Keto Groceries: How We Budget for our Family of 5 for Under $600/ Month

As if groceries, meal planning, and budgeting weren’t already the bane of my existence, we’ve also added in food guidelines for what we will and won’t eat. I won’t debate our reasoning behind keto in this post, but I will tell you our lives are so much better with this change. I worked with a dietician to create a well rounded meal plan that fits in my budget and meets each of our individual nutritional needs. I will share with you exactly how I created this budget, what it looks like for me in action, how you can implement it yourself, and the steps to my weekly meal prep. This plan or budget may not work exactly for you, but if you are giving up junk foods or high carbs then this is a wonderful step in the right direction and you will be getting more nutrients than you were before.

Some Notes: Keto is not for everyone, but I believe eating low carb and high nutrient dense foods is for everyone and that this guide on how to make a well rounded diet on a small budget can be helpful regardless of the way you eat. My children ages 1, 4, and 7 are not picky eaters. However, the love sugar, and once they get a taste they become quite choosy. My boys need more carbs to stay happy and healthy, but my daughter and I are strict on our day to day diets because we have auto immune flares and mental health issues that are impacted by inflammation and the insulin rollercoaster. I will explain more about the benefits we’ve experienced in another post. Finally, my children are oyung and don’t eat a ton so please consider your own dietary needs carefully when crafting a meal plan and budget and don’t just copy mine!

Tips

• Only purchase items your family will actually eat so you can stick to your meal plan and budget.
• Take notes on the dietary needs of each person in your family so you know how to portion and plate up their food. This will make sure they are getting all that they need and arent too hungry between meals.
• The goal of any nutrient dense diet is variety, focus on a variety of your favorite foods and don’t sweat the details. You can tailor your meal plan and eating habits more over time.
• Dont be a perfectionist. Any change in the right direction is better than nothing, and you can take all the time you need to figure it out. You don’t have to have it all layed out perfectly before you start meal planning, budgeting, or eating healthier. We learn a lot from the process!

Creating your Own Budget Friendly Meal Plan

This is the formula I used to develop my meal plan and stay within my budget. I will lay out my meal plan for you completely, but these steps can help you make any adjustments to suit your families needs, or just create your own! Start building a monthly list on the app for your local chain grocery store and then break it in down into a separate list of your weekly regulars. We are aiming for the cheapest products to fit your budget, but if you have a larger budget and want higher quality items go for it! Don’t worry if you can’t afford grass fed organic foods. This diet is low in inflammatory foods and high in nutrients, so you can feel good about feeding your family better without increasing the cost. Forgive yourself for not having the capacity for perfection in everything, and make the changes you can to have a healthier future.

• Evaluate how much protein you need and how much it will cost to buy your regular meats per week. Include a variety of the cheapest protein sources you can. I will provide a list of what you should include for nutrient variety below. The remainder of your budget will be split into other groups as needed.
• Next, evaluate how many vegetables you need per person per week. This can be tricky, so start with how much your “supposed” to eat and move from there. There will be an adjustment period where you can make changes later. My family spends about $32 per week for at least 13 lbs of veggies. Knowing how much I can spend allows me to create variety when things are on sale, or know when to pass on something when the price has gone up significantly.
• Evaluate your fat needs, and look into your options to see what fits your budget. Keto is a predominantly fat based diet so you will need to look closely at how much your family needs per meal. I add things we go through weekly here like cream, butter, sour cream and cheese, and put oils on the monthly list since I buy them in bulk infrequently.
• You will now have the remaining part of your budget to allocate towards spices, pantry staples, coffee, herbs etc.

These monthly and weekly groceries leaves $30 a month left for spices, coffee, or other condiments. It’s really not enough on its own, but I find that we don’t always buy everything on the list and usually have more money leftover! We evaluate our stock weekly when deciding what to buy and sometimes we will have plenty of oil, butter, or eggs leftover so we don’t need to purchase more. Utilizing local assistance like the WIC program or food banks can also help make ends meet and reduce costs. While we don’t have food banks in my area that can supplement a predominantly whole foods diet, WIC does cover about $75 of what I have listed above. If your children aren’t strictly keto then these programs can go a long way to supplementing their diets. At times I have been able to reduce the cost of keto friendly foods up to $150 by using assistance programs. Don’t feel bad about being choosy with your food when accepting help. Food is medicine and we all have different needs!

