Oh I do have a question...How does one do Paleo on a budget? page

[BellaPorter]

We are military family and hubs doesn't make that much and with all my ailments I am unable to work right now. So...how do we go Primal/Paleo on a tight budget. Grass Fed beef and bird and eggs are way outta our reach right now with as much meat as we need to eat with this WOE. So...am I just kickin rocks with this doing it with plain old store bought meats and such?

[MissJecka]

There's a bajillion posts in the forums if you do a quick search, but also, Mark has a lot of articles about this if you haven't gotten a chance to jeck them out:

Healthy Eating on a Budget | Mark's Daily Apple

Budget Eating Recipes | Mark's Daily Apple

How to Eat Healthy and Save Money | Mark's Daily Apple -- This one has a ton of links on the bottom of the page that show all of Mark's other budget-friendly posts.

[BellaPorter]

Thanks sooooo much!!!!! Still trying to navigate this place, lol

[MissJecka]

No problem! Just remember - none of us here are billionaires or anything, so nobody really can spend oodles of money on food all of the time! Just make smarter choices than your formerly-SAD diet and you will be doing your body good without hurting the budget.

[Pebbles67]

It is okay not to eat grass fed and organic if you cannot afford it.

Also do some math. Mark recommends eating .5 -.8 grams of protein per lb of lean body mass. There are LBM calculators on the web.
My LBM is approximately 134 so my protein range is 67 grams to 107 grams. You should be able to save money if you watch your protein servings. Protein grams add up fast.

[sbhikes]

Even though I am a billionaire (ha ha big fat lie) I still buy lots of non-grass-fed meat. I get these really big huge chicken breasts, enormous top sirloin steaks and organ meats from this ethnic market with amazingly reasonable prices. I also keep costs down by buying less produce. I used to throw away so much produce because I'd get so seduced by how pretty it was in the market. I just eat really super simple and plain--every meal is meat and potatoes or meat and veggies. I make fancy stuff now and then for dinner so it's not too boring.

[Bushrat]

Thankfully, the fattiest cuts of the meat are the cheapest, and also the most calorically dense. Some cheaper cuts also have bone in them which adds to the flavour.

[notlupus]

Many of us can't afford grass fed meat. I buy what I can afford and take fish oil to try to balance it out with lots of omega 3s.

[spuggygirl]

I do try to buy grassfed - I made a decision that I would prioritise high quality over other things, so will spend more on meat and cut back in other areas if I need to. However, I have found that, after an adjustment period, I find that I actually just eat a lot less these days in generally and so overall actually spend less on groceries than I used to...it's just that the proportions are very different in that around 70% of my weekly shop is at the butchers and only 30% at the supermarket, rather than the other way around.

I hasten to add, however, that I do generally buy cheaper cuts of meat and slow cook them....mmmm beef shin, pork belly etc. I have a huge piece of pork belly just waiting to be roasted today and my mouth is watering at the thought of it!

[Annieh]

First buy real food. You will save heaps not forking out for the cans and packets of processed products.

Then as people have said, the cheaper cuts of meat are actually the ones we are looking for - higher in fat, maybe with the bones in etc.

You can often get more than one meal out of your purchase. eg buy a whole chicken for roasting. Then use the leftover bones to make broth that you can use for soup the next day. Or if you grill your chops and save the dripping, that is that much less butter you need to buy.

Eggs are an economical source of protein. Personally this is one area where I do spend extra to get free range - the quality is so much better. But just start where you can.

Produce does not necessarily have to be organic. It's preferable to grains, sugar and those fake processed items and probably not more expensive.

It's still definitely worth adopting this way of eating.

I'm sorry you're unable to work but if it means you have more time to spend in the kitchen preparing food from scratch then that will work to your advantage. It gets to be enjoyable too. Good luck.