Paleo-Budget-Guide

Prévia do material em texto

Simple and practical tips, tricks, and strategies 
for saving money while eating Paleo meals.
Plan. Shop. Eat. Healthy Paleo meals on a budget.
New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Solution
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – All the excuses
Paleo is too expensive ...................................... 5
Take a look at your money ................................ 8
Finding free money ............................................ 9
I don’t have fancy stores like Whole Foods or 
Trader Joe’s ..................................................... 10
I can’t afford grass-fed or organic ................... 10
I don’t have time to cook ................................. 11
I don’t have time to shop ................................. 11
I don’t know how to cook ................................ 12
Chapter 2 – Learn to cook
Learn to use a pressure cooker ....................... 14
Learn to use a slow cooker ............................. 15
Learn to make soup ........................................ 15
Learn to cook vegetables - four ways ............. 16
Learn basic knife skills .................................... 17
10 easy recipes to know by heart ................... 18
Chapter 3 – Meal Planning 101
A couple caveats ............................................. 20
A few helpful pre-game tips ............................ 21
How to plan a menu ........................................ 23
Time to make the menu ................................... 26
Want something a bit more techno-glitzy? ..... 28
A menu to get you started ............................... 30
Stocking your paleo pantry ............................. 31
What do I do with that? .................................. 32
Meal maker checklist ....................................... 39
This week’s menu ............................................ 40
Shopping list ................................................... 41
Chapter 4 – Money Saving Tricks
Keep a price journal ........................................ 43
Don’t pay for preparation ................................ 43
Buy in bulk ....................................................... 44
Buy direct from a farm ..................................... 44
Organize a group buy ...................................... 45
Freeze it! .......................................................... 45
How to save for buying in bulk ........................ 47
Buy local .......................................................... 48
What about coupons? ..................................... 48
Chapter 5 – Budget Shopping Priorities
Navigating the “green lingo” ........................... 51
Do I have to buy organic? ............................... 53
Do I have to buy grass-fed? ............................ 53
Fats and oils .................................................... 54
Chapter 6 – In the kitchen
How to cook meals in advance ....................... 56
Other ideas from the Paleo blogosphere ........ 57
Prep now, save time later ................................ 58
Meat cookies ................................................... 58
Cook it slow ..................................................... 59
On defrosting frozen stuff ................................ 59
What about snacks? ........................................ 60
How not to waste food .................................... 61
Resources ..................................63
About the author
Robb Wolf, a former research biochemist is the New York Times 
Best Selling author of The Paleo Solution – The Original Human Diet. 
Robb has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people 
around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast, book, eBook 
programs, seminars, and popular blog.
Robb has functioned as a review editor for the Journal of Nutrition 
and Metabolism, is co-founder of the nutrition and athletic training 
journal, The Performance Menu, and co-owner of NorCal Strength & 
Conditioning, one of the Men’s Health “top 30 gyms in America”.
Robb is a former California State Powerlifting Champion (565 lb. 
Squat, 345 lb. Bench, 565 lb. Dead Lift) and a 6-0 amateur kick-
boxer. He coaches athletes at the highest levels of competition and 
consults with Olympians and world champions in MMA, motocross, 
rowing and triathlon. Wolf has provided seminars in nutrition and 
strength & conditioning to various entities including NASA, Naval 
Special Warfare, the Canadian Light Infantry and the United States 
Marine Corps.
Robb lives in Reno, Nevada, with his wife Nicki and their daughter 
Zoe. You can follow Robb on Twitter and connect with him on his 
blog, RobbWolf.com. Watch videos and learn more about Robb here.
About this 
guide 
It’s a multimedia 
guide, not just 
another e-book. 
You’ll see links 
to bonus reading 
throughout the 
guide, as well as 
video and audio 
files to watch and 
listen to.
So be sure to 
read & click 
whenever you 
see sidebars like 
this one. That 
means there’s 
bonus content 
and more than 
meets the eye!
Links throughout 
the book are in 
orange: like this! 
So be sure to 
click where you 
see orange.
