Paleo on a Budget

A friend, starting her own 30 day challenge, posted on Facebook about how expensive her first shopping trip proved to be. I'll admit I had sticker shock when we first started to convert to a Paleo/Primal lifestyle. When the bulk of your calories comes from meat, followed by veggies and fruit, it gets expensive. Especially when you are "paleoifying" things as paleo-sweeteners tend to be more expensive overall.

Now that the whole family is on Paleo I've managed to find a few ways to save some money.

My Tips

• Shop the freezer on a regular basis - this week 2 nights are freezer entrees.
• Buy slightly more than you need when meat is on sale so you can make a bit more of the recipe and have enough to freeze.
• Take inventory before you go to the store so you know what you already have
• Meal Plan using the meat and/or produce on sale
• If you have the time, shop at multiple stores to get the best deals. Grocery Outlet often has great deals on organic items

While our overall bill is a bit more than pre-paleo (after all you get coupons for frozen meals, but not rib-eye and asparagus), I've found we spend less money since we do not eat out very often, and there are no trips to the coffee shop. So while I may spend more in one trip, our weekly spending is actually a bit less.

Days 6 & 7

This little family had a great weekend to round out the first week of our Whole 30.
Saturday morning began with a super easy sausage and sweet potato hash for breakfast. (Recipe here, I added fennel and oregano and skipped the cinnamon). We all loved it, and it was nice for Isaac to have something substantial. He doesn't eat eggs, so breakfast has been consisting of an egg protein shake (technically primal, not Paleo, but given his aversion to eggs I'm letting it slide)

We had a cleaning crew in to do a major spring cleaning so in an effort to stay out of their way, we went out looking at play sets. They were still cleaning at 5pm so we ended up grabbing burgers, no-bun, while we waited for them to finish.

Sunday we went to the zoo in the morning, and relaxed at home for the afternoon. We had the "Lasagna" from Every Day Paleo for dinner. (recipe here) Now some of the strictest Whole 30 folks will say this wasn't compliant, since I "Paleofied" a dish. But aside from the fact the dish was layered, and the sauce had the same flavor profile, it wasn't really "lasagna". Had I stir fried, baked, or otherwise cooked the exact same ingredients it would satisfy those folks. And since I didn't cook it because I was craving pasta and wanted a substitute, I still think it counts.

Overall I am feeling much more energetic. The cravings I had in the beginning of last week for sweets have largely subsided. The creamer in the office fridge was not even remotely tempting. I also feel better prepared for the week. I know better that I feel better with slightly larger meals and a snack around 5pm to tide me over till dinner. I also bought almond milk to make the office-coffee palatable and remembered to actually bring it to work.

Hailey has been totally off milk since Saturday, although she did have some cheese at dinner that night. But she seems to be doing better. Last night she easily went down to bed. And she loves coconut milk (which btw has more calcium and the same amount of fat as 2% cow's milk, who knew?)

Days 3/4

Days 3 and 4 are reported to be among the hardest for most Paleo/Whole30 challengers. In large part because these are the days when most have the most withdrawal symptoms: headaches, general aches, *ahem* digestive issues. Luckily for me I had a slight headache and nothing more. I was exhausted on Day 3, but I think that had more to do with my daughter's sleeping habits than anything else.

I also added an egg muffin and some blueberries to my breakfast and was satisfied until noon....maybe I don't need to eat every 2-3 hours after all.

What I ate Day 3 :
Breakfast - 3 egg muffins, blueberries
Lunch - left over steak kabobs and cauliflower "fried rice"
Dinner - a banana and some almond butter... I didn't even have a snack

Day 4:

Breakfast - scrambled eggs cooked in coconut butter, a banana
Lunch - Almond crusted chicken (Dipped in dijon mustard, rolled in crushed almonds, bake at 350 for 45 minutes) and spinach
Dinner - Chicken Stirfry


We also made a decision to put Hailey on a Paleo diet for a few weeks. I've thought for awhile she may have a slight dairy intolerance. Even when she was exclusively breastfed I noticed I couldn't have very much cheese or milk or she'd get very cranky. (At the time I was not paleo, or even primal). Then I stumbled across an article that linked common food intolerance to gluten and dairy with sleep issues. I started to think about her latest sleep regression, which times very closely to when we started to pump her full of milk and cheese to try and fatten her up. I'm curious to see if she really does have a connection or not. From Day 3 of our challenge on she'll be Paleo. If there's an improvement when we reach day 30, she'll remain Paleo with us. If there's not, she won't.

