Another huge possitive

#1

1 thing people need to know to understand how major this, is that we are not a wealthy family. We have everything we need, but we can not afford to buy food when we are out, or drive very far on days out.

Friday we went for a long walk and ended up in a village. we were out much lo get than we expected and stopped in a village shop to get something to eat.
Normally we would have bought 4 sandwiches, 4 drinks and 4 snacks for myself, wife and 2 kids.
Plus, because I was always greedy I would have bought myself an extra something, but thatā€™s besides the point.
Essentially a cheap lunch in a shop would cost us Ā£15 minimum.

However, I just didnā€™t ā€˜needā€™ to eat.
Because I have lost nearly a stone, my wife has been putting in a lot of effort to, so we ended up buying 3 bits of fruit and some snacks for the boys.
Total Ā£3.

Then yesterday a similar situation but in a supermarket. I ended up buying a small pack of pepperoni for 65p which was the perfect amount.

65p for a lunch! I never thought I could eat a lunch right from a shop for 65p.

Anyone who says keto is expensive is not doing it right.

#2

Keto was the cheapest woe I ever had.
Then came carnivoreā€¦ :smiley: Even cheaper, itā€™s great. I canā€™t even imagine a cheaper woe without very serious troubles. Of course itā€™s without very luxurious items like steaks (the cheapest beef is a very rare treat but itā€™s fine, I prefer pork anyway). I still have no idea how a steak tastes like, even my birthday isnā€™t fancy enough to try.

Of course itā€™s fine to do it expensive if one can afford that :slight_smile: Some food totally worth the price if one can afford it, I am glad I am happiest with my cheaper meat and eggs :wink:

And looking at what average people buyā€¦ Well, I surely do it betterā€¦ I almost exclusively buy proper, nutritious food.

I am surely poorer than you, if I manage to go far, I bring my own food. But if itā€™s short, I fast as itā€™s easy (still bring food to be safe sometimes though).

#3

Love it! Youā€™re doing so well, and noticing the advantages to the way of eating (including no cravings so you donā€™t succumb to the lure of food). Nice choice on the pepperoni.

I just bought enough eggs and meat for a month (though I had a bit of cheese and butter on hand). A month of food was $125 US. It can be expensive if all you buy is rib eye, but I shop the sales and usually stay under $150 for one person (Ā£ 122 today) for a month.

#4

These days, I think thatā€™s pretty much the definition of NORMAL! By the numbers, my wife and I are ā€œupper middle classā€ā€¦ YA! Thatā€™s craps laughable! If I spend any more than a joke of an amount, Iā€™m running the olā€™ bank app to see whatā€™s in there! My wife is better with that stuff, and Iā€™m a cheapskate, but still. Not going broke on eating out is great!

My biggest thing is when we eat out, aside from being ridiculously overpriced in most cases, itā€™s never as good (to me) as what I could make at home.

#5

Totally.
Iā€™m a fairly good cook. I even worked as a chef for a few years.
My cooking has been restrained by our budget as well as my trying to make everything more ā€˜healthyā€™ by using cheaper less faty ingredients.

Now I have free reign to use butter, cream, olive oil, fattier cuts. Plus, all the fat I used to use would get soaked up trying to make potatoes and rice more palatable.

I did some chicken on the BBQ that I had marinated in pesto.
I got my wife to try it straight off the BBQ. She was like ā€˜oh wow, this is lovelyā€™.
Then I melted a little coconut oil over it and added a tiny bit more salt. And she was blown away at the difference.

All carbs taste of nothing. We have to add sugar or fat to them to make them taste nice.
If you are mostly eating meat, then you can actually have less fat in a meal, but use that fat to make your food jump from a 9 to a 10. Rather than your carbs from a zero to a 5.

Iā€™ve not eatten out ina cafe or reasturant yet. I am going to London next week and really interested to work out what I will be able to have.
3 of the 10 people I am with are VEGAN!
So no chance of a steak. But at least I know I can buy a couple of packs of pepperoni and put them in my pocket.

#6

Yes! Iā€™ve found that if I eat a high fat keto/carnivore or high fat keto diet (less than 20 carbs total), it is not expensive at all! My grocery bill is so much lower. Too bad the rest of my family still insists on crappy high carbs! I do my best to limit them when I prepare meals. :smile:

(Joey) #7

Indeed, keto can be so budget-friendly. A wonderful bonus.

One small delight is buying the ā€œfattyā€ meat (80/20) for less than the ā€œleanā€ (90/10) e.g., for burgers. My fear is that the rest of the market shoppers will eventually discover LCHF tooā€¦ then these price points will reverse.

#8

Bravo for all of you. Best of luck

#9

Same here.
Iā€™m not sure that keto is good for kids. But I pretty much only cook keto food now, then Iā€™ll cook up some bland pasta, or mash potato without any fat or salt in, or just booked potatoes.
They are gradually starting to enjoy the meat and veg that taste good, and not finishing the carbs.

I canā€™t force them to change, but I can make their food so bloody boring that their tastes change.

#10

:grin: Yes! I generally sort through the meat selections to find the fattiest cut I can find. I have started buying the 73% ground beef for myself, and leaner cuts for my family who still eat too many carbs. Although my sons are more sensible than my husband is about carbs. But he still appears lean and I hope healthy.

