Tip: Don't overbuy

(Guardian of the bacon) #1

Don’t overbuy, your appetite is going to decrease. You won’t need as many groceries as you used to and nothing wastes grocery money worse than throwing food in the trash.

I always buy store brand when possible (unless I’ve found a particular item to be undesirable, normally there is no distinguishable difference between store brand and national brand)

I browse the meat section for steeply discounted, soon to go out of date packages. I then cook them up immediately and freeze excess.

Buy the bulk “family packs” meat packages and divide into individual portions and freeze.

Use stems and peelings from your produce to throw in with your bone stock. You can throw them in a container and freeze until your next batch of stock. You can also use produce that is about to go “bad” for this.

About the Keto on a Budget category
#2

This is very good advice.

When embarking on keto, there’s a tendency to buy substitutes for all the crappy carbage, and keto / protein bars.

The reality is that you will eat less, tendency for snacking typically disappears, and you will naturally gravitate toward a smaller variety of food. And feel satiated.

I used to have troubles stuffing groceries in the fridge and cupboards, for the amount of space I needed. Today, it’s half empty.

(Blyss (Old @Charmaine)) #3

Oooooooh this is soooooo very true!!! I still shop like I did when I was a carby. And my appetite is so much less and I can’t even put all the stuff in my freezer any more. I feel like I’m gonna waste something of what’s in my fridge now. This is especially true because of fasting, both intermittent and extended.

(Patty W) #4

Wise words! The last couple months I am noticing that I really have to pay attention to my shopping habits. It’s a little unsettling, because I never would have believed it. Every once in a while I may even skip the weekly trip to the grocery store, because I still have groceries leftover from the week before. Maybe I make a quick run for celery, or heavy cream, to tide me over.

Before Keto when I was Paleo, I had a weekly routine for shopping, meal prep, freezing batches, etc. Frig was full, & I was a one-person household. Now after 6 months on keto, I don’t have to fix as many dishes or as much quantity of them for the week. But old habits mean I still have to be careful to not fix more than I will be able to eat or freeze before it goes bad. I like to try new recipes, but I’m not a gourmand, & I’m fine with fixing 2-3 dishes for the week & having leftovers. I have a few standby meals (e.g. Lunch salad with a rotating proteins & “fixins”, frittatas, pan-fried cabbage & sausage). There’s enough variety without being a slave to the kitchen.

Interestingly enough, as I reflect on above, I’m noticing that when I ate more food, it wasn’t as “special”. Now that I eat less food/less often, it IS more special (more nutritionally dense, more flavorful, more appreciated, a more mindful/conscious choice).

#5

Same here. I’m surprised when a week goes by and I didn’t have to go to the grocery for anything. I’m naturally saving money.

(Judi Campion) #6

Meal planning has helped not only decrease waste but also only purchasing what I need. I’m “shopping” from my freezer currently. So meals are planned by that inventory along with my fasting schedule.

I do tend to buy cheaper meat cuts and have found a gem of a store for produce. Half the price of my old regular store. I rarely hit the aisles of a store now. Just the perimeter!

(Chris) #7

Great advice, especially when talking about veggies. Sometimes though if there’s a meat sale going on I’ll buy a bunch and freeze it.

(Judi Campion) #8

That’s kind of why my freezer is so full!!!

(Dave Wells) #9

Interesting…I just told my wife last night that we needed to convert my old garage beer fridge into a cheese fridge!

(Todd Allen) #10

My wife and I used to eat little meat or animal products because we are disgusted by the abusive practices of industrial scale ag which supplies most readily available retail products. After going keto we found sources for products produced in ways we find acceptable but they involve more travel/ordering/delivery, etc. The prices can be higher but can be offset by buying in bulk and choosing more offal, fat & bones when available. We bought a chest freezer so we could infrequently over buy.

And sometimes we take advantage of sales like yesterday when we got a couple cases of Kerrygold butter both salted and unsalted for the new to us Bel cream maker . Or a few weeks ago when we bought 96 lbs of nearly perfect strawberries for $12.

Though it isn’t intrinsic to keto we have almost completely stopped consuming processed foods. Between our freezer, garden and flock of hens our need to go shopping is greatly reduced and we could go a very long time not shopping at all with minimal deprivation. Regular deliberate fasting reduces the need for shopping too. I’ve never felt less dependent on the industrial food system. Thanks keto!

(Jim Russell) #11

My biggest issue is with “overcooking”. Not cooking things too long. Cooking way too much food. My cooking habits haven’t quite caught up with my new reduced appetite and spontaneous fasts, so I will cook up a big batch of something and then having eat the same food for several days to avoid wasting it.

(Todd Allen) #12

I’ve struggled with cooking too much at a time. It’s more efficient. But with plenty of freezer space I can cook large batches of freezeable food and store it smaller portions. Canning could be another approach to address the desire to cook big batches and infrequently eat small portions.

(Susan) #13

@Jimbo When I do that, I freeze the leftovers so that I can enjoy the delicious meals a couple of weeks later (and don’t get burned out on a particular food that way too)

(Keto Travels) #14

Double overbuying for me too - both working away from home a lot more and eating a lot less than I used to :slight_smile: . The only things I seem to run out of these days are eggs and cream, and even the cream isn’t mandatory as long as I have butter … so last weekend I felt like a lost soul in the lovely wholefoods store, looking for things to buy, cause weekly shopping, right? And 99% of the time going “oh but I don’t need this and I still have that, and I could pull that out of the freezer, and …”
All of a sudden my balcony DOES produce all the greens and veg I can eat - for another couple of weeks at least until the frost takes it all. By then, my little indoor garden should be coming along nicely with most of the greens I will need over the winter. So right now the challenge is mostly to preserve all the leftovers and start eating down the larder - kinda wondering how long I can go with what is in my fridge and mini freezer and cupboards an on the balcony right now while maintaining ketosis. Ideally I manage to clean out the freezer section to then stock up on game while it’s in season, and some broth and “emergency breakfast food” like keto bread and pancakes to pull out if I have guests/am invited somewhere. At the moment, opening the freezer compartment is a bit dangerous, got hit by falling liver this morning :wink:

(Allie) #15

I’ve also been cooking too much. I food prep for several days in advance and even though I was fasting, brought food into work yesterday as I didn’t know how long I could go with the fast - but still going… the food I prepped will be going too, in the trash at this rate!

(Suzi Smotrycz-Guilford) #16

I need to remind myself of this…think I am doing a little better! In the beginning I think I was worried about not having what I needed!