7-Day Bare Bones Lazy Keto Meal Plan ($40)

Short of cash?

Don't want to count your macros?

Need a simple, bare bones, Lazy Ketogenic meal plan that works?

Gotcha covered!

All you have to do is toss out the diet thing and get back to nutrient-dense basics, like we discussed in the last post.

Eating Keto on a budget isn't difficult.

Losing weight without having to count your calories isn't difficult, either.

All it takes to see results is choosing a few very small lifestyle changes, such as beginning to take your lunch to work or limiting the variety of protein foods and vegetables you buy each week.

However, the small changes you make must be tasty, as well as cheap. You don't want your bare-bones Lazy Keto meal plan to be boring. You have to be realistic and practical while cutting back on costs.

But you also have to be aware of your unconscious urges to go off plan after you enter the store.

Every time you step foot in a store, you're going to be bombarded by advertisements, end-of-aisle sales, and other gimmicks to encourage you to spend more than you intended.

This is why pre-planning what you're going to buy and eat each week can greatly cut down on costs.

Writing out a menu and shopping list will enable you to stay focused on your grocery budget, provided you don't step too far outside of the box.

I'm not one of those who believes in strictly sticking to just what's on the grocery list, as I like the freedom of being able to take advantage of in-store savings. But, when I do pick up something that isn't on my list, I delete something else to make up for the extra cost.

I don't just keep adding to the bill.

That would defeat the whole purpose of pre-planning your ketogenic menus ahead of time. The idea is to stretch your dollars by picking up low-carb foods that happen to be on sale that week.

You can also purchase marked down meats or take advantage of dairy products that are near their “sell by” date.

To pull this off, without going over budget, you won't always go with the lowest carb option. Sometimes, you'll have to sacrifice a few carbs in order to save a few pennies. Tomato sauce or pizza sauce is a good example of that.

Why Lazy Keto?

To make it easier to stay on a tight ketogenic budget, I decided to use a Lazy Keto approach for the menu below. Lazy Keto means you'll eat up to 20-net carbs per day, but you won't have to count your calories, fat grams, or protein.

This easy, less than $40 budget menu takes care of all of that for you.

Lazy Keto is very similar to Old-School Atkins, where you can eat anything you want, as long as it fits within the 20-carb per day parameter. However, for the following menu, I just used practical portion sizes, similar to what you'd find on Atkins 2002 -- hence my Lazy Keto approach.

Map Out Your Protein Needs First

The following Lazy Keto Diet plan is a 7-day, 20-carb plan designed for those who need to eat low carb on a very tight budget.

This means you'll need to plan for 21 meals per week as your ketogenic foundation.

If you're new to low carb, you're probably eating 3 meals a day, plus a snack or two, so that's what I used in the menu below.

Snacks are optional, however.

Cost of low carb will be less without them. You'll also speed up your weight loss if you just stick to 2 or 3 meals a day.

These meals are smaller than they would be if you were only eating twice a day, but are generous enough in fat and protein to keep you satisfied. This means you get a salad OR a hefty serving of vegetables per meal.

By using the following plan, you'll quickly get into the state of ketosis, so it's not just for those who are cutting back on food costs. If you're new to Keto or already in ketosis, you can also use this eating plan.

Hunger reduction will take about 3 to 5 days, if you're not already in ketosis, so the menu takes that into account.

When pre-planning your own ketogenic meals, you'll want to start by plugging in your protein needs first. Twenty-one meals per week, means you'll need to purchase about 7 pounds of boneless protein choices each week.

But think in terms of servings.

Chicken leg quarters come in 10 pound bags, providing 10 servings per bag. Hamburger comes in tubes, so a 2-pound package is enough for 6 to 8 meals.

Same goes for cheese. If you measure it out, you won't have to totally give up your favorite foods, just to make ends meet.

Once you have the protein figured out for 7 days, and how you're going to use it, you can plug in your favorite salads and vegetables to round out your meals.

You do not have to use the broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, or green beans that I've used. These are just what's super cheap in our area.

Use any low-carb vegetable that you want.

Here's the $40 Bare-Bones Lazy Keto Meal Plan

You'll find recipes for items marked with an * below the shopping list.

Day 1

Breakfast:

3 slices bacon
2 eggs fried in 1 tablespoon butter
coffee, tea, or water

Lunch:

1/3 pound hamburger patty
slice of cheese
2 cups Simple Lettuce Salad with Ranch Dressing
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Dinner:

Garlic-Braised Chicken Legs*
½ bag steamed broccoli with pat of butter
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Day 2

Breakfast:

2-egg omelet with jalapeno, green onion, cheese
coffee, tea, or water

Lunch:

Garlic-Braised Chicken Legs*
½ bag steamed spinach with pat of butter
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Dinner:

Taco Salad
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Day 3

Breakfast:

3 slices bacon
2 fried eggs
coffee, tea, or water

Lunch:

