Paleo

[veggiespls]

Does anyone here live a paleo lifestyle? I've been paleo about 80% of the time for about the past two years and really enjoy how I feel when I'm being stricter. I enjoy cooking, otherwise the diet would be very hard as almost everything you eat must be prepared in one way or another. The food is awesome and recipes are easy to find. However, sometimes I'm just lazy and it's almost too easy to pick up a pizza for the family instead of spending 1 to 2 hrs in the kitchen. Additionally, sometimes I feel I spend an exorbitant amount on food. Coconut oil, coconut aminos, almond flour, coconut flour, grassed butter, grain fed organic beef, lamb, organic fruits and veggies, coconut butter, almond milk are all common ingredients in paleo style food. If you do follow paleo, do you have ways of keeping the costs down?

 

[crimsonghost747]

Nope, it's not for me.
May I ask why you chose to start doing it? Because judging from your post you see it as expensive, time consuming and limiting your options.

 

[veggiespls]

Yes definitely expensive, especially when you are buying everything organic. The time consuming part usually doesn't bother me as I enjoy being in the kitchen and I love all the foods and dishes and how many vegetables my kids eat. I don't really feel it limits my options either, as there are so many recipes out their that make up for recipes made with grain. Cauliflower rice is one that's pretty darn awesome! I do it because I find that staying away from sugar, processed food and grains just seems to make me feel so much better. I have more energy and no digestive issues that seem to come and go when I'm eating the other stuff. Also I'm not as hungry all the time and my weight stays stable. I like, also that my kids don't get a lot of processed sugar and/or additives in their food. Robb Wolfe, one of the big paleo guru's, does advocate an 80/20 lifestyle so I'm ok with how I'm doing paleo. Just curious how others deal with the costs, especially when feeding a family. Including myself, I feed five.

 

[crimsonghost747]

Seems like it's working great for you then! One thing I do in order to cut down costs is to put larger quantities of the cheap products into my dishes. For example if you have rice with a sauce and are used to putting in equal amount of both, try using a bit less sauce and a bit more rice. You'll still have the same dish, but you will have more to eat with a lower costs. This technique obviously has it's limits, but it can help a little with finances.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

We do something similar with bulk buying for foods such as cashew nuts. 400g in the local supermarket will cost me £4.99. However, I can buy pieces of cashew nuts in a 5kg bag for £25ish with free delivery.... makes using cashew nuts in a lot of my recipes suddenly much more affordable and all I have to do is keep them away from the mice!

 

[Chris_A]

I `ve always wanted to try out the paleo diet. Although I`m not sure I could go completely paleo, as I love a lot of processed foods and dairy products, which the paleo diet excludes, I think. I still plan on integrating at least parts of the paleo diet regime into my diet. It is very healthy for sure, for those who have the discipline and the funds necessary for it.