Cheap Eats on the Ketogenic Lifestyle

How do you do the ketogenic *lifestyle when you are low-income? Most poor-people foods--- like ramen noodles, boxed mac and cheese, and Rice-a-Roni--- are far too high-carb to even THINK about.

Some on keto insist we should all be absolute perfectionists with the food we purchase. We shouldn't buy common butter when it is on sale, we should hold out for imported, grass-fed Kerrygold butter. We shouldn't buy common grocery store beef, pork and chicken, but hold out for specialty, grass-fed, organic-certified meat at many times to price.

Don't do this. If you are both low-income and a perfectionist, you won't get many keto meals out of your food income, and you will end up eating junk from the local Food Bank at the end of the month. It's better to go for less-perfect but keto-OK foods that will keep you properly fed without breaking the budget.

1. Eggs. Regular grocery store eggs are OK. If you know a chicken-raiser who has extra eggs, these are worth the extra money since the shells are stronger and the chickens less likely to be confined without any green feeds. Don't hold out for 'certified organic' which most good egg producers can't afford to do.
2. Buy dairy products unless allergic. Butter, heavy whipping cream, sour cream and cheese are allowed foods which are cheaper than non-dairy alternatives. If you can't tolerate most dairy, you may be able to handle butter. Or home-made ghee (clarified butter.) 
3. Buy meat with bones in it. Save the bones in your freezer to make bone broth. Bone broth from leftover bones is pretty much free food.
4. Zucchini from gardeners or farm stands. These zucchini are many times larger than grocery store zucchini, and can be used for zucchini noodles, riced zucchini, and mashed zucchini.
5. Cabbage, also from farm stands when possible. My friend got some massive cabbage direct from a farmer one year. Cabbage keeps well and is good for salad, low-carb cabbage soups, cabbage noodles and such. Also you can make sauerkraut or kimchee from it--- healthy fermented foods.
6. Meat and soup bones direct from the farmer at farmers' markets. We have a guy selling the meat by the piece and I got great soup bones from him. 
7. Lamb from lamb farmers. Some lamb farmers are used to sell some lambs direct to Muslim customers. Ask around who raises lambs in your area. If you have Muslim friends or other immigrant lamb-eaters, ask them. Lamb is higher in fats than many meats. If you don't have the skills to butcher it yourself, there are custom shops that will butcher to order.
8. Stewing hens. These are egg hens who are older birds and make the best soup or broth. You may be able to buy birds cheap from your egg supplier in fall. Butcher them yourself and cook them for hours in a Crock-Pot for the meat and the bone broth.
9. 'Family-Pack' meats. Sometimes these cost less per pound. Freeze what you are not going to cook right away. 
10. Chicken thighs. These have more fat than other chicken, unless you buy the boneless, skinless travesties. (Don't do that.) Chicken thighs with skin-on make a delicious meal, and the bones can be stockpiled in the freezer for bone broth.
11. Free venison. Sometimes hunters, especially older ones, have more venison than their families can consume, and they donate it to a Food Bank. Donation is also the likely fate of deer who damage crops and are hunted, with permission, out of season. Since venison is lean, it will need a rich sauce to keep your fat percentage up.

*lifestyle = we call keto a lifestyle, not a diet, because it is supposed to be a way of life, for life, not just a temporary diet you go on and then off of.