Paleo diet without meat??

[aelyrsenn]

Hey all,
i admit am a little bit angry and that's because meat has become such a luxury, it is way expensive for my budget:(
Honestly when i can afford red meat (my favorite) i feel like i won the jackpot!
Don't know how vegetarians do that, but me - can't.
So, what do you suppose i do?Hope this won't become a global problem, though i did read somewhere that till 2040. we will all have to become vegetarians because there won't be enough water for us and livestock...or something like that

 

[Beau]

Hey all,
i admit am a little bit angry and that's because meat has become such a luxury, it is way expensive for my budget:(
Honestly when i can afford red meat (my favorite) i feel like i won the jackpot!

Personally, I don't eat that much red meat on an all meat diet. I prefer pork, it is much fattier and less expensive. What kind of red meat do you prefer? For red meat I'd stick to skirt steaks, sub steak, burgers, and maybe a ribeye here and there. Those are good and fatty and you can add butter if you want to up the fat. But bacon, pork sausage, and pork chops should be your go-to meats on Paleo IMO.

 

[aelyrsenn]

I like veal...very very much:)
but i meant all types of meat are expensive..even chicken,not to mention pork...butter too:(
food prices are going up, and my payment is going down...i spend 60% of my income only on food. i should just call it - they beat me.

 

[Lilou]

I have been buying neck bones to make my beef broth. They are inexpensive but they do contain a fair amount of meat on them. So perhaps you can try "meaty" bones, and you'll still get some meat without the full meat price. Also, organ meats tend to be less expensive and are nutrient dense.

If you are eating Paleo, all you need to buy for the most part is meat, butter and soup bones. What foods are you purchasing for 60% of your income?

 

[aelyrsenn]

I have been buying neck bones to make my beef broth. They are inexpensive but they do contain a fair amount of meat on them. So perhaps you can try "meaty" bones, and you'll still get some meat without the full meat price. Also, organ meats tend to be less expensive and are nutrient dense.

If you are eating Paleo, all you need to buy for the most part is meat, butter and soup bones. What foods are you purchasing for 60% of your income?

Thanks.
I don't know where you live but here in Croatia average person spends 40-50% of its income on food...am not buying gold food, just normal food..and my income being sh**ty - about 60% goes bye bye on me being properly fed.

 

[Lilou]

If by "normal foods" you mean bread, pasta, dairy, fruits, etc...then you are not eating a paleo diet. If that is the case, meat or no meat, your primary source of fuel is carbohydrates not fat. Without meat, a paleo diet is not possible.

You may wish to look at this thread for guidelines on how to safely change your diet from carb burner to fat burner. Also read the Life Without Bread and Ketogenic Diet threads in the Diet and Health section to understand the process.

Once you are no longer buying "normal foods", you may still spend about the same amount for "gold foods", but you will be healthier and stronger. You may even start spending less, if you are able to buy in bulk and have a freezer.

 

[realitybugll]

I found 6 euro per kilogram for beef. and 4 euro per kilogram for butter.

the price of butter being lower than meat is a good sign. Where I live it is 6 euro per kilogram of beef and 9 euro per kilogram of butter. but incomes are also probably different for America vs Croatia.


I would stock up on butter and vegetables, like broccoli (to have butter with). if that is indeed the price.

 

[Serendipity]

Hey aelyrsenn

I live in Croatia, and I know about prices of food going up, but since I switched to keto diet after reading the LWB thread, I spend much less on food then before.
You will see that it's possible to eat cheap and very healthy in the same time.
I'll give you examples of prices(in kunas and euros) of the food that I'm currently eating.

1kg of lard 15 kuna/2 euros
1kg of pig belly, fattest piece of pig(carsko meso) 28 kuna/3.5 euros
1kg of mackerel 20 kuna/2.5 euros
250 grams of butter 14 kuna/2 euros
1kg of liver 20 kuna/2.5 euros

You can get bones for free if you know the butcher, but I don't get those because they aren't from grass fed animals. When I asked the butcher where can I get grass fed meat he said : " You wont find that anywhere!" At least not here where I live, though. At least you can make soup from cheap wildfish heads.

I spend around 25 kuna / 3 euros a day on my food, or even less.
It's funny how good food is often cheapest in today's society.

 

[Gaby]

Perhaps you can get more ideas in this thread:

Low budget diet - help needed please.
http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,29172.0.html

 

[Joe]

I have been buying neck bones to make my beef broth. They are inexpensive but they do contain a fair amount of meat on them. So perhaps you can try "meaty" bones, and you'll still get some meat without the full meat price. Also, organ meats tend to be less expensive and are nutrient dense.

