Costs of low-carb debate
 

I noticed those of us that were responding to Diane's post below made some comments about $$ of low-carb and feeding our children and hubby's different.

I've had this debate with people before and thought it would be interesting to see what everyone here had to say. Do you think it's more expensive eating low-carb?? :read2:

My grocery bill has gone up alot since I'm not buying stuff like, hamburger helper and the cheap, convenience foods. I've always found that when I buy all my meat and cheese it goes up! I've had people tell me that it's cheaper than the "other" ways to eat. But maybe I'm missing something.

Here's another thing--I'm a COUPON FREAK and I would be a happier shopper if they would have coupons for meat!

Just thought I'd get our brains going for a Tuesday morning!! :sunny:

I think it's expensive if you are buying for two different ways of eating. If the whole household is LC, it would be about the same.

Potato chips and other snacks, cookies, ice cream, juice, pop, breakfast cereals and milk are not cheap. With LC they are replaced with small protein snacks and water.

I have a question for those of you with children. Do you worry or wonder if you may be sending your children down the same path of carb addiction that you have found yourselves on?

Karen

We have found that or bill is about the same, or slightly higher (my boyfriend claims its higher). Both of us are following this WOL now which makes things easier. However, when he makes his claims that the bill is higher I can point out that:

A) we no longer have food in the house that is being thrown out the day before garbage night. Everything we buy is eaten.

B) we don't eat out much anymore, with the exception of the occaisional wing night a few times a month.

C) We dont buy alcohol anymore. No beer, no slushy blender drink mix, very little wine.

D) no more lunches / dinners bought at work. I barely buy coffee anymore.

So while we may be spending more, we are making very good use of it.

Nat

I think my bill is about the same or slightly higher, and I also feel I'm making good use of the food I buy. However, where I work it's possible to buy low-carb things for lunch (baked chicken, cheeseburgers without the bun, etc.), which are NOT cheap. I wish I would work harder at bringing my own food for lunch at work. I also agree that while I may be spending more on expensive things such as meats and cheeses, the fact that I've cut out ice cream, cookies, milk, juice, and so on really helps to balance things out. In any case, a slightly higher food bill is worth it, in my opinion.

Karen,
You brought up a good point too. My daughter is only 16 months old--but has quite an appetite. I watch the real carby foods, ie potatoes, pasta and bread that I feed her. Sometimes she seems to really dislike meat (with her genes, there's no way that she'll be a vegetarian!!). But that is one of the things that I thought about when deciding it was time to lose weight--the eating example that I'm setting for her. I don't limit any of her fruits or veggies though.

My grocery bills have finally stabalized and this is why:
I started LCing and I'm had to buy two sets of groceries but after researching I found that I could put my two preteenagers on my WOL and at first there was great rebellion. But now that they have been LCing for a month, I notice the nibbling has almost come to a stop (they have 3 snacks a day, so they are eating every three hours or so) and I notice I don't have to buy 3 gallons of Milk, I don't need two bags of carrots or two bags of apples. They eat peanut butter and celery, plus cheese sticks, as well as nuts.

True cost
 

If you want to calculate the true cost of low-carbing, you have to factor in all of the side savings like medical/pharmacy bills, clothing, etc. Personally, I find that the most expensive food is the processed junk. I sometimes buy high-carb foods for my son and it kills me all the time to think I have to pay over $3 for a bag or chips or $1.39 for a small cup of soda at McDonald's which is, come to think of it, no more than a few cents worth of liquid sugar! :(

good point Bill
 

... about the medical expenses. For someone taking the cholesterol-lowering and diabetic medications ... these can cost hundreds of dollars a month. Fine if you have insurance, not fine if you don't. And some of us are trying to stave off potential health problems ... so, the money we save won't be realized right away.

Another expense to consider is the power needed to prepare the food. Carby foods take longer to cook (if unprocessed and not refined, pre-packaged). Meats, vegetables and salads are pretty quick to prepare, and generally do not require long cooking times ... except for roasts, etc ... and then the veggies can be cooked in the same pan.

Nat brings up a good point about less waste and garbage to put out. Most processed carb foods and junk food are overpackaged, and so there's the cost of recycling and disposing. It adds up if you're in a community where you pay a fee per bag of garbage.

