atkins is easy on the pocketbook
 

i'm on day 7 of atkins, went through the ritual purging of the kitchen of illegal foods ( my neighbor was very happy that day ). i just went shopping again, all said an done i bought about 50-60 dollars worth of food that will last me a week and a half. this is probably half of what i was normally spending before atkins.

*speechless* and happy :)

I know, I have foudn the same thing - especially since i have stopped buying junk food and goodies!

Good for you! :thup: I found the same thing. I was spending more on meat and cheese, but saving big time on the junk I *wasn't* buying. No more chips, cereal, or hot-chocolate-and-donut runs to Tim Horton's.

I agree too. I find that now that I'm not buying all the prepared foods my grocery bill is alot lower.

I have to agree. No more ice cream or pies and chips and chocolate and OH GOD we drank so much soda, especially Coca Cola.

I'm eating more vege's than ever before and the wallet is doing so good. :yay:

Lily

My grocery bill has gone up a bit, but if you factor in the vending machine candy splurges and the massive eating out, I think overall it's gone down.

I also have had an increased grocery bill, but a decreased all-around food bill. It's amazing what a cafe latte or donut can cost when you add them up for the week!

I found no noticible difference in my food budget...still around 120 for family of 4. I do not buy many low-carb specialty products which are what can cause a budget to go up up up.

Wow, to you 120 for 4 people??? Yikes!

I guess we just eat well ;)

I buy alot of steak and shrimp and the kids love shrimp too, and fried chicken from the grocery store. I would bet I easily spend about 200 a week on groceries. I kept track at one time for a whole month of every $ I spent- it was sickening!

I have 2 dogs too.

And I eat steak and shrimp too...but I only buy on sale.

You can definitely keep a "budget" by shopping around. I routinely shop at 3 different supermarkets...buying whats on sale in each...and buying stuff at the wholesale club (i.e. salad greens, dairy products) that are cheaper in bulk.

Ditto here on the good food. Though we spend less now it's still up there. We spend about 150 a week on grocery, whereas before we spent close to 300 and there are 4 of us here too.

Yikes!

Lily

I'm impressed - $120 for a family of 4 - albeit, that's USD - my grocery bill for 2 is about $250, but we always eat at home, and make enough for lunches - bringing lunch saves us probably about $10/day each.

Vikki

My overall food budget is greatly reduced! Have to say bringing lunch and eating at home for dinner really cuts back on expenses.

The best thing is that I actually eat the food I buy now. I used to be terrible and buying food, sticking it in the fridge and throwing it all away 2 weeks later! I never ate at home before. I can't even tell you how many grocercies wasted away in my fridge! Now you can actually see the food in there and it gets eaten! It was really weird to have to take out the trash, recycle bottles/cans more than once a week!

I am spending more on dishwasher detergent and dish soap though, HAHA!

My grocery bill has gone up. I used to eat a lot of pasta,
bread, rice dishes, etc. But not much meat. Now that I'm eating a good deal of meat, the weekly cost has gone up. But not tremendously, since I've cut out all of the junk foods for me (although my family still eats some of that stuff).

-Mike

i've had a sams club membership for about 8 months, i've gotten some really good deals there on meats and even some atkins stuff. might want to check it out.

If I would take time to bring my lunch again my food bill would go down/maybe.

I can go to the grocery for salad bar and end up with $40 spent on just lunch fixings for a couple of days- must learn to budget better.

My grocery bill has also gone way down. I have been spending $200 every 2 weeks at Costco on cheese, eggs, meat, and other atkins type of foods. My boyfriend doesn't do low carb so I still buy him milk, bread and potatoes. I have to run to the supermarket every few days for veggies, but that's fine. The other day our supermarket had iceburg lettuce for 29 cents a head!

At Costco I buy all my meat and then come home and divide it up for the week. I also get a better deal on butter there too. I think it's 4.98 for 4 lbs, and cream cheese I buy by the 2 lb package, so that lasts us 2 weeks also.

I did notice too that I do dishes alot more than I ever did before and there is nothing rotting in my fridge anymore either. Everything gets eaten now.

I was opposite in the begining. I went out and blew all kinds of money stocking my pantry with LC mixes, goodies and so on. Most of them went untouched, soem of them were so nasty they went strait to trash, and some I kept. Then I relized how much bette rI lost and felt on whole foods. I cut out the Lc products completely, and started losing well again. Now I don't always behave myself I am ashamed to admit. Mostly because of lazyness on my part. I do just stick to a few favorites I consider the lesser of evils though and eat them in enough moderation it's rare I have to rebuy.

I've also learned the art of hitting the meat counters first thing in the morning to get cheap meats.

It has been the opposite for us. Our grocery bills are huge now. We ate healthy before but carbs are so much cheaper than protein foods. Our bills have almost doubled. Pasta, flour, grains, breads are so much cheaper than bacon, fish, meats, and cheese--expensive low carb icecream, bars, etc.
But who cares, it's worth it to us, Dh and me.
Katy

Since there are 5 people in our family (and a dog and a cat), and only one of us is Low-carbing (me), my grocery bill has probably gone up because I used to make a lot of casseroles with rice and pasta, etc. I still make those but then I make something else for me. I serve the same amount of meat to all 4 of them and then make the same amount of meat that I gave them for me for 1-2 meals. BUT, I used to eat a lot of junk food/fast food every, single day and then Starbucks and Coke all day. I'd bet that I was spending $15-20/day on MYSELF for my addiction that I don't spend now. So, grocery bill has gone up but all-round spending has gone way, way down!

Nicole

I have to agree with the topic of this thread. Atkins is easier on my pocketbook. The first couple of visits to the grocery store were actually a little more than pre-atkins, but this was just an adjustment phase. I'm stocked up now with plenty of spices and supplements, so I find my grocery bill is about the same or a little less than before.

The real savings is in all the extras; coffee and donut everyday on the way to work, can of pop(or 2) and bag of chips with my lunch, fastfood, pizzas once a week. When I started to add up all the "extras" that are not being bought anymore it is like somebody is paying me to eat healthier.

Loving this WOL!

Our bill is higher, it used to be about £20 - £30 a week for 2 people on high carb low fat diet, now it's around £50 - 60 a week for low carb, We didn't eat much meat or cheeses before, just cheap pasta, rice, bread, etc. One week as a student I managed on just £7 for a whole week! We buy the rotisserie chickens from Tesco as they're so much cheaper than raw ones, and try to buy 2-4-1s and other stuff from Iceland (2-4-1 city!!!)

Dog food is extra for us, I buy them premium food - but the store brand so it's not as high. I have 4 dogs -medium and large ones - and 3 cats. Anyone want a cat?:)

Our grocery bill has increased but our going out to eat budget has dropped dramatically. We can make it at home so much better now, plus we dont have to worry about what is in our meals. Also, as soon as the weather warms up, we will be grilling a lot! :)
On a funny note-I used to buy a 20 lb bag of potatoes every week, when cleaning out the pantry the other day, I found a bag a potatoes that was so old that they were growing sprouts. :lol:

Me! ME! ME!

Except I have campus houseing so no pets allowed :( It's hard living without animals after having them for almost all my life.

I'm the opposite. My food bill is much higher. I am still happy though - a lot of the reason I am spending more is that I am buying more organic and fresh products. Also, cooking for a family, we used to have pasta, rice, and bread every day which is very cheap. That is ok, my family and I are much healthier and happier this way which is priceless. :)
Marie