Well..., it can be a cold and lonely low carb world out there! I have taken it on the chin a few times lately mostly from those who love you best (supposedly). They are getting great mileage out of the name of the "LivinLavidaLowCarb" blog (Jimmy Moore's excellent & encouraging blogspace on the low carb life) that they have heard me talking about. It is a catchy name - I guess if it was some ol' boring name they might not get so much mileage out of it.One of my brothers in-law recently sung his own rendition of the popular Ricky Martin song "Livin' La Vida Loca" in front of the rest of the family that was basically a giant put-down at my expense. He was pretty proud of himself. He had spent a while writing it and couldn't wait to see if I had seen the lyrics he had written. I hadn't. Anyhow all I remember of it was it was some kind of visions of blubber in spandex. Really snazzy high-class fellow. Made a big impression on me.
Recently my wife has taken to calling the low carb diet I am on "LivinLavidaBROKEcarb" due to the high cost of meat - compared to our rice, pasta, bread, and otherwise carb-rich diet I ate before.
Which brings me to my topic of the moment. I have been looking at ideas on how to save money on our meat purchases. I have explored various ideas with fellas at work. One was telling how at the wholesale Mega-grocer he could purchase really large portions of meat and have it cut to order at great savings. He reminded me of a wonderful man at our old church that would take his trailer and would buy a hog or cow and take them to a local rendering facility, where they would cut the meat up into whatever you wanted. Steaks, tenderloins, ribs, beef tips, hamburger, sausage, etc. He said that it netted out to .50/lb plus the actual rendering costs. That sounds like a great idea to me, and is something I suppose we will try.
When I was a kid my family used to buy Blue Ribbon meats, and my folks would get a half-cow at a time. Our family of nine would eat on that for months and months. Now they have a guy coming to their house every couple of months named "Mike the Meat Man". Mike sells restaurant quality meats (beef, pork, fish, shrimp, etc) in bulk by the box. Same basic principle. Save money - really high quality meat, loads of meat in the freezer to last a long time.
So anyhow..., it may take me a while to work out the details, but short of going full blown country or Amish and living off the land myself, it seems like the next best thing. Fresh meat, as cheap as you can get it. Pick the healthy cow yourself (or better - let someone who understands how to do it, do it), and cut out all the middle men.
Looking at the meats in the Allmart giganto-store the other day. So many meats are chock full of SODIUM (my kryptonite). Only the more expense fresh cuts of meat are not processed in some form, and have no sodium, it seems like. Even shrink wrapped steaks are in a bath of 15% solution and high sodium. ARGH!
So as they say... Necessity is the mother of invention.
I would appreciate any comments on this post with great ideas on how you have invented your way into savings on a low carb, meat-heavy diet.
2 comments:
While beef is a wonderful meat, there are much cheaper ways to go low carb.
Eggs are usually around $1/dozen. Even organics are only about $3/dozen, so if you eat 4 eggs at a time, that would come to a cost of only $1 per meal, an only about 30 cents if you just use regular eggs.
Chicken is generally cheaper than beef - and if you stick with the legs and thighs (which have more fat than the breast, and are therefore more appropriate for many low carb diets), you'll often find them well under $2/lb. Some weeks, they go on sale for less than 50 cent/lb. Good time to stock the freezer!
If you don't opt for buying a whole hog or cattle on the hoof, whole pork loins are a good deal. A couple weeks ago, the local store had them for $1.47/lb (and I kicked myself for buying one a week earlier when they were $1.89/lb), but it's not the least bit unusual for them to run right around $2/lb. You can usually get the store to cut them into recipe sized chunks for free, although I usually prefer to bring them home and cut them into the size chunks I want before wrapping them in plastic wrap, stuffing them in a zipper bag and freezing them.
Have you considered becoming a true hunter/gatherer? ;)
Ok, I'm only partly kidding... deer are very destructive to field crops, and most farmers are glad to have the deer population thinned as much as possible during hunting season. There are expenses associated with hunting of course (weapon, appropriate camo/hunter orange gear), but other than ammo, processing costs, and a yearly license, most of what you'd need could be reused from year to year. Venison is really good eatin' too, tastes very much like what I always think beef ought to taste like. Just make sure that you take it to the meat packer as soon as you make the kill. That "wild" flavor (ick) people talk about in game meat really only happens when hunters take too long to have the animal chilled and processed promptly.
Hmm, let's see, what else is there? Tuna fish is a cheap source of protein. If you have a warehouse club membership, you can get about 15 cans of chunk light tuna for oh, about $1/can. The white albacore is a little more expensive, but still a bargain compared to regular grocery store prices. There is some sodium in the canned tuna though - not sure if it's too much for you or not.
I don't know if any of this will help any - may not really be as cheap as you need to go.
Thanks for the Great ideas!! While we are not on our last nickle, we do try to economize and it about killed my wife when I spent a grunch of greenbacks the other day at WallyWorld.
I've got to join one or more of those wholesale clubs too! The more I talk to folks the more I find out about ways to save!
Years ago I used to blow money like I had a gigantic money firehose, but now I am getting downright frugal! I feel pretty good about saving money when I can, my wife has taught me to be a ninja-style bargain hunter and shopper.
Since I met my wife I don't think there have been many times we EVER paid full price for clothes, or phone bills, or many other things. My wife gets BIG MAN clothes, name brand (Dockers, etc) at $10 & $15 bucks for a pant or shirt.
I guess we just want to learn how to do better in the meat department!
Thanks for the great advice! This is the kind of thing that should be shouted from the housetops as it is one of the big knocks on low carb eating. Certainly cutting the costs is a great thing and learning how is something that will open this way of eatign to many folks who avoid it for this reason.
I am sold - even if it means spending twice as much money on food. I am not spending the money on prescription drugs and over the counter antacids and the like. I feel great since I have started!!
In fact, responding to your post is inspiring me to post again!!!
:)
Thanks Again!
Any additional ideas anyone has are WELCOME & APPRECIATED!!!
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