Eating Keto on a Budget

On today’s podcast I am giving tips on how to eat keto on a budget.

Listen here or read the transcript below.

Jennifer (00:00):
You are listening to the live life keto podcast with Jennifer Banz, episode number six. Hey guys, I am so excited to be back for episode number six of my live life keto podcast. Today, I’m going to talk about some budget friendly keto things that I are my favorite. So this is kind of like, what do you eat on keto to stay in budget? A lot of people decide ahead of time before they do any kind of research or they just decide from based on what they hear. Other people say that keto is expensive and I just really don’t think that’s true. And the number one thing that I want to drive home is that when you eat keto, you really are. So you get the foods are calorie dense, they’re satisfying, and you really just don’t eat as much as if you were not eating keto.

Jennifer (01:05):
Keto foods really do go a long way as being satisfying and just delicious. And you don’t have to eat a whole lot to be satisfied. So yeah, I know that a lot of people who eat like a traditional diet, they see the prices and you know, they’re like, okay, I see that bread is so cheap. And oatmeal is so cheap and there’s beans and all of these things are really, really inexpensive, but that’s really not what people are eating whenever they want to eat on. Non, whenever they eat non keto, most of the time people are eating pre-packaged food.

Jennifer (01:51):
Foods, fast food. And I think that the whole keto is expensive is kind of like just an excuse. It’s kind of just, and I might be wrong. I might be totally wrong. But from what I’ve seen and what, who I’ve asked, cause I’ll ask people, what did you eat before you ate keto or before you tried keto? And it’s usually pre-packaged food, pasta, fast food. It’s never, you know, we ate a lot of beans. We had a lot of pasta. We ate a lot of rice. It’s never that it’s always, pre-packaged fast food, convenience foods. And those foods are actually expensive. And if you like, pre-packaged foods are pretty expensive for what you get like a package of like a freezer package of a pasta meal is going to be like $10. And it usually feeds two people. If you’re lucky, three people, if you’re lucky.

Jennifer (02:53):
And so that one meal was $5 per person, but if think of a whole, you could buy literally a whole family pack of chicken thighs for that same price. And it would feed, Oh gosh, it would feed like four plus people. It would feed could feed six people, their protein for one meal. It’s so much cheaper. You just have to know what to look for. You have to pick the right foods and you have to make sure you don’t pick the foods that are actually expensive on keto. So let me talk about that. So the foods that are what people think of when they think keto is so expensive, the food they’re really thinking about is the keto convenience foods. So if you go to the grocery store and ketos is becoming increasingly popular, so there’s a lot of keto convenience food because you know, keto is the buzzword right now, all the companies are making keto foods.

Jennifer (03:54):
So if you go to the grocery store and you find a keto loaf of bread and you’re like, Oh my gosh, okay. So, Oh, wow. So exciting keto bread. I love bread. I miss bread so much. Oh my gosh, what this keto bread is $8 a loaf. When you compare it to regular bread where you can get some low spreads for a dollar, a loaf. So when you start to compare like that, you’re like, Oh my gosh, keto is so expensive. So for one thing, the reason why that bread is so expensive is because it uses more quality ingredients, but that bread is not necessary. You don’t have to eat that stuff on keto to be keto. It’s really a convenience item and it’s not necessary. It’s if you’re on a budget, don’t pick that food. That’s something that you shouldn’t be eating. If you want to be on a budget and eat keto.

Jennifer (04:55):
Now, if you want to make that like, kind of like your splurge item go right ahead. But even me, I don’t, you know, I don’t eat that stuff. I just stick to basic stuff that is easy to cook delicious, and I can spice it up with just some basic spices and make it really, really delicious. So my first tip for avoiding or picking foods that are keto friendly, budget friendly, stay away from the keto pre-packaged foods. Those are gonna bust your budget so fast. The chocolate bars, the almond flour, those types of foods. Yeah. Yes. Even almond flour. I know that. I mean, you could really, you could buy some cheap almond flour and make some keto muffins probably for a lot cheaper than you could. If you bought some already made regular muffins, like muffins with flour and sugar. But if you really want to stick to a low budget, I would avoid stuff like almond flour.

