Low Carb on the cheap

[walkingwoman]

I always find these threads interesting because of the difference in prices on groceries around the country/world.

Here in AZ for 25.00 I am helping a friend that is on a tight budget and here's what she's getting this week. You can see all the sales at grocerysmarts.com and it is very convenient:

4 lbs. chicken thighs or drums or whole legs x .77= 3.08 (routinely on markdown at Fry's too, so even less if you like these) or whole chickens for .88 per pound.
2 lbs. of london broil x 1.99 = 3.98
3 lbs lean pork loin in bag (butcher will slice into steaks plus roast) x 1.77= 5.31(when you have the butcher slice it have them season it for FREE too. Just check the ingredients on the seasoning they have at the counter)
3 dozen eggs x .89=2.67 (frequently I see 5 dozen marked down to 2.49 at my store)
3 pkgs of Butterball turkey bacon x 1.00 = 3.00 - 3x.55 q's on pkg = 1.35
10 bags of assorted frozen veggies x .88= 8.80
4 boxes of American beauty pasta with coupons on front that make them FREE.
25.19 total

If your 99 cents store sells produce, they have some great values on peppers, onions, bags of romaine, etc. Just make sure they are cheaper than any great deals at your local grocery stores as well. Our 99 cents store has Imagine Organic stock that sells for over 4.00 a container at the grocery stores there and it is delicious! and yes, I checked the dates to make sure it has plenty of shelf life

[mamasooze]

Yes! For walkingwomen! Wow....! All those look very, very good-especially the veg. Bless you on helping your friend eat nutritiously in the face of adversity. If every family in this country did a $25 or $50 challenge for their family (or for 12.50 per person per week) for just two weeks, we would help raising awareness in the community that hunger and nutrition are REAL and do effect the children (and yes, adults) in our communities.
Day Five Project25 Pops went out to lunch...

[walkingwoman]

You know what's funny? After I posted here I went to the market and they had tuna in water in foil packs (Bumble bee) with coupons right there making those free So, I picked up a bunch for my friend and more pasta too They also had Farmer John breakfast sausage marked down for 59 cents and I had loaded an e-coupon onto my shopping card so that cost me .09 to add to her foods this week. I love helping my friend and she is learning but is always surprised at how far you can stretch your money and still eat healthy when you do some research and pay attention to the sales available.

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by walkingwoman

You know what's funny? After I posted here I went to the market and they had tuna in water in foil packs (Bumble bee) with coupons right there making those free So, I picked up a bunch for my friend and more pasta too They also had Farmer John breakfast sausage marked down for 59 cents and I had loaded an e-coupon onto my shopping card so that cost me .09 to add to her foods this week. I love helping my friend and she is learning but is always surprised at how far you can stretch your money and still eat healthy when you do some research and pay attention to the sales available.

I HEART walkingwoman. You just could not get better. I have several *smart* friends following here, but it never ceases to amaze me that they never read the ingredients/labels on everything. Hop to it Ladies and gentlemen

And just so everyone knows-I will never digest a white/red/fingerling/Idaho potato again. Promise :blush:

[mamasooze]

Meatloaf tonite but think I

Will have to make some cuts at end of week but will return to $$$ store and hunt down some bargains....like those $1 for 18 eggs. Frittata may be in my future.

[Its me - WENDALINA]

I think I am going to try this for this week. I am supposed to grocery shop this wednesday (I only go every two weeks). I have a family of 5 plus a baby. So I am going to see if I can eat out of my pantry/freezer at least thru this week and just put my grocery money in the savings account.

What is it again? $25 for a week? is that the only rule?

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by walkingwoman

You know what's funny? After I posted here I went to the market and they had tuna in water in foil packs (Bumble bee) with coupons right there making those free So, I picked up a bunch for my friend and more pasta too They also had Farmer John breakfast sausage marked down for 59 cents and I had loaded an e-coupon onto my shopping card so that cost me .09 to add to her foods this week. I love helping my friend and she is learning but is always surprised at how far you can stretch your money and still eat healthy when you do some research and pay attention to the sales available.

WOW on ya! Bless ya again! I'm going tomorrow to get canned goods and good buys for our food pantry FYI--all the canned goods are Libby's and some are 2 for $1.

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by Its me - WENDALINA

I think I am going to try this for this week. I am supposed to grocery shop this wednesday (I only go every two weeks). I have a family of 5 plus a baby. So I am going to see if I can eat out of my pantry/freezer at least thru this week and just put my grocery money in the savings account.

What is it again? $25 for a week? is that the only rule?

Any rule you want W! Remember-It's a challenge...how low can you go??? If I had a child in the equation I would add at least $12.50 per child to my list. You need to keep up the protein count for the kiddos. My kids ate Cajun most of their early lives--fresh meats, local veg and a lot of salad.


