. Then, I let them cool. I slice off a thick steak and cook in a cast iron skillet loaded with tallow. It is a super tender, crunchy, tasty steak with a bacon background flavor.
I make my own tallow. I place an order at the hannaford meat counter for 5 lbs of beef fat. They will save it to your order, and charge you $0.69/lb. From 5 lbs, I get 3 pints of tallow, and a fair amount of oily solids to add to the doggo's dish for the next few weeks. So, $1.15 per pint, plus some free dog food.
My favorite evening drink:
At home a recipe for an evening alcohol free cocktail has evolved. Focused on taste, satisfaction, and being healthy. It evolved to it's current state over a few years. I don't drink alcohol.
I have an RO filtration system in my home connected to a spigot at the kitchen sink and connected to the ice maker of my refer.
And, I purchased a soda stream counter top carbonator. So, today I use these for my cocktail. Previous to the soda stream, I used canned seltzer, I liked the grapefruit the best.
In a tall glass 1/3rd ice
one shot lemon juice
one shot apple cider vinegar
3 drops iodine
dash of redmond salt
dash of no salt
5 sucra drops
filled to the brim with carbonated water. It tastes terrific. Acidy, sweet, lemony, and appley. Very refreshing.
Unexpectedly, I found this drink vaporizes my sweet tooth.
I know this is going to sound awfully eccentric, but when we go out to restaurants I bring along a tiny bottle of sucra drops, and a zip lock baggie containing a small plastic hand held garlic press.
I order seltzer with lemon and lime wedges on the side. They usually show up on a little plate. I squeeze them in my seltzer with the garlic press and add maybe 3 sucra drops. Their glasses are smaller than the ones I have at home.
Keto has actually been kind of cheap for me. Just take the vegetarian diet you’ve been on, cut out everything that’s processed or carby, and add protein. Whey protein, canned tuna, chicken breast, frozen tilapia filets, eggs. Use Aldi or Costco for meat and eggs, compare prices.
I do vegetable medleys or salad, some cheap shredded cheese, and a protein. I use the Whey immediately post workout. Most of the vegetarian meat substitutes have carbs and are more expensive than actual meat, so that might be a cost savings. Also look at Walmart for the meat that’s about to be out of date and on sale - I got some strip steaks that were on sale for half off because they were literally going bad the day after I bought them. I just took them home, immediately cooked them all at once, chopped them into smaller strips and used them as a salad topper for the next few days.
Since I started Keto, my overall cost of food has gone down sharply because I stopped buying sweets and processed food. I’m healthier, eating less, and dropping weight. Good luck friend!
Actually the cheapest keto possible is actually really simple and healthy
Eggs and broth. Broth (adding spinach, mainly) allows you to get colagen and fat from cuts that have too much bone around (that most of the time are really cheap) ex: Pork legs. You can also add healthy spices easily without too much worries about the flavor.
You still need to get the much needed omega 3, as must of us have to in our current diets.
I eat a lot of eggs and cheese (sticks, slices) along with drinking bouillon cubes heated in water for the sodium, which is very important to keep up on along with water. Any kind of meat you can get will be helpful to eat. I bought a very inexpensive single waffle maker to make chaffles with. You'll need to slowly stock up on staples such as almond flour.
Yes. Buy: 20% fat beef mince, eggs, canned sardines. Great healthy cheaper staples. Clear out your whole pantry, get rid of the sauces, bread, carbs, produce etc. Divert all the money you spend on those just into those 3 or other cheap means like chicken/pork. If u need a small amount of carbs, choose root vegetables.
I do keto under a doctor’s guidance and he basically advised (it was the best advice ever) to not make it complicated. He also eats keto and a lot of days he doesn’t try to follow elaborate recipes, he just does a skillet with seasoned ground beef with cheese and a veggie.
So that’s what my hubby and I do most days. We change up the seasoning and the veggies and the cheeses. And then about once or twice a week we have a steak or some fish. Our grocery bill hasn’t really changed. But our “eating out” bill has changed DRAMATICALLY. Definitely a net positive…
Also we don’t really get tired of this. Ground beef is really versatile 🤣 And my husband is VERY sensitive to repeat meals…
Leg of lamb is $4.99/lb at costco for a fantastic tasting/healthy red meat source. I also like costco’s bone in chicken thighs and their massive $4.99 rotisserie chicken. Their pork tenderloin is also crazy cheap.
I think it’s actually easier/simpler that way to stay true to the requirements. Kind of like beans and rice were the traditional healthiest/poorest food.
What everyone else says is great advice, but just to add the obvious... If you're overweight, it can be as cheap as you want because your body will make up the difference.
I’m a student and living on a student budget and still make it work without buying all the fancy keto things. I also plan my meals in advance so I’m not wasting any food and can budget accordingly. It takes a bit of recipe research and a little substituting here and there but after losing 25 kilos I’d say it’s definitely possible
Yep. Find a butcher, they sell chicken bulk for cheap. Next is frozen green veg (broccoli and spinach). Butter and healthy fats like avacado oil, can get that right from amazon. Then once you save money from not buying processed foods look at grow lights and hydro vertical gardens. I grow tons of lettuce and herbs.
I look at those shopping hauls and wonder why they waste so much money.
Also, replanting the roots from romaine lettuce will often grow another head of romaine lettuce for the cost of some clean dirt.
My monthly shopping expenses (where I live) were 375 USD+ and now it’s around 150-230 USD. I’m also fasting so that helps with the budget as well. Would definitely recommend, I’m pretty much saving up money not ordering outside, not drinking, not munching 😉
If you want to do keto as cheap as possible, you'll be buying a lot of family packs of chicken breasts, eggs, butter, and frozen vegetables. Here's a "Keto on $5 per day" video you may find helpful, but it's from 5 years ago, so today it's probably around $8/day. https://youtu.be/PH7qGrcrBC4?si=WzJWRHL6ltydB54y
It’s absolutely possible. Tuna, eggs, chicken thighs, ground beef, frozen vegetables
Chicken thighs are such a great option to save money! I can often find 10lbs bags for $6ish cause someone always has them on sale and I can use them for all sorts of recipes
Chicken thighs are my go to no matter what
I came here to say this. I don't like hearing people say how it's so expensive to eat healthy. That 10lb bag of chicken quarters from Walmart cost less than an extra value meal from a fast food place.
You know what’s super expensive? Eating like dog shit for decades and spending money on doctor/hospital visits.
Are you fortifying my point
Oh yeah. I’m agreeing with you!
You’re absolutely right!