Jennifer (06:04):
The sugars, like the keto friendly sweeteners. I would avoid those because those are on the more expensive side of items for keto. I would just stick to keto whole foods, not whole foods, the grocery store, but foods that are in their whole state, whole vegetables. You actually go to the produce section, right? And there are so many keto friendly vegetables. And if you shop in season, you’re going to find a very more budget friendly items. If you know what to look for. So just look for items that are in season and you will find a much better price. My favorite is just a salad. Like I just pile a bunch of green vegetables and I cut up a whole chicken boneless, skinless chicken thigh. Then I roasted in the oven. I throw some dressing on it. I throw a little cheese on it and I’m good to go.

Jennifer (07:02):
Like that is the perfect meal for me because boneless skinless chicken thighs are really good and easy to find there. Cheap. They’re so easy to prepare. They’re delicious because they’re juicy. They’re not like dry chicken breasts. They’re really hard to over cook. And they’re a little fatty, which is perfect for keto. Perfect for keto. And the best thing is that most grocery stores are going to have a family pack of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. You can get a huge package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs for $2 a pound. You could get a giant five pound pack of boneless, skinless chicken thighs for $10. And that is enough chicken for probably a whole big family for the whole week for just for the dinners for $10. I really can’t beat that kind of a deal. And it’s really, really chicken thighs are really delicious. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Jennifer (08:09):
Another really good budget item that I eat a lot on keto is ground beef. You can find ground beef for $3 a pound. You could even find grass fed ground beef at Walmart for $5 a pound. And that’s a really good deal for grass fed ground beef. It’s probably the best price for grass fed ground beef that I’ve ever seen or shop at trader Joe’s. They have great deals on grass fed ground beef. If that’s what you want to do, if you want to eat grass fed, you can still do it on a budget. You just have to go to the right stores and like the discount stores, you will find really good deals on grass fed ground beef. You can really good deals on high quality eggs. That’s another item that are really, really budget friendly. You can get a dozen of eggs for $2.

Jennifer (09:06):
That’s another item that is really, really budget-friendly is eggs. You can get a dozen eggs for $2. If you want to splurge and have pasture raised eggs, then they’re going to be a little more expensive. But if you shop at the discount stores like trader Joe’s Walmart or Aldi, or even Costco, you’re going to find much better prices. Now, if you want to buy things like nuts and seeds like almonds and sunflower seeds and stuff like that to snack on it’s best to buy in bulk shop in bulk, even whole foods has a bulk section. And I don’t know if it’s, I think they have it like pre-portioned out right now where you can’t get into the bins, but it’s still available. You can still shop in the bulk items. And those are always going to be a better price than if you were to go to the shelf and buy a name, branded bag of almonds or walnuts or any kind of nuts like cashews shop in bulk.

Jennifer (10:14):
And those, if you are a person that eats keto snacks, just a little serving of nuts is like the best snack and it’s filling. But things like beef jerky, that’s a little more on the expensive side because of the convenience. Most of the time, those have added sugars. Those are just the kind of things that you want to avoid. Once you get into the ones that are actually keto friendly, that don’t have the added sugars and stuff they’re expensive. And I would avoid those. If you’re trying to stay on a budget. Now, one thing that I really want to stress the most with keto on a budget is meal prepping meal, prepping with Kito. Anyway, it’s like the best thing you can do to stay on track with keto is, I mean, meal prepping is everything. I am a huge advocate for meal prep, just sitting or taking a few hours out of your weekend to prep your meals for the week.

Jennifer (11:15):
Even your whole family’s meals. It prepares you. It gets you, it keeps you on track. You’re not looking in the refrigerator every single day, wondering what you’re going to eat. Because every time you go to open that refrigerator to decide what you’re going to eat, especially when you’re tired, that’s just an opportunity for your brain to choose the unhealthy option. Something that’s not keto. And then we eat off plan and that’s not. We want to not, that’s not what we want to do. We want to stay on our plan. And the best thing you can do to stay on your plan is meal prep. I stress this so much in my membership. We have a whole course on meal prepping on taking time or even breaking it up into more than one session. And I’ve got this whole course because I think it’s so important.

