10 Ways to Save Money on the Paleo Diet
Though you are already saving money by cooking your meals at home but you can cut your cost even further by following these simple and practical tips, tricks and strategies on how to save money on paleo diet. For those who have been wanting to go paleo but are concerned about how to make paleo diet work for your budget. Here are some ways to save money on paleo diet!
1. Have a cow, man!
We have done this several times and it is the best way I have found to save money on paleo diet! We found a farmer in a farming town about an hour north and we go quarterly to get our share of a cow, sheep or goat. Sometimes we find other friends to go in on it or the farmer will hook us up with another family. Grass fed beef this way is about $3 a lb for awesome cuts like tenderloin and ribeye. Also he throws in some extras like a tongue and organ meat no charge! Tip: A regular freezer can easily fit a quarter of a cow.
Find a grass fed farmer in your area at Eatwild.com
You can also get great grass fed beef here
The sign of great chef is taking a cut of an animal that many would throw away and make it into something delicious. -Anthony Bourdain
2. Eat organs
If you really want to save money on paleo diet you will need to get over your fear of organ meats (from grass fed or pastured animals). Liver especially is nature’s multivitamin so it is important to eat it weekly. I have several easy liver recipes such as duck pate and chopped liver. The tongue and oxtail are two more cuts that are usually cheaper. Check out my pate recipe and chopped liver with eggs.
Where to buy: Get quality organs here or in the Bay Area from BackYard CSA, tell Tiffany I sent you!
3. Eat more fat
Grass fed butter, ghee and coconut oil are usually cheaper than meat. For example, when I eat 4 oz of meat with 2 Tbsp of butter, I get full way faster. Sometimes grass fed beef is cheaper when it has a higher fat percentage and this fat is the best kind to be eating because it is full of the fat burner called called CLA that is often sold as an expensive supplement.
You can also save money on paleo diet by making your own grass fed beef tallow because many farmers will give the fat for free. Try my recipe here.
4. Go to the farmers market
Grocery stores have a lot of overhead, employees, rent and advertising which is reflected in the price. Not to mention the cost of flying food that is out of season from Chile or New Zealand, for example. Buying direct from a farmer at an outdoor market a consumer sidesteps many of these costs.
5. Clean out that freezer
I see people doing this all the time: their fridge is full but they go out to eat because they are just tired of cooking or cleaning up. Another issue is that people forget what they have in the freezer because they are just not motivated to thaw it out.
Easy Tip: One thing I do is move meat from the freezer to the refrigerator then in the morning it will be ready to throw in a crock pot or just make burgers for an easy dinner.
6. Do a pantry double take
It is another great way to save money on paleo diet. I have ton of cans of sardines and salmon in my pantry that are begging to be eaten. Sardines are great on a salad and cans of salmon can be made into an easy salmon cake recipe in a jiffy. I bet you have a lot of cans of meat sitting around too. Make a easy dinner and save a few bucks tonight! I get great sustainable sardines and salmon here.
I also find I can make endless meals with cans of coconut milk. Try my easy coconut curry recipe here.
7. Eat with the seasons
You can also save money on paleo diet by eating what is in season. Apples in the fall are cheaper than in the middle of summer, same goes with strawberries in the middle of summer. Try to tune in with what is in season in your area or at least your country and it will save tons of dough while eating paleo diet.
8. Be like the French: use broth to stretch protein
In times of great hardship many cultures used broth to make their meat go further. I have read tales that this is how the French survived the revolution. By making a small amount of meat into a soup with lots of bone broth and veggies, a little can seem like a lot.
Get my easy broth recipe here
Or buy some already made but please avoid store-bought brands because of they are made MSG and other dangerous additives.
9. Use Gelatin
Gelatin is a great way to save money on paleo diet while getting your healthy protein. Gelatin has 12 grams of protein in two tablespoons! I eat it in smoothies, puddings, jello, and pies. I have even heard people putting it in their coffee. It helps with arthritis, preventing wrinkles, liver detox, cellulite and so much more. It is so cheap to buy when you think about the cost per serving. You can also just congeal your bone broth for extra savings.
Find Grass fed Kosher gelatin here from Amazon
Or find another brand I like here.
10. Shop at warehouse stores
Buying clubs like Costco and Sam’s have amazing deals on many great Paleo food items. Costco even have started having Kerrygold grass fed butter at my Costco year round. They have organic lettuce, carrots and broccoli at the one here in San Francisco. Also they have great deals on frozen organic berries and organic green beans at Costco (Sorry we do not have a Sam’s club here).
Buyer beware: I do not tend to buy my meat here because it is not grass fed, only organic meaning cows will be fed an natural diet of corn which creates a poor fatty acid ratio. Watch out too for farmed fish that is fed corn and soy also ruining the omega’s 3 balance. Chicken from buying clubs has issues even if it is organic. Read more about my guide to good chicken/ eggs here.
Bonus Tip: Buy meat/fish on special or marked down then put it in the freezer to stop time. I often see things marked down on Friday sales at Whole Foods then I stock up and put them in the freezer. Sell by dates are just that and things can last a lot longer when frozen.
I hope these ideas would be of great help to save money on paleo diet. What are your strategies to save money on paleo diet and eat it on your budget?
Wanting to get started on Paleo diet?
Not sure where to start?
I recommend this great little guide for paleo diet with over 90 full color recipes, shopping lists and more!
Get this great e-book for getting started on a grain free lifestyle!
Great tips – and I appreciate all the follow up links, too. Thanks!
Thanks for the great article! I had a question about the gelatin — I don’t see anywhere that Great Lakes Unflavored Gelatin, Kosher, is grass-fed. Where do you find that information?
All great ideas to save money while shopping for paleo foods. One way that I save money on my grocery bill is growing some vegetables. It’s not that hard and doesn’t take a lot of time. It may be more Neolithic than paleo, but you can make sure exactly how much pesticides are on your veggies.
You would EXPECT that buying organic food from a local farmer would be cheaper, but in my area it’s 2-4 times more expensive than the organic veggies in my grocery store! For example, this week chard was $6 a lb. and asparagus was $8 a lb from local farmers.
Just as organic does not mean grass-fed, grass-fed does not mean organic. Pastured animals sometimes graze on land that has been treated with synthetic fertilizers and even doused with herbicides. Unless the meat label specifically says it is both grassfed and organic, it isn’t.