Low, low cost meal plan for a diabetic

[LndnGrl]

Hi, does anyone have any CHEAP meal ideas for a diabetic, so no bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, lentils or sugars?

Make the protein element as normal - things like soy mince or quorn may be cheaper than meat protein, eggs are cheap for a filling meal, then my subs are as follows - try and buy seasonally where you can:

To replace the carb for things like stews/bolognese - green veg tends to work best
For curries/very spicy things - roast cauliflower can be good (though caulis are more expensive out of season but you can get frozen - not sure how well it roasts). Cauliflower mashed is also a good subsitute for mashed potato

Low carb is usually very filling so you don't feel as snacky as you do with carb based diets

Omelette with salad
Chilli con carne with veg instead of rice
Full fat greek yogurt for breakfast
Sausages with a high pork content and mixed vegetables
Roast chicken (could easily make 4 meals if you're on your own, just leave out the roast potatoes and use more suitable vegetables)

Mushroom stroganoff style base with cheaper sliced frozen mushrooms and add token chicken is a favourite here.

Buy extra strong cheddar so less needs to be added to cheese sauces.

Have a look at the low carb boot camps on Mumsnet, there is a wealth of knowledge with recipes and money saving ideas. @BIWI is absolutely brilliant.

Thank you @stayathomegardener

@LndnGrl

Have a look at our spreadsheet . There's a whole section on economy low carb recipes.

As well as this, go and check out the Bootcamp recipe threads, that are stickied at the top of the Bootcamp topic. They might inspire you as well.

Check out Miguel Barclay recipes.

Sorry, maybe I didn't explain properly. I know how to eat low carb, I've been doing it years, I usually eat a lot of bacon, cheese, pork belly etc. I just want some ideas on extremely cheap meal plans. Things that stretch to a couple of meals and freeze well. I do all my cooking on the weekend because the electricity is cheaper than in the week.

My food budget is 40e pw this coming month, hopefully just this month, I'm waiting to hear back from some interviews.

This week I made a tortilla with cauliflower instead of potato (8 portions), soup (6 portions) and a lasagne with leek instead of pasta (6 portions). And I took a breast off the chicken I cook for my dogs and made fajita chicken (2 portions). So that's breakfast, lunches and dinners and some left in the freezer.

Sorry, cross posted there. Thanks, I'll have a look 👍🏼

Are beans ok? I'm just going off avoiding the exact ingredients you mentioned.

Veggie chilli: onions, garlic, chilli powder, peppers, kidney beans, tinned tomatoes.

Tuna salad: tuna, celery, butterbeans, peppers, oil.

Omelette and salad.

Veggie soups.

Veggie stews, e.g. Sweet potato, onion, carrot, chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, peanut butter, spices.

Veggie curry, if you can think of something to have it with. Sometimes I just have leftovers without rice.

Buying whole chickens is inexpensive at the moement so worth doing that and stipping them down for things like a stir fry with plenty of veg

Eggs!

There are so many ways to serve them - boiled with celery sticks to dip, poached with salad, scrambled with parsley and chives, hard boiled with mayonnaise, veggie omelette, fried with tomatoes. Cheap and nutritious.

Thanks 😊

I've never heard of peanut butter in stew?

It is delicious. Google peanut stew. Lots of recipes out there. You use the plain peanut butter, so no added sugar although potentially a bit more expensive than sunpat?

Also good for making satay dishes, etc.

Can you eat beans? Mixed bean chilli, cassoulet, bean curries all very cheap to make, protein rich, add low carb veg, cauliflower rice etc

Chicken and eggs are both very cheap: 1kg chicken pieces at Sainsbury is well under £2 and will make several meals. You can pick up a dozen eggs for £2, too.

Chicken is so versatile - rub it with spices and serve with a veg curry or cook with fresh herbs and wine or baby tomatoes and peppers etc.

Eggs - shakshuka, tortilla, omlettes and salad etc - loads of options.

I've got some peanut butter that is literally just blended peanuts.

I don't eat beans, they are too carby for me.

I'm not in the UK, a 2kg chicken is edging over 6e euros now. 24 medium eggs were 3.35e last week. 400g beef/pork mince was 2.60e. 1 litre olive oil was 4.45e, that one was 2.55e about 5-6 weeks ago. Our prices have been rising weekly over the last 3-4 weeks. So it's hard to even budget before I go shopping, things are having 20-30p added each week on average.

And I just heard from main the job I was banking on, they decided to go with someone else.

Sorry to hear that @LndnGrl

Thank you, it's ok, I've still got 2 to hear from and a couple more interested in my cv.

If it comes to it I've got a massive bag of meal replacements. And I'm trying to lose about 3-3.5 stone anyway 😂

I've just been offered the part time job, but the money is pitiful, but! It's a start as I can get another job around this one and it's more than I've got coming in at the moment!

There's light at the end of the tunnel.

Great to hear! Well done

@BIWI Thank you 😊

Congratulations OP

Thank you @Justkeepon