Atkins on a budget ...

[jake1970]

i try to stay away from sausages as too much added extras grains etc

[Redmen62]

Hi Goldcar,

This is something I've struggled with, as I've been doing Atkins while under the shadow of a mountain of student loan debt. At the same time, I'm unwilling to eat unhealthy food (even within the Atkins guidelines) to save a buck- I'd rather trim some spending somewhere else in order to afford quality meat and vegetables.

With that said, here are some things that helped me:

1) Buy meat in large quantities- i.e. a "quarter" or a "side" of beef.

Like you, I ate a lot of chicken at first. But beef is significantly cheaper, and has more of the nutritional profile you're looking for on Atkins (higher fat-to-protein ratio). As well, it's easier to find what I'd call "quality" beef (grass fed and organic). I've never seen these qualities in chicken, except at very high prices. I used to eat four or five times as much chicken as beef, and it was usually the expensive breasts. Now those proportions are reversed, and when I eat chicken it's the cheaper, tastier thigh meat. I would eat lots of pork too, if I could find a supplier that met the standards I've described above- pork has been incredibly cheap this summer.

I bought a quarter of beef during induction, and I still have plenty of ground beef from that same quarter in my freezer over five months later. I'll order another one very soon. The price is significantly cheaper than buying similar quality meat piece-by-piece, though it may not seem "frugal" to lay out several hundred dollars up front for six months' worth of meat. If you can't swing that sort of expense up front, find two or three friends to share the order with you, or let them just purchase certain cuts of their choice (I've done this before, when I wasn't eating as much beef).

2) Farmer's markets

Get fresh stuff when it's in season, and freeze it. If you want to be frugal and on Atkins, vegetables are going to be even more important than normal for you, and they're much cheaper in season. Hopefully you have a farmer's market in your area- it's been a real help for our food budget.

3) Cut out all the processed stuff you can.

This is important anyway for non-budget reasons, but the more your diet comes from "whole", natural foods, the more actual nutrition you're getting for your dollar. Staying away from processed crap hasn't always been easy for me- I had a brief but passionate affair with the Atkins candy bars, which at 2-3 dollars per pop sent our food bill through the roof. Now if I snack I can eat slices of cucumber with cheese and meat, have a handful of almonds, or make a mock danish if I *need* something sweet. I'm still trying to replace diet sodas with tea and water, but that's an ongoing battle...

4) Cook for yourself.

This one goes with #3. I had always heard that it was more expensive to "eat healthy" and do things from scratch than to let some big company mix something up for you, but my experience has been the exact opposite. The things that killed our food budget before I started Atkins were processed foods- usually carb-based snack foods that I could eat two or three packages of in a sitting.

A nice steak with sauteed asparagus,mushrooms and onions costs at least a couple of bucks, but so does a bag of the "healthy" rice snacks I used to eat while watching sport. So does a bag of tortilla chips- another thing I considered "healthy" at the time. If cash is really tight, forget the steak and have a nice, big (and satisfying) taco salad, with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, sour cream, some cheese and spicy ground beef. I haven't calculated the cost on that meal, but I'd guess it's between $1 and $1.50, and it fills me up very nicely (and I'm a big dude).

Eating quality, Atkins-friendly food on a budget requires some extra thinking and planning, but it's entirely possible. Good luck.

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by jake1970

i try to stay away from sausages as too much added extras grains etc

That's just our problem here in the UK, Jake ... other countries have sausages made of 100% meat

[TAldous]

Before, I knew to look at the ingredients.. when something was labeled 0 carbs/0 sugar ... I trusted the label... wahhhh ... Now I looked at my half eaten bag of bbq pork rinds and the second ingredient is sugar.... aarrgghhhhh .. have i totally messed up my weight loss? please help.. they taste so much better than the regular flavor!!

I crave crunchy snacks... and they are crunchy... please help?

[atkinsgal08]

>>have i totally messed up my weight loss?>>

No. However, you have learned to read the list of ingredients of everything you buy!

>> I crave crunchy snacks... and they are crunchy... please help?>>

Celery, cucumber, bell pepper strips.

Pork rinds don't really have much nutrition!

[ziggy]

Originally Posted by goldcar2222

is baked polish sausages ok to eat, along w/ lunch meats bologna, salami, hot dogs etc ...

i dont know what baked polish sausages are and as for lunch meats and hotdogs most of the time there not ok cause they have ingridients that are not allowed

Originally Posted by Aways2Go

I was eating low carb tortillas a few times a week in the beginning before I knew better - and I was losing pretty slowly, especially given the amount of weight I have to lose. I cut those out when I figured out I shouldn't be having them, and my weight loss speeded up almost immediately. Also cut out aspartame items (equal) that I was getting in diet jello from a box and the occasional glass of crystal light mix. That helped too.

Just a heads up.

basically the same thing happend to me i started eating them 10 net carb whole wheat wraps when i was at 250 pounds then my weight loss completely stalled for months till i cut them out of my diet and then my weight loss started again xD