Oh, and I am eating less protein these days and filling up on the fat. :upside_down_face:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #11

It is fine, especially given that they are in ketosis while in the womb, and so long as they continue being breast-fed (donā€™t get me started on the evils of formula, lol!). In traditional societies, babies were weaned by being given pieces of meat that their parents had chewed somewhat, so they remained in ketosis for some time.

The therapeutic diet for controling epileptic seizures is another matter; the original formula was so deficient in protein that it stunted the growth of a number of children. Fortunately, it has recently been determined that a diet adequate in protein can still provide protection against seizures.

But kids brought up on a ketogenic diet are stronger and healthier, they donā€™t become obese or diabetic, they donā€™t develop fatty liver diseaseā€”and they donā€™t develop acne or tooth decay at anything like the rate their carb-burning peers do, either.

#12

We both do it pretty great in the family. My SO keeps his food cost low and enjoyment and satiation high with carbs while I do the same with being close to carnivore (the vast majority of my non-carni food is fruit from my own garden. itā€™s very little)ā€¦ Each to their own :slight_smile: We both are quite health-conscious.

Itā€™s a bit interesting but carnivore (and my desire to stop eating too much) made me going significantly lower-fat. I eat lean pork nowadays, well, thatā€™s the cheapest here now but thatā€™s not my only reason, I really, really like it, itā€™s so tender and lovely and my inevitable fattier items donā€™t trigger overeating, I even can afford a tiny added fat or a tad cream!
But I used to eat way, way more fat in the past and itā€™s hard to go low. I love fat, always did. I had a huge sweet tooth but my sweets had to be very fattyā€¦ Pure carbs never did much to me. With some exceptions. Carbs still can be super delicious all alone (it depends on the item and the one in question) but fat makes them better and food without much protein (and fat) isnā€™t a proper meal. So I canā€™t really talk about standalone carbs as I automatically add fat. Eating carbs without fat is not something I ever could do. I just feel when they are tasty. And immediately think about making them even tastier with fat. But for me personally, skipping carbs is usually an upgrade even taste wiseā€¦ Let alone considering even more important things. Except a tiny bit I can handle it well, IF I actually want it. I usually not but sometimes itā€™s nice.

(Bill) #13

Amen!

(Marianne) #14

I agree! John and I never eat out just the two of us. We used to eat out every Friday and Sunday morning when we would meet my family for breakfast (breakfast is not cheap, either!). Weā€™d also get take-out (pizza, chinese, whatever we wanted) 2-3 times per week. So expensive! Now, the only time I/we eat out is if we are invited out for a rare occasion with friends where dinner is involved. I can definitely make a better dinner at home for a fifth of the price of going out. Love that!

#15

Theyā€™re no different than us, theyā€™re still humans and carbs still arenā€™t required. That said, we never raised my son keto even though we were strict for years, one of ketoā€™s downsides if youā€™re strict with it is an over reaction to carbs, unless you homeschool your kids theyā€™re going to eat crap, my kid eats breakfast and lunch at school, snacks at daycare, not worth all the hell. We just keep in mind what he eats when he is with us. Easy enough to keep him healthy that way.

Not going to have a kid that canā€™t eat ice cream and cake at parties (or get sick from doing it), have to refuse snacks at friends houses etc, just doesnā€™t make sense. His meat portions are bigger, his carb portions are smaller, Iā€™d call him borderline low carb.

#16

Thatā€™s exactly what Iā€™m going for.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #17

I know I inadvertantly save a lot of money eating Keto OMAD. It amazes me sometimes, how little food I go through without being hungry.

All my friends eat like garbage and it astounds them how I can skip meals effortlessly. When we go to the movies, Iā€™ve seen them spend 30-50 bucks on stupid gross movie theater food, and I usually always get nothing and have little desire to get anything. Thatā€™s a lot of money saved at the end of the day. With the prices of food (and everything else) skyrocketing, Keto is definitely a really good way to eat on a budget.

#18

Oh man. Cinema food is crazy.
The popcorn they sell in cineworld cinema in the UK is prepopped. It comes in huge bags they just empty into the warmer and charge Ā£8.

(Edith) #19

We waste wayyyyy less food being keto/carnivore. I used to throw out so many vegetables that got old before we got around to using them. With eating only meat and a little fruit or veggie, we have no waste. Thatā€™s a huge money saver right there!

#20

We always wasted close to zero food (principle). But indeed, itā€™s even better without much vegs :wink: While eating veggie dishes every day in big quantities, some still may go off when one does most of the shopping once per month (even though veggie shopping happens more often).
I enjoy that drastically less vegs take up the precious space in the fridge and freezer I need for my meat :smiley: And I live with a high-carber but he handles drastically less vegs pretty well (or when he wants some big veggie dish, he buys the ingredients and makes it almost immediately. not storing them for weeksā€¦ though that happened with some kohlrabi on sale lately but they donā€™t spoil easily and can be used as raw veg, that group is a daily staple in this household).
Even when cooked, meat dishes typically last longer. Not like I have many opportunities to test thatā€¦ Even if I make too much, they freeze wonderfully unlike so many veggie dishes.