£7 a day the Paleo way

greenbee

caronc wrote: »

It does indeed, if in doubt freeze it is my motto :rotfl::rotfl:Many things (though not salad:eek:) freeze really well especially if you are going to use them in cooking where any slight texture change gets absorbed.

Elderly salad can be used to make generic 'green' soup, and then frozen...

In theory if you buy high-quality meat you should need to eat less of it. Portion sizes for meat should be around 100g - but work your way down gradually, being more creative with adding veg. Stir-fries and curries are a great way of using a little meat and a lot of veg to make something with lots of flavour. I'd also wean yourself off the oxo/bisto - if you're using 3 cubes because you like 'flavour' I suspect it's the salt that is making the difference. As hex suggests you could use marigold stock, or alternatively, go without and add flavour using herbs and spices. It'll take your taste buds time to adjust to more subtle flavours, but they will.

Lolly_willowes

A slightly weird tip but sometimes the food magazines will have offers for good online butchers in them where you only need a code. I keep meaning to try them when I free up some freezer space.
Also possibly look into offal. It's intimidating at first but things like chicken livers are super cheap. They do organic on ocado for under £2 so even if you don't like them you haven't wasted lots of money.

Eager_Elephant

elantan wrote: »

I would also love a locally sourced close to pick up or will drop off egg delivery system, we use nearly 30 a week, thats a lot of eggs, at 25p an egg that's £7.50 a week on eggs, now if I can get that down to say £6-6.50 that would be great.

Followed you over from you diary and just wanted to comment on this.

Although we have our own chickens, in the winter when they dont lay we buy from a local egg farm in the nearest town. They sell eggs either 6, 12 or 30. 30 free range eggs are £3.60. They have an egg vending machine (i think the first in this country) and on Saturdays a young lad sells them (especially handy for those who dont like to use the machine)

If I sell my own eggs as a tray of 30 I charge £4. (I charge £1 per half dozen if selling separately)

It might be worth having a google to see if you have any egg farms near you or trying to find someone like me who has a few chickens of their own who might be able to do a deal if you are prepared to buy 30 a week from them.

elantan

Hi all ... just in from work got away a wee 15 mins early, not had a real chance to catch up and won't before today finishes, will try to catch up with it all tomorrow


one thing I have noticed ... 125g of mince is tiny, 25g of nuts is nothing ... but I managed it and tomorrow is another day

Will deff rethink the whole cutting down bit ... I think the way forward is gradual reduction as already suggested on here

speak soon

beanielou

A gradual reduction sounds good to me.

Wizzbang

I'm curious to know some more background. Whist you have clearly set out some of your aims/ goals/ dreams, I feel there's a lot of vital information missing.

1) Do you have a budget? You indicate years of problem spending, particularly on food but not only. Where have you plucked this figure of £7 per day from? Is it just that it's less than you are currently spending? Do you even know what you are currently spending? I'm afraid you need to start with the cold hard facts - what can you AFFORD to be spending on food? Not wishes or dreams. I'd love to be able to support a local milkman or buy organic meat, but I just can't afford to be able to do so on my budget.

2) Why are you restricting your diet in this way? There seems to be a leaning towards health reasons, but I'm not entirely clear. I would ask if a health professional has advised you to look into changes? If not, then are you doing this because it's the 'latest thing'? Are you friends doing it? Do you follow a lot of bloggers who are doing this? It's a fairly drastic change to make and I have family members who have tried it to escape things like IBS when nothing else has worked. However, it wasn't a long-term fix. I just think you need to be very aware of why you are doing it - it could have long-term health impacts when you restrict your nutrition in this way, particularly on your calcium levels for example from not eating dairy. Usually dietary changes as drastic as this should be done for very clear health reasons, under supervision from a health professional (and not an internet certificated nutritionist, or other such pretty well non-qualified person).

3) VfM4meplse may have the best of intentions in posting here, but how they describe their eating smacks of a person who has an eating disorder. I would advise them to seek help from a health professional and not to carry on in this damaging pattern.

4)Have you looked at cheaper cuts of meat? I see all this talk of steak, but that's about the most expensive type out there. How about pigs cheeks, mutton, tripe, rabbit and so on? That's an obvious way to eat a lot more meat than most people on a budget.

5) As a few others have mentioned, you don't really seem to be bulking out your meat much. For example, if I made a spaghetti bolognaise with 500g high quality mince. I would get 8-10 portions from it by adding chopped peppers, grated carrots, tinned tomatoes, celery, mushrooms, diced courgette and anything else I had to hand that needed using up - even baked beans! Lentils and pulses, if eating them are a cheap way to make expensive meat go further.

6) You mention issues with portion sizes. A portion size for a meat or potato, is what will fit in the palm of your hand. Or a matchbox sized piece of cheese. 2oz per person is the right portion with pasta, rice, quinoa etc. I'm sure you can find more information on this online and there are expensive gadgets and plates out there to help people with real problems controlling themselves, but that's more money spent on something that's not really needed. Just write it down and stick to it.

7) You quote eating 15 eggs per week, per person. That's over 2 eggs per day. Have you had your cholesterol level checked by your Dr because that's a very large amount of eggs to be eating and may not be good for you. When do you eat these eggs? Could you not find something else that would give you a more balanced diet and potentially be cheaper?

8) You are using a lot of expensive supplements. Have these been advised by a Dr? Any normal person should be able to meet all of their dietary requirements from a balanced, healthy diet. Supplements will always be more expensive than the food items that contain them. Can you not look to food sources of the nutrients you are trying to obtain? The plain fact is that after you have consumed the RDA of any vitamin or mineral, you will be weeing out the rest. I bet you have VERY expensive urine!

maddiemay

Wizzbang wrote: »

7) You quote eating 15 eggs per week, per person. That's over 2 eggs per day. Have you had your cholesterol level checked by your Dr because that's a very large amount of eggs to be eating and may not be good for you. When do you eat these eggs? Could you not find something else that would give you a more balanced diet and potentially be cheaper?

NHS Choices link here says and I quote:_

How many eggs is it safe to eat?
There is no recommended limit on how many eggs people should eat.

Wizzbang

maddiemay wrote: »

NHS Choices link here says and I quote:_

How many eggs is it safe to eat?
There is no recommended limit on how many eggs people should eat.

Whilst I don't disagree with this information, it is broad and intended for the healthy, general population. If you read down the page it mentions speaking to your GP, esp if you have high cholesterol. The OP indicates they have health problems around high blood pressure, I believe and possibly other things too.

British Heart Foundation has slightly different advice and it is evidence based. Plus, I would suggest from what the OP has shared that they are not eating what would be described as a 'balanced diet'.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/news-from-the-bhf/news-archive/2015/may/eggs-and-cholesterol

The point is - everything is fine in moderation. 2 eggs per days is a lot for anyone, every single day. The OP would be better to vary their diet more, to ensure a better range of nutrients from different sources. This would help their health and their budget.

I shall add the caveat that I am a health professional.

Sir_Robin

I don't think £7 a day is high for one person my budget has been £7.50 that's including all none fixed expenses and the budget is too tight it's doable but literally no slack for unexpected expenses or treats. I used the "daily budget" app on the iPad for the last month to track every expense so I know where it's going.

I don't think you can get much lower without cooking in huge batches or eating junk meals.

elantan

Hi all,

just getting ready for work today, I see I have a few messages, won't have time to reply to them today bit will when I finish tonight ... regarding cholesterol though 3.5 was my last result. Tbh I'm more concerned about my butter intake than my egg consumption just now

have a great day and will answer more later