Taco Meat & Beef W/ Sweet Potatoes

Taco Seasoning

1 part chili powder

1 part ground cumin

1 part garlic powder

1 part onion powder

crushed red pepper to taste

Save an old spice jar and make your own mexican seasoning to keep on hand for fajitas, peppers, taco meat, crock pot shredded chicken...you get the picture. You'll get the flavor without the added chemicals and sugar in the spice pouches.

Taco Salad

2 lbs ground beef

romaine lettuce

salsa

guac singles

I bought a family pack of ground beef for about $17-18 and used the seasoning listed above on half of it. We ate it over lettuce with salsa and guacamole. I also love to add saute'd onions and bell peppers if I have on hand, prepared how they do at Chipotle. Yumm. I always have to ask for more when I go. That tiny little spoonful is never enough!

With the remaining half of the meat, I added chopped onion (the rest of the onion that I used on the chicken salad). I added in some salt and pepper and a tiny bit of cumin. Not a lot. Cumin can ruin a dish pretty quickly. Then I cubed up a couple sweet potatoes. Threw them in the pan and put on a lid. Stirred occasionally, then drained it to get rid of any remaining fat.  

I found this on thefoodieandthefamily.com  It's as good as it looks.

5lb ground beef, $17. (two meals, 2-3 servings each).

2 Sweet Potatoes, $1 Each.

Guacamole Singles (Natural), $.60 per serving pouch

Romaine Lettuce, $4.29

Whole Chicken, Bought By Date is Great

Today I bought a whole, cut up free-range chicken on sale for $4. It was nearing the bought by date, but didn't matter because I planned on cooking it today. I eat a lot of chicken and like to change it up a bit to keep my taste buds from protesting. So today I added Parmesan cheese, tomatoes and oregano.

*1/3 cup of almond flour.  I didn't buy almond flour, I just threw a handful of almonds in the food processor. I bought the almonds at Sam's Club. I probably used less than 1/3 but just enough to fool myself into thinking its covered in breadcrumbs.

*a drizzle of oil or bacon fat (see upcoming bacon fat blog post)

*a dash of oregano

*canned stewed tomatoes (I had on hand. I think they were $1.60)

* about 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

Put the tomatoes in a baking dish.  Add all dry ingredients together. Coat chicken pieces in oil/fat, then dredge in parm. mixture. Sprinkle any remaining parm. mixture over chicken. 

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes (or however long you normally do).

I also had a can of green beans.

We didn’t eat all the chicken, so with the remaining I cut up the pieces, and picked all the tiny annoying pieces off the legs and thighs, and made chicken salad.

*storebought Real Mayo (Google paleo mayo if you want to make your own)

*salt and pepper, to taste

*garlic powder, to taste (ya pretty much everything is "to taste" when I cook. I'm sorry.)

*a few sticks of celery, chopped

*1/4 cup chopped onion (either green onions or a white/yellow onion)

*a handful of grapes sliced in half. I don’t buy grapes because they can be pricey and I eat them all in one sitting, but when you use them sparingly in a recipe like this, it adds a lot of flavor for a small amount.

And snacks for work tomorrow are celery and grapes so they don’t go to waste. It annoys me when someone posts that they used 2 cups of chopped celery and it cost them 53 cents. No it didn’t. You can't buy just 2 cups of celery. You buy the whole stalk. So unless you plan to use it the rest of the week, you're not saving money. You'll find out I eat some strange combinations, but that’s because it’s what I had left after a day or two of meals. The more I do this, the better I'll be able to plan and avoid that one or two days a week where I have incredibly odd parings like pineapple, breakfast sausage, and a chicken leg.

I got off track here. I love to add some walnuts to chicken salad, but I didn't have any and they were too expensive, so this time they were left out.

Chicken, $4.00 (2 meals, servings each)

Celery, $1.79

Grapes, $2.99

Onion, $1.69

Can of Green Beans: $1.35

Common Topic

Blogs & Websites for Cheap Paleo.

When trying save money on food it’s not only the "What" (aka actual food and recipes) but also "When" and "How" you buy and prepare it. Changing the way you eat is extremely difficult and intimidating. The planning is hard work, and the expense can knock the wind out of you.  Because it is such a tough task there are several articles on this topic. Check out some of these sites.

http://whole9life.com/2011/01/paleo-poor-your-guide-to-the-grocery-store/

http://everydaypaleo.com/2012/04/26/robb-wolfs-paleo-budget-shopping-guide-a-review/

http://www.paleoplan.com/2012/06-07/eating-paleo-on-a-budget/

You have to pick your battles.  Some spaghetti sauce has A LOT of sugar in it, but I can’t always buy the ideal.  I buy grass-fed/drug-free meats when I can, but sometimes I don’t.  Same for veggies. Organic produce is nice, but sometimes I don’t care/want to spend the extra money.  I’d rather put that money towards the meat, or just keep it in my pocket for the electrical bill that month. Sometimes it’s not a choice.

I still think that to be Paleo-ish is WAY better than to eat the diet I used to (and that much of America does).

