How is it so expensive? You can get great cuts of meat relatively inexpensively. Go to your grocery store early in the morning. That's typically when they mark down their meat. I've been able to get great deals, including a 20-pound turkey for about $8.
And buy in bulk. Meat is always cheaper when you buy in bulk. Why bake 4 chicken drumsticks when you can bake a dozen, pop them in the fridge, and then have some the next couple days for lunch?
Sure, if you eat prime rib every day (not that I think you do), it would be expensive. Eggs are another example. Eggs are cheap!
And think all the money you'll save by not buying junk food.
My husband doesn't low-carb, but I do (and we have no kids). For dinner I make a protein (beef, pork, or poultry), one or two veggies (he doesn't like many, so I often make one for him and one for me), and a starch for him. He likes the frozen mac and cheese or the frozen potato side dishes, so it's easy. Other times, I'll make up a bunch of rice or potatoes and then serve it several days in a row.
Making more than one veggie isn't much work, when you think a couple minutes in the microwave is all that is needed. I'll often have a salad instead of a veggie, so then I make only one.
How many in the family? Ages?
Hope that helps.
To answer your other question, a lot of us keep food journals. Some in Excel spreadsheet format, some in the free online FitDay program (
www.fitday.com), some in FitDay PC (the one you buy), and others in other programs. Or, just get a book on nutritional counts and use that. FitDay is so much easier, though.