My Top 10 Ways to Eat Low Carb on a Budget (Includes Recipes and 7-Day Menu Example)

How to eat low carb if you're on a tight budget

Being on a tight budget is no excuse to avoid or abandon a low-carb lifestyle. Although, low carb contains more protein foods than a well-balanced diet, it doesn't have to cost more.

In fact, the expense of doing low carb is one of the main excuses people use for not doing something constructive about their weight.

With a Hostess donut in one hand and a Ding Dong in the other, lots of people will tell you that low carb is too expensive.

“I can't afford to buy all that meat.”

I used that same excuse for many years, even though I knew it wasn't true.

When I did Atkins 72 for the very first time, we didn't spend any more for groceries than we did when I was stuffing my face with carbs. And yet, my ex kept insisting that low carb was beyond our means.

I swallowed the lie without giving it some conscious thought of my own. But in 1999, I had to face the truth:

Low carb is only as expensive as you make it.

While heavy cream, cream cheese, cauliflower, and almond meal are all low in carbs, they are not magical foods, nor even required. You don't have to eat them to drop the weight.

In fact, some of the most popular low-carb foods and ingredients are responsible for a large number of stalls and weight-loss plateaus because they are very high in calories.

Plus, dairy products are just as addicting as wheat.

Sure, where you live matters.

Prices line up with what the current market will bear. And if you're picky about what you eat and buy, then food will cost you more than it does me.

That's a no-brainer.

You can't buy white albacore tuna for a light-chunk tuna price.

But it's the principles of eating low carb that allow you to adapt this eating style to fit your current financial, metabolic condition, and personal taste.

Whatever is going on in your life today – whether you've just lost your job, are trying to raise four or five kids without going broke, or want to save up for a down payment on a home – you don't have to binge on carbs.

The way to make a low-carb diet affordable is to use the Atkins Induction diet for the foundation of the ketogenic diet it was meant to be.

To show you how, here are my top 10 suggestions, budget recipes, and a sample 7-day menu for eating low carb on a budget.

1. Don't Imitate Your Old Diet

One of the biggest mistakes that people on a low-carb diet make is to imitate the Standard American Diet (SAD) that got them fat in the first place.

If you are addicted to what you consider normal food, you'll spend a lot of cash trying to replicate the foods you can't have anymore.

While there is nothing wrong with tweaking a recipe to make it lower in carbs, the whole idea of going from SAD to Keto is to learn how to make permanent lifestyle choices.

If you nurture your love for donuts and cupcakes and try to low carb them so you can keep them in your daily life, they'll continue to steal your cash.

Low-carb junk food is still junk food. It's expensive. If eaten too frequently, it will still make you fat.

2. Make Protein Foods the Bulk of Your Grocery Budget

Average shopper spends more money on
crackers, chips, cookies, and donuts
than they spend on protein foods.

The reason why people on SAD cannot afford to buy “all of that meat” is because they're spending their grocery dollars on crackers, chips, cookies, donuts, and cake mixes instead.

Rather than heading for the meat aisle when they first enter the store, they lazily stroll up and down the grocery aisles looking for something that sounds good to eat.

On Atkins Induction, protein foods make up the bulk of your meals, so they will also make up the bulk of your grocery budget.

Protein foods are essential for good health.

The body has strict requirements for protein, especially when you're in ketosis.

Cells wear out and need to be broken down and rebuilt on a daily basis, so if you consistently eat less protein than your body needs to maintain those protein structures or fuel gluconeogenesis to feed the brain, you'll experience the consequences.

You cannot survive on body fat alone!

Protein Shakes are no
longer made from
collagen.

While in ketosis, the brain's requirement for glucose is 30 to 40 grams per day.

This glucose can come from either carbs or protein.

Repairing body structures, however, requires amino acids. This was clearly demonstrated when protein powders made of collagen first hit the market.

Collagen is an incomplete protein, which means it does not contain all of the 8 essential amino acids necessary to sustain life.

People actually died from drinking weight-loss shakes made of collagen, even though they still had plenty of fat reserves. Today, protein powders are no longer made from collagen. They are complete protein sources.

3. How Much Protein Do You Need?

If your carbohydrates are lower than 30 grams a day, you need more protein than if you were on a balanced diet.

This is why the Atkins Diet is a bit higher in protein than the Protein Power Life Plan or Nutritional Ketosis. The amount of protein you need depends on how many carbs you eat.

