Going Primal on a budget? page 3

[zoebird]

We did a "price book" today here in NZ.

A kilo of onions is $1.25. A kilo of sweet potatoes were $1.25. A kilo of carrots were $1.25. Cabbage was $.75/head (purple and green). We could get silver beet and kale for under $1 per kilo (great greens!).

I think that with a couple of inexpensive cuts of meat, fish, eggs and then these veggies, you'd be good to go.

[zoebird]

Here's what we bought today for $360NZ:

.75 kilo skirt streak;
2.5 kilos mince beef/venison;
1 kilo fish;
2, 1.5 kilo whole chickens;
6 dozen eggs;
1 kilo bacon;

.75 kilo butter;
500 g organic cheese (for kiddo)

2 bags of 2 kilos frozen veg;
4 kilos frozen berries;

2/3 kilo asparagus
2 heads lettuce
3 heads broccoli
10 carrots
1 large fennel bulb
3 avocados
3 onions
5 tomatoes
4 bell peppers
2 telegraph cucumbers
4 kumara (sweet potato)

3 kilos oranges
2 kilos apples

300 g pistachios
500 g macademia nuts

1 lt coconut cream
1 lt orange juice (treat for the kid)
1 lt ra yogurt
1.5 lts of olive oil (which will last the month and it was on sale)

I don't know the prices comparatively in the UK (if it's higher or lower), but food prices here in NZ are expensive, and $360 is about 180 pound.

[Damiana]

Buying gluten-free version of CW foodstuff is kind of missing the point entirely.

[Annieh]

Where are sweet potatoes for $1.25. My supermarket (P&S) has kumara at more like $7 a kilo.

[JustSteph]

Whoa, this got a lot of replies. Thanks guys. I'm definitely going to try it. Convincing my fiance has been damn near impossible though. He's convinced he needs crap loads of carbs and fibre, even though he knows high insulin levels are bad for you.

My other worry is that people say you loose weight just being on this diet, but I don't want to loose weight.

Maybe there are some other areas of your budget you can cut. Like alcohol, entertainment, dining out, beauty treatments/products, clothing, TV, travel. Or cake

Already spend very little on those things. Like £10 on alcohol. I don't really spend anything on entertainment (though my fiance does). We dine out once a month and don't spend more than £30. Don't buy any beauty products. Only buy clothes when it's necessary. Don't have a TV license, never mind Sky. Only travel to Uni - my fiance to work - or to visit my family, or my fiance's family. I budget really strictly, I have a spreadsheet and everything.

Buying gluten-free version of CW foodstuff is kind of missing the point entirely.

Originally, I only wanted to gut out gluten, then a friend of mine suggested paleo to me.

[Farfalla]

My other worry is that people say you loose weight just being on this diet, but I don't want to loose weight.

Good for you and for your budget - you can do a higher-carb version of paleo with lots of sweet potatoes and starchy vegetables that are very cheap.

You may want to read this: How To Gain Weight Eating Primal | Mark's Daily Apple

[Farfalla]

How the Primal Blueprint Helped Me End My Struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome | Mark's Daily Apple - and this, for inspiration.

[treborix]

Good on you for giving it a go.
As for your boyfriend - you can give him loads of carbs and fibre - in veg and rice and potatoes.

My housemate went primal a couple of weeks after me. He was pretty happy and fit and healthy before but he saw me get rid of the digestive upset and have better energy levels. It was his choice to go primal. Until he did I was still baking him bread and cooking him pasta. As I've already mentioned my housemate does a really active job and he can't eat the same as me. He needs more food and does better when we include plenty of safe starches such as sweet potato. Primal/paleo doesn't necessarily mean low carb. Ask your boyfriend to try primal for a week and take it from there.

[zoebird]

We went to moore wilsons, it was a big sack of them -- prepackaged, which i hate because it means unnecessary plastic packaging! :P Also, they were on special-special.

also, if I can say it, P&S has horrible prices on anything not in a box/package. I did a price comparison between them and moore wilsons and even new world, and more often than not on 'real foods' the other two markets had much better prices. countdown is also a little better than P/S. and you get ambiance! lol

I bought our christmas dinner at P/S once. It was a right fortune. If I'd just gone to moore wilsons, I probably would have saved a fair bit.

Also, i like how MWs has gold and silver deals. That has to do with how often you come. After about two weeks, we were gold members on our cards, which gets us the best prices on everything. And, their prices are pretty good and pretty consistent.

Spending $350/wk is still a heart attack, but we get a fair bit there.

[magicmerl]

Our freezer is tiny, unfortunately. We can barely fit what we already have in there.

Buy a chest freezer. The first cow you buy will pay for the chest freezer.

I hate coconut milk.

It's not great to drink, but we use it as a different form of cream in things like satays.

There are no whole foods around here.
I don't think Trader Joe's exists in the UK.

There will be an equivalent. Find what the local network is.

I don't even know that tallow is.

It's animal fat.

Thanks for the ideas guys but I think food prices are just too high, that's why I shop in Lidl, only buying what I can't get in Lidl in Asda.

It *does* cost more to buy actual foods instead of pseudo foods. But really, all you are doing is spending the same proportion of your income on food as people have all through history. It's just because we are in an oil bubble where the price of wheat is artificially low that junky wheat based processed foods are cheap and widely available.