keto on budget: 15 smart planning tips

So you are looking for keto on a budget!

I can easily understand your problem that you are a keto diet lover but you can’t enjoy everything about it because you are running tight on budget as you have many types of expenses from raising kids to yourself to taking care of your pets. So, the budget meals are the only option left for you.

But you don’t need to get bogged down and you don’t need to misunderstand that low carb meals can’t be enjoyed cheaply. Rather, it is one of the biggest myths that a keto lifestyle is not everyone’s path and is too demanding to afford.

The fact is otherwise: there are many wise strategies and shortcuts that you can employ to enjoy your favorite low carb recipes to the fullest without compromising the quality and without breaking the bank too.

So does that make you curious and mouth-watering too? Because the low carb recipes you can’t afford yesterday will surely be available to you after reading this post.

Here are the golden wisdom nuggets to get your “keto on a budget” more easily on your dining table.

Ketogenic diet and Ketosis

But before you get to know those golden wisdom nuggets, you need a little refresher to know something about a ketogenic diet

A ketogenic diet or a keto diet is a very low-carb but a high-fat diet i.e it involves massively reducing your carbohydrates intake and substituting it with lots of fat. More specifically, the keto-friendly diet focuses on eating

•  5% to 10% of the calories from carbs (total carbs minus grams of fiber)
• 15% to 30% of calories from protein, and at least 
• 65% to 75% of the calories from fat (or more) to ensure the production of ketones in the liver.

Keto diet shares a lot of characteristics with both ‘The Atkins diet’ and ‘low-carb diet‘. Then you might be wondering, what then?. Yes, then this reduction in carbs puts your body into a metabolic state called ‘ketosis‘.

In this state, your body slowly becomes very efficient at melting fat for energy and turning fat into ketones in your liver, the energy produced thereby can be supplied to the brain. Hence you lose fat and weight.

Other proven benefits of ‘keto diet’ and ‘ketosis’ include:

Keto on budget tips: how to save money for your keto diet?

The following are the best tips to afford keto cheaply without missing your keto diet routine.

1. Make keto lifestyle your priority

You have heard the quote: life is all about priorities. That means you have to make a priority that keto is your lifestyle and any other things are chosen accordingly

Think about it, what if you could shun the idea of watching a new movie coming and instead wait until it is freely available online so that the money you saved could be spent on your favorite chicken soup. 

So ask inner yourself? Is your favorite keto dish is more beloved to you or spending on something which is going to be available online free of cost? Of course your favorite chicken soup!

So if you change yourself and your priorities and put your healthy lifestyle first, you wouldn’t be struggling to ask for cheap keto dishes. So change your priorities, change your lifestyle and enjoy your favorite foods.

2. Never leave away “about-to-expire-food items”

Never attach less importance to foods that you found are about to expire. Why? I explain it to you in a minute.

All food counters that have written “sell by their dates” written on their labels are something that should not be ignored. Always check out which items are about to expire very soon i.e few days, a week or so.

These foods items will be heavily discounted. E.g cuts of meat are often available cheaply before their expiry date.

So pick them up, buy them at cheap rates and cook them up before they expire and store them in your freezer as low carb frozen meals for your favorite delights. Delicious, yummy and yet cheap. Amazing combination.

3. Stop wasting money on eating out a lot

Eating well is expensive but eating out surely is.

Suppose your daily outing at your favorite restaurant costs you an average of 20$. Now do the math and multiply it by 30 days. It is reasonably high 600$. That is not a small amount of money to be wasted just on your outing delights.

Think about it how many different types of keto foods could be bought from these 600$. I believe that you can buy all types of keto foods for even a whole month for that.

So, if you are wiser, and I am sure you then stop going out daily. Instead, fixate it to weekends only. This will itself save you a lot of money for your favorite keto meals.

4. Find out  cheap keto alternatives to expensive ones

There are definitely cheaper alternatives available for your favorite keto recipes if you want to find out. It is just about going into the market and find out what can be substituted for what. I am damn sure, you will save a lot of money by just doing this one exercise.