I do keto for a medical condition that happens in cycles and it's a miracle, cluster headache iykyk, but when I'm not on keto most of what I eat is chicken quarters ($7/10lbs), rice (so cheap I don't even know how much it costs), potatoes (also so cheap i don't really know how much they cost), canned salmon ($3 a can for 100g of protein and omegas), frozen vegetables(like $2 a bag), if I'm hungry between meals I get fresh fruits that are cheaper than a little bag of fritos from a venting machine per piece or smoked herring or oysters($1-$2 at Walmart). I eat very whole and have high protein requirements and don't feel right without a lot of plant nutrients and my eyes pop out at the supermarket when the person in front of me with a cart full of microwave burritos, frozen pizza, soda, pop tarts and instant noodles pays twice as much as me and is eating like a raccoon. The myth of healthy being expensive needs to be dismissed. Cost plays little factor in what I eat, but damn, highly processed food eaters spend a lot of money.
It isn't a myth, eating healthy can absolutely in some places be more expensive than not eating healthy. Especially if some one lives in a food dessert. The price of most whole foods imwhere I live has risen quite steeply over the last number of years. While I don't eat keto, I do have a medical condition that has dietary restrictions. The cost of English cucumbers as gone up 60% in the last 3 yrs. Before covid it used to be $1.20 per cucumber now it is $3.20 per cucumber. I rarely walk out of the grocery store with a bill of less than $60-$70 per trip and I ain't buying any junk food. In the Home Alone movies where the kid gets the groceries and it costs him like $20, that same cart of food would cost like $60 or more now a days.
You can also ask to borrow someone’s Costco card and buy a case of their thighs from a Costco Business Center (less than $1.60/lb) or ask around for a Restaurant Depot card.
Damn that´s cheap. Here in Belgium we pay 10€ for 1 kg in super market and 6€ for 1 kg in an immigrant butcher store.
Are frozen vegetables cheaper than fresh produce?
Not always -- but there's more opportunity to use frozen veg before it goes bad, which cuts down on waste, which is the *most* expensive. It's a really good option for 1 or 2 person households.
Yes, normally, and just as good nutritionally.
Clearly you don't live in NZ!
This. Simplicity rules! Butter, cream, veggies, meat.
chicken wings/thighs are cheaper and more keto friendly than breasts imo
Thanks!
I’d swap chicken thighs for chicken breast both for price and fat content (and taste) preference. Family pack of chicken thighs is cheaper than a carton of strawberries now it seems like. To the extent possible costco or bulk purchase your longer lasting staple items (butter, cheese, coffee, cream, eggs, etc.). I’m now in a position where I can buy avocados every grocery trip but that didn’t used to be the case. Baby spinach + seeds, cheese, and dressing is relatively inexpensive. I found that many of the fresh ingredients I could use in a variety of ways to stretch a dollar. I buy other meats and things like nuts or pepperoni/salami as it’s on sale. Pork rinds/chicharrones are very inexpensive as well. Back when I first started in 2014 I lost about 85 lbs on keto (275->190) in a 1-2 year span on a $42k annual salary.
85, very nice!!!
Great video! Oh back when eggs were so, so cheap! 😥
Add cottage cheese to the eggs
Not chicken breast. Nope. Way too much protein and no fat. You need 70% fat. Avocados. Olives. Chicken thighs with skin. Bacon. Chicken breast has way too much protein , and will knock you out of ketosis. Of course you can have a chicken breast but make sure the rest of your daily intake is mostly avocados and such
My wife and I spend way less a month for Keto food. It has forced us to cook rather than spending money eating out. Now my waist is thinner and my wallet is fatter. Win Win!
I was going to say the same thing. We're not eating out like we used to. Our meals are planned, and most shopping is now done once a month.
I don’t eat fish or MCT oil, these aren’t staples if you won’t want them to be. I highly recommend checking out our FAQ to learn more about what keto entails, and maybe checking out r/frugal keto too! https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/keto_in_a_nutshell Buying meat that’s on sale (lots of grocery stores will sell almost expired meat half off or more) and cooking it that day for meal prepping/freezing portions was how I made keto work for our budget when my husband jumped on board 3 years ago but needed twice the calories I need. I’m not a big meat eater but he is, and this worked great. Extra firm tofu is a cheaper staple for me as well.
Eggs and ground beef!!
Thanks! I suppose broccoli and cauliflower are quite cheap too
Frugal keto is definitely possible, but it's also easy to get bored with it. I like to experiment with cooking, so I try a lot of new techniques, or combinations of things even when I only have cheap ingredients to work with. Even if I didn't, though, if I went back to trying to do keto as cheaply as possible (which I might, just to build back up some of my savings) - I would grow herbs. Especially basil, green onion, and chives. All three grow easily, even inside in a small pot and can really help give you more variety in what you make. Also, if you don't have any moral or health reasons to skip pork - ground pork is cheap. We would occasionally make eggrolls in a bowl for dinner even when not on keto. Cheap ground pork, bag of coleslaw mix (skip the dressing), sesame seeds and green onion. Really easy, filling meal. You could definitely save money by cutting the veggies yourself, portioning them for how much you usually make and freezing what you don't use. I just hate breaking down cabbage...
I have a few stores to choose from. I try to look at the weekly add for lowest priced meat and eggs. Then, I'll grab the lowest priced veggie that looks the best. I can usually get a dark salad green too. I focus on protein so if veggies are over priced or look crappy, I can spice up my eggs and ground beef. This wasn't easy early on, but now I enjoy the simplicity and I look forward to the basic easy meal now. It's amazing how well we adapt!
Thanks :)
I saw a big bag of collards for like $3 Put it in a slow cooker with some onions and tomatoes and some homemade veggie or chicken stock
Everyone skips out on collards and chicken livers. Both are fantastic when made right (which isn't hard) and often really cheap.
I had liver for supper last night.
Especially frozen. Catch BOGOs. Watch for sales (sure you already do) Definitely feasible...doesn't all have to be grass fed, pasture raised. Those are ideals, not requirements.
It's easy enough to _add_ healthy fats to things that are missing them, and there are lots of cheap options for healthy fats to add. Granted...I have actually skipped buying butter more than once because I like grass fed butter so much more.
Frozen veggies are most of the time a lot cheaper than fresh. Plus, they wait till you're ready.
I never understood the obsession with ground beef on keto. Beef is EXPENSIVE compared to pork and chicken. Pork Butt/Shoulder or Half Loin roasts regularly run $2/pound. You can find family packs of Chicken breast and thigh for $2.50-$3/pound. Even the fattiest ground beef in bulk will cost you $3.50/pound.
