First of all I'd like to say "HI" to all the friendly and helpful people here. I've been reading thru some of the threads and I think I'm going to like it here very much.

Starting last summer my husband and I began the Atkins program. We were doing fine and gradually losing weight. But then he lost his job and we really had to start pinching pennies. We found that we just couldn't afford to stick with it. Mainly because it was really necessary to make what groceries we could afford stretch as far as possible. We ended up having to go back to casseroles with pasta in them, for example. We also had to back off on the salads because of the cost of the greens and the dressings.
He's back to work now and we want to try again. But again finances are an issue because he only gets paid once a month. After two weeks we're usually out of extra cash for all but gas for the car.
This time we're going to try the Carbohydrate Addict Diet. I think it will be more practical.

My question is, is it possible to maintain a low carb lifestyle on a shoestring budget? Do you have any suggestions that would help? Especially low carb meals that can be made ahead and frozen. TIA, everyone!

If diamonds are a girl's best friend and a dog is man's best friend, who
really is the dumber sex?

sprinkles:

I just sat down and broke down my last grocery bill. Here's the way it stacked up:

40% of the bill was for protein: meat, fish, eggs, nuts.

20% of the bill was for produce and dairy.

40% of the bill was for everything else.

Now, I don't know what your budget is, but maybe you can take your budget, and divide it up that way, and see if you can use that as a starting point?

If you're going to do CAD, you'd want to take a bit away from the protein category, and add to the produce category (where you'd put your whole grains, I think)

As for low carb sources of protein, try eggs, tuna, turkey dogs, and ground turkey made into various casseroles.

I often have a protein shake for lunch, and while the upfront cost of a can of the mix can be expensive, per meal it is not bad at all.

The main thing for you to do will be shop sales on meat! We can often catch sales in our area on chicken legs or thighs and get them very cheaply. Ditto with eye round, london broil, and porkchops. I often us almond butter as my protein at lunch,and though it is pretty pricey for a jar ( I pay 6.49), since I only use a few tablespoons at one time, it is cheap in the long run.

HTH,

LCandrea

I'm right there with you, watching my finances but in my experience with the meat part is, if I buy it from an independent butcher shop, rather than a grocery store, I get a better price. I can get two pounds of hamburger for 1.99 from the butcher, but I would pay around 2.76 in the grocery. Doesn't seem like alot, but ever bit counts.

Kristie

168/159/115

When I am blue.....I remember to breath again

I feel your pain. I"m recently separated and have to "make it on my own" all of a sudden.

think about cheap low carb things:
celery is generally pretty cheap
so is ground chuck meat
tuna fish is often on sale
a head of romaine can be as little as $1
watch the nitrites but also hot dogs, bacon, etc can be pretty cheap in bulk.

Do you have a Costco or the like near you? You can buy 10lb of chicken and steak for very cheap prices... just have to get out some tupperware to save it as you use it. That can help too.

pasta and things like ramen noodles can be extremely cheap but I've found that being a little creative with the shopping and buying things in bulk really help.

Good luck!

Buying and cooking in bulk has been the key for me. My daughter gave me a roaster for Christmas and I've used it half a dozen times already. Even off season turkey is $.58 per pound and brisket is rarely over $1.19. One thing that I've found that really works for me is pork sirloin. There's little fat on it and it's generally about $1.59 per pound. I pop about 20 pounds in the roaster with some canned green chilis and cumin and cook it slowly till it shreds. We eat it topped off with raw greens and homemade pico de gallo.
One thing my mother has done is contact the managers of the two grocery stores she frequents. They each have a box of frozen meat for her once a month. They pull the meat at the end of the evening and put it in her box in the freezer. The one drawback is that she never knows what she is going to get, but then she's pretty happy when she can get a KC strip steak for $1.99 a pound. It's no different than if you shopped late in the evening and put the meat right into your freezer when you got it home. Of course she's been shopping at the same stores since Eve worked the register, but if you've got a decent relationship with your meat manager this might work for you too.

I just went to Sam's Club yesterday, and got some good bargains:

10 cans of Starkist tuna for $4.50
3 pounds of whole almonds for $6.99
6.5 pounds of chicken thighs for $5.00

If you have a discount club near you, it is well worth it, I think. I try to stick to items that I can keep a while, or divide and freeze. I know that I save a lot of money this way.

Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy.
And cooking done with care is an act of love.
- Craig Claiborne

Ditto the Costco. They have some great deals. The tuna is VERY cheap while at the store it runs $2-3 a can.

It's also very worthwhile finding out when your local store marks down the meat as it nears the sell by date. Don't be afraid of buying that meat, there's nothing wrong with it. We get stuff for 1/2 off ALOT and sometimes we get real lucky and find things marked down 75%.

About 2 weeks ago, my husband found filet mignon marked down to $3 a package! 2 steaks in the package. He bought them ALL and we vacuum sealed them and threw them in the freezer. Now, we have a filet whenever the mood strikes and we're not paying $10-$12 a package.

Also look through your supermarket's ad page. They usually have it sitting in a bin or wire rack as you walk in the store. They'll have all the deals listed along with special discounts. Last week, all the Vons in our area was offering $2 off ANY package a beef or pork. My husband and I went in together (at 3 different locations nearby) and we each bought $3 packages for $1 with the coupon. Talk about a great deal!

Hang in there, it is possible.

Member since 2001

Mars...COOL!
http://www.ilovelowcarb.com

Same here Trina. I buy the things in bulk that I know I will use a lot of. I also will buy meet there and divide it up into meal portions. I watch for Ham Shanks (if you eat pork) and cook it in the crock pot all day. Then we have a meal with it that night and then I save the rest for later meals. It's just DH and I, so it goes a long way. We get about 5 meals or so out of 1 Shank type ham, Picnic ham, the kind with the bone in it. I also use some of the broth from it to make soups. Speaking of soup.......boy is THAT economical. If I cook a whole chicken, I boil the carcass to make broth with onion, garlic, celery, bay leaf.then pick the bones clean. Add broccoli, cauliflower, a bit (teeny) of carrot, mabye some peapods, whatever veggies you want. If you want it like minestrone, add a can of no sugar added tomatoe sauce. Have that for one meal and freeze the rest or eat that the rest of the week, (if you don't get tired of it.) Soups are VERY economical AND delicious AND warming on these cold winter days.

Barb - 30 lbs gone FOREVER!
www.iwsgroupinc.com - website design and development


Atkins-3/14/03
174/144/135 5'2"
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
Knowledge is POWER

Thank you all so much for your replies. I have been going to Sam's Club the last couple of months and have gotten some very good deals. And luckily before we started having money problems we bought a brand new upright freezer. I'm doing my best to fill it. I also think it will be easier on the budget and on the psyche if we do the CAD rather than Atkins. Right now we just can't afford all the fancy substitutes needed for Atkins.
I've really got to make this work. My doctor has recommended a gastric bypass. I've got a lot of health problems all related to being over 150# overweight and desperately NEED to lose weight. I'd like to do it naturally if at all possible, but I'll have the surgery if it will prolong my life.

Sugarsprinkles

Start: 1/19/04
316/goal:150

If diamonds are a girl's best friend and a dog is man's best friend, who
really is the dumber sex?

Sugarsprinkles,

Many of the people in here have given you excellent advice. There are ways to reduce spending even low carb. But, I am a realist. I know it is more expensive doing low carb or any other healthy way of eating. I mean Ramen noodles can be bought 12 for a dollar at Aldis. When one is poor, and I have been there, no phone, no car, couldn't afford twenty five cents for a store brand can of soda, it is difficult to eat healthy. Most coupons are for processed garbage food....banquet meals, breakfast cereals, canned goods..etc. I rarely find coupons for fresh whole foods. I have never seen a Costco, so I do not have that advantage. The cheapest I have seen turkey for is 99 cents a pound and I buy it. There is a Sam's Club about a half hour away and I am going to look into it.

I don't write this to be a downer or depress you or me for that matter. But to be realistic. It is going to cost more. It is tough when the money is not there. There are ways to make it cheaper, but it will never be as cheap as macaroni and cheese or ramen noodles.

But, I will spend less money on clothes, because I will not have to go to specialty shops. I will spend less in health care in the end. I will feel better about myself, physically and mentally.

We (as a society) take better care of our cars than our bodies. This is the one body we get. We need it for a lifetime.

