£7 a day the Paleo way

elantan

Todays eating

2 eggs with butter and salt = 65p (roughly)
1 cup of coffee with butter collagen and M.C.T oil=70p (roughly)
1 cup green tea (£3.33 per 50g gunpowder) =66p
1 avacado =50p
25g nuts =25p
1 cup coffee =25p
half bowl of soup =35p

dinner, remainder of yesterday's food =£2.10


so far today =£5.46

hex2

:hello: hello elantan

I try to be paleo, although its more 'paleo light' now as I identified my triggers. I've had fibro for some years, but then someone i know also got diagnosed and went to the trouble of writing about it, seeing how it helped her made me try it and it really helps even out my flares too. Anyway, her rather excellent summary blog on it is here. Sadly she doesn't blog there any more but her ideas remain useful.

Butter is £1.45 in L1dl.

Their large FR eggs are 15p each (from memory) but I buy the mediums, or co-op mixed weight FR are 15 for £1.89. Just have to look for the box with big ones in.

Do you eat fish at all? The frozen 'value' type white fish fits with paleo, fast enough to cook and to adapt more expensive recipes to work with it - eg eatwellforless microwave fish parcels.

Nuts, seeds and dried fruit are a staple for me or its hard to get enough calories. MrL again is a good source for these. Whole almonds in the baking bit are 200g for £1.50 for example. Their dried mango without added sugar is good value, and that lives near the snacking nuts and seeds. Sultanas are 88p I think. The ground almonds are quite reasonable too.

Quinoa is usually accepted as ok on paleo, I'm not a huge fan but the cheapest place I have found is Aldee. I am told that if you are time poor that you can buy frozen cauliflower rice but I cant remember where from. I just whizz fresh in the food processor but can only eat it in moderation.

Also worth looking in home &bargains every so often. They had a run of odd flours in baking powder style tubs for example for 19p.

If you are looking for recipes then slimming world stuff can often be simply adapted, as they minimise the same things.

I gave up on the cake/snack recipes as the vast majority are just grim and very expensive. I'd rather have a small bit of something nice and suffer the consequences.

HTH, and good luck with it.

hex2

Make sure you have half a plate of veg alongside the mince, it'll help to fill you up.

Soup starter then the mince? No bread though.

Knit_Witch

Lots more veg on the side to fill you up by the sound of things El

elantan

Hex thanks yes that really does help,

we eat a lot of eggs so if I can get that cost down by a wee bit every day the savings will mount up, was the butter grass fed butter in lidle?

I am trying to get back into more Paleo however I have noticed so far the mince has oxo in it and bisto so I need to find Paleo alternatives.

can I ask what portion size do you use for meat? this 125g stuff is just for me too small ... I'm gonna be so hungry if I have to keep this up, yes I need to loose weight but I want to loose it steadily and safely.

Just now I am looking mainly at Asna prices but as this challenge carries on I will have receipts etc from which to base my actual spends, so just now my spends are more guesstimates,

elantan

hex2 wrote: »

Make sure you have half a plate of veg alongside the mince, it'll help to fill you up.

Soup starter then the mince? No bread though.

yep think it will be soup then mince

Knit_Witch wrote: »

Lots more veg on the side to fill you up by the sound of things El

Yep I think that is what we will have to try, I think I am more in shock looking at the size of portion lol.. will need to get a list of the veggies i like now

I dont eat fish ( sorry Hex meant to say before) so fish is out, hence the reason for the omega 3

hex2

I started with double meat, double veg and then naturally ate less meat over time. If you don't have enough then you will fill up on junk. The weight fell off me although it wasn't why I did it.

I found giving up dairy the hardest as I love cheese, although luckily I have always disliked milk.

For true paleo I'd be more concerned about the butter (no dairy) and the lentils (no legumes) than the bisto/oxo. Its purpose it to add flavour so it may be worth looking at marigold veg powder if it really bothers you for a more natural option, and would certainly be cheaper than your 45p for a stock cube! Squirt of tomato puree? More onions?

I buy the standard butter in L. Just says british unsalted. My budget doesn't support grass fed beef etc, so the compromise is eating the right type of things but not to the luxury organic/grass fed level.

elantan

hex2 wrote: »

I started with double meat, double veg and then naturally ate less meat over time. If you don't have enough then you will fill up on junk. The weight fell off me although it wasn't why I did it.

I found giving up dairy the hardest as I love cheese, although luckily I have always disliked milk.

For true paleo I'd be more concerned about the butter (no dairy) and the lentils (no legumes) than the bisto/oxo. Its purpose it to add flavour so it may be worth looking at marigold veg powder if it really bothers you for a more natural option, and would certainly be cheaper than your 45p for a stock cube! Squirt of tomato puree? More onions?

I buy the standard butter in L. Just says british unsalted. My budget doesn't support grass fed beef etc, so the compromise is eating the right type of things but not to the luxury organic/grass fed level.

hex that is a great help, I am aware of the lentils etc but thought it thickens up the soup and I have loads to use up, when they finish i wont replace them though, so I have to find a suitable substitute.

I know technically speaking butter isnt Paleo compliant, however, when i read a lot of the Paleo blogs they discuss bullet proof coffee ( which isn't too bad) and I was under the impression that as long as that was grass fed it would be acceptable, maybe though I need to look at replacing most if not all my butter. Its 15p a stock cube i used 3 ( i like a lot of taste) but I also think this needs to be looked at as it cant be as healthy as it can be, so again this is something that I will need to address... which is where its great that there are other people eating Paleo that can bring in information and help me get this honed down to become a healthy eating style.

As you can see I have a long way to go and alot to learn along the way ... thanks for the support

maddiemay

elantan wrote: »

Hex thanks yes that really does help,

we eat a lot of eggs so if I can get that cost down by a wee bit every day the savings will mount up, was the butter grass fed butter in lidle?

I am trying to get back into more Paleo however I have noticed so far the mince has oxo in it and bisto so I need to find Paleo alternatives.

can I ask what portion size do you use for meat? this 125g stuff is just for me too small ... I'm gonna be so hungry if I have to keep this up, yes I need to loose weight but I want to loose it steadily and safely.

Just now I am looking mainly at Asna prices but as this challenge carries on I will have receipts etc from which to base my actual spends, so just now my spends are more guesstimates,

I am really interested in what you are trying to achieve, like LessonLearned I have some health issues, am a couple of years older than she is, and as yet not doing as well.

I haven't yet costed much out, but will try to do this when I meal plan.

Regarding grass fed butter, I am not sure this achievable in the UK in winter months, dairy cattle, unlike some beef herds, cannot live outdoors, options:- buy New Zealand produce (against my ethics, nothing against the people, but I buy British when ever possible) or buy small producer butter in the Summer and freeze a big enough stockpile to get you through.

I get locally produced, relatively small flock FR eggs, mixed size, but all large for £1.35/6 they are so delicious and the lady has a regular following ignoring all the other supposedly FR eggs on her once weekly market stall.

Nuts, seeds and ground almonds - it is worth stalking the specials from Holland & Barrett and Grapetree, I have a very cold storage area so rarely need to fridge these for longevity.

Good luck with your task, I will follow if that is OK?

Mojisola

maddiemay wrote: »

Regarding grass fed butter, I am not sure this achievable in the UK in winter months, dairy cattle, unlike some beef herds, cannot live outdoors,

Dairy cows will be fed mostly silage during the winter with some small additional rations.