We’ve also given 
you big ol’ wide 
margins, so if you 
decide to print 
this book you can 
do so, and have 
plenty of room to 
take notes. It also 
makes it easier to 
read on screen, if 
that’s your thing. 
Chapter 1
all the 
exCuses
Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide
All the excuses — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 5
All the excuses
For over a decade, I’ve been a gym owner and strength and 
conditioning coach. I have taken literally thousands of people 
just like you through the process of gaining better health and 
performance, losing weight, and mitigating or completely elimi-
nating symptoms of diseases and disorders by smart exercise 
and a paleo approach to nutrition. In all these years, with so 
many clients, you better believe I’ve heard all the excuses.
I can’t eat a paleo diet because…
It’s too expensive.
I don’t have fancy stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.
I can’t afford grass-fed meat or organic veggies.
I don’t have time to cook.
I don’t have time to shop.
I don’t know how to cook.
Yep, we’ve heard it all. Well, in this Paleo Diet Budget Shopping 
Guide, we’re going to bust up each and every one of these excuses, 
and give you real solutions so that you, even you, special and unique 
snowflake, can enjoy better health, performance, and longevity 
through paleo nutrition. Let’s start on these excuses, one by one.
Paleo food is too expensive.
Why I went into health & fitness and did not sell vices is be-
yond me. If this whole Paleo thing goes fanny-up it’s going to be 
hookers+cocaine+baked goods, finished with a smoke. No one will 
argue with that buffet but in this health shtick you deal with the mass 
illusion of “cave men lived short lives, meat causes cancer, this is not 
sustainable.” Then there is that pesky Evolution thing!
Well, I guess I can be assured of job security. It’s not likely the ADA is 
going to change course nor will folks like Dr. Melina get a clue any-
time soon, so onward and upwards.
All the excuses — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 66
Back to the affordability of Paleo: This way of eating, like virtually any 
way of eating, can be made much more, or much less expensive. 
Now, similar to cooking or meal options, I thought this was a pretty 
straight-forward concept (if you are broke, buy cheap, if you have 
some cash, kick your heels up a bit) but alas, it is not. So, I’m going 
to walk through some basic shopping and put an arrow in the head 
of the “Paleo is expensive” idea, then we will look at some basic 
finance ideas as I think some folks may benefit from that.
Whole Foods or WholePayCheck?
We ran a blog article recently on shopping at Whole Foods which 
was pretty well received but I wanted to share a recent shoppingtrip I did and the chow I procured on that excursion. Check out the 
receipt to the right, and then I’ll talk about what I bought and why.
I bought Two organic chickens, and a mix of ground beef and chuck-
roast. Why these items? Because when I walked into the store they 
had these nifty yellow “sale” cards on them. Even the color-blind 
cannot find an excuse for fracking this up…I also bought a “bunch” 
of chicken, ground beef and chuck roast. things broke down like this:
• 9.15 lbs of chicken at $1.39 per lb
• 16.7 lbs of beef at $3.99 per lb
• Total cost: $81.10
• Total carnage: ~25lbs
Here is what that all looked like:
Now, the meat was not grass-fed, but when I hit up a farmers mar-
ket, I generally buy similar cuts of Grass-fed meat for $4/lb. Can you 
All the excuses — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 7
spend $30/lb on New York steaks? Uh, yea, but Keystone the cat 
needs to eat too, so I go for the inexpensive cuts and just kick my 
heels up occasionally. 
When we were living in Chico we routinely bought a half a cow and 
the average price was $4-5/lb. We have not set that system up here 
in Reno yet, so I make do with the situation I’m in. So Whole Foods 
(or the farmers market) can be navigated in a reasonable way. I’ll 
pause a minute and wait for the inevitable complaint that arises 
when you are trying to help people….Ok, I think it’s just about here:
“But Robb! That is still too expensive for me!”