I know when you don't have five dollars in your pocket, you just have to do the best you can. Usually food is the easiest area to reduce, because other bills like rent/mortage are set. But, maybe you can find other areas....other than food to conserve. For example, phone, cell phone, movies, cable t.v. etc.

Again, I hope this isn't turning you off to healthy eating. I just want to say......your points are valid. I know, I have been there.

Peace, Joanna
Atkin's since 12/3/03
299/272/130


PS - I am doing well now financially because my husband and I have two incomes, but we are splitting in the summer and I have been concerned how I am going to do it. So I have wrestled with these thoughts and came to those conclusions.

Sugar, just because one is doing Atkins, doesn't mean you have to buy all those extra special Atkins products. I hardly use any of them at all. I just eat REAL, whole foods. That's really what LC is about for me. We have a very tight budget too, but we subsist on eggs, meat, cheese, veggies, butter, veggies, some cream and sour cream, veggies, and more veggies. I have SOME allowed fruits every now and then too. I find recipes for alternatives like pancakes, biscuits and stuff like that. Check out the recipe forum and the recipes up at the top of the page too. You can get ideas for cooking from scratch all over the place here. AND cooking from scratch is VERY economical too. You don't have to get the specialty products, it's really not necessary.

Barb - 30 lbs gone FOREVER!
www.iwsgroupinc.com - website design and development


Atkins-3/14/03
174/144/135 5'2"
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
Knowledge is POWER

I think if you eat any particular way for a long enough period of time, you learn how to do it cheaply, just by becoming aware of what's out there and what costs what.

I remember when we were at our poorest, my ex and I living in San Pedro, we lived off of Lil' Debbie's Oatmeal Cakes, BK Whoppers, and government cheese. Now, you just remove the Oatmeal cakes, the buns from the whoppers, and you're halfway there to a decent low-carb lifestyle!

The grocery stores will often give you lettuce and greens that they are throwing out if you tell them you have a rabbit at home to feed. I know this because I used to have a rabbit. However, if you're clever and cheap, you could just LIE. See? Where there's a will, there's a way.

**************
"Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door."

Oh, one more thing.

I'm not sure where you live, but near my family's place there is this beautiful thing called a farmer's market. There you can find tons of fruits, veggies, milk for a fraction of the cost at any supermarket.

some of the prices I can barely believe -- like 2 green baskets of strawberries for $1 , celery for $.25, iceberg lettuce $.33 -- you get the idea. I bought 4 bags of groceries there and spent $18.25.

Again, good luck! I know it is hard when you are really strapped for cash, but if there's anything you should be trying your best to not cut back too much, it's the FOOD that goes into your body.

on a more practical note:

You stated that your hubby only gets paid once a month, and that by the third week you are left with barely enough for gas. Assuming his salary didn't decrease all THAT much, you ought to be able to manage your money better and make it last the whole month. Getting paid once a month was very difficult for me to get used to at first as well.

This is what worked for me:
Pay your bills first (rent,phone,electric,etc.) and then take out half of whatever is left. Throw your checkbook in your bottom drawer. Pay for everything with cash but write everything down so you keep track of what you're spending.

In two weeks, take out the other half. After awhile, you'll get a handle on how much you can safely spend per week and stay in budget, so you won't have to do anything drastic then.

If you don't like the idea of carrying cash around, you can get a refillable debit card. You can refill it each week with your allotment and it can be spent like a Visa card.

There a lot of times when we don't have extra money. This is what I do. First I buy a ton of eggs! Very very handy for many many recipes. I then by a ton of frozen veggies and if I find them for like .89 cents I buy even more! They come in very handy! For meat I buy cheep.. chicken leg quarters, and pork steaks. Now they say the beef prices are going down..but I don't think mid-michigan has got the word yet. Cause it is still just as expensive here.

I don't if your husband hunts or how your hunting seasons work out there but I know it has saved us money.. well that is when the deer we are eating wasn't hit wasn't with our van! LOL

YOu have got some really good advice! I hope you find a way to stick with this because it really will reduce costs later on in life as previously stated!




"No more looking back and saying "what if", now I look forward and see success!"

Tanya
Member since Jan 2002
Way of Life since Jan 2003!
272/175/172<--(next goal)