Shopping Tips for Low Carb Eating

There is no question that eating high protein, low carb is costly. Think about it...what were all the cheapo filler things you used to buy? Pasta, macaroni and cheese, rice, english muffins, noodles... you get the idea. The fact is, you will just have to buckle down and re-budget. Being overweight and the complications that can bring is surely more costly than spending a bit more at the supermarket. And, think of it this way: you'll be paying for food that will be nourishing your body!

Shopping Tips

Buy and cook meat in bulk. It saves money and time. Take the time to research places near you that sell family size packages of meat. We’re looking into one of those big freezers. It will probably end up cheaper, and we won’t be running out of meat all the time. However you do it, taking the time once or twice a week to cook in bulk and having cooked meat in the house is a key on this way of eating. When you're hungry, you're not likely to wait for the meat to defrost, cook, and be served...you'll grab whatever is close to hand, which usually means something high carb! Also, keep things interesting by taking advantage of all the different types of meat available: pork, beef, chicken, lamb, buffalo, veal, and of course, all types of fish. Keep in mind that shellfish do have carbs, so they are not unlimited! Which is just as well, since they are darn expensive!

Buy your protein items and produce items first. This may sound so simple as to be silly, but you'd be surprised how much money this saves us. Once you've got the cart filled with meat, produce and dairy, you know there's not that much left for the "other" stuff. If you have to skimp on paper towels or hair gel, put things into perspective.

Low cost sources of protein include eggs, hot dogs, hamburger and ground turkey, chicken legs or thighs, and canned tuna. We especially like devilled eggs. Egg salad on top of lettuce is grand, really! Add a little grated cheese or a few olives and it is a good, satisfying but cheap lunch. A warning on hot dogs: they can vary from 0g to 5g of carbs each, so read the labels. Also, the nitrites will not do you any good in the long run. So use them sparingly. We use them as fill-ins if we run out of other things. Unless you can get ones without nitrites, don’t make them a regular part of your diet. Ditto for bacon. We get bacon w/o nitrites at the health food store. Then we cook the whole pack at once, to avoid any problems with spoiling.

If you can tolerate dairy well, buy cheese in bulk. Large bricks of store brand cheese are generally much less expensive than the fancy name brands. Watch labels for carbs, though. Cheese can vary greatly in grams of carb per serving. Additional Caveat: cheese is tremendously binding, at least for us. So use it in moderation. One rule of thumb we use is to always eat cheese with some type of fiber (salad, raw veggie or nuts). Remeber that "American Cheese" is a processed cheese, so it is not as highly recommended as other kinds (cheddar, jack, swiss, etc.) And make sure that you don't get sucked into buying "American Cheese FOOD" - that is NOT real cheese, and has all kinds of things added. It is also higher in carbs!

Which brings us to the next point: READ EVERY LABEL CAREFULLY! You are going to be shocked to see what the food manufacturers put in stuff - especially how much sugar is added. High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, molases, honey, sucrose, sugar cane juice, concentrated fruit juice - all these things are added to the most amazing range of foods. Be on the lookout! Be a label reader and a wary consumer.

Get familiar with tofu. Tofu is a great low cost way to get protein, it’s fat free, and you get the benefits of soy. It has a few carbs, but the benefits are well worth it!!! Dr. Schwartzbein has a great low carb cookbook for vegetarians, and she’ll give you some good ideas about using tofu in your low carb WOE. Look for it in our Links section, under "Low Carb Books". Of course, tofu is not for the beginning stage of your LC diet, but for later on. The bad thing about tofu is, it has no flavor. The good thing about tofu is, it has no flavor. Meaning, you can make it taste like just about anything, depending on how you cook it. It just takes a little trial and error.

Flour substitutes make for creative low carb cookery. Look for them at your large grocery store, or find specialty stores or an on-line retailer. Stock up so you have them on hand. Low/Lower carb baking substitutes could be soy protein, soy flour (yes they are two different things), almond flour (just ground up almonds, but you can't really get it fine enough at home), flax seed meal, and pre-packaged bake mixes. There are various low carb bake mixes available including ones from Atkins, Keto, Ketogenics, Carbtopia, and others. Find the one you like best and experiment with ways to use it to make your cooking more creative. Let’s face it. You gotta satisfy those bread cravings somehow!

Don't plan on making totally different meals for you and the rest of the people in your house.  Are you gonna keep that up for the long term? NOT! Just plan on slightly modifying or supplementing what you're making for yourself. Example: if you're eating chicken with broccoli, add a 1/2 a potato each for the others at the table, or a slice of whole wheat bread, or maybe even a roll. Don't buy mixed vegetables unless you know that YOU can eat everything in the mix - i.e. no veggie mixes with carrots, potatoes or corn. I mean, are you REALLY going to pick every kernel of corn out of the mix on your plate? Um, let me think about that...