Our Weekly Haul

Total: $129.57

Meat: $53.20 Note: Switch up the liver and fish weekly, these are sources of micronutrients that shouldn’t be left out.

• 16 lbs chicken thighs $1.87/lb
• 6 lbs ground turkey $1.98/lb
• 1 lb chicken or beef liver $2.00/lb
• 1 lb canned fish (Tuna, salmon, or sardines) $4/lb

Fats: 26.35 Note: Some fats are listed on the monthly haul.

• 32 oz heavy cream $5.28
• 48 oz sour cream $5.48
• 2lb cheese $7.32
• 32 oz yogurt $3.93
• 16 ounce pure peanut butter $3.72

Veggies: $32.19 Note: Switch these up regularly within your budget and shop in season.

• 2lb baby carrots $1.82
• 3 cucumbers $2.01
• 2 Bundles Celery $3.94
• Head of cabbage $ 2.98
• 2 12 ounce packs frozen kale $3.32
• 4lb frozen broccoli $6.34
• 48 oz frozen brussel sprouts $6.68
• 12 oz frozen spinach $1.26
• 36 oz frozen cauliflower $3.84

Eggs: 60 count $10.86

In our monthly haul I will add a few of the same items from our weekly haul because we occasionally go overboard on an item or two.

Our Monthly Haul

Total: $54.50

• Coconut Oil 56 oz $13.63
• Avocado Oil $25.5 ounce $12.24
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil 17 oz $6.12
• Butter 2lb $6.97
• Onions 6lbs $4.68
• Extra Eggs 60 $10.86 or 3 lbs of ground beef patties same price

Irregular Purchases

We have a running list of things to spend the leftover money on. We prefer to have most of these items on hand and I’ve added some extra nutrient dense items. I can mark when we are running low or have some extra money to spend so we can try to squeeze these items into the budget. When we have money leftover I just keep it in the account and let it build for these purchases. I buy many of these items from Walmart, but I tend to get spices, baking items, and nuts and seeds from Azure Standard because they are cheaper in bulk and higher quality than Walmart. If I don’t need anything then fancier cuts of meat or fish, or extra snack items for the kids are what I go to.

Our Meal Prep

This is our meal plan that we loosely follow. I have some experience varying the chicken recipes I use and improvising when I need a little excitement.

At the beginning of the week I smoke around 16 lbs of chicken. You can find a video I made for one of my classes on my basic smoking process here. I cook and blend the liver and freeze into my silicone cube tray to add to meals without overpowering flavor. I use the bones from the chicken thighs to make my chicken stock. The stock is used in recipes, soup, or drank on its own.

I make 2 frittatas for the kids and I (or cook our eggs daily) (8 eggs, a quarter cup spinach, a few tbsp of cream, and a handful of shredded cheese) and I make my husbands individual breakfast servings for work the same way but with 4 eggs per day for him. I also like to make cabbage fritters if I have enough cabbage leftover.

I prep our veggies and cheese slices into snack containers, and separate yogurt into serving sizes.

I double dinner every night so we eat the same thing for the following days lunch most of the time. Dinner is usually just seasoned protein of choice with sautéed veggies and topped with sour cream. On nights we have turkey I throw in a few frozen cubes of ground liver for the extra nutrients. Turkey is seasoned with a taco blend, grrek bland with lemon juice, or into a cheesy casserole with the veggies.

The chicken will last 4-5 days, and we have turkey for the other 2-3 nights. Sometimes we eat everything a bit quicker or slower, I find that everything evens out over time but I keep a packaged of frozen beef patties on hand just in case!

Since our meals fluctuate a bit I will have a separate post with menus and links to recipes!

Closing Thoughts

With proper planning you can have a nutrient dense diet. Whether you have a large family or not the key to creating a meal plan and budget you can follow is to choose foods you will actually eat and learn how to make them extra tasty! The keto diet has many benefits including reduced cravings, which can help with overall health and reduce overspending. Set your budget and follow the steps I have laid out to make sure you can fit everything you need into the budget, and reach out for help if needed.