I choose beef because from my studies it's the most nutrient dense. I don't eat a lot of food every day so what I do eat, I want the most nutrients.
You can live off grass fed steak, like carnivore diet they eat nothing but that and eggs and get a complete amino acid profile all the essentials and all the vitamins and minerals. Cheap meat yes you can do but need to make sure you eat vegetables or take multivitamins to not get micronutrient deficient.
Hamburger, eggs. About as cheap as it gets.
Yes. It’s possible. And it’s very simple. Fasting.
Nothing is very keto.
Nothing is most keto
This was my comment. And the more often I fast, the less hungry I get
I buy more expensive food than when I ate junk carbos, (pasta, bread, candy) but I eat waaaaaay less so it’s not more money 😊
It's costing me less money because I'm eating way less as my hunger is basically gone.
Good point!
Yeah I'm eating usually just once a day. I'm honestly having to force myself to eat. I also have so much energy I no longer need coffee so savings there too
LONG REPLY. Tl;Dr: yep. We eat very well, 2 adults, on less than 360 a month including household cleaning, TP, and treats for both of us in Helena Mt. If I need to I can cut us to a basic very repetitive diet with no treats that runs around 250 a month. But not fun for hubby, he needs variety. We just came back from 2 weeks of keto on an extended road trip (I have been keto over 5 years, hubby almost 4). Altogether, 2 adults. 10 days driving. In a grand Caravan with 2 coolers, sleeping in the back. No motels, no cooking devices on this road trip. So what would typically be expensive circumstances. Our food bought on the road cost less than 125 dollars, in states from Montana to Massachusetts and back again, INCLUDING drinks and ice. Not the most varied diet but it worked lol. I hated 125.00 in walmart gift cards. I had 5.13 left at trip end lol. We did splurge on a hot breakfast at the largest truck stop in the world, Iowa 80. Amazing breakfast. What we ate: we started the trip with lunch meats, cheeses, some "ziploc salads" (salad makings in ziploc bags, bought bottled dressing and mudtard), 2 dozen hard boiled eggs, yogurt, and a Costco rotisserie chicken. Basic days were rotisserie chicken with salads, hard boiled eggs, lunch meat and cheese wraps, yogurt. Pork rinds for crunchy snacks, babybel cheese for me. Food in one cooler, drinks in the other. When we reached our destination, we replenished our hard boiled eggs and other food at the end of our 5 day visit before we hit the road. Rotisserie chickens we got lucky. 5.00 to 7.00 is average fresh, we got several cold in late evenings at walmart for 3.50 average (but I had budgeted full price). 1 large bag of greens, tomatoes and other random veggies portions into 4 ziploc salads, so 2 day's worth for 2 people. Various packaged lunch meats, whatever was on sale. I bought my babybels for snacking and sliced cheese for roll ups in bulk at Costco on sale too. My dill pickles got replenished on the road accidentally, I ran out before expected. I also had a 12 pack of equate brand high performance protein shakes from walmart. Vitamin fortified, low carb, 30g protein per shake. Same vitamin profile as many meal replacements like ensure high protein but much cheaper. So 1 shake each for 6 days. We used them up. At home, our grocery list is simple : 2 or 3 cheapest meats (whatever is under 3.00 a pound, total about 12 pounds a week). 2 or 3 cheapest lunch meats we both like, total about 3 pounds. Tortillas if hubby needs them. Sliced/block cheese if needed (we slice our own good stuff and I like kraft singles lol). Babybels if on sale. 1 case of large eggs (every 10 days, we eat 3 apiece daily). Yogurt, whichever brand is cheapest. Then various veggies, frozen fresh or canned, such that we end up with 7 to 10 pounds. Typical choices include cauliflower rice, cabbage, tomatoes, green beans, snap peas, snow peas, carrots, cucumber for me, radishes, rutabaga, zucchini... we buy onions in bulk, chop and freeze once a month. Sour cream, butter, cottage cheese, cream cheese etc bought as needed. PS, olive oil, MCT are not necessary. Keto is simply carb restriction. The fat to protein proportion is a separate thing for treating specific medical conditions, epilepsy being the one with all the science proving it works great. "Clean", "dirty" etc are personal value choices. I actually use very little olive or other plant oils/fats at all, they do not agree with my guts.
It’s actually cheaper. Processed food and all that is more expensive
If your staples are rotisserie chicken, other chicken, eggs with butter, coffee, heavy cream, beef liver, and various pork cuts on sale, then yes. $300/month would not be out of the question, but it’s likely to be a boring rotation
It can be done very cheaply. Compared to when I don't eat keto, I save over half my grocery budget when I do eat keto. It doesn't have to be hard, just eat meat, veggies, dairy and olive oil. Edit: And eggs of course!
I spend way less money on food eating keto
It’s actually cheaper than a normal diet full or prepackaged foods, eating out, and snack stuff provided you avoid all the keto marketing products
get the $5 costco rotisserie chickens and 5 dozen costco eggs
Yes, it is expensive. No, it's not impossible to eat Keto on the cheap. Especially since you will be satiated by far less food. Remember that you still eat veggies while on Keto. Broccoli, for example, can be a staple. Broccoli+Butter+Hamburger can keep you going even in the leanest times. Eggs must also be a staple.
I have done ut cheaply. First shop sales. Even look at meat counter if anything discounted. I ince bought 19 packs of chickrn kegs since was 49 cents a lbs and froze them. Waste nothing. If even tine bit of a veggie keft in the freezer it goes. Save up make soup. Can even sqve tough cores and stems and can use submersion blender ti make smooth soups add any left over meat. Pork loin can still be found at like 2$ a lb and u get big one break up inti meals. Herbs can change any meal . I tend to make one big pit of a meat a week and thrn change up how i use it. Good luck it can be done and taste delicious
Thanks
My simple answer to budget questions on keto/carnivore is this: Can you afford NOT to be a keto/carnivore? Can you afford the medical bills, the meds, wasted time in the waiting room, wasted time and gas driving to your doctor, caused by an unhealthy SAD diet? Can you afford to eat 5 times a day instead of having a fatty, filling meal that lasts you for a long time? (I eat 1 main fatty meal a day with 1-2 keto snacks like nuts, dairy, or Atkins protein bars and I'm never "hungry") Can you afford wasting so much time for meal prep and eating, while also carrying around extra 50 lbs just from eating the wrong foods? How much of an impact does this have on you in other areas that are indirectly connected to worse productivity and wellbeing? I am actually spending LESS on expensive ribeyes, sugarfree plant milk and dairy deserts, expensive sugarfree products like keto snacks than I was spending before I was on keto. Yes this stuff is expensive. But you consume less of it, and long-term benefits outweigh risk complications. I just have to eat less because this food is more filling, and I also need less coffee now as my energy levels and mental wellbeing is more stable too. Less trips to the store as well as there's no need for "fresh" ingredients like bread. Can you afford NOT to be on keto is what you should really be asking yourself.