If you're supplying the 30 to 35 carbs the brain needs to function well, then 15 to 20 percent of your ideal maintenance level of calories is enough. If you're on Atkins Induction or still eating only 20 carbs per day, you'll need more than that, up to 25 percent of your calories.

Realistically, plan on eating about 12 to 16 ounces of protein foods per day. If you're eating fewer than 20 carbs per day, plan on a little bit more.

When I lost over 100 pounds on a tweaked version of the Atkins Diet, I ate within this range and didn't lose any muscle mass.

4. Plan on Buying 1 Pound of Protein Foods Per Day

It's better to have too many protein foods available than not enough.

Divided into 3 meals, 12 to 16 ounces of protein foods comes to 4 to 6 ounces per meal, so to make budgeting easier, plan on 7 pounds of meat or other protein foods per person for a week's groceries.

Eggs are equal to 1 ounce of meat or cheese, so an 18-pack is slightly over a pound of protein. You won't actually need 7 pounds of meat unless you don't eat eggs or dairy.

Lean meats like boneless, skinless chicken breast and tuna are higher in protein than fatty cuts of beef and pork, so if you eat lean meats more often, you can get away with less than a pound a day and be okay.

When I was in weight-loss mode, I ate only lean meats because I wanted to lose the weight faster. I ate about 12 ounces a day, but today, I eat a wider variety of protein sources.

One-Day Protein Sample:

• Carbmaster Yogurt, 6 ounce container, 9 grams protein
• Cheese, 1 ounce, 7 grams protein
• Whole large egg, 6 grams protein
• Chicken breast, 4 ounces, 36 grams
• Tuna, 5 ounce can, 22 grams
• Chicken thigh, average, 15 grams
• Chicken leg, average, 13 grams

As you can see, it doesn't take a lot of meat to reach the minimum requirement.

• two large eggs fried in butter (12 grams)
• three slices bacon (7-1/2 grams)
• 5 ounce can tuna mixed with mayo (22 grams)
• 1 ounce mild cheddar cheese (7 grams)
• Carbmaster yogurt (9 grams)
• 3 baked chicken legs (39 grams)

This one-day sample protein menu comes to 96 grams of protein for the day.

We mostly shop at our local Kroger (called Smith's Marketplace, in Utah) and Costco.

• 18 pack of eggs = 2.25 (25 cents for 2 eggs)
• bacon, 11.50 for 4 pounds (54 cents for 3 slices)
• can tuna = 79 cents
• cheese, 2-1/2 pound brick of cheddar, 7.99 (20 cents an ounce)
• Carbmaster yogurt, 6 ounce containers, 10 for 4.00 (40 cents each)
• 4 pounds chicken legs, 1.29 a pound, 12 legs (43 cents each)

Protein total cost for the day is $3.78. For 7 days, that comes to $26.46 for your protein foods.

This sample menu above is designed to go with a 2-cup Induction salad for lunch, and perhaps a cup of steamed broccoli with a pat of butter to go with the baked chicken legs. I like to season my baked chicken with seasoning salt and garlic powder.

Obviously, this is a bare-bones menu.

Chicken legs can be purchased at Costco much cheaper than I paid this week, about 79 cents a pound, but we are getting ready to move to Texas in a few weeks, so I didn't want to buy an economy package.

I paid Smith's regular price for their family-pack of legs instead.

Baked Chicken Legs Breaded with Pork Rinds

Last night, I actually skinned the chicken legs, seasoned them heavily with seasoning salt, garlic, and seasoned pepper, and let them marinate in the refrigerator for several hours.

Just before baking them, I dipped them into a beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon heavy cream, and breaded them with crushed pork rinds. I then baked them for one hour, turning them over after 30 minutes.

This would make a great Atkins Induction recipe.

5. Aim for Weekly Protein Variety Instead of Daily

We have a small upright freezer, so I like to buy in bulk when the price is good and separate the large economy packages of meat into single-meal sizes. This lets us eat with more variety throughout the month than we otherwise could.

At any one time, I might have:

• chicken breast
• chicken legs or thighs
• hamburger or pork sausage
• pork steak or chops
• chuck steak or roast beef

If you don't have the funds to buy in bulk like that, you can still eat well on a budget.

For example, a 5-pound package of chicken breast at Walmart for $10 contains 6 to 8 breasts, depending on their size. When I get them home, I repackage each breast in a zip-lock bag and freeze.

When preparing our meals, I slice the breast in half horizontally, so each of those 10- to 16-ounce breasts will feed the two of us for one meal.

Juggle meats back and forth between lunch and dinner
so you don't get bored!

