I wonder if anyone has any advice on how to eat cheaply, while trying to lose weight on a low carb diet. Besides eggs and tuna. I'd like to not have to cook two meals for my family, one for kids and hubby, and one for me. I have been buying a lot of meat and I know that is not cheap. Has anyone else had success losing weight on a frugal budget? It seems like many low cost meals are filled with pasta, rice, or bread. Any advice?

I'm losing weight on a low calorie diet, but I haven't really cut carbs besides switching to whole grains for my breads and pastas. So I don't really know much about low carb. You do need to make sure you're supplementing all that meat with plenty of fiber, so be sure you're eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. Buy a lot in season, when they go on sale, and freeze or preserve them for use later on. If not, be sure you're taking fiber supplements of some sort- Walgreens has a reasonably priced store brand. Low carb diets kind of scare me because of all the meat in them. 

For a lot of your sandwiches, tacos, etc. you could replace the bread or tortilla with lettuce and have lettuce wraps. A head of green leaf lettuce costs less than a loaf of good bread and much less than low-carb tortillas, and you can get just about as much use out of it. 

Nuts are another good source of protein. Don't buy the pre-roasted or salted one in the snacks section of the grocery store. It's more cost effective to get big bags of raw nuts in the baking section and roast and season them yourself. 

Thanks Kim, I think you're right about the fiber, and perhaps low calorie may be a better idea than low carb, it certainly would be cheaper. Thanks for your input.

Jennine:

It seems like many low cost meals are filled with pasta, rice, or bread.

 It's that way for us as well. We don't follow a low carb diet for weight loss but for health reasons.We have to have a balancing act between cheap and healthy.

Most of my dinners consist of a meat, a veggie, one starch/carb (potatoes, rice, pasta or bread) and a salad. I try to keep brown rice, sweet potatoes, wheat flour and wheat pasta on hand for the starch portions instead of the white counterparts. 

My husband who needs the low carb diet will have a larger portion of meat and salad than the rest of us. We use more of the starch serving and cooked vegetable as filler for us.

I also will use some higher carb foods and some processed foods as fillers for the kids and I. I am careful about doling these into the menus though so we aren't eating too much.

Thanks for your input Brandy, Do you have advice on how to be frugal with meat? I appreciate your help.

Could you do more beans, or do they count as carbs?

Hi Joyous, they do count as carbs unfortunatley, and I'm feeling frustrated because the whole low carb thing isn't even working that well for me. I'm tempted to switch to more beans and brown rice, it would certainly be cheaper and probably healthier. I appreciate your input.

Keep in mind that not ALL carbs are bad... if you use whole grain pasta and breads, whole grains have fiber, protein, and a lot of other beneficial things you don't get with white pasta and bread.Your body burns them more slowly, so you feel fuller and keep their energy for a longer time. The same goes for brown or whole grain vs. white rice. The only way good carbs become bad is if you're inactive and don't do anything to burn them off.

Refined sugars are bad carbs of course, but the sugars in fruit are good carbs. 

Thanks Kim, and I have noticed that whole wheat pasta has come down in price quite a bit where we live, perhaps eliminating white rice, pasta and white bread would be a healthier option for our whole family. Thanks for your advice.

Jennine:

Do you have advice on how to be frugal with meat?

 When we relocated and left our chest freezer behind, I discovered just how important one is for the budget if meat is a major part of a meal. Buying meats only on sale is an absolute must! To get the most out of this, meat has to be bought in several packs when at their cheapest and stored for later. 

We have begun using Angel Food for the savings it offers on meats and produce as well.

Even with this, meat remains a large part of our food expense in addition to dairy and produce to maintain a healthy diet.