Meat budgeting

pandamonium

Belly pork is cheap and filling. If you are low carbing don't worry too much about the fat content.
We get a massive slab from the butcher, ready scored so it makes lovely crackling - best dinner ever .

How do you feel about liver? That's cheap, and you could maybe make your own pate - the shop ones all seem to have dodgy stuff in.

JIL

Could you order from the online butchers and use voucher codes as a new customer to keep costs down?

Apodemus

Sorry to hear about your medical conditions, and I wish you all the best with the low-carb diet.

However I must make a comment on your comment about weight loss. You so often hear people saying (as you have) that they have lost 200g or some other small amount. But 200g is so far within the range of error/variability that it can't really be seen as any sort of change. Your weight will vary by more than that simply on your level of hydration alone. The repeatability and accuracy of the figures from the scales is probably in the plus or minus 1% range (so potentially up to 700g either way on someone who is 70kg). My own weight already this week (weighed at the same point each day) has varied by nearly 1.5kg but I've not really gained or lost any weight at all. what you need to do is to track the normal range that your weight lies within over time to analyse for any meaningful trend.

ali-t

I was a bit of a meat snob and would never have shopped in farmfoods or iceland but the farmfoods frozen chicken is great. I season it, wrap it in foil and oven cook and it is lovely. I use it for salads during the day but also for evening meals. The reviews on the iceland website say theirs is a bit rubbery but the farmfoods ones dont lose much water during cooking. Well worth a try and think they are 2kg for £5.

Perryface

Thank you for all your replys!

I love belly pork so that is now a staple in my house!
Liver used to be ok but not anymore.
I am cooking a fresh chicken in the slow cooker this morning which will do for dinner tonight and then lunches for a couple of days.
I splurged on a half leg of lamb (frozen) for Easter Sunday so there should be leftovers from that as well.
Now, fish.... I like tuna steaks, tinned tuna and fresh and tinned salmon. I bought some smoked mackerel fillets for salads and had one yesterday, it was full of bones and 'slimy'. I finished it, but eurggh it was a chore!

I am loving a chicken, courgette, cream and Worcestershire sauce concoction at the moment and prawn stir-fry with cauliflower rice!

Someone said they buy unsalted peanuts, I buy salted and sprinkle a handful on my salad.... Should I be getting unsalted?

My portion sizes are very small now, most of the time I don't feel hungry at all, and just eat cos its tea time! With hypothyroid I am not supposed to skip meals but my daily intake is so small, it probably equates to one meal prior to dieting!

I will have a gander at the prices in my local butchers to see if their cheaper.

Thanks for all the tips x

Perryface

Hi,
Just to clarify, I don't weigh myself at all.
I see my dietician once a month and she weighs me.
I lost 200g in 4 weeks counting calories.
Weighing at the same time of day, prior to food, in the same clothes, on the same scales.

Toonie

Whilst counter-intuitive, do check out things like the top range sausages. The ones I buy from both sains and tesco are gluten free (I buy them as they are free from onion and garlic which I can't eat). They are really filling and I get stuffed with just a couple and often as part of a bigger meal (loads of veggies) I will only have one.

krlyr

A low carb, high fat diet is good for weight loss (and other health benefits) but is not all about meat. In fact, protein should be limited (or kept the same, rather than increased), and you want higher fat options which tend to be cheaper than the leaner meats (so fattier pork mince, as opposed to lean turkey fillets!). Eggs are a great food source too, and pretty reasonable if you buy larger boxes.

There's some fab recipes online, this website is great - https://www.dietdoctor.com/

They also have a section on LCHF on a budget - https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes/low-carb-budget


Do you have an Aldi nearby? My brother and his girlfriend rave about their meat/fish products - they had to cut costs when she left her job to be a stay at home mum.

krlyr

If you have freezer space, then stock up when meats are on offer - or mealplan around what's on offer. E.g. Tesco often does pork joints at £3/kg on offer, they rotate through offers on the fish counter (sprats or sardines often around the £3/kg mark too), your butcher may do an offer on a particular cut of meat, you might find turkey and duck being sold off cheap around Christmas and that's the perfect time to stock up and bung in the freezer. Do your local supermarkets reduce food much? Do you know the best time to visit for bargains? Again, stock up if you can and freeze, to make the most of the bargains.

bsod

counting calories doesn't work if you still eat too many, did they set a limit, are you weighing everything?

low carb doesn't mean more protein, it means smaller portions, higher veg proportions, and less crap, (sugar/flour/rice/cakes/pizza/cereals/chocolate/pasta/bread/sauces/alcohol/sugary drinks)

protein and carbs contain the same calories per gram, you can put on weight by eating too much of either, and need both. Meat has fat in addition to protein so is more calorie dense than starchy veg. peanuts/mayo/butter are some of the most calorie dense foods available

veg is low calorie, cheap, nutritional

https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/groceries/fresh-food/fruit-and-vegetables?page=0