£7 a day the Paleo way

elantan

lessonlearned wrote: »

Hi Elantan

I am sorry but I am really confused. Do you cook for 2 or for 4.

Re the £7 a day pp which averages out at £200 a month each. If that is for 4 then that is a staggering amount. However, I notice you mentioned eating out and takeaways. That will rack up the food spend. So if you eat at home and cook from scratch I think you can easily slash that £7 per day.

Like you I eat paleo and unless I go somewhere where grain based foods are the only option I do stick very firmly to my no grain rule.

I suppose you could say I eat Paleo Light in that I do have some dairy. If my tummy is playing up then I go for the lactose free dairy options which do cost more than normal dairy.

I live alone and I have just worked out that so far this month I have spent £126 on food. I have plenty of meat and fish in the freezer so I reckon I only need a top up of milk, vegetables and fruit. I am hoping I can get away with spending around £20 and I should still have food left in the freezer to give me a head start on next month.

I do not eat much fruit because I have to watch my blood sugar levels, so generally no more than two portions a day, usually less.

I definitely think you can get that figure of £7 a day down a bit, especially if you can make economies of scale because you are not cooking for one.

I shall keep reading to see how you get on.

Hi lesson,

I probably havnt explained myself well I can be quite guilty of that, there is Mr El and myself at home we tend to eat the same stuff but we also eat differently, Mr el eats lots of bread and smoothies etc where as I tend to leave the bread out ( most of the time) and dont tend to take smoothies. This challenge is for myself £7 a day for me to eat, so far I am rolling over every day, but I would like to add so far I am not ensuring I am grass fed organic etc so this will deffinatley affect the budget, I spose in a way it will be good to compare the two to see exactly how much more expensive it is.

Yes takeaways and food are deffinatley going to have to go, they are not always healthy and they will stop me from eating healthy the rest if the time, I do work long shifts and have many caring duties so take aways and eating out are more about convenience than anything else, but this needs to be addressed, I have a feeling this challenge was something I thought oh that will be good to get a bit more organisation on the food budget etc and didnt quite realise exactly how things will progress, It's kinda like when I started my 100 month journey to turn my finances around, it started as a get out of debt have savings into a real effort to look at various aspects of my behaviour and life, and it has helped me achieve so many things, so I spose in a way I am quite excited about this challenge as I have a feeling this is going to be another learning curve for me

I will be honest and say I will probably be Paleo light myself, I love cheese like really LOVE cheese, and even thought I hav kinda done on and off Paleo for years i do occasionally succumb to cheese, but it is something I will continue to work at

I would love if you continued to keep in touch the more the merrier, especially someone that has the same kindve ideas about eating etc, be prepared though I may have many silly questions

thank you

lessonlearned wrote: »

Whizzbang. I think you mean me.

I pointed out that Elan is spending £200 per month, PER PERSON so yes an average total of around £400 to feed 2.

Sorry if I did not make that clear.

Which is why I was so concerned.....because I thought it was £200 per person and she was cooking for 4 (Lord knows how I misread that) then £800 per month would have been a truly staggering amount. Although on some of those tv programmes they have families of 4 spending that kind of figure so I can see how it is very easy to overspend on food.

I think though, even when cooking for 2 rather than as I do just catering for 1 person, it might be possible to make economies of scale.

The other thing as I pointed out, if Elan can manage to avoid takeaways and random eating out for convenience then she could make some savings.

It is nice to eat out and I enjoy nice restaurants but luckily I am now in a position when I can eat out for fun rather than convenience because I am too tired to cook, but then I am retired now and have more time on my hands and I no longer have to eat out when working away from home.

Elan you seem to work long and often unsociable hours. It cannot be easy, you must get tired. I think the best you can do is try and batch cook sometimes when you have the time and energy but also have some easy standby quick meals. Omelettes, bacon and eggs or even good old egg and chips now and again are quick, easy and cheap.

It is a pity you do not like fish because that would give you further options and some variety.

As you get into it you will find that protein keeps you fuller for longer. A Meal that is protein based with lashings of vegetables or salad will keep you feeling sustained for far longer than a carb based meal such as pasta or sandwiches. It will also help avoid blood sugar spikes and crashes.

And there is no worry about not getting enough carbs. Vegetables, salad and fruit contain enough to meet your daily needs provided you eat them in sufficient quantities.