For families where kids don't have weight & health issues ... it is a good idea to cut out the sugar and refined white stuff as others have pointed out. If they still want pasta ... try whole wheat. True, it's more expensive ... but it's twice as filling, so the portion size can be smaller. And potatoes aren't necessarily a no-no except for strict low-carb levels. It's the fluffy white pure starch in the middle that's the problem. Toss it in the compost ... and serve the skins and the ½-inch or so of potato flesh just inside the skin. That's where all the nutrition is found.

Just my thoughts .. :)

Doreen

Well, so far our food bill has gone up only a little. We haven't had to buy much beef however, only from now until December when we buy 1/2 a cow again. That's been a life-saver on the budget. We have an upright freezer in the garage and have eaten more beef since we started this WOE in June.

As for the children. I have thought about how many carbs they get. My dilema is that I run a day care and am required to feed the children certain foods. Breakfast is to include milk, fruit or veggie, and grain or bread. I've been adding protein shakes in the morning, the kids love them. I have to go by the FDA requirements, even if I don't think the children get enough protein and too many carbs.

As for my own children, we limit it more but they are still growing and need the vitamins from fruits and veggies that are high in carbs.

I do have to say that my grocery bills have gone up slightly but not that bad. But I have my whole family LCing now with the occasion of my husband and daughter having a few of junk food. They are both underweight to begin with and I don't mind that they eat the junk every once in a while so they don't loose weight. Thankfully my husband is such a great support that he eats LC while I am around but when I am not around and he is out and has our daughter for his days off they go out to eat and eat burgers and frenchfries so they get there carbs that way. But we don't try to keep very many carbed foods in our house if all possible. I am still trying to use up my Hamberger helpers that I had before making the switch to LCing but my husband and daughter eat those on nights that I have dance class so they can have extra carbs that way. But my bill has gone up a little because we buy more meat and cheeses now but my family loves meat and cheese so it never goes to waist. But I feel like the food bill hasn't gone up for the fact we don't eat out but maybe once a month so we are not waisting money of fast food at all.
There are always those plusses and minuses the the whole WOL but don't you love the energy and the fact you are loosing is the best of all. Who needs carbs then.
Shondel

My grocery bill has gone up slightly from the meat and cheese increasing - however, I now bring my lunch to work to avoid the temptation of "you want fries with that?" so all in all my budget shows a slight savings from those extra values that aren't very valuable at all.

I agree that if they would put out coupons for meats I would be one very happy camper. I use cheese coupons whenever I find one. Sometimes you can get great deals on cheese.

I still have to get breads and pastas and pizzas for the hubby so I don't think I have the overall savings that I could if he would join me in LCing.

Hmmm, my food bills have shot through the roof !
Just compare snacks:

1 packet of biscuits: £0.40 (hey I like the stores ownbrand "nice-biscuits"

1 packet of cheese: £1.69

I also buy more veggies now, as I don't have cheap fillers like rice and potatoes anymore.

I also eat more vitamins now (the price for Q10 is insane !)

I eat more real meat - no more sausages and cheap burgers ( both contain high amounts of bread) and no more vegetarian dinners

No more fish-fingers, real fish instead

Less coffee - saves me about £2.00 a month
Less diest sodas - saves me about £1.00 a month
More Water - Not sure, water bill hasn't gone up much and I refill at work a lot
Cream instead of milk - costs me about £5.00 extra a month (milk is a lot cheaper, and I still need to buy it for BF and daughter)
basically, protein food is a lot more expensive to buy, than crisps (potato chips for you ;) ) and biscuits.
The lunch situation is about the same as before. I either have a BLT with no bread (they charge the same for that) or bring my own (did that before as well), or have some convienient processed food ( hot-dog-sausages, Cheese, ready made chicken...)

I recon my food bill has gone up about £25-30 a month, propably more

Mine has gone up a lot. But I was eating very unhealthly. I was very poor and found out quickly that it was MUCH cheaper to go to a fast food restaurant and get whatever sandwich was $0.99 than it was to make a cheap meal at home. I could easily spend $10 to make something at home, and only $4 to eat out. I worry about my ex though, he's been eating like that for a long time and doesn't take vitamins... :(

Mine has gone up alot too. I used to exist on pasta, rice, bread and potatoes, mostly cheap convenience foods. Now I'm buying more meat and veggies which are alot more expensive. Not to mention the tons of vitamins I take every day...lol. I would say that I've saved on sugar and sugary drinks since I don't drink them anymore, but I think my husband started consuming my portions of those. ;) I still buy him his snack chips, but less of them. So I guess I've saved in some areas, but I spend much more in other areas.

