How To Eat Paleo On A Budget

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 guide of what to eat every month of the year.  Also, if you are in to buying organic, find out which veggies and fruits you should spend the money on to buy organic, and those you might not have to.
• 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 things are: tomatoes, carrots, lettuce and an herb garden!  Also, did you know you can regrow some vegetables from kitchen scrap?? That’s right, it’s true!  Here are 10 veggies here.

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!

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