A tip if you are concerned about blood sugar levels. If you are eating some fruit as a snack be sure to eat a few nuts first. This prepares the digestive system for food and stops the blood sugar spiking too much.

standby meals are going to deff be something I look at, I eat eggs and avocado's and nuts yes because I love them but also because they are quick and easy, at 5am I am not up to cooking loads and grabbing an avocado on the way out the door is about all I can manage some days, you may be able to help here< I tried previously these ham cups where you put ham/bacon etc into a cake tin crack an egg wizz up add in herbs onion etc and cook in the over, I just didnt like them, they were too rubbery for me, tried them twice both times rotten. I have started batch cooking and batch cooked the mince the other night... managed to get 14 portions out of that 1.8kg of mince and veg. but I think I have a long way to go yet.

I wish I could eat fish, I have tried it so many times now, I vomit and have a sore stomach for days, and I get migraines, I risk it every now and then and use seaweed flakes in my food to try and stay on top of my iodine levels but I have to use them so sparingly and ensure I have pain relief on hand, I have had migraines from fish before so just cant risk it... I wish I could eat it though life would be so much easier.

I do worry about sugar as I am addicted so I tend to stay away from fruit, I love banana but rarely eat them as it has led me to eat so much sugar shortly after, I didnt know that about nuts and will bear it in mind as I wouldnt mind eating a small bit of fruit once or twice a week, I do put cinnamon in my coffee and occasionally sprinkle it on other things as I know it can be great for sugar spikes ... Friends say to me El go on one wee cake wont do you any harm ... I tried explaining to my friends that yes it does ... one wee cale can take me 6 months or more to stop eating sugar again ... now I just say oh right just one wee one then ...yes they have replied, to which I then ask so would you offer an alcoholic one wee drink ? or a heroin addict one wee hit ? after all its just one and it wont do any harm ... finally they have learned that yes it can be fun to think being addicted to sugar is nothing serious and for many they are able to control it... but there are a few people ( and i put myself in this category) who sugar is cryptonite... but maybe further down the line and when I am more in control I can have some nuts and a banana ... now that would be something great to work towards. Thanks for the tip.

elantan

lessonlearned wrote: »

Elantan. Forgot to mention. Noticed you are trying to reduce sugar. Excellent. I use xylitol when I need to add sugar. Not cheap but it is diabetic friendly. I buy mine off Amazon.

Thought you might be interest in today’s menu.......

Early breakfast.........Greek yogurt and raspberries. Surprisingly filling but you could add chopped nuts and seeds.

Brunch.......smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. (I could have added mushrooms and tomatoes but chose not too). I find salmon quite filling.

Dinner.........pork medallion served on a bed of caramelised red onions and a port jus. Served with roasted carrots and parsnips. And green beans. Pudding will be my usual coffee with cream and a couple of squares of dark chocolate if I fancy it. I probably will. :rotfl:

Supper......Will be a couple of slices of ham rapped around cream cheese, served with olives, baby tomatoes. Maybe a few nuts if necessary.

I make that 6 portions of fruit and veg so not too bad, not counting the olives. Ideally I would like to get that up to 9 a day. I could make it up with extra fruit but I prefer not to because I have to watch my sugar levels.

Most of today’s menu came from Aldi. I think it is healthy and not wildly expensive.

Fresh Raspberries £1.49 for two portions.

The pork is not organic but it is nice meat, outdoor bred and good quality. I find one medallion is enough. The eggs are organic. The smoked salmon is farmed.

(I also buy non farmed wild Alaskan salmon from Aldi, £4.99 for two portions, which I think is an absolute bargain. I have some in the Freezer)

I appreciate that not everything on that list is organic but i believe it is good quality food.

I do try to buy organic where possible but sometimes I cannot manage it. Of course when I grow my own I do not use chemical fertizilers or weed killers.

One of the advantages of eating fish is that most of it is not farmed although I appreciate you still have to be careful because there are issues around mercury and micro plastics.

You say you do not like rabbit or venison but there is plenty of other game which by definition will be organic and not intensively farmed, and of course lamb is usually free range. When eaten in season lamb and game can be good value.