But I figure it's worth it in the end. :)

Wendy

I actually think we save money. Mostly because I have to be more organised and plan what I am cooking, taking to work etc.

Previously we were really bad at picking something up for tea at the supermarket on the way home (convenience food) and I always bought my lunch.

It must be cheaper now beacuse I find I still have cash in my wallet at the end of the week that was there at the start :D

Unbeknown to the tenagers, I have also cut back on the junk food in the house. They think it is a treat to nibble on macadamia nuts and salami sticks now ;)

Lesley

To me there have been two costs. The money $$$ and the time it takes to cook. My groceries before were nice, conveinent, cheap, microwavable meals, that were of course full of carbs. I'd have them for lunch, and dinner, and cereal for breakfast. Cheap, easy, and quick.

Now i dish out the money for meat, cheese, lettuce and strange, new ingredients for the recipes I've ventured to try. And a meal might take 20 minutes of time rather 2. And a trip to the store might cost 50 dollars rather than 20.

I will have to see in the long run how this works out. I still buy quick, easy whenever possible, bags of lettuce, pre-shredded cheese, hot dogs, pre-cooked sausage, etc, and many fast-food hamburgers without the buns. Not the cheapest way to go, but on the other hand, I'm no longer binge shopping on the bags of chips and cookies and candies and bottled juice that I could consume all in one sitting.

More expensive, definitely. And my hopes is that in several months time, I will have to spend even more money on a whole new wardrobe. Not sure where the $$ will come from, but completely sure it'll be worth it.

Jeanette

Definitely more expensive
 

This WOL, that is. I know, I know, if you take into consideration less trips to the doctors, etc, it is cheaper in the long run . . .

BUT, I have a family of three adults and four boys to feed and we spend a TON of money on food. I was never one for buying pop, juice, chips, cookies or anything like that. Used to buy a large container of ice cream to keep in the freezer to have with the occasional pie or carrot cake I made or even to have with cut up bananas.

Since I have changed the way I am eating, I have noticed that I spend a lot more money on meat, eggs and cheese. And fresh veggies are not that cheap either. It seems to me that it is only the crappy junk food that is cheap. You know, bottles of sticky sugar coloured water aka "pop."

My DH and boys take lunches to school and work. Things like bagels and cream cheese, suasage rolls, boiled eggs, crackers and cheese, carrot and celery sticks along with fruit leather, or apples, bananas, pears, or granola bars (the real ones, not the chocolate bars disguised as granola bars though they do have a high honey content).

It has crossed my mind more than once that they would benefit from a locarb WOE BUT my boys are all healthy and slim and though they really like their grains (cereals, toast, pasta, rice) they also eat a lot of raw veggies, fruits, boiled eggs for snacks. Meat is more limited for them because I have to make it go further (e.g. making speghetti sauce or shepherd's pie with ground beef and veggies so that it feeds more people).

The main thing is that I have always steered them away from sugars in the form of cookies, cakes, poptarts, candies, juice and pop, etc--all the processed stuff that I see other people feeding their kids nonstop. No wonder so many kids are fat these days. And I don't mean plumb I mean actually fat. It is really shocking to see so many overweight children.

DH on the other hand is very slim and is physically active by riding his bike to work and playing hockey but has a lot of allergies which have become worse over time. I am sure he would feel so much better and not be sick as often in the winter months if he ate more like I do. I think, like me, age has caught up to him and his body is out of balance.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on so much. Just had to add my 2 cents worth to the discussion :p

I think in the last 2 years (due to oil prices and consequently, transportation) it has become slightly more expensive to low-carb. I've seen a significant rise in grocery prices for perishable items, which are low-carb friendly. High-carb items, with long(er)lifespan didn't suffer as much.

