cheaper low carb food

[Ann-Marie]

and a happy new year to you all, this is my first time on low carb friends, i live in Doncaster England and can't find anywere that sells low carb food, im buying my low carb food on line but its very expencive and the shipping costs are as high as the product im buying do any of you no were i can get cheaper low carb food with no or low shipping costs, many thanks Ann-Marie

[Trigger828]

this is going to be tough to say but 'can you give up the low carb 'made' stuff?

what are you ordering?

I have low carb products readily available to me and I still choose fresh regular food over that product line.

AND WELCOME AND STAY AND JOIN IN THE CHATS. WE ARE a great group here and so many long term lc'ers have great advice.

[Annabel Lee]

Welcome Ann-Marie!

Low Carb can be expensive.

Mostly I just eat what I can pick up at the grocery store.
Eggs, bacon, butter, beef, fish, mayo, salad green, cheese, heavy cream to name a few.
I can get artificial sweeteners there too.

I have ordered a few things on line.
But for me Low Carb = simple, whole foods that I prepare myself.

[Dottie]

Some things are called by other names there, too.
Like flax seed = linseed, which you can probably find locally (make sure it's food grade though).
I think there's a UK specific Atkins site that may also help you track down sources, or give you ideas from the stuff you have available locally

[Ann-Marie]

thanks for all your replys, i can get lots of the things for a low carb eating plan, but it was things like batter and bread crumbs i was looking at, i will have a good look through the site and pick up recipes hints and tips, HAPPY EATING A-M

[A'smommy]

Originally Posted by Ann-Marie

thanks for all your replys, i can get lots of the things for a low carb eating plan, but it was things like batter and bread crumbs i was looking at, i will have a good look through the site and pick up recipes hints and tips, HAPPY EATING A-M

Just an idea, you can also use shredded parm or grated parm in the green can to coat and make crusts for things and its pretty affordable!

[Jaded62]

I don`t know IF you have Pork Rinds there,IF you do you can use these to coat meats to fry and bake.They make a low carb breading for things and you can add grated (green can) parm cheese to them and makes it better.Use just like you would use bread crumbs. HTH.
WELCOME !!!!!!!!!!!

[creseis]

I stick to the basics--butcher meats, eggs (I actually get free eggs now from a friend who has chickens), cheeses, I get really nice cheeses too, veggies, tofu (big bang for the buck, $3 per package and it lasts me 2-3 stir fry meals) and I rarely eat out after being low carb. I don't buy any pre packaged low carb products. I save $200-500 per MONTH on low carb as compared to my high carb days. That means more money to buy toys.

[jacquirsw]

HI

I would say that if you are needing the frankenfoods alternatives then being LC in the UK is not the best. I have given up trying to bother. I get some bars and shakes for when life is really busy, but apart from that the majority of my food is fresh. I have decided that these are things that caused me to go down a bad path before and although getting LC options stays in the woe the psychology of it for me is wrong.

I hope that you are able to find the things that you want

[Mrs S]

When I first started LC, I spent a small fortune trying exotic ingredients, sweeteners, bake mixes, powders, etc... many of which have only been used once or twice. It can be expensive but it doesn't have to be. There are some amazing tips on this site as well as LC blogs that I wish I'd paid more attention to in the beginning.

[someonelikeyou]

Originally Posted by Annabel Lee

Mostly I just eat what I can pick up at the grocery store.
Eggs, bacon, butter, beef, fish, mayo, salad green, cheese, heavy cream to name a few.
I can get artificial sweeteners there too.

I agree with this... I keep it simple. No low-carb "substitutes" - just work with greens, meat, eggs... Keep an eye on weekly specials, that's how I generally plan my week. Last Saturday a local market had an amazing price on NY strip steaks. I bought a few, wrapped and froze. Such a treat!!

[Thefram4]

Hi Jen,

I think my best and sustained weight loss began when I started to eat more 'cleanly' that is cutting out the processed foods and making a lot of my own low carb treats.
That is not to say I don't indulge in the occasional Atkins bar (boots and tesco) but Holland and Barratt is my new fave shop where my staples are:

Xylitol (sweetener branded 'totally sweet')
Coconut flour
Coconut oil
Golden linseed (I grind myself)
Macadamia nuts
Chia seeds

I tend to stock up on these items when they are on offer (penny sales etc) they also do lots of sugar free sweets 'sula' brand I think.