If you are eating Paleo, all you need to buy for the most part is meat, butter and soup bones. What foods are you purchasing for 60% of your income?

Thanks.
I don't know where you live but here in Croatia average person spends 40-50% of its income on food...am not buying gold food, just normal food..and my income being sh**ty - about 60% goes bye bye on me being properly fed.

If you're not doing it already, one very inexpensive way to fill yourself up is with bone broth. If you have that with every meal, you won't want or be able to eat as much meat.

 

[Goemon_]

Some weeks ago I have bye lard and pork's liver to make liver's paté.

I paid 2,8€ per kilo. The butcher also give me bones for bone broth.

It was a total of 12 kilos. There was some meat left on the lard. I have cut it out and add it to the bone broth, then I have take it out of the broth and it was enough meat for a week.

It is not the tastiest way to eat meat. Next time I will try to cook it in the oven.

Also, a small producer send me 1,7kg of lard (no meat left on this one) + 1,7kg of pork's liver for a total of 5 euros.

The butcher make me paid for the liver only because it was an order and I wanted a lot for making a complete bath. If it is a liver from one of his pork (that is to say one witch he will used for the meat) he will give me the liver for free.

Also I ear him saying that on a complete animal he will use 65 % of it, the rest is thrown away.

That could help or not.

 

[istina]

Hi Aelyrsenn,

You got some good advices here. You really should check links on this forum posted above and other topics ( Life without bread and Ketogenic diet particularly ).
I live in Croatia, so I know what are you talking about food prices and incomes. I think it's much cheaper when you start to eat that way - if you stop buying "evil stuff" like processed foods, pasta, bread, dairy, fruit... And how is it easier to cook that way. You do not need to eat much steaks or other expensive parts of meat.

I started with this diet 2,5-3 years ago and lost 17-20 kg till today, looking and feeling so much better that I can't express it. Mostly, I eat pork belly (carsko meso) or other fatty parts of pig, bacon, cracklings (čvarci), sometimes eggs, with little vegetable, lettuce, or any of that, with vinegar. And bone broth! I'm still not at zero carbs just trying to cut carbs (from vegetables), as much as possible and to increase fat as much as possible. After a while, I needed smaller and smaller amounts of meat to satisfy my hunger. Bone broth really helpes in that.

I just tried to do the best with what I had. I cant find grass fed and organic pork or beef meat, lard or bones (only sometimes chickens and eggs), and that was in the beginning my big concern, but the results are still very, very good and obvious, so far.

I buy meat and bones (pork or beef bones - 4 to 7 kuna/kg) at the local butcher shop. Sometimes you can find bones with a lot of meat. In that case you can buy it more and freeze it. Also, you can buy cheap entrails (liver, kidneys, heart, stomach-„tripice“, etc.), or pork leg and skin. You can do liver pate, it is very tasty and a good way to get enough fat. I found lard at domestic producers (not grass fed) in the nearby villages (12-15 kuna/kg).

As everybody here pointed out, bone broth is very important and cheap way to get valuable nutrients. I cook it once in a week or two (I cook it 10-14 hours because I do not have pressure cooker), divide it into small bottles and freeze it, so I always have it at my disposal.

Just try to do the best with that what you have or can get.

 

[aelyrsenn]

Thanks all:)
And I don't know why everyone assumed i was buying pasta, bread, dairy, or fruits...i said i was on the paleo diet so i don't eat those....

 

[aelyrsenn]

and i forgot, I am not looking for a way to lose weight, actually since my colon disease i've lost too much, so i have to gain 4 kg to be ''normal''...

 

[emmanuel]

and i forgot, I am not looking for a way to lose weight, actually since my colon disease i've lost too much, so i have to gain 4 kg to be ''normal''...

Don't worry aelyrsenn. You get your kg when the body adjust to new diet. If your body need kilograms with this diet you gain weight. I have before problems with not enough weight also. I am 187 cm, 73 kg and all my life I struggle to gain weight.
Now 4 months on ketogenic diet I gain 7 kg, so I have now 80 kg and they are stable. Thus my thinking improved and I am more stable and energetic in life then before. And believe me, I try ALL kind of diet that I am aware of ( I was vegetarian 8 years, vegan 2,5 years, raw vegan 2 years and frutarian - raw fruit only, 6 month - on this diet I have only 59 kg on my 187 cm! I was like a ghost.). :(

So, to make things short, this is for me the best diet so far and if you persevere on this path, inform yourself as much as possible about this diet ( and you have so much knowledge from very wise people on this forum that this is enough for many life-times to digest :P ), you can very soon expect results that you want.

I wish you all the best to achieve your goals.