Day 2 - Rule Breaker

There are some rules to the Whole30 I don't follow. You'll see that I probably eat more fruit than the strictest of the bunch would allow. But you know what, I like fruit. It's yummy. And it helps me to resist the temptation of the bagels and cream cheese sitting in the office kitchen. Apparently it's also "recommended" that you space your eating out 4-5hours and only have 3 meals and 1 snack a day. They say it takes that long for your hormones to do everything they need to do. Maybe for my next Whole30 I'll try it. But right now? Well I know because I had to test my blood sugar every few hours for 6 months of my pregnancy, and then chose to after that, my body prefers fuel every 2-3 hours, and I get up early. And since eating dinner at 4 and going to bed at 8 just doesn't work with my schedule I'm going to continue eating every 2-3 hours.

What I Ate:

Breakfast - 2 egg muffins and a banana.
Snack 1 (I know, I'm such a rebel) - ants on a log (using almond butter)
Lunch - left over chicken and slaw
Snack 2 - 2 clementines, I brought some chicken as well but did not feel like I needed it.
Dinner - Steak, zucchini, mushroom and red bell pepper kabobs

30 Day Challenge - Day One

What I Ate:

Breakfast - 2 Egg Muffins at 8:00 am

Lunch - Salad with organic greens wild-caught canned salmon, sliced almonds, 1/2 an avocado, olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar and dill, at 11:00 am because I was starving!

Snack - a large bowl of fruit, ham, 1/2 an avocado

Dinner - Roast chicken, Slaw with red cabbage, cucumber, mango, a shallot, olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Dessert - Plantain "chips"


How I felt

I'll be honest, the first day was really hard. Largely due to the amount of sweets around our office. At home it's easier because I don't have anything to tempt me. But I have to pass the candy bowl every time I go to the restroom, or grab a file, and that makes it hard. By noon I was craving something sweet. I ran out to the store and bought a very large bowl of cut fruit.

It made me realize that I need to pack a bit more food than I did, and make sure I include fruit as part of my meals and snacks.

A Meal Planning Crisis

I'll start out by saying, I realize this is a completely first-world problem. Isaac has been working a lot these days. Last week there was one night he was home before midnight, and that was just a quick check in to give Hailey a bath so he could see her. He has a big brief due today, so I already knew going into the weekend that we would not see him on Saturday.

My office closed early on Friday, I picked up Hailey and we had a great afternoon together. My plan was to do my meal-planning for Easter and the start of the 30 day challenge after she went to bed. Then I'd be able to grocery shop on the way home from an Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning. Everything was going swimmingly, Hailey went down very easily. The housekeeper had come so I didn't have anything to pick up. I sat down on the couch and fired up the laptop only to discover there was once again a problem with our AT&T Internet. I started to panic. I do all my meal planning online. All my recipes are online. The grocery store ad so I know what's on sale? Also online.

I attempted to start planning on my phone. But even though my phone is awesome and has faster Internet than our DSL (even when the DSL works). My little 6ish inch screen is not fun to try to plan a weeks worth of meals. Then I remembered I actually have Paleo Cookbooks - 3 to be exact. Lucky for me the first one I started thumbing through was ">Everyday Paleo, where I discovered toward the back she has a 30day Family Meal Plan! Not only are the recipes laid out, but there's also a shopping list to the right of every 5 days worth of food.

I did make a few modifications to her plan. Her egg cupcakes call for bacon, but under the Whole30 bacon is a no-no. I substituted fresh sausage (no sugar, no gluten) instead. And they taste amazing. And Day 5 called for Blueberry pancakes, but because I've committed to not "paleoifying" foods, and/or using sweeteners including maple syrup, I decided we'll just have blueberries and almonds with our scrambled eggs. And because we have some leftover ham, we're having ham instead of jerky on a few days. (Although I did pick up some beef to make my own jerky).

Whole30

Even though I have not been great about blogging the last few months (way too much going on in our world), our primal lifestyle is still going strong. We keep about 80% of our meals (100% of at home meals) paleo or primal, and 20% are cheats. But both Isaac and I have hit a bit of a plateu in the weight loss arena and need a recharge.

Most of the primal and paleo plans suggest you be strict-paleo for 30 days first, and then switch to 80/20. But when I started I was breastfeeding and didn't yet trust that I could get everything I needed by being so strict, so I've always done 80/20. Now that I'm more comfortable, and nursing is less and less a source of nutrition for Hailey, I'm ready for our first Whole30.

Which means starting Monday April 9, 2012, we will not be eating any dairy, legumes, grains, sugar or sugar-substitutes. Nor will we be paleoifying treats like cookies, brownies, and cakes. (Paleoifying is way too common in our house right now.) You can read more about the Whole30 here.

Why start on the 9th? Why not start now? Well, I'll be honest. I LOVE Peeps. I don't want to sacrafice my one-time a year I allow myself to partake of their marshmallow-sugar yumminess. So we're starting the day after Easter. It seems fitting to start at a time of renewal anyway.

Plus we'll end on the 9th, just in time for my *gulp* 10 year college reunion. I hope this 30 days will help me to shed some excess poundage before then.