Chicken Salad with Jalapeno and Onion*
½ cucumber, sliced for dipping

Dinner:

Basic Meatballs in Cream Sauce*
½ package of steamed cauliflower
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Day 4

Breakfast:

Leftover meatballs
2 ounces homemade cheese sticks
coffee, tea, or water

Lunch:

2-egg salad stuffed in lettuce leaves
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Dinner:

Chop leftover cooked chicken leg
Serve over 2 cups of lettuce salad
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Day 5

Breakfast:

3 slices bacon
2 fried eggs
coffee, tea, or water

Lunch:

1/3 lb hamburger patty
slice of cheese
2 cups lettuce salad with Ranch Dressing
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Dinner:

Baked Chicken Leg Quarter
½ can of green beans
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Day 6

Breakfast:

2 egg omelet with cheese, jalapeno, green onion
coffee, tea, or water

Lunch:

Baked chicken leg quarter
½ bag steamed broccoli
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Dinner:

Taco Salad
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Day 7

Breakfast:

3 slices bacon
2 fried eggs
coffee, tea, or water

Lunch:

Tuna with mayonnaise, jalapeno, green onion
½ bag of steamed cauliflower
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Dinner:

Baked chicken leg quarter
½ can green beans
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Grocery List

A reader pointed it out to me that I made a mistake in calculating the amount of ground beef that you need to buy. After looking over the shopping list and applying it to the menu above, I realized that the following list doesn't include everything you need to buy. 

It assumes that you have herbs and spices for taco salad already in your pantry, some mayonnaise and sour cream for salad dressing. Sorry for the inconvenience.

(Also, keep in mind that the following prices are for 2019. When I plugged in today's prices, 2022, the cost came to $52.)

1 pound bacon ($3.99)
10 pound bag of chicken leg quarters ($5.69)
2-2/3 pounds ground beef ($8.00)
1 5-ounce can tuna ($.79)
18 pack of eggs ($1.29)
8 ounces hard cheese ($1.79)
8 ounces cream cheese ($1.50)
½ cup heavy cream, plus more for coffee ($3.00)
large head of lettuce ($1.69)
4 tomatoes ($1.00)
2 cucumbers ($1.00)
1 bunch green onions ($1.00)
1 pound frozen broccoli ($1.00)
1 pound frozen cauliflower ($1.00)
1 pound frozen spinach ($1.00)
1 can green beans (69 cents)
1 pound butter ($3.50)
small jar jalapeno slices ($1.00)
pork rinds ($2.00)

Total: $40.85

Leftovers Available for Snacks

If you follow the above menu, you'll have a few leftovers that will be available for snacks, if needed:

• 4 slices bacon
• 3 eggs
• 3 whole chicken legs
• ½ bag frozen spinach
• 1 ounce cheese
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• pork rinds not needed for the meatballs

You could also add the above low-carb foods into the above meals. For example, mixing a couple of slices of bacon into your green beans with a little green onion. Or combine the cream cheese with some sour cream and green onion for a dip for the leftover pork rinds.

Snacking is optional.

Don't forget that.

Although, the Atkins Diet recommends that you don't go longer than 6 hours in between meals, Keto doesn't require you to eat anything unless you're hungry.

Low-Carb Recipes

Garlic-Braised Chicken Legs

5 chicken leg quarters, cut in half
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt

Place the chicken pieces in a crockpot. Fill the crock with enough water to cover the chicken. Add garlic powder and salt. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

Chicken Salad with Jalapeno and Onion

Chop up a cooked chicken leg quarter and mix with mayonnaise, diced jalapeno, and a green onion.

Basic Meatballs in Cream Sauce

1 pound hamburger
½ cup crushed pork rinds
1 egg
garlic powder
seasoning salt
Italian seasonings
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into chunks
½ cup heavy cream

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine hamburger, crushed pork rinds, egg, and spices. Roll hamburger into large balls. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

In a skillet over medium-heat, melt the butter. Add chunked cream cheese and smash a bit to help it melt faster. When softened, but still not completely melted, add heavy cream and stir until nice and smooth. Add meat balls, stirring to coat.

*If you don't have pork rinds or they are not available in your area, you can use dried Parmesan cheese instead.

Alternate Protein Foods Each Week

To prevent boredom, you'll want to rotate your protein choices each week. For example, you could pick up chicken breasts instead of legs and pork chops or a roast instead of ground beef for Week 2.

Ground turkey is also an economical option and can be used in any recipe that calls for ground beef.

Often you'll be able to find sausage for less than ground beef, as well.

The above menu leaves you with 3 chicken legs that you can use for Week 2. If you don't use them as snacks, you also have the option of picking up something that costs a bit more, such as 1 pound of small-to-medium sized cooked shrimp that can easily be stretched by serving it over 3 or 4 dinner salads for the week.

Bare-bones doesn't mean that you can never have your favorite foods. You just have to plan ahead and be flexible and practical when it comes to creating your affordable ketogenic menus.