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Low carb cost and budget tips 2024

MrsA2

Expert
Messages
6,932
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
After reeling in shock from this week's supermarket bill
(chocolate that was 1.39 or 1.49 had now shot up to 1.99 a 30% increase in a week.
Cheese that was £16 @ kilo has gone to £24 a kilo, a 50% increase in a week)
I thought we could post our keeping costs down tips on here

I'll start with my olive hack
I buy pot of flavoured olives at about £1.50 for 150g then drain a jar or 2 of cheap unflavoured olives in brine (green and/or black according to taste) about £1 or less a jar. Mix it all together well adding a little more olive oil. Then leave to marinate for a few days. Lovely flavoured olives. Gives nearly a kilo for about £4.00
Would have been £15 for that amount ready done.

Yes I could start from scratch using my own flavourings but I like the ease and variety of ready done. Life's a balance!

Then when eaten the last olives, I use the last bits of the oil as a dressing for hot green veg or salad.
This week was chilli and garlic oil that went down a treat on boiled broccoli

What do you do?
 
I buy a medium chicken, it feeds two of us for two or three days (roast, cold, curry), then I boil the carcass with herbs, onion, garlic, pepper. Strip any last bits of chicken off the carcass into the stock. Then add any left over leaves from cauliflower, any old low carb veg and chuck it in the soup maker. I usually end up with 4 portions of tasty low carb soup for my lunches.
 
Onions and cabbage.
On onions it looks like for some they'll increase BG, for others not much happens, and I'm one of the others.
Both onions and cabbage are very versatile in bulking out meals for little money.

I also do a weekly scan of the supermarket offers to see if something I like is suddenly very cheap. Guinea pigs are currently having lots of aubergine and I've added small cubes of aubergine to various of my own meals even if they weren't traditionally meals where you would expect aubergine. They were 3 large ones for a euro this week.
 
I found a butcher, and now have a regular order of bacon, pork fillets, ham, chicken etc.
I always ask him if he has something on offer.
And being a regular and friendly, I know it does cost me less than a big shop.
I also batch cook currys, soups, stews and freeze them.
Microwave is much cheaper.to warm them.

I like my salads and if you vigilant, saying that, there are quite a few shops nearby. You will find some reasonable fresh salad veg.

Of course, gas has rocketed, electricity is not far behind. So the less time the oven is used has got to be better.
 
Does crashing the neighbours at around dinner time count as a budget hack?

To be fair, I make sure the favour is returned regularly as well, and I usually make some more expensive choices because I'm not only cooking for myself so all in all this may be more expensive...
 
Oh, I have another one. I recently learnt that butter freezes well, so now I buy in bulk whenever it's buy one get one for free or such. Takes up little space in the freezer for an amount that lasts a long time.
 
Not a low carb hack…but we bought a dual drawer air fryer nearly two years ago. We use it 6 days a week (on the 7th day my non low carb husband insists on pizza, which won’t fit!) instead of the big oven (including roasting that chicken), and I calculated it saves us £20 a month.
 
I use a pressure cooker quite frequently these days - I know some people get the heebies about them, but I just reduced our monthly payment to the energy provider quite significantly - it is an accumulated reduction, plus it is summer time, but they happily agreed to £30 reduction.
 
I do similarly. We buy joints of meat which might seem expensive, but then provide several meals and at the end of that, my famous Lumpy Soup, which uses up almost all leftovers in the meat and vegetable line, plus any bones are cooked out into bone broth. Whenever fresh veg is on offer, it is bought, prepared and frozen. You do need a freezer for this, but you buy it once and it saves money for years. Chicken pieces - whatever is on offer - can be made into a good quantity of meat per portion and lovely crispy skin. Marmite, Bovril or stock cubes cost little per dish, and last a long time in the cupboard. Careful use of heat means thrifty cooking needn't cost much in energy. For instance, everything in one saucepan, boil kettle, add boiling water, bring to simmer, put lid on pan and switch off uses residual heat to cook. Reheat when needed.
 
Rachox said:
One simple cheaper swap is to use ground almonds in place of almond flour in baking LC cakes, biscuits etc…
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I just checked online and it seems they are the same price per kg at whole foods on line.
I love scones and small apple pies but need to build up the courage to make them again so will think seriously about having a go with both thanks.
 
sailorDel said:
I just checked online and it seems they are the same price per kg at whole foods on line.
I love scones and small apple pies but need to build up the courage to make them again so will think seriously about having a go with both thanks.
Click to expand...
That’s good to know. I’ve obviously not looked in the right place!
 
I don’t know if you have this in the UK , but in British Columbia , Canada, some supermarkets, not all I hasten to add, but some reduce meat, veg and fruit by between 30% - 50% as they approach their sell by date. We buy these reduced products and either stick them in the freezer, if meat, or pre cook or blanch veg and fruit then freeze it.
 
I use Amazon for some bulk purchases, always comparing prices including the subscriptions. I then weed out my subscriptions regularly, because they tend to get expensive over time.
 
My local Lidl often has boxes of fruit and veg at or near sell-by date available free first thing in the morning. I don't know if this is general Lidl policy or just a local thing.
 
KennyA said:
My local Lidl often has boxes of fruit and veg at or near sell-by date available free first thing in the morning. I don't know if this is general Lidl policy or just a local thing.
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Our local the boxes are £1.50. There's a lot in them, and good variety if you have the flexibility for bananas, potatoes and so on.
 
The website trolley.co.uk and the app of the same name compares product prices across the supermarkets, Amazon and a few other places, so great for tracking down offers.
 
Some young people I know, who are on a very tight budget, use this app

Save Good Food From Going To Waste - Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go app is the world's largest surplus food marketplace. Download now and enjoy good food at 1/2 price or less, help the environment and reduce food waste.
www.toogoodtogo.com

I am not sure about recommending it, as they don’t seem to need specific food types, (such as my own low carb requirements) , and I haven’t used it myself. They seem quite happy though, and don’t mind that they are not able to plan their menus.
 
Yes I know someone who uses that. Often very carby eg bakery products or mass produced ready meals. Low carb seems very few and far between
 
MrsA2 said:
Yes I know someone who uses that. Often very carby eg bakery products or mass produced ready meals. Low carb seems very few and far between
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They have had decent stuff from M&S, including cheese, and vegetables. I think the numbers of suppliers onboard is increasing.
 
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