If I was on a strict budget, I would alternate those 7 chicken breast meals with another protein source for lunches, and then juggle the meats back and forth between lunch and dinner, so it didn't feel like we were eating the same thing every day.

Pork loin roasts are very economical here, and could be thrown into the crock pot over the weekend with some salsa to flavor it up.

Carefully slice half of the meat into thick dinner-type slices when it is just tender, and then let the rest of the pork continue cooking until its easy to shred. Shred the meat, mixing it with the salsa and juices. This can then be served in a bowl topped with sour cream and grated cheese.

I might also pick up a couple of cans of tuna to round out the week's meals.

7-Day Sample Budget Menu (Induction-Friendly)

To juggle the menu:

Day 1:

Serve taco salad using the shredded pork for lunch one day. Garnish with a little sour cream and cilantro if you have it. Serve baked chicken breast, seasoned with rosemary and garlic, and steamed vegetables for dinner.

Day 2:

Chop a chicken breast into cubes and saute until cooked through. Serve the chicken over a nice lettuce salad with your favorite low-carb dressing. Dinner could be one of the slices of pork, warmed up with vegetables.

Day 3:

Make tuna salad to go on top of a lettuce salad. Have a chicken stir-fry for dinner. Frozen stir-fry vegetables are reasonably priced. Just make sure you pick one that doesn't contain noodles or other carby vegetables. I particularly like shredded cabbage served this way. Season with soy sauce.

Day 4:

Make chicken-vegetable soup with stock you have on hand or some bouillon cubes or paste. This is especially easy in a crock pot. Serve taco salad with some avocado, olives, and sour cream for dinner.

Day 5:

Make chicken nuggets or chicken strips using crushed pork rinds for the breading. Serve with your favorite vegetable. Heat up a slice of pork roast for dinner and serve with a lettuce salad and your favorite low-carb dressing.

Day 6:

An 18 pack of eggs gives you 4 leftover eggs for the week, so on day 6, you could whip up a tasty egg salad using an ounce or two of cream cheese if you have it, or some mayo with plenty of dried herbs for extra flavor. Serve with slices of cucumber or celery and use the egg salad as a dip.

For dinner, take your second can of tuna and mix in an egg, a tablespoon of mayo, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and a little bit of green onions. Shape into two patties and fry in oil. Serve with a lettuce salad.

Day 7:

Since this is the last day before you go shopping again, it will be a whatever you have left day.

Try stuffing your chicken breast with leftover cream cheese or slices of cheddar, roll into a roll, and wrap in bacon. Bake at 350 until cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Chicken breasts topped with salsa and cheese and then baked is also good.

A BLT bowl is simply salad with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo all stirred up together.

Clean-out-the-refrigerator soup is simply a pot of soup that includes everything you need to use up. Mix the meats, vegetables, and herbs together for different flavors and textures.

The Following Week:

For the following week, pick 2 or 3 different protein sources, whatever happens to be on sale that week. Keep circulating your protein sources weekly, so you won't feel deprived.

6. You Don't Have to Follow a Low-Carb Recipe Exactly

Recipes are not rules. Look at them as possibilities instead.

My oldest son watches lots of cooking shows, not for the exact recipes, but for the cooking techniques the chef uses. This allows him the space to adapt the recipes and ideas to fit within his own budget.

It also leaves him free to express the dish so it represents his own tastes and style.

Most of the low-carb recipes you'll find on the web are loaded with costly ingredients like:

• heavy cream
• assorted cheeses
• shrimp or crab
• almond flour or coconut flour
• sugar-free syrups

Instead of holding true to the recipe's ingredients, try using whatever you have on hand instead. Substitute some of those chicken chunks above in a recipe designed for shrimp. Use tuna to replace the canned salmon or crab in a low-carb casserole.

Cut back on the amount of heavy cream, cream cheese, grated cheeses, and other expensive ingredients called for to make the recipe more affordable and realistic.

Focus on simple meals, such as a chicken breast sauteed in butter and topped with a slice or two of crumbled bacon, 1 sliced green onion, and one ounce of grated cheese, then nuked to melt.

You don't have to caramelize white onions and use expensive mushrooms if you can't afford them.

The dish will still taste amazing!

7. Don't Confine Yourself to Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Foods

When I did Atkins 72, 92, and especially when I ate to lose over 100 pounds, I did not use convenience foods or fancy low-carb ingredients at all! I ate simple hard-boiled eggs dipped in a fake honey mustard, a protein shake made with non-fat cottage cheese, or chicken breast simply baked in the oven with some garlic salt.