I also try to drink plenty of water, have managed 600 ml so far. :rotfl:

Now that sounds like an exciting day's food to me ( even the fish)

I love lamb have some in the freezer will get it out soon
Havn't tried xylotol, tbh I am too scared to try anything that is even sugar tasting so when I am craving I have nut bars and leave out the honey ( or have a quarter teaspoon only for 15 portions)

I do also love olives but whenever I have went shopping for some recently they all had stuffed bits in them, I was just wanting olives in olive oil, will keep looking though.

Water I drink must be 2-3 litres per day, straight from the tap the way I love it, that coffee, occasional tea ( matcha/green/flavoured) and now rarely a glass of organic sulphite free wine, and when I am bad a baileys lol, but for fluid thats it really.

I think the buying organic is going to take a while, I also want to get a reliable source so I would rather take my time and get it right

elantan

beanielou wrote: »

It's for 2.
El wont mind me answering(I hope!)

of course not you are always more than welcome xxxx

apple_muncher

Poping my head round the door to 'fess up that my breakfast for 6 days of the week consists of 3, yes three, scrambled eggs. And I love it! Every time I consider reducing portion sizes, my brain is convinced I should eat more!

beanielou

el~~you are a better woman than me is all I will say.

lessonlearned

Elan....definitely stay off the fish. :rotfl:

Re sugar......yes you might just be better to leave it alone and get it out of your system. Some people can become quite seriously addicted. It has no nutritional value anyway. We would all be better off without it. You might be ok with fruit at some point when your body has stabilised and you no longer get cravings.

Since I switched to xylitol I have found lots of foods seem to have a natural sweetness ......parsnips, carrots and the caramalised red onions tonight tasted quite sweet. Luckily I do not have a sweet tooth as such and I now find most shop bought cakes, biscuits and puddings are far too sweet for me. I do not miss them at all.

Do you eat breakfast at 5 or do you take it to work with you. If you are taking it to work to eat later, just off the top of my head, How about things like continental style meats and cheese, cold chicken drumsticks, hard boiled eggs, cold frittata, cold Spanish style omelette, plain yoghurt and fruit.......

elantan

maddiemay wrote: »

Elan you are at the start of a journey in itemising, costing and then possibly refining what you eat and how much it costs, you will mostly get support and sometimes some tips which will fit in with your aims, as for the rest..............:eek:

I have an amount each month for certain household expenditure (non food), fuel for the one car, eating out, clothes, toiletries, treats for me (OH sorts his own hobbies etc), and food. I do not have a clue how much we spend on food as I have not kept a record since the beginning of 2017, I love tasty food, baking, am GF (pricey), high quality, high welfare meat, eggs, milk etc, sustainably sourced fish and prefer to buy locally, only non-British when absolutely necessary. This will never be a cheap option, but like yourself I have made my choices. (Our Friday treat of beautiful fish from our fish shop can easily cost £7 alone, but less than a takeaway and much better for us - not suggesting that you should eat fish, just saying).

Good luck on your journey, I will be following with interest:D

sorry I mustve missed this, thank you for the welcome i appreciate it, yes I am at the start of my journey and I know I will make mistakes but I will learn and I will grown and eventually I will have a way of eating that is both affordable and enjoyable and will help local communities, like you I like to buy local, I like the idea of helping our local producers out, whether they be craft products local honey, local meat, chicken, so I used to shop locally ( when I first started Paleo it used to take me hours every week going shopping, that didnt last long lol) , then if i'm in a supermarket would look for a Scotland flag then a UK flag before even thinking about going to Europe or beyond, you cant get dates in the Uk though lol, I do wish in a way we would get more recognition of the UK ... and by that I mean I would love to see produce with English flags, Welsh flags and Irish flags as well as the Scottish flag, for me it is great to see all individual parts of the UK proudly showing their wonderful produce, but thats a personal thing. We do have a local dairy here called Graham's who proudly boast about their grass fed cows and to me thats great .. just wish they did organic no added salt butter lol.

We budget slightly different, our wages come into our accounts the bill money gets separated the savings and pension money gets separated and the rest is used, some months we spend more than others and some months if one of us wants something expensive we cut back and get the thing the next month, Mr El just got a dry suit for himself so that took a wee while to save and that was fine, we dont tend to do birthdays and xmas as we feel we get all year when we want/need something... but the bills savings and pension gets priority, we take a note of everything we spend and sit down atleast once a month ( usually more often) and chat about whats been spent what the plans are how we are doing etc ... years of learning how to do that has allowed us to hone that down, now when we do it it doesnt take long at all.