I use a lot of ground almonds which are cheapest in the supermarket and also xanthan gum to thicken sauces which is cheapest at sainsburys.

Lots of the low carb basics are easily found in our supermarkets:
Soft cheese
Double cream
Fage Greek yoghurt
Ground almonds
Pork scratchings

I did buy some stevia sweetener quite reasonably from amazon but find it is better in some recipes than others and I tend to mix it with other sweeteners, although have cut back drastically with my use of Splenda

There are loads of great recipes on these boards which can be made from stuff available in the uk.
Hope this helps

Annette

[Ann-Marie]

thank you all for this great advice, i need to stop being so lazy and just make things from scratch myself, i've just made 2 low carb / gluten free flax wraps for a snack at work tonight and they were so easy to make, thanks again A-M

[Ann-Marie]

well done on your fantastic weight loss and thanks for the advice

[~PaperMoon~]

Like others said, you don't have to buy low carb brand things, you can make your own low carb menu just using regular food. I don't buy low carb brand things I just buy regular food that is low in carbs. The only low carb brand things I get is every once in a while atkins bars. That's it, the rest is regular food. Just buy lettuce, eggs, meat, things like that and avoid pasta and starchy things and read labels and be aware of carb counts in food. No need to waste your money on brand name low carb things.

[hluxe]

I don't buy any low carb processed products. Even the chocolate we keep in the house is incidentally low carb, not promoted as low carb.

I buy almond flour but you can make your own in the food processor. The only specialty things you really need are some sweetener (I buy Truvia and also buy stevia/erithrytol to make my own blend), a thickener (gluccoman tablets). Everything else you just buy whole foods that are low carb.

Honestly, the second I got the processed junk out of my life, the better I felt. Yeah, it takes time to make stuff from scratch but usually it ends up cheaper and yummier, anyway!

[kittycitygirl]

As others said, eat the LC foods you can find/afford....eggs, tuna, burger, veggies....make homemade if you need more. I lost most of mine without the addition of bought or made....mostly ate meat, eggs, salads, LC veggies.

[Ann-Marie]

thank you all for being so helpfull, A-M

[LoriWants2Lose]

I think we are better off avoiding the frankenfoods. Even if you lose on them, you won't feel as good. I have to watch myself with the SF candies. They are addictive. I've started to really limit them.

Not sure what all they have in England, but here is some of what I eat here in the states:

cheese of all kinds
chicken
turkey
beef
fish
shrimp
olives
green vegetables
mushrooms
berries of all types (on OWL, but I still limit and have maybe twice a week in moderation or they will stall me)

I also make crackers with ground almond flour (that would be worth ordering if you cant find it locally) and ground flax. And I make fat bombs with natural peanut butter, Splenda and coconut oil. Yum.

I tend to eat the same thing over and over again, though. I'm a little weird in that when I like something, I will eat it for every meal and never get sick of it. I've been on a cabbage kick for two weeks. My family is sick of cabbage, but I could happily eat it for another two weeks.

[Janknitz]

You are so much better off just eating real food and making things at home from scratch. It's very economical too--I even make my own full fat yogurt--all it costs is the milk. Try not to imitate carbage foods, just make do with meats, fish, eggs, and greens. Add some butter and life is great. It doesn't have to be expensive at all.

A Men's Fitness online article this month lists sources of cheap protein by their USD prices per gram--eggs = 38 g of protein per dollar, tuna 30 G protein per dollar, peanut butter 38 G protein per dollar. It does NOT have to be expensive.

[tiva]

I'm in Sweden for the year, and I think the low carb products situation is similar. But I can find the following in every grocery store, and these are plenty for me:
-coconut oil (in Sweden, it's in the butter section or in health food stores)
-stevia/erythritol mixes (next to the sugar; for the powdered variety, I go to the huge supermarket on the edge of town)
-coconut flour (in medium sized supermarkets, usually in the health food section)
-almond flour (same as above)
-unsweetened coconut (everywhere! In Sweden, this is much more common than in the US)

With these products, I can make anything I long for (with a little searching in the recipe threads).

Good luck on your LC journey! If Doncaster has a health food store, that might have some useful products for you.

[Key Tones]

If you want to bake, you can make oopsie rolls without special ingredients. Just google for the recipe. I read about people making these all the time.

I can't eat them because I can't lose weight eating them, but a lot of people do and take pleasure in them.