Oh Snap! Let's Eat!

You might think that paleo is an expensive diet/lifestyle, but there are definitely ways to cut your costs and eat paleo on a budget!  Check out these tips I’ve learned through out my experience and research:

Meat

• Ground Meats:  A lot of people forget about ground meat when they are going out to  buy their meat.  Well, don’t.  Ground meat is cheaper, at every super market, and super easy to use in recipes.  Throw your ground meat, a few other ingredients in a slow cooker and BAM, you got a delicious chili going on!  Super inexpensive, yummy, and easy!

• Whole Chickens:  Whole chickens are a great deal, and here’s why: You can use ALL the parts.  Any time you can do this, you are saving money.  Let’s say you roast the chicken, eat the meat you love for days.  Use the carcass to make some chicken broth!  Make a delicious soup, such as this Mexican Chicken soup I made, where I used all the parts of that chicken.

• Meat on the bone:  Aka Bone-In.  These meats are great and cheaper than their boneless counter parts.  Think about it, when you buy boneless meat, that means that someone removed it from a bone – using labor hours and leaving small amount of meat on the bones (waste)!  Some people are worried that they wont’ get enough meat because you’re not going to eat the bone that you are paying for.  But depending on what meat dish you are making, you can definitely utilize the bone to make some yummy broth.  Or you can just judge when buying your meat whether there is too much bone in the package or not.  Here’s one of my recipes for some bone-in leg quarters.

• Offal:  Offal is great if you aren’t turned off by the fact that it’s not something you usually eat.  But, hey!  Why not try new foods!  Some organ meats are considered delicacies in certain cultures!  Another plus side:  They are not only cheap but very healthy for you!  Some of my favorites that I recommend: Beef Tongue (as seen in Lengua Tacos), Chicken Hearts (probably my fave of all times), Chicken livers (make some fried chicken livers or pâté!)

Vegetables

• Frozen:  Frozen veggies are cheap and actually pretty good for you because they are usually frozen soon after it’s picked, which keeps a lot of its nutrients.  Another super bonus… they’re so easy to make!  You can just pop it in the microwave, or you can throw it in a pan along with a chunk of butter and stir fry (delicious).

• Buy it in Season:  This is when vegetables are the cheapest – when they are in season.  The prices are low since there’s so much of it.  Here’s a very useful graph of what to eat every month of the year.
• Grow it!  No joke…  This is not only fun, but it’s awesome because you will always have the freshest vegetables from this.  Some easy to grow vegetables are: tomatoes, carrots, lettuce and herbs!

Eggs.  Eat them.

• Eggs.  Not much to say here.  Eggs are inexpensive, nutritious, and delicious.  Make a bunch and enjoy as breakfast or snack or whatever you like!

Buy in Bulk.

• The Bigger the Cheaper.   I put this one last because if you have money this is a great way to save money in the long run, but if you don’t… this won’t do you much help!  But it’s a great idea, none the less.

That’s about the gist of it!  I’m sure there are a lot more ways to save and I am always looking for more suggestions if you know of any!

Mmm… eggs

So you’re trying to eat paleo or healthy and that includes eggs, but what’s up with all the different types of eggs you can get?! Farm fresh? That sounds delicious… cage free? What’s the difference between that and free range?  What about organic eggs? Are those fresh from the farm like “farm fresh” eggs sound like they are?

Well, here are your questions answered, mystery solved!

Farm Fresh Eggs

Doesn’t that sound appetizing?  Eggs… fresh from the farm?  Well, it would be if it was true, unfortunately, unless you are literally buying the eggs from a farm or a local super market that actually sells genuine eggs from a farm, the label “farm fresh” means nothing other than it is just eggs… picked from chickens in battery cages.

According to the Humane Society, “On average, each caged laying hen is afforded only 67 square inches of cage space—less space than a single sheet of letter-sized paper on which to live her entire life.”  There’s a whole bunch of concerns about these chickens if you are in to animal welfare, but for me, to be totally honest, I just prefer my eggs to come from healthy chickens.

Battery Caged Chickens

Cage Free Eggs

Now, that sounds better.  Chickens that don’t spend their entire lives in battery cages!  But, what does “cage free” really mean?  Well, to start with, yes they are in a slightly better condition than “farm fresh eggs”.  They literally are not confined in cages.

Before you get an imagery of a bunch of happy chickens taking a brisk walk outside in the sun and laying happy eggs whenever they please, realize that cage free only means cage free.  Unless the packaging states that it is “free range” also, the eggs are most likely laid by chickens that don’t see the light of day as they spend their lives cramped up in hen houses, often in cramped conditions.

Cage Free Chickens

Free Range Eggs

I used to think that all “cage free” eggs are from chickens that are free to walk around in the wild, but actually that is what “Free Range” means… and in reality, “Free Range” means different things in different countries.

In the U.S., if the packaging says the eggs come from “free range” chickens, it means that the bird gets to spend part of its time outside.  (This is what’s required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.)  Now, I’m not really sure how much this actually means, but it’s nice to think that the chickens get to see sun light at least from time to time instead of cramped up in a hen house all day.

Free Range Chickens

Organic Eggs

Now, we are getting to business.  This is my favorite type of eggs, as all the other eggs I’ve listed actually has no restriction on what is fed to the chickens unless otherwise stated.  If the packaging says “organic” in the U.S., it means that the chickens were fed an organic diet – no antibiotics (unless the chickens were sick), and the chickens must live in a cage free and free range environment.  Isn’t that awesome?  They don’t pump antibiotics in to these chickens unless they have to!

Another thing to consider is that with all the other chickens I’ve previously mentioned, forced molting (where egg producers starve the chickens for some time to force chicken’s natural replacement of old feathers by new ones) is allowed.  However, with organic eggs, only natural molting can occur.

Organic Eggs laid by Free Range Chicken

So that’s all I have to say about eggs.  My personal favorite is organic eggs, but obviously every one has their own preference on animal welfare, idea on what is healthier, and preference on price!

Related Articles

• Organic Egg Scorecard (cornucopia.org)
  
• All This Talk of Eggs (meghantelpner.com)
• An Egg Yolk a Day Keeps the Doctor Away (paleodietlifestyle.com)