I found this particular challenge ($25 q week?) on a blog for a young lady that cooked gourmet in NYC for her and her fiance. She's fantastic--but not low or lower carb. She had an advantage over most of us--she was able to purchase most of her items at the store on way home from work/subway. How fresh! But since I only do once a week...well...I did find the good chicken broth. Thanks W.!!!

[Strawberry]

Just curious, when you eat out, does that come from a separate fund?

I personally am having a bad time with wanting to buy food from restaurants or cafeteria, instead of eating what I brought for lunch or just going home to eat.... I keep blowing my intentions to save more money this way.

[Its me - WENDALINA]

ok thanks. we r a family of 6. I am holding the baby as i type so forgive me she is 6 months now and i just posted a thread about what i should start feeding her. with the trips it was a little different, so i am thinking of giving her some scrambled egg and soft foods.... i just spiced the girls the same as us and they love spicy now, so i guess i can still give her spices and stuff, just wondered about other stuff.

As for the challenge, think i will try to keep it under $30 and really dif into my overflowing pantry and freezer...will post menus shortly

p.s. my normal budget is $240 every 2 weeks

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by Its me - WENDALINA

I think I am going to try this for this week. I am supposed to grocery shop this wednesday (I only go every two weeks). I have a family of 5 plus a baby. So I am going to see if I can eat out of my pantry/freezer at least thru this week and just put my grocery money in the savings account.

What is it again? $25 for a week? is that the only rule?

No. Not the only rule.
Add $12.50 per person add half carb/protein as much per person

[charlielou]

Originally Posted by Strawberry

Just curious, when you eat out, does that come from a separate fund?

I personally am having a bad time with wanting to buy food from restaurants or cafeteria, instead of eating what I brought for lunch or just going home to eat.... I keep blowing my intentions to save more money this way.

That was my question as well. We have a small 'going out for coffee" budget and very special occasions are covered in our entertainment budget, but just regular choosing to eat a meal out must come out of our food budget - there is no other place in the budget for the food we eat at regular meals even if they are eaten at a restaurant. Therefore, our 'austerity drive' only allows us to meet friends at McD's once a week and only for a drink. If there is money left at the end of the month we may choose to spend it on a meal but more likely at the thrift store or a garage sale.

[vastamper]

Originally Posted by charlielou

Still reeling at your prices. I stood at the eggs with my calculator yesterday. If I buy a flat of 30 they are 20 cents apiece, a carton of 12 is 23.9 cents apiece, and a carton of 18 is 21.5 cents apiece. And since our Weston foods chain store closed, eggs NEVER go on sale. Two whole chickens each between 2.5 and 3 lbs BOGO total $10. I can eat a half pound of ground beef as cheaply as 3 eggs!

However, we are on what my mother used to call an 'austerity drive' so we are, as of today, eating out of the freezer and pantry until they are empty only buying produce and dairy and even at that, limiting the cheese.

Do you have any "pantry recipes" to share? Ya know recipes you can make with the things in your pantry and fridge that you normally have on hand. I started labeling some of my recipes this way....It really requires a bit of thought though. I wasn't thinking of using anything from the freezer for those recipes.

So far I have...

1) Dreamfield's spaghetti with sauce.

2) Tarragon Chicken salad, using canned chicken.

3) Bacon Cheese Frita, I always have eggs cheese and bacon

4) Artichoke Appetizer...which isn't a meal but could help stretch a meal

5) MIM I always have Flax meal and eggs...again not a meal unless it's breakfast.

[vastamper]

Originally Posted by Its me - WENDALINA

I think I am going to try this for this week. I am supposed to grocery shop this wednesday (I only go every two weeks). I have a family of 5 plus a baby. So I am going to see if I can eat out of my pantry/freezer at least thru this week and just put my grocery money in the savings account.

What is it again? $25 for a week? is that the only rule?

We are thinking of doing the same thing! See my post above? Do you have any recipes to share? Hope you are successful. I was thinking about trying this once a month. But I'm not sure that that would work for more than the first month...since we'd eat up all our extra UNLESS we found a really good sale or BOGO that would fill the pantry back up.

[majomor]

I too live in (Western) Canada and I find with eating healthy , my grocery bill has dropped.
I follow basically the Free The Animal and Primal Blueprint (Marks Daily Apple blog) way of Eating (WOE) , and that pretty well cuts back on shopping the middle isles, with the exception of decaf coffee, Ghee, Coconut oil, very little OO (do not use it for high heat, mainly for making Jen Eloffs healthy butter).
I do order alot from Low carb grocer (our equilavent Netrition in canada), for Kevins in gredients for his Breads, Pizza and rolls ingredients....the , wpi 5000's etc.

