How do you afford a ketogenic diet?

I don't buy organic anything ever.. seems to me to be a complete scam.
I buy most meat from a fairly local butcher and fish from a fishmonger otherwise supermarkets but don't buy a lot from there any more.
I can get 20% fat ground beef from one of the "smartest" UK food shops for £3.00 per kilo so have that quite often. (I tend to eat more carnivore these days).

I go organic where I can, which basically means, not often. I'll always have eggs from happy chickens (That's actually a brand name here: Blije Kip/Happy Chicken), and I'll have free range chicken meat, but that's about it. Here in the Netherlands we have a star system that tells you whether the animal in question had a good life. I usually have plenty of stars on my packaging, but that doesn't per se mean organic, just never overly processed. I buy my avocado's from the frozen aisle, rather than the bio fresh stuff which goes off when I blink anyway, and usually buy meat when it's rolled back. Broccoli-rice and cauliflouwer rice I buy in bulk and freeze. I'll splash on coffee and good extra dark chocolate, because both last me a long time, but.... It's just not doable for me otherwise. (Self funding test strips and supplements is expensive enough, as a Dutch T2 I have to cough it up myself.).

I'm thinking, if it's not processed half to death. it's low carb, and I can eat it without feeling guilty, it's all good. Which isn't what the books, websites and what have you say, but they're not the ones paying the rent.

The local Lidl provides chicken thighs, beef burgers, fish, ham, bacon, eggs, cheeses, full fat Greek yogurt, cream, tomatoes, celeriac, salad, celery, radishes, frozen berries, high cocoa chocolate, nuts, butter and olive oil, all at modest prices.
I do go to other supermarkets for odd things such as desiccated coconut which Lidl doesn't stock.
My local butcher has closed but I still have some meat left, but I need a new source for beef, pork and lamb in joints. His prices were modest too.

Apart from shopping in farm shops, and small local shops and almost never buying anything with an organic label, I would guess our current expenditure on food is balanced out by not buying ready meals, cakes, biscuits, deserts, fruit juice, smoothies, bread, cereals, pasta and all the other carby stuff that used to go into our shopping trolley.
Sally

Brendon.Dean said:

Hey all I have been following the ketogenic diet for roughly 3 months alongside intermittent fasting most days (eat 12-1pm and 7-8pm) and seen fairly good success but I feel like it could be better.

With that said the only organic food I consume is spinach. Other then that the prices of groceries would be just absurdly high. For example a small tub of Ghee (organic) is $34.00 cdn so about $20.00 in sterling and 1 week supply of chicken is (organic) is the same.

So my question is, how do you guys do it? What do you all eat and how do afford it and do you buy organic and notice any difference in your blood sugars / overall health?

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Ketogenic has no relation to organic produce - it is just about the number of carbohydrates you eat. You can go high carb organic just as easily.

In the UK we generally go for free range chickens and eggs because the way battery hens are treated is pretty vile.

Pork and beef are generally raise outdoors (at least they are around here) so their welfare is less of an issue.

Brendon.Dean said:

Hey all I have been following the ketogenic diet for roughly 3 months alongside intermittent fasting most days (eat 12-1pm and 7-8pm) and seen fairly good success but I feel like it could be better.

With that said the only organic food I consume is spinach. Other then that the prices of groceries would be just absurdly high. For example a small tub of Ghee (organic) is $34.00 cdn so about $20.00 in sterling and 1 week supply of chicken is (organic) is the same.

So my question is, how do you guys do it? What do you all eat and how do afford it and do you buy organic and notice any difference in your blood sugars / overall health?

Click to expand...

To make your food affordable requires some degree of flexibility.
I have no interest in organic anything. What for is my ready answer.
Now to how you can buy your food a bit more affordably.

Vegetables - Eating in season, buying frozen for soups, shopping yellow label specials (This is when they are marked down)
shopping in low cost supermarkets and farmers markets with a reputation for providing value for money

Meats - Buying the cheapest cuts (usually the fattiest) you can afford
-Finding your local wholesale market and maybe joining forces with friends or family and buying bulk and sharing
between you
-Buying frozen meats which presents excellent value for money
-Looking out for special offers and taking advantage of those

Fats and Oils - Its been a while since I bought any fat/oil for my cooking, I save the fat from my boiling, roasts and grills and use them for sautéing vegetables and frying eggs etc. (Funny I was telling a friend who wanted to know what fat
I use just this afternoon how I cool and save the fat from my cooked meats, to be used for my frying and grilling etc.
When I cook chicken I still have enough fat to last a while because I don't skin the chicken I cook it with skin on which gives me all the fat I need for a lot of cooking/frying of other things.

Freezing also stretches what you have already bought. A lot of meats and vegetables and even fat from cooking can freeze well and therefore do not go to waste.

Store brands represent excellent value for money.
Go to ethnic shops, you get great prices for a lot of things.
For example, Ghee is a cheap food if you buy it from an Asian shop. Mainstream grocery stores charge over the odds for it and I have always wondered why.
I hope this helps.

I spend about $20 a day on food and don't usually buy organic. I'm also in Canada.

I find Costco has great prices for meat, poultry, seafood, butter, bacon, eggs, cheese, etc. I don't know if they sell ghee, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.

How much do you spend a day on food?

I'm not buying the rubbish and it's associated packaging any more, this has lowered my overall food bills.
I do not pay for the packaging on loose veggies or the advertising costs. I buy locally sourced foods whenever available and try my best to buy seasonal foods. I can't afford organic, free range massaged and pampered foods so I just do my best. Fresh foods, cook from scratch and we live well.

Ketogenic is not the same as organic , so I don't need to pay extra for that privilege. And for the most part I've always bought fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, poultry, full rather than reduced fat products, etc, and cooked from scratch so there's not a lot that I buy now that I didn't previously. So essentially I've simply cut out all the high carb stuff and carried on as normal with the rest, and any speciality low carb alternatives are generally covered by savings made from this.

Robbity

Another non-organic Ketoer here. I look for meats and fish on offer, stock up and freeze what I’m not immediately eating. My food bills are lower than pre-Keto.

I buy my fish when it’s reduced at the end of the day (I don’t eat other meat), and then freeze it. I shop every other day and buy stuff that’s cheaper because it’s about to go out of date. Things like almond flour I buy in bulk at Makro, it’s £10 a kilo there, half the price of other shops. I batch cook too, so if I’m making a keto curry, I’ll make four portions and freeze three.

Lidl shopping mainly when they have frozen veg in! Otherwise I go see aldi or Iceland. I used to spend a fortune in Iceland but their city store is soooo stressful and hot.
I shop where I'm comfortable, first and foremost. Then hope they do most of what I need but even Lidl are starting to have empty freezers or no fresh sausages. They had no family ok bacon in recently so I now use a city butcher for ham, bacon and family fancies (pork crackling). Its never too busy, so hope that isn't a sign of imminent closure. The butchers need supporting. Social veg vouchers should also cover local butchers!!!!!!