I loved baking myself, I just tended to eat it all too fast, a loaf of bread didnt ever get cold in this house so I had to stop lol

Thank you very much for the help and support so far,,, hope you dont mind continuing to give it

lessonlearned wrote: »

Ps Elan. I do hope you do not find my posts patronising. I genuinely think you are doing very well. As. I said my spend so far this month is £126 and I have gone off piste and used some non organic produce.

If you can keep it to £7 per day using only organic produce then you will be doing extremely well.

I am hoping to grow a lot more this year and as I said that will be all organic.

No I certainly dont find your posts patronizing, if anything I find them very very helpful its great talking to other people that shop and think the same, growing is deff something I am going to have to give some real serious consideration to, I love growing it gives me immense pleasure, however, I am not set up for watering and we go away in our wee wobble box ( caravan) often and last year everything died ... so will need to sort that out so I can get back to it. Then we can add in growing food discussions to buying discussion lol.

suki1964 wrote: »

I can't be doing with eBay either tbh, too much hassle with listings and posting stuff

I use Facebook

Look for buy and sell pages in your area, take a snap , upload, add a few words, set a price, and voila - sold


Everything sells on their eventually, with no fees, no postage, no hassles

Sold a tent last week which I had put up last year and clean forgot about as it didn't sell, fella who lifted it was over the moon, I got a nice wad of cash and the top of my wardrobe free again

Usually stuff sells on the day of posting. Ive sold such things as a lawn mower, chain saw, chicken coop, a crash helmet,a carpet, books, coffee table, old paving slabs, kids toys, lamps, snooker table, table tennis table - you name it - Ive sold it

sure you can get the odd time waster who like to spend time messaging you trying to knock you down in price, but theres always a genuine buyer out there who's more then happy to pay what you are looking and of course as theres no postage to pay or listing fees, you can afford to offer that bit cheaper

I've seen facebook sellers pages but never thought of using it for selling ... will try and talk Mr El into it ... he is better at selling than I am ... thanks for the idea

elantan

apple_muncher wrote: »

Poping my head round the door to 'fess up that my breakfast for 6 days of the week consists of 3, yes three, scrambled eggs. And I love it! Every time I consider reducing portion sizes, my brain is convinced I should eat more!

can I pm you ?

beanielou wrote: »

el~~you are a better woman than me is all I will say.

;) erm no ... you are a far better woman than I will ever be ...

lessonlearned wrote: »

Elan....definitely stay off the fish. :rotfl:

Re sugar......yes you might just be better to leave it alone and get it out of your system. Some people can become quite seriously addicted. It has no nutritional value anyway. We would all be better off without it. You might be ok with fruit at some point when your body has stabilised and you no longer get cravings.

Since I switched to xylitol I have found lots of foods seem to have a natural sweetness ......parsnips, carrots and the caramalised red onions tonight tasted quite sweet. Luckily I do not have a sweet tooth as such and I now find most shop bought cakes, biscuits and puddings are far too sweet for me. I do not miss them at all.

Do you eat breakfast at 5 or do you take it to work with you. If you are taking it to work to eat later, just off the top of my head, How about things like continental style meats and cheese, cold chicken drumsticks, hard boiled eggs, cold frittata, cold Spanish style omelette, plain yoghurt and fruit.......

ok confession time for me.... I used to not eat when I woke up and ate hours later, but realised this wasnt healthy for me, so now I eat by 6am and then again at 8.30 am as thats my first break in work and there is no way I would last from 5am till 8.30 ... so what your saying will be ideal for work ... can I leave a fritatta overnight in the fridge?

lessonlearned

Yes it will keep in the fridge.

greenbee

Yes, you can leave frittata in the fridge. You can also portion it up and freeze it...

I make HUGE salads to take to work for lunch and add some kind of protein to them for flavour and to make them more filling, as well as seeds. They take AGES to eat so I feel full. I'm not paleo, so do add pulses. For breakfast I take yogurt with fruit and oats in it, often made the night before. Breakfast at home is either porridge made with rice milk, oats, oatbran and seeds OR bacon and veg (tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, asparagus, broccoli, kale and anything else I can find) chopped and roasted with the bacon in the oven. I might bake an egg with it too. I find that if I have veg and protein for a late(ish) breakfast I tend not to need lunch.