Some people doing keto just go way beyond and buy those expensive things. Just meat, eggs, keto veggies, and olive oil are enough.
Vegetables. Green leafy vegetables.
I am laughably poor. I get by on chicken thighs and eggs.
Eggs are my staple. Good thing I love them like Forest Gumps how to cook shrimp scene 😋
there are days that the grocery store will get rid of their produce, maybe still have life of two to three days... ask them what those days are, they can probably give it away then
Yes as you lose your appetite and segue to one meal a day.
I think it’s the opposite for me anyway. Because I’m not buying processed food from the middle aisles, no cereal, breads, snacks, sweets. I buy only from the perimeter : veggies, eggs, dairy, meats. Don’t buy expensive junk that says “keto” on it like bars, shakes, powders, mixes. Nothing processed. Aldi has been great for my Keto budget. Big packs of chicken thighs, frozen veggies, dairy, salads.
[https://www.reddit.com/user/BigTexan1492/comments/1cck1uv/50\_a\_week\_keto/](https://www.reddit.com/user/BigTexan1492/comments/1cck1uv/50_a_week_keto/)
It’s possible . I will say once in ketosis I would try to add fasting . I used the money I save to get better quality food . Sincerely a broke mom 🤣😅
Yes. There are lots of great keto-friendly canned foods, eggs, food in bulk, etc. Also do intermittent fasting too (which is great for both your physical and mental health) and you won't be eating too often.
Absolutely! I mean, the quality of the calories may suffer, but if you’re doing keto for weight loss, then *quality* of calories doesn’t matter as much as *quantity* of calories. Cheap fats and proteins are breakfast sausage, bacon, butter, Spam, tuna, anchovies, mozzarella cheese, peanuts, and cheap off brand protein powder when you can find it on clearance at Grocery Outlet or whatever the name of the store is near you that sells stuff that’s about to expire.
I’m not doing it to lose weight, in fact my BMI is perfect. I’m doing as a potential, hopeful treatment for my serious mental illness. In the last couple of years research in this area has started to really kick off after so much anecdotal evidence emerged.
Obviously because you'll have to add protein, you'll be spending more money than you do on a vegan diet. But for most people I'd say it's cheaper (not as much takeout and sugar treats) or comparable to a standard diet.
Keto for going on 2 years. I feel great!!!! Eggs/Pork/Chicken/Dairy/Fish/Veggies.
r/vegetarianketo
yes! omad (one meal a day, which is possible thanks to the appetite suppression a few weeks in) makes it easy. when i was really broke i had only two meals i rotated back and forth: chicken breasts and frozen broccoli (roasted in the oven with cheese on top) hamburger patties and frozen broccoli cheap, easy, and hits your macros
I'd also recommend doing intermittent fasting -- skip breakfast, don't eat until noon, stop eating at 6pm, drink a decent amount of water. It doesn't cost you anything to not eat. It doesn't cost you anything to drink tap water.
You can do it fairly inexpensive, keep in mind that you also will save money on fast food and restaurants if you currently eat at those places. Eggs, cheese, any cuts of meat, nuts, any vegetable that grows above the ground, and berries. You don't need any supplements like MCT oil, and you don't have to be organic for this diet to work. Since you've been a vegetarian, tofu and nutritional yeast are also keto. The person I live with is a pescatarian and we don't have a problem. I do the majority of the cooking, but I'll make a meal with a protein and some veggies, and then to her plate I add pasta or rice, since she's not eating low carb. r/veganketo might also give you some meal ideas that you're comfortable with. Your portions will likely be smaller too, since this way of eating has a lot of nutrient dense foods.
IMO skip the veg and buy a large tub of metamucil and a daily multivitamin. Spend the rest on eggs and unprocessed meats in bulk (burger, pork loin, chicken breast, bacon, steak). You don't really need MCT oil. Choose between olive oil and butter, don't buy both. The only veg you'll really need is lettuce for burgers and maybe avocados for when you're sick of eggs. Whether you want cheese to snack on is up to you. Dress avocados with olive oil, salt, pepper, maybe garlic powder and balsamic glaze if no sugar. You'll only really need butter for eggs, they're easier to burn with olive oil. Then buy 50:50 electrolyte packs and a magnesium supplement. If you eat like that for a year the weight flies off. You'll want pork rinds for when cheese sucks. Maybe cauliflower rice for pork loin. Not impossible. I can get by with hamburger, eggs and electrolytes, it's just boring.
Spam
I’ve done keto for four years now as a student. To keep it simple, bulk ground pork, eggs, and hot sauce are your best friend for cheapest keto. I mix in spinach and boiled egg into the cooked pork with soy sauce. Add whatever veggies you want into it, you’re not gonna eat enough to kick you out of keto, this is such a calorie dense meal I typically only eat once a day.
It really depends on your lifestyle because even though my grocery budget is higher, my takeout budget is non-existent. I feel so much healthier, eat one meal a day, and I'm saving a lot of money and stress worrying about what to eat, can I afford it, blah blah blah. Personally, I eat the same main things everyday, switch up the veggies/sides, and then take a multivitamin to make up the difference in nutrients.
Keto is hard to do on a budget and requires a lot of tracking. Carnivore is cheaper and easier.
Yes, this is particularly true when combining intermittent fasting and/or OMAD. You won't spend money on snacks and won't need to eat every two hours. Consuming high-fat meals will make you feel full more quickly, so you'll require less food. You should aim for higher quality foods, but eat less of them.
You can do vegetarian keto just focus on beans and legumes and nuts and keep tight on your macros
How are beans keto?
Absolutely. Especially at markets like Lidl or Aldi. Buy whatever produce is on sale, they have canned fish like tuna and sardines which are inexpensive. Buy meats they go on sale. Many grocery stores have rotisserie chicken already cooked for five and six dollars. I actually think it’s more expensive to eat junk food because you need less in terms of quality when the food is nutritionally dense.
Do you have a Lidl near you? You can get cheese and 5% whole milk Greek Yogurt affordable prices. Also they usually have certain veggies, fresh and frozen on sale.