In canada we cannot buy Low carb foods at big box stores, so we have to go to specialty, which can be great sometimes, as they deliver to my door, and I end up buying what I need and not mindlessly trying other foods stuffs.

DH orders our Lamb, bison, elk from the farm together with other health conscious friends, and that seems to cut our cost tremendously.
We also shop the sales for chicken (only buy legs, thighs as our WOE says that those are better than breasts!) and pork ribs .
High cost can be cheese, so we use costco (hard cheese we buy only due to the natto that provides vit K2) for that, and also Bacon (5 packs in a pouch for half the reg price).
Order my sweetzfree, xylitol from US and Stevia, which lasts a good 2 years!

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by Strawberry

Just curious, when you eat out, does that come from a separate fund?

I personally am having a bad time with wanting to buy food from restaurants or cafeteria, instead of eating what I brought for lunch or just going home to eat.... I keep blowing my intentions to save more money this way.

Eating out is not included. We seldom go out to restaurants--usually friend's homes and like this weekend church stuff. My husband brown bagged for 30 years. LOL Said no place was as good as his leftovers. Also, think how much we saved over those 30 years. Cost alone should motivate you

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by charlielou

That was my question as well. We have a small 'going out for coffee" budget and very special occasions are covered in our entertainment budget, but just regular choosing to eat a meal out must come out of our food budget - there is no other place in the budget for the food we eat at regular meals even if they are eaten at a restaurant. Therefore, our 'austerity drive' only allows us to meet friends at McD's once a week and only for a drink. If there is money left at the end of the month we may choose to spend it on a meal but more likely at the thrift store or a garage sale.

I'm not a stickler when doing a challenge. We don't eat out much and on weekends it may be breakfast/lunch at church and I don't count those or when we have our dinner club--I just extend the challenge for one more day.

I don't do a "budget" well as far as breaking it down--It's just our food I really do well :-)

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by vastamper

Do you have any "pantry recipes" to share? Ya know recipes you can make with the things in your pantry and fridge that you normally have on hand. I started labeling some of my recipes this way....It really requires a bit of thought though. I wasn't thinking of using anything from the freezer for those recipes.

So far I have...

1) Dreamfield's spaghetti with sauce.

2) Tarragon Chicken salad, using canned chicken.

3) Bacon Cheese Frita, I always have eggs cheese and bacon

4) Artichoke Appetizer...which isn't a meal but could help stretch a meal

5) MIM I always have Flax meal and eggs...again not a meal unless it's breakfast.

All good but on $25 a week I can't afford bacon. It got too popular and prices went up

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by vastamper

We are thinking of doing the same thing! See my post above? Do you have any recipes to share? Hope you are successful. I was thinking about trying this once a month. But I'm not sure that that would work for more than the first month...since we'd eat up all our extra UNLESS we found a really good sale or BOGO that would fill the pantry back up.

I don't have many original recipes. Most of my recipes are from Allrecipes.com or Myrecipes.com and then modify them to make them low car. I will probably do a pantry challenge in the next few months and will definitely document the recipes. Also at my blog there is an archive of most the recipes I have used the last couple of months. There are some less than carb friendly recipes as well as some gluten-free.

ETA-Here is the website archive with recipes: http://nourishmentforthesoul.tumblr.com/archive

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by majomor

I too live in (Western) Canada and I find with eating healthy , my grocery bill has dropped.
I follow basically the Free The Animal and Primal Blueprint (Marks Daily Apple blog) way of Eating (WOE) , and that pretty well cuts back on shopping the middle isles, with the exception of decaf coffee, Ghee, Coconut oil, very little OO (do not use it for high heat, mainly for making Jen Eloffs healthy butter).
I do order alot from Low carb grocer (our equilavent Netrition in canada), for Kevins in gredients for his Breads, Pizza and rolls ingredients....the , wpi 5000's etc.

In canada we cannot buy Low carb foods at big box stores, so we have to go to specialty, which can be great sometimes, as they deliver to my door, and I end up buying what I need and not mindlessly trying other foods stuffs.

DH orders our Lamb, bison, elk from the farm together with other health conscious friends, and that seems to cut our cost tremendously.
We also shop the sales for chicken (only buy legs, thighs as our WOE says that those are better than breasts!) and pork ribs .
High cost can be cheese, so we use costco (hard cheese we buy only due to the natto that provides vit K2) for that, and also Bacon (5 packs in a pouch for half the reg price).
Order my sweetzfree, xylitol from US and Stevia, which lasts a good 2 years!

Like what you said about "mindless"...Mindless means money! Shopping WELL is not mindless. That was the way I used to be--but I've been rehabbed

[charlielou]

Originally Posted by majomor

High cost can be cheese, so we use costco (hard cheese we buy only due to the natto that provides vit K2) for that, and also Bacon (5 packs in a pouch for half the reg price).
Order my sweetzfree, xylitol from US and Stevia, which lasts a good 2 years!

