Keto on a Budget

[prognastat]

My wife and I started eating keto over the past year, however many of the recommendations for budget meals focus heavily on affordable carbs(such as rice, oatmeal, potatoes) to cut down the cost of meals.

As such it took some time to build up some recipes that can be done on a budget while maintaining a ketogenic diet. Hope this helps anyone who is on a similar diet and attempting to not break the bank with it. Feel free to share some recipes of your own.

For those unfamiliar with a keto diet the basic concept is a high fat, medium protein and low carb diet.

The prices listed will be based on my experience local to me so you might need to play with the ingredients to get similar costs per serving. Generally to get prices down I buy items in bulk or large amounts while on sale to save on costs and then freeze things that can be frozen to extend shelf life.

Contents:
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Dessert/Snacks

[prognastat]

Breakfast

Egg Cups:

Ingredients:
2 Large Eggs ~$0.32
1 oz Shredded Cheddar Cheese ~$0.16
1 oz 73% Lean Ground Beef ~$0.14
Salt and pepper to taste

Equipment:
Oven
Muffin Tin

Servings:
1

Calories:
~360

Cost per serving:
~$0.62

Instructions:

• Set oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Crack 1 egg per muffin tin cup.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add 0.5 oz cheese to each cup.
• Add 0.5 oz ground beef to each cup.
• Place muffin tin in oven for 30 minutes.
• Take egg cups out of the muffin tin as soon as your take them out of the oven to cool.

Alternatives:

• Alternate meats, some that I use are: ground beef, breakfast sausage, pepperoni, and ham. The other meats add more flavour than the ground beef does, but of course come at an increase in cost.

Green Eggs and Chicken:

Ingredients:
2 Large Eggs ~$0.32
1 oz Shredded Cheddar Cheese ~$0.16
3 oz Shredded Chicken Breast ~$0.33
2 tbsp Salsa Verde ~$0.13
2 Tbsp Sour Cream ~$0.7
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking Spray/Butter

Servings:
1

Calories:
~450

Cost per serving:
~$1.01

Instructions:

• Crack the eggs in a bowl, add salt and pepper and beat together with a fork.
• Add some butter/cooking spray to a skillet to coat the skillet.
• Add the beat eggs to the skillet.
• When the omelette begins to cook and firm up on the bottom, but is still a little raw on top, sprinkle  the cheese and shredded chicken onto the centre of the omelette.
• When the omelette has finished cooking add the salsa verde and sour cream onto the chicken and use a spatula to folder the omelette.

[prognastat]

Lunch

Egg, Meat, Cheese & Nut Plate:

Ingredients:
1 Boiled Egg ~$0.17
1 oz Meat(I do pepperoni and summer sausage) ~$0.30
1 oz Cheese ~$0.20
1/4th cup Peanuts ~$0.17

Serving:
1

Calories:
~400

Cost per serving:
~$0.84

Instructions:
I boil eggs once a week in bulk and cut the meat and cheese in the morning.

[prognastat]

Dinner

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breast:

Ingredients:
1 Chicken Breast ~$0.75
1 oz Mozzerella ~$0.20
6 Strips of Bacon ~$1.83

Equipment:
Meat Hammer(can use a cast iron skillet as an alternative if available)
Cutting Board
Cast iron Skillet(oven safe pan/dish can be used as an alternative)
Oven

Servings:
1

Cost per Serving:
~$2.78

Calories per serving:
~554

Instructions:

• Set your oven to 425 F.
• Use meat hammer and a cutting board to flatten the chicken breast.
• Cut a 1 oz rectangular block of mozzarella.
• Wrap the chicken breast around the mozzarella.
• Wrap 2 bacon strips around the chicken breast length wise and 4 width wise making sure the bacon strips overlay each other slightly.
• Place the bacon wrapped stuffed chicken in an oven safe pan/dish.
• Place in the oven for 30 minutes.
• Prepare your veggies of choice to go along with the stuffed chicken.

Tips

• Tastes even better if you drizzle some ranch dressing on it.

Chicken & Shrooms:

Ingredients:
3 Lbs Chicken Leg Quarters ~$1.50
42 oz Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup ~$2.00
2 Heads of Cauliflower ~$3.00

Equipment:
Instant Pot(Can substitute slow cooker, but you will need to adjust cooking times)
Cutting Board

Servings:
6

Cost per Serving:
~$1.09

Calories per serving:
~797

Instructions:

• Put Chicken leg quarters in instant pot with half a cup of water, set to manual at high pressure for 30 minutes.
• Remove the chicken bones and shred the meat.
• Add condensed mushroom soup and chopped cauliflower.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Cook on sautee for 20 minutes.

