Atkins Diet on a Budget

The Atkins diet has many health benefits, but when trying to slash your food budget, and stay healthy at the same time, you don't want to cut back on proteins. With fresh meat being some of the most expensive items in the grocery store, you will need to take some cost cutting steps.

Watch for meat sales and buy in bulk whenever possible to cut down on your protein cost. Using a crock-pot or slow cooker is an easy way to tenderize some cuts of meat. Using a Pressure cooker is also an excellent method of tenderizing any cut of meat, and will help get meals on the table very quickly.

When grocery shopping, select ground beef at the lowest price per pound. Make your own beef patty's and freeze them. The patty's will thaw quickly, and you can use them individually for burgers, or thaw several at a time to make chili, enchiladas or other recipes requiring ground beef.

Brown some ground beef and put it in the freezer, when you need a quick meal, the precooked meat can be taken from the freezer, to the skillet. With a few spices added you can have a variety of meat dishes, add a salad or vegetables for meals in a jiffy.

For less expensive sources of protein, chicken and fish are good choices. Chicken legs and thighs are great to use in casseroles or on a salad. Buy them in bulk, separate, and freeze in meal sized portions. Buy individually frozen fish fillets, and cans of tuna when they are on sale. Other less expensive proteins are eggs and tofu that can be used in a variety of ways, to help lower food cost.

Nuts are a great source of protein, however some are fairly expensive. If a recipe calls for macadamia nuts, or cashews you can substitute walnuts, peanuts or almonds without sacrificing taste and the protein amounts are comparable and they cost much less.

Since mixed vegetable salads will make a large portion of the Atkins plan meals, consider chopping salad vegetables yourself. You can buy two or three varieties of lettuce for about the same cost as the pre-packaged ones. Store in plastic bags the refrigerator and they will stay fresh just a long as the pre-packed without the added chemicals.

Limit your purchases of low-carbohydrate packaged foods. They are expensive, and may contain hidden carbohydrates.

If you have a desire for desserts, home-made is the best. By doing the baking, you can control the amount and type of sweeteners, sugar, and salt in a recipe. You will also avoid hidden carbohydrates, artificial ingredients and unhealthy food dyes and preservatives.

Watch for sale items, and use coupons, only for the items that you know you will use.