Tag Archives: meat

How To Eat Paleo On A Budget

13 May

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!

Spicy Paleo Slow Cooker Chili (without Chili Powder)

11 Mar

Paleo Slow Cooker Chili

Making Paleo Chili!

Chili is perfect for a lazy, chilly, rainy day, especially if you can make it in the slow cooker.  It was exactly chili weather the other day so I was definitely craving it… the only issue was I didn’t have any chili powder laying around!  Doesn’t matter to me, here’s how you make paleo slow cooker chili without any chili powder:

Spicy Paleo Slow Cooker Chili (without Chili Powder)
Spicy Paleo Slow Cooker Chili (without Chili Powder)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hour

Ingredients:
  • 1 large onion (chopped)
  • 1 green pepper (chopped)
  • 8 oz sliced portobello mushrooms (I used sliced baby portobello mushrooms)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2-3 tbsp paprika (If you don’t want it really spicy, go ahead and use 3 tbsp and no cayenne pepper. If you do want spicy, use 2 tbsp of paprika and 1 tbsp cayenne pepper)
  • 0-1 tbsp cayenne pepper (it’ll be spicy! so put less or even none if you don’t like spicy!)
  • 1 jalapeno (optional, add only if you like it very spicy like me!)
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 2 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes (undrained)
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • Salt, pepper as desired

Ingredients minus Tomatoes

Ingredients minus Tomatoes

Instructions

1.  Use a chef’s knife to chop up all those things you are supposed to chop up.  This includes the onion, green pepper, optional jalapeno, and mushrooms.

Chopping of veggies

Chopping of veggies

2.  Turn crock pot/slow cooker to high, and dump your cans of diced tomatoes along with the tomato juice in to your slow cooker.  My slow cooker is a 5-Quart Slow Cooker. So anything this size or bigger should work.


3.  Add the paprika in there, and stir.

Tomatoes and paprika

Tomatoes and paprika

4.  In a large skillet on medium heat, heat up 1 tbsp of butter, and then add the ground beef.  Cook until there’s only a little pink left, and make sure to break it down in to small chunks while doing so.

About to cook ground beef

About to cook ground beef

5.  Dump the ground beef in to the slow cooker (try to keep the buttery meat sauce in the pan to cook veggies in).

6.  Next, it’s time to sauté your veggies (onions, green pepper, jalapenos if using, mushrooms, garlic)!  If you don’t really have that buttery meat sauce mixture any more, add another tbsp of butter.  Sauté until your onions are translucent.

Onions and jalapenos

Onions and jalapenos

7.  Add this mixture in to your slow cooker and stir.

Chili in the making

Chili in the making




8.  I added salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper (if using) now, and mix well.

Cayenne Pepper in Chili

Cayenne Pepper in Chili

9.  Change the slow cooker heat to low and cook for 8 hours, until chili is thickened and then enjoy!

Slow Cooker Paleo Chili without Chili Powder!

Slow Cooker Paleo Chili without Chili Powder!

It’s the perfect chili for when you want a different taste to your chili, and you like it spicy so you can turn the heat up while it’s rainy and cold outside!

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