FWIW, we can now get ezsweet at lowcarbcanada and thelowcarbgrocery.

I wish it wasn't a 10 hour drive to the nearest costco! We lost our local Weston chain grocer and so everyone's costs have gone up. And in a town where the largest employer is the school board and many of the rest are unemployed or retired or on disability, there are not a lot of people willing to go shares on 'strange' meat which comes from a 5 hour drive away anyway. After living in a huge city, it takes some getting accustomed to living in a white bread, white rice, white macaroni culture when I don't eat any of that. What saves me is I am actually allergic so my WOE gets slightly more respect if not understanding.

[RobMan]

I have no idea what we spend as wife buys the grocery items and I pay for the going out meals. But, I do know I have saved a lot of money by LCing for lunch. I almost always went out for lunch and could easily spend $10 at a whack. I would stop and get a $3 - $5 breakfast on the run so I was at $15 a day before I got home. Now I will eat a few eggs and/or bacon at the house and lunch is a couple of $1 double patty burgers or left overs from the night before's dinner. I have got to be saving at least $10 a day to help put toward the meats and cheeses we now buy.

[quiet_observer]

I'm lucky to do 1 person $50 a week, but I'm too lazy to look for deals, I just go and find the meats on sale at the time (and vegetables). Heavy-carb diets, I could probably do at $100 a month with bargain shopping pretty easy, especially with the massive bags of potatoes , but I'm not going back to that. Medical bills lead to bankruptcy pretty quick.

[NoelleM]

Quiet observer, you're so right about higher medical bills going along with high-carb/high-sugar diets. I try to treat my food choices as an investment in my future. You can pay now, or you can pay later..........know what I mean?

[mamasooze]

REEE-shuffle the line up. Went to Fiesta and spent $10.06 but need a head of lettuce ($1.49@Fiesta-wassup with that? Everywhere else $1)
Ditched the pasta salad last night and had shredded cooked cabbage (I didn’t want it to go bad) and used the last of my little dried up knob of ginger-still full o’ flavor. So .25 goes back in the kitty. Used this recipe:
Shredded Sauteed Cabbage Recipe - MarthaStewart.com
B: Oatmeal *all gone* .25 (?) Pops, 2 eggs toast (Me) .17
L: Chicken noodle soup made from leftovers (both of us)*whole wheat noodles found in pantry, not quite half 12 oz. bag-price unknown*
D: Chicken wings 2.29, and wedge salad (lettuce and tomato) .75
Total=$3.46
Total for 8 days=$31.63

[LowCarbLea]

Wow, $25 per week?!? That is amazing!!!

For a family of 2 (8 months a year) we spend about $320 per month ($80 a week) and I always shop deals. Other 4 months a year our groceries shoot up to $500-$600 a month because we have DB kids here and they eat a SAD diet. But things are going to change next time they are here... they just don't know it yet.

[vastamper]

Originally Posted by mamasooze

All good but on $25 a week I can't afford bacon. It got too popular and prices went up

Well I shop at Aldi and the bacon there is cheap. So I always buy bacon.

ETA: Thanks for the link to the recipes. That Cabbage one you posted looks good too.

[Its me - WENDALINA]

speaking of Aldi, they are about to open one up by me..right across from Kroger. Do you find that you buy a lot better quality of products from Aldi or how/what do you buy/shop there?

[vastamper]

Originally Posted by Its me - WENDALINA

speaking of Aldi, they are about to open one up by me..right across from Kroger. Do you find that you buy a lot better quality of products from Aldi or how/what do you buy/shop there?

Not better, cheaper! Some of the same brands there that I've seen at Costco but you don't have to buy in bulk.

Chicken boneless skinnless breasts were $2.49/lb last week

Milk is about $1 cheaper/gallon than my other stores

Eggs were $1.39/dz last week...but has been cheaper

I wanted to add that I'm trying to drop my food costs, not go to $25/week like the OP so that's why Bacon is still on my list.

ETA: You bring a quarter and put it into your shopping cart to use it and get it back when you put your cart back and you bring your own bags or they charge you for bags.

[mamasooze]

Originally Posted by vastamper

Well I shop at Aldi and the bacon there is cheap. So I always buy bacon.

ETA: Thanks for the link to the recipes. That Cabbage one you posted looks good too.

Well, I did go to the meat counter and ask the butcher for $1 of the thick bacon. You should have seen his face

And yes, we eat a lot of bacon (and cook with it) but Project25 didn't allow me to buy much...a lb would be like 15% of my week's budget. Can't wait till next week when this is over. Bacon wrapped ribeye-Here. I . Come.