Hey guys!
I thought it was time to share a third $50 weekly grocery budget post, and this one is for those of you who want to eat low carb on a budget!
When you think of eating cheaply, what types of food come to mind? For me it’s rice, pasta, and breads. CARBS! And I love ’em haha.
But as much as I love my carbs, they’re obviously not the healthiest. So, just recently Pablo and I decided to try to eat a more low carb diet for awhile – while still sticking to our budget of course!
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So, is it possible to eat a low carb diet on a budget?
YES!! The key is choosing simple meals that don’t require extra fancy (aka expensive) ingredients.
Check out 15 ways to save money on groceries here.
To plan our low carb menu I looked at Pinterest for ideas (of course!) I decided to choose a super simple and easy menu for this particular week but I do want to branch out a bit and try some more new-to-me recipes soon. 🙂
Some quick notes from the past weeks to keep in mind:
To simplify my meal planning, I mainly plan for dinners and just keep some basic items on hand for breakfasts and lunches. (For help with your meal planning/grocery shopping, check out this post and snag my free grocery list printable!)
I put an asterisk by items on the menu below that we already had in the pantry or freezer. Obviously if you are starting completely from scratch you would have to spend a bit more than $50 to buy some of the basics.
So, here is week three’s menu for a low carb diet on a budget!
Week 3 – Low Carb Diet on a Budget
Breakfast options:
Eggs, Chia seed pudding, *Homemade Greek yogurt, Smoothies
Lunch options:
Soup, Salad w/ chicken, Leftovers
{Note: I already had a few things on hand in the pantry for the kids like cereal and stuff for PB & Js, so they didn’t always have what we had.)
Snack options:
I didn’t really plan for snacks for us this week but I did already have some apples and pretzels on hand for the kids and also made them these spinach muffins.
Dinners:
Many of our dinners for this week were super easy, no recipe needed!
- Rotisserie chicken, salad
- Chicken soup (made with bones from the rotisserie chicken)
- Burgers, topped with cheese and avocado, roasted *asparagus
- Stir fry (chicken with *bag of frozen veggies)
- Chicken salad (served on lettuce), *baby carrots
- Omelettes, cantaloupe
- Baked Salsa chicken, broccoli
My favorite meal from the week, the burgers and asparagus. So simple and SO yummy!
One of the salads we had – I added some cheese I had on hand as well as some beans and corn from the freezer – I know, I know, they’re not low carb!
By the way, some of the meals on this meal plan would work with a Keto diet, but we obviously weren’t quite strict enough to be able to call it a full Keto diet. That’s why I’m just sticking with “low carb”. 😉
As I’ve mentioned before, we don’t always stay right on my meal plan; I might change which days we have which meals, or we may end up having something else easy that was in the pantry or freezer.
BUT, even if we don’t stick perfectly to my plan, at least I made one and knew exactly what to buy at the grocery store. This keeps me from blowing my $50 a week grocery budget by running back to the store every other day for items I forgot I would need!
Need more low carb meal ideas? Check out this post with 3 weeks of easy low carb dinner ideas!
Below is a list with the prices of all the groceries I bought for the week. I’m a BIG fan of Aldi (love it!) and do most of my shopping there.
More of a Kroger fan? Check out this post!
Grocery List For a Low Carb Diet On a Budget
Aldi:
- Bag of spinach – $1.19 (for smoothies and muffins for the kids)
- Romaine lettuce – $1.99
- Celery – $0.89
- Broccoli – $1.79
- Tomatoes – $0.83
- Avocados (2) – $0.98
- Strawberries – $1.69 (for smoothies)
- Bananas – $0.94 (for smoothies)
- Cantaloupe – $1.09
- Chicken breasts (4 lbs) – $7.03
- Frozen burgers – $7.49
- Sliced cheese – $1.79
- Eggs – $1.37
- Milk (2) – $3.18
- Chia seeds – $3.49
- Honey – $4.99 (to use in the muffins I’m making for the kids)
= 40.73
Costco:
- Rotisserie chicken – $5.00
= $5.00
Grand Total = $45.73 (yay, under budget!!)
If you’re trying to eat a low carb diet on a budget I’d love to hear your favorite tips and recipes. I’m new at this low carb thing so I need some more ideas!
Oh and hey, if you’re not on my email list I’d love for you to sign up below! I promise I won’t spam you! I usually send out emails once a week (or less because, well, life happens!)
