How do you keep your food bill low if you can't eat carbs

[EveryDayImHustling]

I'm diabetic so can't eat bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, sugar etc

I have €100 per week to feed 2 adults and 2 dogs.

For the dogs each week I buy:
6 500g bags of porridge (Can't find a bulk supplier, not even amazon) - these have gone up to €1 a bag
4 1kg bags of mixed veg - 99c/€1/1.20 in some places
2x 2kg chickens - €6-7 each
24 eggs (we eat these too) - €4.25

Prices can change from week to week, recently the eggs jumped from 3.70 to 4.25.

We won't be putting the dogs on cheap biscuit so their food is non negotiable.

That leaves €71.75 for breakfast, lunches and dinners that need to be low carb. Anything else needed has to come out of that too, toiletries, cleaning products etc, except petrol. All other bills are accounted for, this is just the living money for each week.

What would your menu be?

I like to cook big batches and eat that for a few days, so soups, stews, curries, a lasagne etc.

I would make loads of above ground vegetables for bulk and added fat like butter or olive oil for satiety.

Lots of individual veg for individual meals are expensive. Plus then they need something to go with them.

I can make a big batch of soup for the week from a pack of chicken thighs and a bag of frozen cauli, a bag of frozen broccoli, a bag of frozen spinach - and these do three to four soups - a tin of mushrooms.

If I use 6 eggs, an onion and a portion of frozen cauli I can get 4-6 portions from a tortilla.

These were the sorts of meal ideas I'm after.

Can you eat lentils? I know they're carbs but I'm not sure if their protein content makes them acceptable for you. They're cheap and delicious and can pad out stews and soups.

I follow an unprocessed food diet for my autoimmune disease and the increase in the price of unprocessed foods frightens me. It's so much cheaper to eat crap sugary processed 'food'.

I eat a lot of Greek yogurt with nuts, but I don't know if this would be too costly for your budget.

My fella eats cous cous and lentils etc
I like the big bags of frozen Mediterranean veg. Roasted with chopped up baby potatoes and sprinkle different seasonings on, I add whatever meat to it, like a tray bake

I suspect it isn’t possible to eat that cheaply and no carbs.

Like the PP says lentils and beans are the way to go if you’re able to tolerate them. Soups, lentil ragu, mixed bean chilli and cheese, omlettes.

Chickpea curry
Chilli
Could be portioned up and frozen

Frozen veg is miles cheaper than fresh

Lentils and other pulses - buy dried cook the bag up and freeze portions is probably cheapest ( pressure cooker if you have one )

Mince is nearly €3 for 400g so I could try a bean chilli, and chickpea curry, with added lentils and see what it does to my blood sugar, but it may be too carby.

I may sound terribly naive here I'm sure but don't diabetics take insulin to counterbalance? I have a few diabetic friends and they are certainly not zero carb.

How about trying some new egg based recipes? Shakshuka is lovely, as is baked eggs with spinach- both aren’t too pricy. You could also think about brunch recipes for dinner.

Stir fried veg is good too and not too expensive if you choose your veg carefully. Add some protein with tofu or peanuts.

Presumably everyone but you can have carbs.
Secondly may be the dogs may need to be rehomed. Dogs can be very expensive, very very sad though that is.
Newcastle Studay NHS found 800 cal a day could in some cases get rid of Type 2 diabetes so perhaps eating one meal a day of 800 cal might serve a dual purpose for you?

If you’re willing to experiment a bit with pulses then a black bean chilli might be a good starting point- they’re lower carb than a lot of other pulses but still give a reasonable amount of protein

Who's told you you can't eat carbs? Not even small portions of wholemeal carbs?
Not even veg?

If you refuse to stop paying so much to feed your dogs an extensive human menu, putting them before your own health needs then I don't think anyone can help you.

Worth trying lentils and other beans/pulses to see how you react. Things like bread and rice (including whole grain) shoot my blood sugar up but these don’t at all.

They are extremely cheap when bought dried in big bags (much cheaper than canned). Local Asian supermarket would be the best place if you have one.

A pressure cooker or instant pot is convenient too but not necessary.

Mushrooms add a lot of bulk to a meal without adding carbs and they are cheap. I love stuffed mushrooms,I also chop them up to replace half the mince in something like a chilli or spaghetti bolognese.

Frozen veg is cheaper, green beans and peas are good frozen, broccoli isn't because it gets waterlogged but broccoli is cheap fresh so that works. Broccoli and cauliflower can be mixed to make a bake with cheese sauce or can be roasted with olive oil and garlic as a side with a piece of protein.

Type 1 diabetics and sone type 2 take insulin

Many - most- people with type 2 - - are encouraged to go low carb as the problem isn't so much no insulin as a poor response to insulin

Also sone people with type 2 can reverse the diabetes if they lose weight and go low carb for a while

Op lentils and beans don't cause my dh blood to spike - the carbs are very slow release

I've just been diagnosed gluten intolerant, I'm shocked how the bread, pasta etc I need is over double the price of the normal stuff, nearly £4 for a small gluten free loaf or a bag of pasta, everything is so much more. I estimate it puts at least 20% on my fortnightly shop which including the increased cost of living makes food shockingly expensive.

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage are all filling and fairly cheap. Have a large portion of these with a smaller portion of the more expensive part of your meal.

www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/#publicinformation

Not everyone does. I'm diet controlled prediabetic/T2, my numbers are normal or prediabetic if I eat low carb. I don't need to take metformin.

Celeriac is really good if you’re going low-carb. It’s filling, really cheap and you can do anything with it that you can do with potatoes - it makes lovely mash, and great soup. I’m Type 1 and I love celeriac - it has hardly any effect on my blood glucose levels.

The dogs don't need to be rehomed. My budget won't be this low forever.

Find the ethnic shops and get pulses there for much cheaper. Dried lentils, beans, chickpeas. Learn how to cook them properly. Add them to everything.

The other half of the story is all the veg in the world, tossed in oil, salt and pepper and chucked in the air fryer.

I don't eat that stuff (gluten issues before the diabetic issues). I make flatbreads from almond flour, or cloud bread. And use courgetti instead of spaghetti, and leek in place of lasagne sheets. I've even cut the leek into thin strips and used that in place of spaghetti before and that worked well.