I pack my lunch because:

1. It helps me avoid eating out.

2. There's not enough time to leave the office and go to lunch.

3. It saves $.

Good lunch idea: Put it on a stick! I dont know why this helps, but it does. Maybe its just more fun.

or Hard boiled eggs (ok, I admit..i can do this for a day or two and then I'm Bleh).

Lunch meat. Nuts. Grapes. Can of green beans.

I've been pretty successful with this set up at work. It includes a mini fridge. A really crappy microwave. One glass plate. One bowl. Can opener. Fork. Spoon. Coffee maker and the fixins (Praise the Lord).

What are some of your packing tips?

August Challenge. Day 1

Paleo August Challenge

Hey folks! Welcome to my blog. This will be mostly a collection of recipes and ideas I’ve stolen from others. I’ve just put a price on it and put it on paper (blog, whatever) to hold myself accountable. It’s very difficult to calculate costs per meal when you typically purchase items that will be in two or more servings or even dishes throughout the week.  I’ll try my best.  It may be best to calculate per week or every 4 days, but I want to be able to point out the most cost effective meals of that week, which will require some math.

This is intended for the typical busy person who wants to get healthier. These recipes are not 100% paleo. To me it's not about being perfect. It’s about challenging yourself to be better than yesterday. For example, I don’t make my own "paleo" mayo. Sometimes I use pre-packaged seasonings when I cook. For the recipes, these are extremely simple instructions, meant not to insult your intelligence, it’s just stuff I had to look up myself because I am a terrible cook.  I am by no means qualified to write about how to cook!  This blog is more of a challenge for myself to put a price to paleo and prove I can fit it in my budget. Some days will just be lists of random tips. I like to think this is something many many people think about (how to get the most food for the least money yet make it healthy). You may see the same foods and info quite a bit throughout this month, but in reality that’s how I eat.  99% of us do not have time to make a new recipe every day. Eating paleo you’ll find you eat a lot of things for breakfast you didn’t think of as “breakfast” food. I eat leftovers for lunch the next day, if I have them (I cook for myself and a super crazy strong crossfit trainer/firefighter and extra food is pretty rare). Due to our schedules we pack a LOT. Tupperware is our b-fri. He rarely has time to cook at the station without the sirens going off, so he likes to have fresh prepared food on hand to eat on the go. I normally walk out the door with breakfast in my hand, I pack my lunch, and I have a snack about 4, especially when I head to the gym straight from work.  Due to all that packing, I like to grocery shop on Saturdays and prepare many meals ahead of time and freeze when I can. So, I know it may not be the most appetizing food, but feel free to tweak it however you can. And please, let me know how your experiments turn out! Like I said…I’m not the best cook and would LOVE any tips. ( ;

Broke A$$ Paleo

Broke-A$$ Paleo August Challenge

Fact: A SMALL jar of almonds is $8. A BIG pack of crackers is $3.  This sucks.

Goal: I’d like to establish a collection of paleo recipes and prove that I can feed a family cheaply without cooking a casserole filled with potatoes, rice, or pasta. I’d also like to be able to feed a family of four on $400/month. That’s roughly $13.33/day. I understand you get what you pay for, and what you spend on nutritious food now, you save in medical bills later. But there’s gotta be a way to cut costs.

Challenge: I'd love to learn more ways to prepare 7 days of meals on Sunday and even freeze in batches to take advantage of Sam's Club pricing. I want to learn which are the most common cuts of meat and the cost of bulk items that freeze well and those that don’t, that sort of thing. So here is the challenge:

Email me a daily meal plan or recipe for around $13/day or less. I’ll post it here for all of    us to see. On one site we will have recipes, meal plans, links to budget friendly paleo ideas from other like-minded broke-ass crossfitters for each day of the month of August.

smimeg09@yahoo.com

Italian Meatloaf

I just ate leftover Italian Meatloaf and it was so surprisingly good.  Experimenting with recipes to make them  "paleo" has not always been..uh..successful.  Sometimes I follow already established paleo recipes to the letter and they come out tasting like sandpaper.  If you never have sweets, then it'd probably be satisfying, but to me it tastes like feet.  So I was surprised when I liked this one as much as I did because I threw it together without half of the ingredients originally called for. I didnt have them and was not going to the grocery store late on a Sunday night. But if I didnt go ahead and make my lunch up, I'd be tempted to go out to eat. And face it...I'm weak...especially on Mondays. 

To make this meatloaf, I used lean ground beef. 
Peel a few large carrots. If you only have baby carrots throw them through the food processor.  Chop two cloves of garlic and half an onion.  Saute this and the carrots in a bit of coconut oil for a few minutes. Do not need to do all the way until tender because they'll bake in the oven. 
Add the meat, 2 eggs, and the veggie combo into a bowl.  Add a tsp of salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of italian seasoning. I had pizza seasoning, and it tasted fine. Close enough. 
The original recipe called for a cup of almond flour and a grated zucchini.  I didnt have a zucchini, but i'll add it next time. I'm sure it'd be a lot more moist.  I also saw a variation online that added tomato sauce on top when serving, that looked super yummy.  
The shredded carrots added enough sweetness that i didnt miss the hugemungus load of ketchup i used to slather on regular meatloaf.  Yay!
Cook at 350 for an hour, until no longer pink in the center.
Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day