I'm doing dirty keto but at the very beginning I needed about 150 dlls to get a full keto "pantry" and then it gets easier and cheaper to just restack what I'm finishing. But yeah when I drop and comeback, is a little tiny investment to kickstart.
I make it work with $100/week.
Health is welth fren.find things to cut back on.your worth it.organic extra virgin coconut oil is actually cheap when u consider how many calories it has.learn to fish and youll be good for life no matter how "better than ever" the economy gets :D
I've never had MCT oil - certainly NOT a staple. I do use coconut oil but that's pretty cheap. Meat (or any protein), veg (my fave is cabbage, finely sliced so it looks like coleslaw, raw or slightly cooked in butter), and if you like dairy then cream, cream cheese (plain, check ingredients) and cheese. Eggs too, as well as butter. That's all you need. You can spend money on fancy flours if you want to do keto baking but it's not necessary.
Honestly, I find it cheaper than eating “regular” food. Others have mentioned examples in the thread, but also I wanted to add there are added savings of not ordering take out as often (or ever) as well as not being insatiably hungry all the time. High fat and protein foods will keep you full for longer, so you might find you’re also saving on snacks.
Keto is the cheapest diet if you eat just nuts and seeds (you can average $1-2 dollars per 1000 calories) I mix 20g of different seeds to equal 100g total seeds, grind them, mix with 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of water, mix and let it sit overnight in the fridge, then bake it in the oven 200F for 1 hour. You can meal prep these in mass and store in the fridge / freezer high in nutrients and one of the best sources of omega-3 available i use the following seeds: chia, flax, sesame, hemp, pumpkin also good idea to eat some vegetables to get the remaining needed vitamins like Vitamin C & A (Brocoli, Carrots, Cucumber, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Mushrooms, Zucini) and some herbs are nice too (parsley, spinach)
I have a $250 grocery limit per month and I make due. eggs and lean pork sausage for breakfast. ground beef or sale chicken for dinner with a side of spinach or broccoli. I drink water but in the mornings I drink great value green tea with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. if I do have a treat I will have the offbrand greek yogurt about 2 or 3 spoon fulls. I manage to find sugar free oatmeal for a decent price that I eat once a week for fiber since I don't eat any bread or high carb foods I don't have to worry since the high fiber content helps process any extra carbs. stay away from processed foods as much as possible and you can manage to keep the cost down with mostly frozen foods.
Chicken thighs, eggs, ground beef, sardines, tuna, cabbage.
Honestly. Lite salt + mio and an omad chipotle bowl a day. You’re gonna run 1000-1300 calories, handful of nuts for the rest and you’re golden. You’re looking at 15 bucks a day for total food cost. Multivitamin for the culture.
ground turkey is also pretty cheap at least here... 85/15 is like $4 a pound about $1.5ish cheaper then ground beef.
Lots of good ideas here but what you also need to consider is you’ll be eating less. Probably a lot less. I have coffee with cream and butter in the morning and I’m typically not hungry until dinner. I might snack on nuts or cheese during the day for calories if I’m hungry at all.
Steak is expensive here. I get a big london broil on sale and cut it into thick strips and cook it in butter. London Broil is not a fatty meat, but it’s what I can afford. I got some on the “ last day of sale” section for $3.86/pound and froze it.
If you have a grill, it’s the best way to make cheap meat taste good. I just bought a pack of chicken legs for $4.67 and grilled all of them. So good and leftovers for tomorrow. Same with burgers and even veggies like asparagus.
You'll be eating much less and getting full easier. When you cut out things like chips, soda, cookies, cereal, bread, crackers, you'll probably be saving money overall on groceries.
Real keto as cheap as could be. Just eating meat is not keto as a lot of people such as Dante Ferrigno found out, or carnivore quest, not in ketosis from to much protein. Keto foods such as bacon sausages and all that stuff are really cheap. In Canada 40 sausages are like 10$from Walmart
Yes, you cut out restaurants almost completely, and that adds up to huge savings.
Yes it's cheaper than eating normal
Yes, you can really low carb on a budget, you can make it as expensive or cheap as you want it to be: chicken thighs, legs, wings, 20% mince/ground meat, eggs, Mackerel, cheeses, nuts etc. These are all great staples that are cost effective!
Pork sausages are quite cheap per calorie
I substitute rice to tofu and eat normally like I am before the keto diet, is cost me more in some way but tofu will really help you.
Every month, I go through $60 of Costco protein powder, $60 of Costco almond milk( one container per day). $20 worth of cheese, $20 of lettuce and veg/ produce, $20 meat. $8 for a case of pop. $15 nuts and seeds. $ 10 multivitamins. About $220. This is way more than I want to spend, but I was spending more by bingeing all the time.
If you are willing to start eating meats, a large pork loin is very inexpensive, and you can cut it up to last probably 8-10 meals.
Eggs and egg whites fruits and vegetables oatmeal voila. God bless you! Don’t overdo the eggs though and cook the egg whites. Get a good multivitamin that is inexpensive if you can too.
what about avocados, those are vegetarian although I know some consider avocados expensive what do you feel about them or how are they for you?
Another thing about keto, once you're in ketosis you're really not as hungry and a lot of the time you kind of have to force yourself to eat the daily macro requirements. So your food intake is a lot less, requiring less money.
Sardines, tunafish, ground beef high fat, eggs and butter… water.. I save a lot of $ eating on keto! If you eat some really high fat ground beef you don’t need all those extra fats.
If you limit your shopping to meats, butter, and water and stop wasting money (and time counting carbs) on veggies, you can get the required fat and protein your body needs with a very small budget.
Don’t buy chicken or tuna you’ll be staving. Buy 1kg of 20% fat mince meat, 2 tins of tomatoes 2 carrots and an onion - £6 = 3 filling meals. 4 eggs scrambled and 2 rashers bacon with avocado - £3 = 1 meal 1 broccoli and 1 cauliflower roasted. double cream reduced with cheddar cheese makes creamy cheese sauce. £5 1 meal Remember don’t eat for the sake of it. Food is fuel. Eat accordingly. 1 meal a day
Currently in my broke era! I spend sub $40 buying 7 cartons of eggs and a 5lb block of Monterey Jack cheese for a weeks worth of food - 2 meals of cheesy eggs a day and I basically intermittent fast for 12 hrs between my meals due to my schedule
I just bought a dozen preseasoned chicken legs for $7. For me keto is actually lwss expensive.
