most economical sources for whole30?

[Guest]

are there any online articles about the more economical choices for food/veg when completing a whole30? trying to cut down my expenses.

[praxisproject]

Economical solutions usually differ by location.

What's affordable in one place often does not translate to another.

 

Doing some analysis of your current meals can help, I was pretty shocked when I did this the first time after moving to Whole30 eating, meals I thought were cheap were actually really expensive and vice versa.

 

Veggies and meat tend to be the highest expenses due to volume and relative cost (but even this varies by location).

In addition to fresh, check out canned and frozen compliant items as well, sometimes the costs are radically different due to local conditions.

 

Have a look at what's compliant and cheap locally (I find it easiest to compare costs by the kilo where I live) and then try and build meal plans and shopping around those items.

 

If you're not sure where to start, check your local prices for:

Whole chickens (frozen or fresh) - these do have different sizes, sometimes you can buy two smaller ones for cheaper than a single large.

Chicken portions (breast, thigh, drumsticks, wings, etc)

Ground meat (all your different kinds, make sure it's compliant with no weird additives or fillers)

Stew-type meats (which need slow cooking)

Eggs (all varieties)

Root veggies

Salad veggies (check by weight, salad prices can be very misleading)

Green veggies

Look for the cheapest 5 fruits you can get locally

 

If you know something is farmed locally and you haven't seen it in your shops, you may want to investigate further as these items can be much cheaper (less transport, less middle men taking a cut, etc).

 

If you get paper receipts, throw them all in a box each week and have a review when you have some free time

[Guest]

thankyou

 

in terms of protein my main sources that I eat are eggs, mackerel, salmon, steak and ground beef/turkey.

 

I haven't bought steak in a while as it's quite expensive. I may use mackerel only instead of salmon, and I can get canned tuna without any nasties just brine (although not a massive tuna fan!)

 

I may buy a whole chicken instead of fillets and roast the whole thing at a weekend. I think it'll only cost me about £3.50.

 

And I am thinking of buying mainly frozen veggies instead

[praxisproject]

Prices can change over time too, so it's worth keeping some notes on prices and check on them.

 

Near me, lamb is cheaper in springtime and summer, except near Australia Day when it costs a bazillion dollars

Sometimes the same meat in a different cut costs a weirdly different price and these sometimes vary by location.

 

By weight, pork is the absolute cheapest for me, but I eat more beef as for a smidge more I can get hormone free mostly-grass-fed beef at a price far below organic or 100% grass fed (I still buy those when I can afford them, but tend to get them on sale, so supplies are more erratic)

 

Chicken wings at my local supermarket are far more expensive than drumsticks, sometimes the wings are more expensive than whole chickens!

However if I travel a little further, I can get kilos and kilos of wings dirt cheap, so it's worth exploring for any favourites that are too expensive.

Sometimes online shopping and newsletters can give you some price ideas (some local butchers put their prices up on Facebook or Instagram on a regular basis).

 

I get some great frozen stir fry mixes (pure veggies, no added stuff) which I use for Thai curries

 

Canned & frozen stuff I stock up on whenever it's on sale (20% off really adds up!).

[jmcbn]

Praxis has given you some great ideas above. Another trick is to go the supermarket near the end of the day when they are marking down produce that is close to it's sell by date - you can buy a tonne of stuff to batch cook & then freeze...

Veggie wise I only buy what's in season, and have made great friends with the assistant at the farm shop - he gives me freebies every single week, and often gives me veg that needs used that day on top of the freebies as he knows I'll find some kind of use for it.

I buy my meat from a farm shop too and as a regular customer they often give me their bones for broth and let me know when they have cheaper cuts of meat available, or thrown in a few extra chicken thighs etc.

In short supermarkets are great for their markdwons, but it often pays to shop local 

[Guest]

thanks both!

[scolesy]

You mentioned £'s so I'm guessing you're in the UK?

I get all my veggies from Lidl and it's so much cheaper than anywhere else. We have a local butcher and Waitrose who we go to for some meats but sometimes Waitrose is just as bad as Lidl. Lidl does stock compliant bacon but not sausages. I often get a free range chicken from Lidl and cook it in the slow cooker at the weekend for the coming week.

 

I also stock up on coconut milk whenever I see it on offer as it can be expensive, and I get trays of tinned tomatoes from Costco - 24 cans for about £3!

 

Hope that helps a bit

[Hannlib]

I'm in the UK and I mainly shop at Lidl, with a top up at Tesco for a few fancy bits I can't get at lidl. Our local market is also great for cheap veg