Wa'il

This whole cost thing has been my "excuse" for quitting--but I think the comments in this thread have been right on. The increased cost of food is definitely made up for in the decreased doctors bills, medications, and general toll on our health. At present, the distance around my hips is bigger than my height, and that has presented several medical problems. I know if I'd stayed on when I started 3 years ago, I would have spent alot less money on medical treatments.... :mad:

You guys feel free to remind me I said that when I'm tempted to stop again. My mom had that bariatric surgery 15+ years ago to lose her weight. It's alot safer now, but she's had a lot of complications from the surgery. Talk about an expensive alternative :exclm:

It's hard to change my way of thinking that it is okay to spend the extra money on eating. I too lived on the cheap-pasta, rice, beans, and a 69 cent bean burrito form Taco Bell; so my grocery bill goes up every time I re-start this WOL--but I'm really beginning to understand it is worth it :thup: :thup:

I think our grocery bill has stayed about the same. Before, I used to buy a lot of frozen tv dinner type things, large pizzas and pasta and jarred sauce, lots of soda, snacks for all three of us, and a little meat, which would sometimes go bad before we used it. Now we all have a protein main course for our suppers every night, all of us eating the same thing saves a lot, I buy large packages of fattier meat that have good value, if it turns out there is too much meat to eat at one meal, I can always have the leftovers for my lunch the next day. I can save by getting packages of chicken drumsticks, thighs, whole breasts with bones, you seem to get more meat then the boneless breasts and they cost a lot less. I buy mostly fruit for my daughter's snacks and my husband gets one pizza to eat and one bag of chips and one six pack of beer for his Sunday football. He rations his chips and beer and make them last almost a week anyways so I figure it's a good deal. The dentist told him to get rid of sugar (since he had most of his teeth out) and he has done a great job of it so far, his only regular indulgence with sugar is ice cream that he has after I go to bed at night. My husband is a little guy, 5'7" and weighs about 135. He used to sip soda all day which had a devastating effect on his teeth. He now has an occassional soda when we go out, which isn't often, another way to save money. The two things he will not give up he says is, football (American kind) and coffee. So far most of the life style changes have been in my favor. When the dentist told him about cutting the sugar I chimed in saying, "you can go on the low-carb diet with me!" The dentist said that it wasn't a bad idea, he himself doesn't eat any foods containing carbohydrates after 3 p.m.!

Elihnig

When I calculate my grocery bill, I have to take in the big picture and relax about how much one bag of food from the grocery store costs.

I am not eating out any more. This is a big life change for me, and one that is saving me money in real life if not in money from the grocery budget. I seem to have money in my pocket again, where I used to always stop at the store and pick up goodies here and there. I guess it is kind of like quitting smoking in that sense.

Just my 2 cents
Holly

the kids
 

In regards to starting bad eating habits for the kids, by giving them tons of empty carbs.....I think we all know the answer to that one. We are all breaking habits established in childhood. I do not deny them any healthy carb... but when it comes to ice cream, sugary cereals, cookies, etc. those are for special occasions, and I always let them know in subtle ways that empty carb calories are just not helpful to our bodies.

About the grocery bill. I buy my meat in bulk at Costco (membership warehouse) and it costs about 1/2 that at the grocery store. I can get 5 heads of romaine lettuce for $2.39. I think my grocery bill is a little more though, because no matter where you buy things like nuts it's pretty expensive.

Cost of low carb WOL
 

:daizy:
My grocery bill has actually gone down since I'm not buying junk food anymore. I started Atkins last month alone. On this past Monday, my husband went to the Dr. for a checkup & found that he had glucose in his urine.....needless to say, he's on it with me now. :D

I think it's possible to keep the bill the same: you shop in bulk, you shop sales for meat (often available for under $1 US/pound), you choose chicken thighs over boneless breasts, you freeze your sale purchases....I make a lot of crockpot meals like chili & soups which are both very cheap in the dollar cost and very cheap in that they improve health in the long run. Depend on eggs a lot--they are a very cheap source of protein.

However, my grocery bills have gone way up because I've also switched to 75% organic foods during this time, too. 1/2 of a free-range organic cow, cut wrapped and frozen: $700. (But it's half my meals for a year) Organic eggs: $1.79 on sale (compared to maybe $.89 on sale for regular eggs) Organic chicken breasts: so expensive it's the one place I never go organic!