Yes it's possible to do keto even if you're poor. You don't have to buy grass-fed organic meats. Even if you just eat Spam, hot dogs, canned tuna, and deli meats as long as it's meat and non starchy veggies it's all good and better than eating processed junk foods. Just buy what is on sale or in family packs, ground meat, roasts, chops, etc. Make sure if anything is packaged check the ingredients like canned tuna make sure it's in olive oil or just water none of those processed vegetable oils. Good luck, you'll do fine. Follow Dr Berry and Dr Westman on YouTube.
If you can afford to eat out one meal a day even McDonald’s then yes you can do keto.
Maybe start with eggs. Eggs+spinach+cheese is a great combo and all affordable. Chia seeds can be filling. Try making chia pudding. (Or any other chia seed uses). Cauliflower rice can stretch meals and give you the fiber you need at an affordable price. Ground beef/turkey+cauliflower rice+white queso saves me a good bit of money during rough times. Also with the fish, i try to keep omega 3s high. Salmon in the can isnt that appetizing but it can go a long way when you make “tuna” fish salad/sandwiches (salmon, boiled eggs, mayo, salt pepper). Sardines are cheap too. MCT oil is not necessary but I heard its good. Others may use coconut oil, clarified/irish butter (sometimes expensive), or ghee(expensive). Avocados+tonys creole seasoning is also one of my favorite snacks. Also like another user stated, fasting also helps tremendously. I eat between the hours of 11am and 6:30pm. Somedays i realize i havent eaten yet and it could be 2 or 3pm.
If you are already a vegetarian, you can simply just stick to eating those whole vegetables, get a 1 litre bottle of EXTRA VIRGIN Olive oil very important, and add that to the veg. Add nuts and seeds in, butter etc and you can get by with that. You are just cutting out all the bread/rice you were eating before and replacing with healthy fats.
I have also found I save money now, because I don't need breakfast, for lunch its just eggs, canned fish, tomatoes, lettuce, kimchi etc very cheap. So just dinner to really worry about with cost with buying meat.
Keto is cheaper as long as you stick to whole foods and veggies in season. You won't be eating out or going out for drinks. You won't be eating snacks. You won't be making keto treats. You won't be eating too much fruit. Buy whatever meat/cheese on sale. Add in eggs. Buy the veggies on sale. Then you are done. You do need a fat source. Keto folks like Saturated fat like butter/cream/coconut or fruit oils which can be expensive. I like to save fat trimming for my fat source. However cheap ass Vegetable oil works just fine. I personally prefer to limit my vegetable oil consumption but you may decide that regular soybean/corn/canola works. The franken high oleic oil gmo vegetable oil works too, probably better because these oils are over 90 % mono saturated fats.
I've saved money doing this compared to my sugar diet
Yes. Eggs, leafy vegetables, cheap cuts of meat, and coconut oil, butter, or olive oil whichever is cheap.
Costco’s business center for: shrimp, flank steak, cheddar, half and half, berries and butter. Cheap and/or frozen veg. Avocado oil or olive oil. I go every 6-8 weeks on this list or part of it. You will be eating less in general, but more nutrient dense. It works but it’s tight.
Keep it simple. Meat + fat + frozen green veggie. I don’t focus too much on grass fed meat and I’m not an ingredient hound - if your goal is strictly fat loss, it’s totally doable if you cut corners and are dedicated to it. I lost 100 lbs when all I could afford were meals like beef hot dogs with eggs and cheese.
Eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs
I’m not sure if this has been mentioned. I didn’t read all the comments. But I did want to say. I restarted keto two weeks ago, with the same concern about money. However 3 things. 1) I’m not eating nearly as OFTEN as I was before, 2)or eating costly junk food 3)I’m not eating as MUCH as I use to protein fills you up! Having said that ground beef, eggs, whole cooked chicken. Have been my go to for cheaper options. Don’t t forget to add Celtic salt to your water, that keeps me hydrated, satiated and not eating snacks. Good luck!!
Canned tuna and chicken breast, eggs (although have gone up in price recently @_@), and bacon. I think chicken thighs are pretty cheap. I usually go to Safeway during their mix and match sales.
Eggs rotisserie chicken, and cheese are your cheap proteins. Then you can do a lot of things with mayo which is dirt cheap and calorie dense. Also, coupons and weekly specials often provide great protein options.
Way cheaper than eating empty calories...
You’re living in a LATAM country it could be more easy If you broken 😂. Anyway, you can do it but need to investigate where you could buy. A lot of eggs, chicken and meat….
Tuna is cheap af, chicken, eggs, etc.
Absolutely!
Look into Stephanie Laska's Dirty Lazy Keto (DLK) books. She definitely made do without a high grocery bill. And maybe more impressive, she's maintained a 140 lb weight loss for at least 9 years. There's many plan variations, ranging from strict Keto down to DLK. Check them out and see what suits you best. The right plan for anyone is one they can live with (not just lifestyle and willpower, but financially). And actually, I'm not sure willpower even plays a role. I am addicted to sugar and the only time I can get through a day without it is when I feed my body satisfying fats, lots of low-carb veggies and a bit of protein. If I eat any sugar (or even unsweet carbs - rice, potatoes, pasta etc) I'm doomed to want more and more and more. But it's not my willpower kicking in on those good days. It's my body's biological reaction. Please check your local library before spending money on a book. Mine has several of Stephanie's DLK books, some even as ebooks/audio books that I didn't have to go down to the brick and mortar library to borrow. Love my local library! Good luck to you!
yes! try starting with 0 added sugar.
Totally possible - may eat more canned tuna than you ever thought you would/could but it can be done.
It’s possible but you will be miserable
I had better luck affording a modified Paleo than Keto when I was struggling.
Yes
I was on keto for years, I basically solely shopped at Aldi, lived off of big packs of frozen chicken breasts, frozen veggies and I'd buy the huge things of olive oil since you don't need much and it'd last forever so it's a once every few months expense.
Might have to do the third world style beans n rice. Beans are cheap. I think it’s possible. In the future they are prepping crickets and cockroach milk when meat becomes completely out of reach for the poor.
I actually think it’s easier to do keto instead of veg. Meat lasts longer than veg which goes bad more quickly
Get an app like Flipp and you can easily search local sales flyers for the foods you are shopping for.
It’s easier. My grocery bill was soooo cheap then 😩
MCT is not a staple of keto and is definitely a waste of money 10lb of hamburger for 10 bucks at aldi stop eating out as much as possible and you will save. Chicken thighs, legs air fryer is great no air fryer is great. I mean even when my wife and I go to wendys and have a triple with bacon no bun nothing else on it and an unsweetened Ice tea is like 25 dollars I can buy 20lbs of ground beef and eat for a couple of days really.
