How to Eat Low Carb on a Budget

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When I first started my healthy lifestyle journey, I was NOT savvy at all when it came to budgeting my new diet. Like at all. I thought in order to be healthy I’d have to spend a ton and that was that. Boy was I wrong! There are so many ways to budget your low carb lifestyle that I’m constantly kicking myself for what I used to spend before.

Here are the tips & tricks I’ve learned through years of trial and error.

Keep it simple silly

I have a real knack for finding the recipes that have 30 ingredients in them, all of which I’d need to order off Amazon because no store carries them. Silly, right? Finding simple recipe is so much harder than it seems!

In my quest to find simple recipes that were actually simple & tasted great I came across these ebooks. The recipes have less than 5 grams net carbs and all have 5 ingredients or less and taste great. Yes, really! These books are great for beginners, but I still reference them weekly for my meal prep or snacks.

DIY

Premade packages of food, fresh or frozen, are so convenient but so expensive. I used to buy spiralized veggies, prepackaged salads & more ready to eat foods, but soon realized the expense wasn’t worth it. I also realized they were all super easy to prepare myself!

If you’ve been reading my blog you know I love meal prepping. I basically spend a couple of hours every Sunday prepping meals and ingredients for the rest of the week ahead. I got myself a few high-quality meal prep tools and use them every week to keep me from 1. spending a ton on NYC breakfasts and lunches and 2. cheating on my diet because of hunger or having no options.

My favorite tools & containers:
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It does take some effort, but once you get into the swing of things and realize how life-changing meal prepping is, you’ll look forward to it weekly!

Follow the Deals

I don’t think I’ll ever master the skill of couponing like those mega coupon stackers, but I do have a few secrets for snapping up the best deals.

Download Ibotta
I’ll also cross check what’s on sale on my Ibotta app with the recipes I’m gathering up. If there is a certain cut of meat or vegetables on sale that I know I like, I’ll try to steer my recipes in that direction.

Ibotta is an app that I use almost daily. It has all my favorite stores on it and I can easily get money back with everything I purchase. No more printing out coupons! Just pick your items, scan your receipt & collect $$$.

You can sign up here with my link & get $10 right away just for signing up!

Make a list

I am a list queen! I love making lists of what recipes I’ll be cooking & the groceries needed for them. I always check to see what’s in my pantry first so there won’t be any doubling up. I also love checking out pretty printable lists that bloggers make & print out new ones every week to make my meal planning more fun. You can find my fave pretty meal planners on my post here (they are all FREE!).

Limit Specialty Ingredients

So many keto and low carb recipes call for specialty ingredients, things like coconut flour and Erythritol. These ingredients, especially when buying them at specialty shops, can be so expensive. Though you can definitely go low carb and keto without them, If you do want to use ingredients like this, there are a few ways to bring down the cost:

Buy specialty ingredients in bulk from Amazon, especially when they are on sale. Even when regular price, you’ll always find the best deals, especially on Amazon!

Start Now!

If you are new to this lifestyle & are interested in starting a low carb or Keto diet take a look at my Low Carb Keto 101 post here, check out my 7 Day Low Carb Meal Plan here, take a spin through my Pinterest page or click on an e-book below!