How much am I going to spend on a keto diet?
There is a stigma that eating a ketogenic diet can be expensive. Is a keto diet expensive? We are often asked if a keto diet is far more expensive than normal diet and the answer is….. difficult.
“A dining establishment has to cover their overhead in the form of rent, electric, supplies, food costs, payroll, etc.”
In short, if you are a college teenager living on Ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese than eating a healthy ketogenic diet may prove to be more expensive than your current diet. Purchasing fish, meat, poultry, and fresh vegetables tend to be more costly than the 99 cent rack at a Walmart.
The good news is, aside from the above demographic many people tend to eat out on a regular basis. Eating food out is the most expensive form of caloric consumption. Most restaurants, deli’s, and pizza joints follow a fairly common formula where they strive to keep their food costs at or below 30 percent. A dining establishment has to cover their overhead in the form of rent, electric, supplies, food costs, payroll, etc.
How do you cook?
Some people have exclaimed “I can’t cook!”. This is like a toddler saying “I can’t tie my shoes”. It’s literally childish to say you can’t cook at all. There are many dishes, such as scrambled eggs that are almost impossible to screw up unless you walk away from the stove and decide to never return.
We will take some time on the blog to offer some basic advice on getting started if you’ve never cooked before. Shannon had never really cooked much when we met and is now an amazing cook – she will share a lot of her experiences.
“What if you could cook fresh eggs and bacon in less than five minutes?”
Eggs are a great example, because breakfast is probably one of the least expensive options when eating out, and also one of the most inconvenient and time intensive meals we eat in a day. Are you the type of person who heads to Dunkin’ Donuts in the morning for a bagel with cream cheese and a coffee? Or maybe a quick McMuffin from a McDonalds drive through? What if you could cook fresh eggs and bacon in less than five minutes? Even less than 3 minutes?
It really hit me hard as I stood in line at Dunkin Donuts waiting for my coffee. I calculated the time it took to go out of my way to the location, the time I waited in line before ordering my coffee, and the time I spent waiting at the end of the counter for my coffee to appear. On a great day it was about 3 minutes (slightly faster than at home), and on an average day it was about 8-10 minutes. Wait! I had my fresh, delicious breakfast down to about 3-4 minutes, but now I’m paying a premium to get a fast treat, but it’s costing me 10 minutes of my time and a 200% premium for sub-standard quality? In reality, you save money and save time by making breakfast at home. More importantly, the breakfast made is superior to the microwaved egg product at a coffee shop.
What about cleanup?
See our article on quickly cleaning up when cooking keto!
How much will I need to spend?
“Ultimately, what you prefer to eat will have an impact on the food bill.”
In New York, we spend about $150-$200 a week depending on our meal plan. If we decide we are having filet mignon for dinner, the weekly bill jumps up considerably more than if we choose to eat a keto pizza or chicken.
We are terrible with coupons, sales, promotions, etc. We just go to the store and buy whatever we feel like eating with complete disregard to any specials. Many people more savy than we are could probably take advantage of sale items and stock up during sales and cut that weekly bill down 20% or more.
Ultimately, what you prefer to eat will have an impact on the food bill. We love macadamia nuts, but they are outrageously expensive. At $12 or more a bag, this can account for $50 a month of our food cost. If we had to cut back, I could go for pistachio nuts as a more cost effective option, or peanuts to be even more cost conscious. However, macadamia nuts are the lowest in net carbs of all of them.
During a purse tightening week, you could opt for eggs and sausage for breakfast, egg salad or chicken salad for lunch, and some variety of egg casserole or chicken for dinner. This type of meal plan can feed a couple, three meals a day, at around $10 per day.
Budgeting for Food
“Plan on spending about $200 a week for food in the first few weeks.”
In the beginning, budgeting for food maybe tricky as you learn more about the foods you enjoy. You may find some waste purchasing things for recipes which don’t turn out quite like you were expecting. You’ll be sure to find friends or family that would be happy to take the ingredients you dislike off your hands, so it should never really go to waste.
Plan on spending about $200 a week for food in the first few weeks. It doesn’t take long to figure out which ingredients you can or can’t tolerate. For example, coconut flower is called for in many keto bread-alternative recipes. We both found coconut flower to ruin anything we put it in. Meanwhile, we’ve come to love almond flour. Neither of those ingredients is inexpensive, but you live and learn. We made someone happy giving them our $15 tub of coconut flower that was virtually brand new.
Cooking Supplies
If you’ve never cooked before you may not even own things like a frying pan or broiler pan. You don’t have to go crazy here, there are some very inexpensive tools you can purchase to get started which we’ll cover in a later post coming soon!
So, is a keto diet expensive?
Chances are it will be slightly more than you are spending now. Fresh ingredients and good food is always going to be more expensive than pre-packaged sodium and sugar-filled foods. A three farm-fresh egg omelet, stuffed with fresh peppers, diced ham, and quality cheese will cost more than a 99 cent dried out breakfast sandwich from a fast food joint or gas station.
Which would you rather eat? Isnt’ your health, weight, and well-being worth a few more dollars?