5. Home grow your favorite keto foods

I know everyone likes a garden with lots of beautiful flowers.  But if you have sufficient space available in your backyard, you can use to grow your favorite type of food too?

Of course why not because we all do know how to grow your own fruits. Although they are time-consuming and costing money at the start they are worth the effort. They can drastically reduce your grocery and fruit basket budget.

For example, why not plan to plant a couple of almond trees? Almonds are quite expensive to buy and if you can grow at your home, you can even sell to the market, on a lighter note.

6. Find a keto friend

It would be great if you could find a keto lover friend and buy everything you both want in bulk and share everything you eat. It would be amazing to buy a large quantity of food in bulk and continue to enjoy it without going heavy on your wallet.

7. Leftovers can be reused again

Eating leftovers can save money and time. For example, make a double batch of stew by making a regular amount of recipe and freeze half. Do this each time you cook and in a few weeks you won’t have to eat the same recipe twice on a given day. Amazing idea!

8. Don’t go for keto 3 times a day.

I don’t mean to leave out your keto foods but going on a part-time keto can save you money that can be used to buy your next favorite keto food. If this scares you away, then try switching to 80% keto instead or the lesser you get, the better for your budget.

No one’s saying you have to go all-in right away. By going part-time keto, you can slowly let your body and budget adjust to your new diet.

9. Don’t ignore discounted sales ads

Before you make your weekly meal plans, don’t forget to check out sale ads. There is always something worth to buy at cheaper rates and get that and include in your weekly meal.

A little planning and research go a long way…It’s a great way to save money!

10. Always buy in bulk if possible

This is most suited for anything that can be stored and preserved in the freezer for a long time. For instance, meat is a perfect choice. Other such things can be nuts, seeds, and dried fruits

 Fish and other meats can save you some money on buying in bulk. Often there is a low price attached to bulk buy because you are buying more in one go.

11. Seasonal foods can be cheaper

You have experienced it yourself that a seasonal organic product is generally cheaper. It is cheaper because it is abundant in supply and by the law of the market, anything which is abundant in supply becomes cheaper.

So, planning your meals around what’s in season is bound to save you some bucks off of your grocery bill. Check out the USDA calendar for more info about what produce is in season at what time of year.

12. Don’t ignore sales and compare prices

Never ignore sales, because there you can buy almost 10 to 15% off than usual. So buying from sales and buying in bulk makes a lot of sense. Moreover, You are lucky enough if your house has multiple markets of food items you want to buy because two shops can have different food items at different prices.

It’s worth your time to shop around, learn where to get the best deals, and alternate your shopping trips between these stores and if you are lucky enough, you will not find something better but cheaper/on sales as well.

13. Join CSA to Buy cheaper and quality

Whatever you buy from your supermarket has been through a chain of middlemen, which increases their overall prices once they reach your nearby market. What you can do and you will enjoy it as well is that either directly visits a farmer’ house and buys from him in bulk

Or you can join and buy from a farmer through CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) or shopping at the farmer’s market. CSAs may not look cheap at first glance since many of them require an upfront cost (you pay for the season or year ahead of time).

Also, you will get real, organic top quality nutrient-rich foods items that can save your delivery cost as well.

14. Spend some time in meal planning and prepping

It is very much common sense that when you plan for a week ahead and prep and freeze it for the whole week, you won’t waste money on foods that are going to be used in the future.

15. Buy and prepare recipes that use the same type of ingredients.

This is perhaps the best hack to save money and energy and food waste even. When you’re meal-prepping, think about keto recipes that require the same kinds of raw ingredients, so you can make sure that the groceries and keto you buy aren’t going to waste. 

For instance,  a whole jar of coconut can be used most of the time only half and the rest is wasted. For example: Let’s say you buy a whole chicken. You can roast it for dinner today and remaining leftover can be used to make chicken salad the next day.

You might also like: 

1. Low carb vs keto: what is best for you?
2. How to afford a paleo diet cheaply?

FAQs

Q: Is it expensive to eat Keto?

Q: How do you do Keto on a tight budget?

Q: How can I make my Keto easier?

Q: How can I eat low carb for cheap?