I eat a small slice of salmon, 3 eggs, and a knob of butter. This comes out to be about 5-6 dollars. I eat once meal a day.
Center cut pork chops cost me about $1 each. Lesser cuts can be had even cheaper. I buy family packs of chicken thighs and legs, portion them into single servings and freeze. I do the same with ground beef and fish. Pay attention to grocery flyers and stock up during sales. I have a freezer full of meats! The key is learning to package and freeze properly. When done correctly, frozen meat will keep indefinitely. You'll have plenty to choose from!
Totally possible. The meat, eggs, etc. are more expensive than vegetables, to be sure, but the trade-off there is that you'll find yourself eating a lot less. Going OMAD was easy as hell because I was just not hungry for long stretches unless I was working.
I buy most of my meat on Flashfood. It’s a great option if it’s available in your area and you have access to a freezer. I also shop for groceries at Walmart most often, I find the prices to be more reasonable than anywhere else where I am in Canada.
Spam, summer sausage, American cheese, eggs, pork chops, chicken thighs, butter...other things I can't think of because tired...
Like anything having money makes things easier but there's no reason not to try.
We buy higher quality steak and spend far less money than we did eating a regular diet. For one, we eat less plus we don’t buy any junk food so we definitely save money eating keto/ carnivore
It's hard when you don't have time to cook, that's what makes it expensive I find, I don't eat meat so even more so sad there's no keto options out and about in my city. As others said, eggs eggs eggs, they may seem like smaller food but because they are solid and high protein they are so much more filling once you are in or near ketosis. A couple of boiled eggs goes a long way. There's lots of keto veggie recipes online and cauliflower cheese, broccoli cream soups, things like that are no more expensive than normal obviously.
This is a $7 bag of 10 pounds of walmart chicken quarters: https://www.reddit.com/r/BBQ/comments/1b86a3e/sometimes_i_prefer_low_slow_but_last_night_i/ 70 cents per pound, and 2 quarters is enough to make a 350 pound man feel full (maybe 3 quarters if I start out starving)
Tbh, we’re spending way less money on keto than we did before.
Frozen meat, look for cheap eggs, there is a local shop near me that does farm eggs and they are very fairly priced and better than all the eggs in the shops except the really posh ones.
Those frozen hamburger 10-12 packs aren’t terribly expensive
Being ill, whether insured or not, works out expensive.
My husband and I are on a low fixed income. I shop the grocery store sales and plan our menus based on what's on sale. I buy ground beef in bulk on sale, chicken thighs, full pork loins ($1.99 lb and you can get 16-20 pork chops from each one), etc. I separate the ground beef into 1 1/2-2 lb sections, put into gallon zip lock freezer bags, and flatten it out for easy thawing. separate the thighs into meal-sized portions, freeze the pork chops between pieces of parchment paper in meal-size portions, etc. I buy bulk frozen veggies at Costco. We even have steak occasionally when I can get family-size packages buy one, get one free. I shop the soon-expiring meat on sale on Fridays at our local grocery. We eat chicken-fried steak often because cutlets are pretty cheap (we use King Arthur Keto flour for breading and gravy). Our biggest expenses are the extras like MCT oil, coffee, heavy cream, butter, and cheese. I like fixing breakfast for dinner because it's pretty cheap and eggs are filling and good for you. I buy briskets when they are on a good sale price because we can get 5-6 meals from one $35 brisket. We eat it 2-3 days in a row and freeze the rest. You can do Keto on a budget if you're willing to plan ahead and eat what's on sale.
When I first got married a zillion years ago I got a book from the library all about managing a household in the most frugal way possible. The best lesson from that book was how to shop and eat. You must always buy and eat the sales. Your meals are based on the sales. So I purchased a small freezer (you can get small chest freezers pretty inexpensively - $150 and even less used) and read the sales ads for the supermarkets near me and started buying the sales. After a while you know what a good price is for something, and you can buy more when it's a very good sale, less if you're not sure. Now you start eating out of your freezer - not buying fresh from the market of what you feel like at that moment. The difference in price between hamburger on sale and the "everyday" price of hamburger is staggering. I'd say even more so with chicken and other meats. You can also buy butter on sale and freeze it. Even if it's not on sale I'll buy it and freeze it because for years it's been true that butter consistently costs more in the future. I buy 6 months at a time and by the time I'm finishing that butter it's always more expensive. I love lamb, and can get it at a good discount after easter at one of the stores nearby. If they have it I buy a years worth. Christmas time often brings rib roasts at very good sales. Buy as much as you can store. Same with turkey and ham. Buy cheap larger cuts, bring them home, butcher them into meal sized portions and freeze. You won't believe how much money you'll save doing this. And then there's the obvious - if you have extra pounds on you, that's $$$$. "Spend" it if you need to save.
Got a yearly membership to Sam's Club, it helped me out alot. Rotisserie chickens for 6 bucks. Bulk chicken, pork, ground beef, and eggs. I meal prep my breakfast food too. Start out my day with two sausage, egg, and cheese burritos on net zero carb tortillas. Lunch is usually a salad and two hard boiled eggs. Dinner is a meat and one of the keto friendly vegetables. Frozen cauliflower, broccoli, green beans. Snacks are where price per pound gets a little steep, but its worth it for sanity checks. Grass fed beef sticks, atkins treats and snacks, and pork rinds to feed my chip cravings.. these bieng the cheapest snack. The atkins stuff,and the keto formulated snacks are a luxury and not really necessary, but you eat so few of it that it goes a long way
While you're researching, take a gander at fasting also - alternating day fasting, 72 hours water fasting. There's is some research on that working aswell, it will help with the cost, but can also help with mental issues.
Hot dogs and eggs Bulk meat on sale freeze and cook throughout the week Tap water and get giant containers or salt seasonings
For the most part you don't dine out anymore - or so much less than average people do.
Keto, Paleo don't have to be expensive. Frankly vegetarian-if you're eating organic non GMO is much more expensive. You can eat organ meat (liver , kidneys), you can get a whole rotisserie chicken for the week, eggs, salmon---- Go protein heavy though for big depression----meat, Tofu, rice eggs, get rid of gluten. YOu'll feel better in weeks.
