If you have run out of money because you have paid all your bills this week or you are simply broke with only $50 in your pocket, and you have only a few packets of Chinese soy sauce leftovers, some butter, salt, pepper, and a saved jar of bacon fat in your fridge, there are only 2 options for you.
The first is to go and grab some Ramen and a few pounds of beans and rice. The second is to make yourself up a low-carb menu. We hope you choose the second option, and in this post, we will try to prove that eating low-carb for low cost is indeed possible.
We present you a menu for one that will make 3 meals a day, for a period of one week. The idea behind this menu is to eat half the dinner, and eat the other half for lunch the following day. You can double the recipes or share them as just dinners with another person.
We think that the food on this menu will be more than enough to satisfy your hunger. What’s more, you will even set aside some items to eat as snacks. You will need to have a near Dollar Tree market for a better and bigger selection of frozen foods and low-cost and at the same time cool items.
From the very start, we want to point out that this menu is neither organic nor Paleo or a gourmet one. It includes processed meats so it may even include some gluten. Basically, it has nothing fresh which is logical if you think that it’s a 25$ menu for a whole week.
Items like sweeteners, coffee, and creamer, can be as well found at the Dollar Tree market, and we say this because if you are out of cash, you won’t have enough gas to go to several different markets to find all the products you need. Nevertheless, you may add an additional $3 for these items.
We will show you how to make simple yet tasteful meals, and if you like you can prepare them all on Sunday, and then just package them for the rest days. The snack includes sunflower seeds, pork rinds, pickles, olives, and string cheese. Although it depends on the appetite, you will probably not need them as the meals will be sufficient. What’s more, there will be even some leftovers that you can use for the next week.
If you grow onions in your yard, you can very well use them, or you can just cut a handful of those wild ones that grow in your neighbor’s yard. Just saying.
Do your own calorie count!
These are the total grocery purchases for the $25 low-carb week menu
- 2 bags of frozen veggie mix
- A bag of pork rinds
- 1 bag of frozen onions and peppers
- 1 package of frozen tilapia filets
- 1 bag of frozen spinach
- 1 chub of frozen breakfast sausage
- Two 3-ounce packages of shredded mozzarella (real cheese)
- 1 two-pack of frozen chicken legs
- One 3-ounce package of shredded cheddar (real)
- 3 half dozen cartons of eggs
- One three-pack of string cheese
- A package of walnuts
- A bottle of mayonnaise (real)
- A can of mackerel
- A jar of pickles
- A bag of shelled sunflower seeds
- A can of tuna
- A shaker of parmesan (the big can is a “cheese product” so get the smaller one
- A jar of Rinaldi pizza sauce (Rinaldi doesn’t include added sugar)
- A package of pepperoni sandwich-size slices
- A can of black olives
Sunday
Breakfast. You need a six-pack of eggs, sausage, and a cup of frozen pepper mix.
First, brown the sausage, then scramble the eggs and add the pepper mix. Stir well, and store it in a bowl. Each morning dip some out and heat it up to prepare your quick breakfast.
Next up. Tuna salad
Mix your tuna with a package of walnuts, three tablespoons of mayo, some cut-up pickles, salt, and pepper. Take just 2 cups of the vegetable mix you have purchased and cook it. Boil 2 eggs. Take half the tuna, half the veggies, and one egg for dinner, and pack the rest for tomorrow.
Monday
You need to prepare Spinach Florentine
Unfreeze the package of spinach, and add ¼ cup of parmesan, ¼ cup of mayo, and some salt and pepper. Mix well and put it in a baking dish. Take 4 eggs and crack them on top of the mixture.
Put the baking dish in a preheated oven at 400, and bake for 20 minutes. If you prefer a runny yolk, shorten the baking time to 10-12 minutes. You should make 2 meals of the prepared Spinach Florentine. You can have sunflower seeds for a snack.
Tuesday
For this day you have a stir fry.
Take a frying pan and cook the 2 small tilapia fillets which you will probably find in the fish package. Set them aside and add some butter or bacon fat (if you happen to have them), almost ½ the bag of stir fry mix, and salt and pepper. Cook the mixture until the vegetables unfreeze are become soft. Serve half the meal for two dishes, and if you like extra protein and fat, add string cheese.
Wednesday
Prepare pizza cups enough for 3 meals.
Take 12 cups of muffin tins, and add one pepperoni slice in each. Pour about 1 tablespoon of the Rinaldi pizza sauce on top of them. If there is any pepperoni left, chop them and add them to all cups. Slice several olives and add them too.
Take a few chopped onions and pepper from your frozen pepper mix and add them to the cups. You can use wild onion if you happen to have it in your yard. Top the cups with a little parmesan and shredded mozzarella. Put the cups in a preheated oven to 350, and bake for around 15 minutes. They should get look like those in the picture. You can combine them with a cup of frozen veggies.
Thursday
Recipe for fish croquettes
Drain the liquid from the fish. Put the fish in a large bowl, and add 2 eggs, the shredded cheddar bag, 1/3 cup of mayo, finely crushed pork rinds that equal ½ cup of crumbs, you can add ½ cup of wild onions if you like, and salt and pepper to taste. After mixing all together, make 3 or 4 patties from the mixture and cook them in a frying pan until you notice they got a nice crust, and then flip them. You can use a bit of bacon grease here.
After you prepare the fish, cook a cup of frozen veggies in the leftover fat from the frying pan. Don’t forget to separate the meal into 2 dishes.
Friday
Eggs and Peppers
Just heat and cook the peppers in a frying pan, and then scramble the eggs in the pan. Enjoy your quick and delicious meal!
Saturday
Enjoy a chicken soup
As soon as you wake up, boil the 2 packs of chicken legs for an hour. Then, separate the meat from the bones, and store it in the fridge. Put the bones back in the water, broken in half, and simmer them with the lid on and on low heat.
After 3 or 4 hours, remove the bone pieces by straining the water, and add the meat from the fridge, together with 2-3 cups of the leftover frozen veggies you have eaten during the week, 1/3 cup of the pizza sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. This soup will be enough for a few more meals.
All the leftovers from this week, which might be some pickles, olives, mayo, parmesan, frozen peppers, sunflower seeds, and pizza sauce, can be used in next week’s menu. Of course, you will need to get other things like a little bottle of cooking oil, garlic powder, etc. After the first week, you will see that this menu will totally satisfy your cravings during the entire week, and all that for $25.
Via Budget 101