Jennifer (12:12):
Like if you’re not the first thing I ask is if someone in my membership is not, you know, staying on protocol, if they’re not if they’re making bad choices, are you meal prepping? Because that is the number one thing that that’s what comes first. Every time you choose not to prep because you think it’s going to be overwhelming. You’re just setting yourself up to make potentially a bad choice further on down in the week. Now, one thing that I’m going to go against, probably all the other people have been taught, avoid whole chickens. Now I know this is like far off and something like everyone’s like, okay, when you’re going to do a budget friendly keto plan, you just go grab you a whole chicken and then you roast the whole chicken. And then you’ve got this huge amount of meat for the potentially you could have like nine, 10 pounds of meat, but no, it is not nine to 10 pounds of meat.

Jennifer (13:22):
It is mostly bones that you’re paying for. And yes, you could roast the bones and make, and then cook the bones for a long time and make bone broth. But most people don’t do that. Most people will just throw the bones away, a chicken, a whole chicken, probably one of the cheaper chickens that you could find is like a dollar 50 a pound. And that is you’re paying for bones. But like I said before, the boneless skinless chicken thighs, you’re not paying for bones. You’re not paying for skin. You’re paying for pure meat and you’re not having to debone it it’s so much easier. And ultimately you get more bang for your buck. So I am a huge advocate for boneless skinless chicken thighs. Like that is my number one top choice. I eat boneless, skinless chicken thighs, more than any other meat that I have in my house.

Jennifer (14:22):
More than ground beef, more than salmon. I love salmon, but I think boneless, skinless chicken thighs are just such so much more convenient. Okay. So we were talking about food, but what I really want to talk about is what is the total price of not eating keto? What or not eating more healthy, more healthy foods, less fast foods, less convenience foods, less junk food. What is the actual price that you’re paying by choosing these foods that no longer serve our bodies? What is the price you’re paying in pharmaceutical medication, your diabetes medication. That’s the real conversation. Whenever someone says to me, keto is expensive, but how much are you paying by not eating this way? That’s the real question because the, the prescriptions, the doctor’s visits, your ultimate quality of life on further down the line is compromised by not choosing a more healthy way of life.

Jennifer (15:42):
That is the real cost of not eating. Not necessarily keto. It doesn’t have to just be keto, but choosing or nutritious foods is always going to be cheaper in the long run. Whenever you think about the quality of your quality of life, how much you’re spending on doctor’s visits and pharmaceuticals. So that’s my tip tips. Stick to high quality foods that are, they’re not convenience foods, because those are going to be the foods that are going to be the most expensive. If you want to say on a budget with keto, avoid convenience foods, avoid fast food, stick to more whole foods, lots of leafy green vegetables, vegetables that are in season. You know, sometimes you can get avocados for a dollar, a piece, and that’s pretty good to you for avocados. And when they’re in season, so you find the foods that are in season, you find the, the more bang for your buck meets like ground beef, boneless, skinless, chicken, thighs, and proteins, like eggs, avoid stuff that is pre-packaged processed keto friendly stuff of, if you are really, really on a strict budget, you want to avoid things like almond flour and the keto friendly sweeteners.

Jennifer (17:09):
Those are really going to take a hit in your budget and think about your long-term cost of not choosing a healthier way of life. What the longterm cost with prescriptions and your doctor’s visits and copays, all that stuff. I have ladies in my membership who have gotten off all of their diabetes medications. There were ladies in my 10 day challenge, just from the 10 day challenge. They were able to get off of their diabetes medication, 10 days of keto, and they were able to get off of their diabetes medication, look at what that 10 days did for them and their quality of life. That is what is amazing. The most amazing thing to me about choosing a healthier way of life. It’s the weight-loss is great, but quality you have life is even more. And that is really something that everyone needs to think about. Guys, thank you so much for listening to episode number six. This has been such a fun, fun past six weeks. I love recording these podcasts for you. If you enjoy my podcast, I would love to, to read your reviews. I read all of the reviews. So head on over to Apple podcasts and give me a review. I would would love, love, love if you did that. And I cannot wait to read it. So thank you so much. And I’ll see you guys next week.