Tips

• To change things up you can use hot sauce to spice it up.

Chicken Salad and Cheddar Crackers:

Ingredients:
4 lbs Chicken Leg Quarters ~$1.88
2 tbsp Lard ~$0.07
2 cups Mayonaise ~$1.34
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan ~$0.41
3 Scallions/Green Onions ~$0.24
1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley ~$0.18
Lemon Juice ~$0.09
2 tbsp Sriracha ~$0.14
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard ~$0.04
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese ~$2.50
Parchment Paper

Equipment:
Oven

Servings:
8

Cost per Serving:
~$0.86

Calories per serving:
~995

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Melt the lard.
• Brush the chicken with the liquid lard and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Place in oven on a baking sheet for about 50 minutes(should reach 165 F internally).
• Remove the chicken let it cool
• Spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray and top with parchment paper.
• Drop 2 tbsp mounds of shredded cheddar spread evenly over the baking sheets.
• Bake 5-10 minutes until the cheese has melted and just about stopped bubbling, but not brown.
• Remove the baking sheet from the oven and to off the cheese crisps.
• Once the chicken has cooled pull the meat off the bones and roughly chop it.
• Remove the chicken and let it cool before pulling the meat off the bones and roughly chopping it.
• In a large bowl mix together the chicken, parmesan, scallions/green onions, parsley, lemon juice, sriracha, mustard.
• Salt and pepper the chicken salad to taste.
• Serve alongside the cheese crisps.

Tips:

• If you prefer a more classic chicken salad flavour leave out the Sriracha.
• You can add almond slivers to spruce it up some more with extra flavour and crunch.
• You can sprinkle some cayenne and/or grated parmesan on the cheddar in step 7 for extra flavour.
• I'm not a fan of celery myself, but if you are add 2 stalks of celery chopped to the mix.
• You can make the chicken beforehand/in bulk and refrigerate it if you plan on making more soon or plan on using it in other recipes.

Crack Chicken:

Ingredients:
2 lbs Chicken Breast ~$3.00
8 oz Cream Cheese ~$0.79
6 Strips of Bacon ~$1.83
1 Packet Ranch Dressing Mix(Store Brand) ~$0.49
1/2 cup water
1 cup cheddar cheese ~$0.64
4 Cups Cauliflower ~$1.10

Equipment:
Instant Pot

Servings:
4

Cost per Serving:
~$1.97

Calories per serving:
~630

Instructions:

• Set the instant pot to saute on low heat.
• Add bacon to the Instant Pot and cook til crispy.
• Remove bacon from the Instant Pot and let it rest on some paper towel to absorb some of the oil.
• Add chicken breast to the Instant Pot.
• Add the cream cheese, water, and ranch dressing mix to on top of the chicken.
• If you start with thawed chicken breast set the Instant Pot to manual at high pressure for 30 minutes.
• While the chicken cooks cook your cauliflower to your liking by boiling, steaming or grilling it.
• When Instant Pot has finished remove the chicken only.
• Shred the chicken.
• Add cheddar to the Instant Pot and mix together.
• Add bacon and shredded chicken back to the Instant Pot and mix everything together.
• Serve beside or over the cauliflower.

Mississippi Pot Roast:

Ingredients:
2 lbs Boneless Beef Shoulder Roast ~$5.98(on sale)
4 oz Butter(1 stick) ~$0.81
5 1/3rd oz Sliced Peperoncini with it's pickling liquid ~$0.50
1 Packet Ranch Dressing Mix(Store Brand) ~$0.49
1 Packet Au Jus Gravy Mix ~$0.84
21 oz Broccoli ~$1.10

Servings:
4

Cost per serving:
~$2.42

Calories per serving:
~680

Equipment:
Instant Pot(Regular pressure cooker or a Crock Pot could be used as alternatives, but you will need to adjust cooking times heavily)

Instructions:

• Place the shoulder roast in your instant pot.
• Put butter on top of the roast.
• Put sliced Peperoncini on the roast and drizzle some of the pickling liquid on the roast too.
• Sprinkle the roast with the ranch dressing and au just gravy mixes.
• Set Instant Pot to high pressure. For a thawed roast set it for 75 minutes. For a frozen roast set it for 120 minutes.
• While your roast is cooking in the Instant Pot cook your broccoli to your liking. Personally I steam the Broccoli.
• Let the Instant Pot slow release.
• When plating cover the broccoli with the roast and drizzle over the juices/sauce.