When I ate eggs, I scrambled them with chopped up bacon ends and leftover vegetables for dinner. Sometimes, I would even eat baked chicken leg quarters, meat balls, or ground turkey patties for breakfast.

I never stopped to think about how the rest of world defines breakfast. If it was low-carb, then it was suitable for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack.

8. Take Advantage of Marked-Down Meats

You got to go looking for the deals. They will not knock you over the head and say, “Here I am, buy me!”

While Smith's grocery store does have a pile of marked-down meats, usually tucked away in a corner of the meat aisle, most of their best buys are often sitting on the shelf with no fan-fair.

For example, after sorting through the pile of marked-down meats and not finding anything all that cheap, hubby caught their sausage rolls out of the corner of his eye as I started to walk away.

They were not in the pile of marked-down meats. They were on their own shelf, mixed in with the other full-price rolls of sausage meat.

It was hot sausage, Kroger brand, and marked down to only $1.29 per tube. That was 1 full pound of ground meat for only $1.29. We picked up all 4 of them! Since hamburger in our area is going for almost 4 bucks a pound, this was a great buy.

I brought them home, threw 3 of them into the freezer, and we've been eating 1 roll per week since then. I cut the roll in half, and placed one half into a baggie for the following day. Then, I cut the half that was left into 4 sections, which I flattened into 2-ounce patties to go with our fried eggs for breakfast.

These would have also made delicious meatballs, a meat-crust for a pizza pie, flavored a meatloaf, or made a spicy taco salad.

9. Use Romaine Hearts of Lettuce to Avoid Wasting Food

Wasting food is a habit that is pretty difficult to break. It's easy to overestimate just how much food you'll need to get through the week.

I've found that buying a 3-pack of romaine hearts instead of a couple of heads of different types of greens works best for us.

Bagged salad always goes brown as soon as I open it, and since there is just two of us to feed right now, I've started putting our salad into a large glass bowl with a tight-fitting lid and the dressing in a separate small bowl.

Since we're trying to save as much money as we can for our coming move to Texas, salads are simple at our house. I use:

• one full romaine heart
• half a chopped cucumber
• 2 diced roma tomatoes
• 2 sliced green onions
• little bell pepper if I have it

I make my own Ranch Dressing using mayo, sour cream, dill weed, and other herbs and spices, and make up enough salad and salad dressing for the entire week.

Between the romaine hearts and the glass bowls, it never goes bad before we eat it all.

10. Watch for Recipes You Can Adapt to More than One Protein Source

Just because I can get chicken breast, pork loin, and tuna for cheap prices doesn't mean you can. I get that.

But, you're only hurting yourself if you sit there and make excuses for why you can't do low carb with what's available in your own area because it won't be exactly what I can eat.

If you have a problem with Walmart, can't afford a Costco membership right now, just lost your job, or you live in a different country or area of the world, then use whatever your cheapest proteins are to make the diet work.

Throughout my life, I've had to adapt and adapt and adapt again to what's available because prices change, availability changes, or I've moved to a new area.

Sometimes, those adaptions have been voluntary like when hubby wanted to check out the Smith's that opened up less than a mile from us, instead of driving 15 to 20 minutes to our closest Winco.

And sometimes, those adaptions have been due to the circumstances in our life, such as going gluten free.

Either way, what we eat and how I cook has changed over the years to fit what's going on.

In addition to looking for recipes that use your cheapest protein foods, look for recipes that can be easily adapted to fit more than one protein source. This can be especially helpful with marked-down meats because you never know what you'll be able to pick up for a great price.

For example, low-carb chips can be made with American cheese and pepperoni nuked in the microwave or bacon cut into squares and crisped.

Fajitas can be made with chicken breast, chicken thighs, pork, beef, or shrimp. Boneless pork ribs, smoked sausage chunks, or thick slices of ham would all work with a pot of sauerkraut.

Look for ways to be more creative with herbs and spices.

Try adding jalapeno to your tuna salad, or add flavor to your canned green beans by dumping them over your chicken legs before baking. Sauteed green beans in bacon grease with a few bacon crispy bits added at the end of cooking is great, as well.

And don't forget that any type of meat can be turned into a meat salad.

Beef and pork will take on a whole new life when mixed with mayo, horseradish, and black pepper. Or cube up your chicken breast and simmer in a green enchilada sauce.

If you're not sensitive to wheat-based xanthan gum or buttermilk, Costco sells a huge container of Ranch dressing mix that can be used to season chicken, pork, or beef.