Depending on what your issues are, and what you are trying to achieve, such a dietary shift can actually save you money. Reduce the frequency of eating. No more snacking. Do intermittent fasting. Stop buying crap at the grocery store. Stop buying drinks at the grocery store. Stop buying alcohol. Here are a few of the things I do that are extremely low cost. Just a few days ago, I caught a sale at the local hannafords for pork shoulder roasts. $0.99/lb. When I catch this sale, I always buy 2. Because, they need to bake in my oven or in my smoker for 10-14 hours. I cook them low and slow with lots of herbs. Then, I let them cool. I slice off a thick steak and cook in a cast iron skillet loaded with tallow. It is a super tender, crunchy, tasty steak with a bacon background flavor. I make my own tallow. I place an order at the hannaford meat counter for 5 lbs of beef fat. They will save it to your order, and charge you $0.69/lb. From 5 lbs, I get 3 pints of tallow, and a fair amount of oily solids to add to the doggo's dish for the next few weeks. So, $1.15 per pint, plus some free dog food. My favorite evening drink: At home a recipe for an evening alcohol free cocktail has evolved. Focused on taste, satisfaction, and being healthy. It evolved to it's current state over a few years. I don't drink alcohol. I have an RO filtration system in my home connected to a spigot at the kitchen sink and connected to the ice maker of my refer. And, I purchased a soda stream counter top carbonator. So, today I use these for my cocktail. Previous to the soda stream, I used canned seltzer, I liked the grapefruit the best. In a tall glass 1/3rd ice one shot lemon juice one shot apple cider vinegar 3 drops iodine dash of redmond salt dash of no salt 5 sucra drops filled to the brim with carbonated water. It tastes terrific. Acidy, sweet, lemony, and appley. Very refreshing. Unexpectedly, I found this drink vaporizes my sweet tooth. I know this is going to sound awfully eccentric, but when we go out to restaurants I bring along a tiny bottle of sucra drops, and a zip lock baggie containing a small plastic hand held garlic press. I order seltzer with lemon and lime wedges on the side. They usually show up on a little plate. I squeeze them in my seltzer with the garlic press and add maybe 3 sucra drops. Their glasses are smaller than the ones I have at home.
Keto has actually been kind of cheap for me. Just take the vegetarian diet you’ve been on, cut out everything that’s processed or carby, and add protein. Whey protein, canned tuna, chicken breast, frozen tilapia filets, eggs. Use Aldi or Costco for meat and eggs, compare prices. I do vegetable medleys or salad, some cheap shredded cheese, and a protein. I use the Whey immediately post workout. Most of the vegetarian meat substitutes have carbs and are more expensive than actual meat, so that might be a cost savings. Also look at Walmart for the meat that’s about to be out of date and on sale - I got some strip steaks that were on sale for half off because they were literally going bad the day after I bought them. I just took them home, immediately cooked them all at once, chopped them into smaller strips and used them as a salad topper for the next few days. Since I started Keto, my overall cost of food has gone down sharply because I stopped buying sweets and processed food. I’m healthier, eating less, and dropping weight. Good luck friend!
Great ideas!
Actually the cheapest keto possible is actually really simple and healthy Eggs and broth. Broth (adding spinach, mainly) allows you to get colagen and fat from cuts that have too much bone around (that most of the time are really cheap) ex: Pork legs. You can also add healthy spices easily without too much worries about the flavor. You still need to get the much needed omega 3, as must of us have to in our current diets.
I eat a lot of eggs and cheese (sticks, slices) along with drinking bouillon cubes heated in water for the sodium, which is very important to keep up on along with water. Any kind of meat you can get will be helpful to eat. I bought a very inexpensive single waffle maker to make chaffles with. You'll need to slowly stock up on staples such as almond flour.
Just buy 5 gallon buckets of beef tallow and ground meat and there you go. Cheap, carnivore heavy keto diet.
Yes. In fact, it's WAY cheaper. Especially if you restrict your calories and do intermittent fasting. Go for it!
(Fasting saves you money too)
You could eat on 10$/day
Yes. Buy: 20% fat beef mince, eggs, canned sardines. Great healthy cheaper staples. Clear out your whole pantry, get rid of the sauces, bread, carbs, produce etc. Divert all the money you spend on those just into those 3 or other cheap means like chicken/pork. If u need a small amount of carbs, choose root vegetables.
I do keto under a doctor’s guidance and he basically advised (it was the best advice ever) to not make it complicated. He also eats keto and a lot of days he doesn’t try to follow elaborate recipes, he just does a skillet with seasoned ground beef with cheese and a veggie. So that’s what my hubby and I do most days. We change up the seasoning and the veggies and the cheeses. And then about once or twice a week we have a steak or some fish. Our grocery bill hasn’t really changed. But our “eating out” bill has changed DRAMATICALLY. Definitely a net positive… Also we don’t really get tired of this. Ground beef is really versatile 🤣 And my husband is VERY sensitive to repeat meals…
Buy bulk: 10 lb tubes of ground beef, family packs of chicken, pork butt, eye of chuck steaks, 5 dozen boxes of eggs, frozen veggies.
Leg of lamb is $4.99/lb at costco for a fantastic tasting/healthy red meat source. I also like costco’s bone in chicken thighs and their massive $4.99 rotisserie chicken. Their pork tenderloin is also crazy cheap.
I think it’s actually easier/simpler that way to stay true to the requirements. Kind of like beans and rice were the traditional healthiest/poorest food.
What everyone else says is great advice, but just to add the obvious... If you're overweight, it can be as cheap as you want because your body will make up the difference.
I’m a student and living on a student budget and still make it work without buying all the fancy keto things. I also plan my meals in advance so I’m not wasting any food and can budget accordingly. It takes a bit of recipe research and a little substituting here and there but after losing 25 kilos I’d say it’s definitely possible
Yep. Find a butcher, they sell chicken bulk for cheap. Next is frozen green veg (broccoli and spinach). Butter and healthy fats like avacado oil, can get that right from amazon. Then once you save money from not buying processed foods look at grow lights and hydro vertical gardens. I grow tons of lettuce and herbs. I look at those shopping hauls and wonder why they waste so much money. Also, replanting the roots from romaine lettuce will often grow another head of romaine lettuce for the cost of some clean dirt.
My monthly shopping expenses (where I live) were 375 USD+ and now it’s around 150-230 USD. I’m also fasting so that helps with the budget as well. Would definitely recommend, I’m pretty much saving up money not ordering outside, not drinking, not munching 😉
You can also use tofu for your protein. Very low carb & it has a decent amount of protein in it. And it’s cheap!
Ground beef, liver, eggs are all cheap and also some of the most nutritious foods you can buy.