Alternatives

• Can substitute lard for the butter which will cut cost further, but definitely affects flavour(not as creamy in my opinion).

Seasoned Chicken Leg Quarters:

Ingredients:
2.5 lbs Chicken Leg Quarters ~$1.12
Seasoning Mix $0.10-$0.50

Servings:
1

Cost per Serving:
~$1.22 - $1.62

Calories per Serving:
~1958

Instructions:

• If homemade mix your spice mix.
• Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit.
• Spray or line sheet pan to prevent chicken from sticking. I use parchment paper.
• Place chicken leg quarters on the sheet pan.
• Season both sides thoroughly.
• Bake in the oven for 75 minutes.
• Serve with a side of vegetables.

Seasonings Mixes:
Garlic Parmesan

• 24 parts Grated Parmesan
• 6 parts Garlic Powder
• 3 part Black Pepper
• 1 part Salt
• 2 part Paprika

Simple Bunless Burger:

Ingredients:
8 oz 73% Lean Ground Beef ~$1.00
0.25 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese ~$0.16
10 oz Broccoli ~$0.34
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Garlic Powder

Servings:
1

Cost per Serving:
~$1.50

Calories per serving:
~2610

Instructions:

• Mix salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder into the ground beef to taste.
• Form a burger patty.
• Cook in skillet over high heat until outside has built up a dark crust.
• While the burger cooks in the skillet either steam or boil the broccoli.
• Put the burger on a plate and sprinkle on the cheese.
• Microwave until cheese has melted.
• Add broccoli to plate.

Tips

• You can add sauces such as mayonaise, low sugar ketchup, mustard, and/or sriracha mayo. Just make sure to watch the carbs on the sauces.

Taco Salad:

Ingredients:
1/2 Head Romaine ~$0.48
8 oz 73% Lean Ground Beef ~$1.00
1 Large Hass Avocado ~$1.50
1 cup Finely Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese ~$0.63
4 Tbsp Sour Cream ~$0.14
8 Tbsp Salsa ~$0.25
Taco Seasoning ~$0.15

Servings:
2

Cost per Serving:
~$2.20

Calories per serving:
~811

Instructions:

• Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium heat.
• Add taco seasoning and water to the ground beef and let it simmer while you complete the other steps.
• Chop the romaine and plate it.
• Add 2 tbsp dollop of sour cream per plate.
• Add half an avocado per plate.
• Sprinkle 1/2 cup of shredded cheese per plate.
• Add 4 tbsp of salsa per plate.
• Add half the ground beef to each plate.

[prognastat]

Dessert/Snacks

Pudding Fluff:

Ingredients:
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream ~$1.82
1 cup water
1 oz Jell-O Sugar Free Instant Pudding Mix ~$1.28

Equipment:
Large Bowl
Mixer

Servings:
6

Cost per Serving:
~$0.52

Calories per serving:
~292

Instructions:

• Add heavy whipping cream, water, and pudding mix in a large bowl.
• Mix with hand mixer until fluffy.

Tips:

• Using more water and less heavy whipping cream will make the fluff more like pudding.
• Using more heavy whipping cream and less water will make it more like flavoured whipped cream.

[Jim]

I've been interested in going more of a keto diet to maintain my health, but was concerned about blowing my food budget to do so.  This seems like a decent list for me to get started.  Thanks for sharing and keep posting if you find more recipes that work well.

[prognastat]

I've been interested in going more of a keto diet to maintain my health, but was concerned about blowing my food budget to do so.  This seems like a decent list for me to get started.  Thanks for sharing and keep posting if you find more recipes that work well.

Yeah it is definitely something to be concerned about. You definitely can't go as cheap as you can when adding a bunch of cheap carbs to your diet, however getting it down below $5 per person/per day is definitely achievable. It is easy to go way over that if you don't watch out though. Thankfully eggs are cheap when bought in bulk and perfect for keto so I eat a lot of them. I eat about 3 eggs a day on average.

[prognastat]

Added Chicken & Shrooms to dinner recipes. It's a very cheap and easy meal that requires minimal work to prepare. Perfect for busy or lazy days.

[prognastat]

Added Seasoned Chicken Leg Quarters. They've been a great way to boost the amount of protein in my diet for minimal effort and cost(Generally $1.50 or less per sizeable serving). So far I tried a batch with a pre-mixed chicken seasoning and mixing my own garlic parmesan seasoning both of which turned out well.