I too save a lot of money on junk food: a big bag of Doritos (which I could eat in a day) $4.29. A cake mix and prepared frosting: $5 total. and so on...those expenses are gone!

As is the expense of having to have a wardrobe in six sizes. ;)

Cost of Low Carb Groceries
 

My grocery list before looked something like this:
milk
bread
cereal
pasta
pasta sauce
crackers
potatoe chips, and of course dip
pop
carrots
margarine
chicken nuggets
fruit TONS!!
and a wee little bit of meat

Now:
meat
cheese
parmesan cheese
sunflower seeds
frozen vegetables
diet gingerale
diet coke
coffee cream
butter
eggs
crisp bread
the twice weekly stop at the milk store is now once every 1.5 weeks
My kids still drink milk, and they eat a varied diet anyway,both like meat.

It was expensive at first,,,because of adding all those vegetables which by the way are really expensive in Canada...I buy frozen now and use in stirfrys. Also I shop for bargains and then buy in bulk. Our No-Frills Store has a dollar sale on right now. Roasting chickens are 1.00 a pd,,,(bought 20) romaine lettuce (big ones) buy 2 every 4 daysare 1.00 each. Cold meats from Pillers are 1.00 each pkg. My freezer is packed with chickens....
I don't buy junk food anymore, but in the past we really did not gorge on cookies,or chips that much....I cook for my freezer,making double meals, so that when we are really busy,I don't have to think about supper and know I have a low carb option ready :D :wave:

Smiley

My grocery bill is SKY HIGH,
I'm on Atkins and my husband is a vegetarian, Once every couple of days I feel the need to buy a expensive cut of steak or a few extras like sugar free syrup at $6.00 bottle, just so I'm not eating the same thing every day. My husband likes that "fake" soy meat, and milk, etc. thats really expensive
(seems to me if he wants fake meat all that bad, he should just eat the real thing, but thats another story !) any way, I think our grocery bill has about doubled, even with saving my "Taco bell" lunch money!
If it works though, its definitly worth it !

About the same
 

I think my grocery bill has stayed about the same. I no longer buy bread (I always liked the "good" stuff), deli meat (real meat now), potatoes, rice or pasta. I also don't buy any bakery items, which were always very expensive!

I now buy a whole frying chicken every week, roast it, cut it up and keep it for lunches, snacks, whatever, cheese, eggs and cream.

I think all in all it works out to about the same. Of course, I live alone at the moment, so I don't have to buy for anyone else, which I think I makes a huge difference!

Interesting to read, good idea for a thread!

Grocery bill up
 

I just made a little list for myself last night and went to P&C today. 38.00 out the door, and I havent bought for the family at home yet!! Yeah, it's a lot more money, just hope that it works in the end. Consider what it cost to buy all the food that you would need for low-fat diets ? About the same, so unless we all want to go back to eating whatever's in the fridge and not try to lose weight, we better tough it up, It hurts my purse badly but I have to have it - so...

We buy it right! :p

I think the food is quite a bit more expensive than what you could eat otherwise, but if you were, like me, in the habit of hitting the fast food places for the overwhelming majority of your meals, then the differences largely go away. I think I am spending perhaps a bit less, especially after I take into account the savings on Diet Pepsi!

But I think that I am WAY money ahead when I consider all of the blood pressure and diebetes and cholesterol medication and treatments that I am not going to have to have. Not to mention being ahead in all of the ways that really count.

My food costs have gone way up, but I can only blame about 25% on actual groceries. I love to eat out as does my hubby, and to treat ourselves and to keep me motivated we go out to dinner a couple of times a week now. We did this before but one night would always be pizza at a local place and dinner for two was $15. or once or twice a month we would hit up McDonalds. Now I live to go to the Outback! I love their steak, their brocilli and their shrimp, so does he and needless to say we aren't getting out of there for $15!

I am just glad that it is easy to eat out on LC, if I was low fat I think it would be a lot harder. The hubby has even gotten used to me ordering a bacon cheese burger with no roll, veggies instead of fries and tossed salads with no croutons and dressing on the side. There was a time when he would have died if I didn't just order what is on the menu, but he is supportive and the waitresses all tell me that they get those requests all the time, so I know our wol is popular! :D

Susan