Ok, shop someplace else. I’m going to look at some produce shop-
ping I did at one of the big food outlets (FoodMax) but you could buy 
your meat there and save a ton of money. Sale items will likely range 
in the $1.50/lb to $2.50/lb and given that the meat I just bought at 
Whole Foods is not Grass-fed, the quality is likely similar at a Costco 
or Food-4-Less kind of location. Anyway, take a gander at the pro-
duce I bought:
I cannot for the life of me find the receipt for this, but it was about 
$20 for all that produce. This is one of the reasons it’s hard for me 
to not bludgeon people when they make ignorant statements about 
everything from fiber to the nutrient content of eating Paleo. I mean, 
how much more fiber and nutrients DO you need? If I was really tight 
I’d ditch the coconut and avocados and cut at least $6 off that bill 
and put it elsewhere, but it’s still a lot of food for not much money. 
All the excuses — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 88
Was it organic? No, but it was largely seasonal, and this particular 
place turns over a mountain of produce. It is amazingly fresh and 
you cannot beat the price.
Now I’ll wait for the next question.
“But Robb! How long will that last you!?”
The produce will last about two weeks, the meat similar or longer.
The bottom line is we are talking about ~$100 for two weeks of food 
for my wife Nicki and I. If I’d bought the meat at one of the big-box 
mega food places I could have likely cut that bill in half, bringing 
the bill down to about $60 for two weeks, neglecting the fractional 
costs of a cooking fat like coconut oil. Either way, not too bad on the 
pocket-book.
As you can see, buying whole, unprocessed food (paleo food) is 
actually cheaper than paying someone else to refine and process 
what you eat into an “edible food product” instead of actual, real, 
whole food. Buying meat, vegetables, fruit, and healthy fats in their 
whole and unrefined state is cheaper, folks. Period. And this is just a 
typical grocery store purchase. If we used some of our Money 
Saving Tricks that we’ll show you in Chapter 4, we would save even 
more.
Take a look at your money
One more thing before we move on from the “paleo is too expen-
sive” excuse. We want you to take a long hard look at where your 
money is actually going. What percentage of your overall household 
budget actually goes to groceries? You might say, “But Robb, I don’t 
have an extra couple hundred bucks just laying around that I can 
spend on food! That’s crazy!” 
I’m willing to bet that if you are like the typical consumer, you didn’t 
at one point have an extra $100-300 extra dollars to spend on a cell 
phone, plus an extra $100-200 per month to blow on 700 anytime 
minutes, a data plan, and unlimited text messaging either. Whoops, 
you added a line for your partner or expanded to a family plan? 
Make that $200-300 per month!
Some of you even found the extra $1,000-2,000 in your tight budget 
All the excuses — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 99
Watch this video 
of Joel Salatin, a 
leader of the real 
food movement. 
He addresses the 
“I can’t afford 
to eat this way” 
question with a 
decidedly non-
politically correct 
answer. 
Sign up for a free 
account through Mint.
com, a website that can 
help you track expens-
es through “tagging” 
different categories. 
Make tags like booze, 
entertainment, dining 
out, and travel. Add up 
your expenses for the 
past few months. Still 
think you don’t have 
any “extra” money to 
spend on nutritious 
food for your family?
to take that vacation to Disneyland. That latte you bought at Star-
bucks was a tidy $5 after you left a tip for your favorite barista. Do 
that 4 times a week and that’s a neat $20. After a month of lattes and 
treating your friends a couple times, you’ve easily blown $100 on 
overpriced coffee. 
And what about Saturday night out with some friends? Was that you 
spending $5-9 per drink on those fancy colorful cocktails? $3 per 
shot is a bargain nowadays, and it takes several of those to really get 
you going. At the end of the night what did your bar tab total up to? 
$30? $50? How often do you rack up one of those?
All this is not coming from a high horse of any kind, or to make you 
feel guilty for spending money on vacations, cell phones, or booze. 
However, when you really reconsider your allocation of money, it 
can be very revealing as to what your priorities are. If your priorities 
are truly to get yourself and your family into optimum health so you 
can feel better, avoid costly medical bills, and be around and mobile 
enough to pick up your grandkids and chase them around the yard, 
then reconsidering where you spend your money might be a good 
first step.
Finding free money
What can you trim down, simplify and get rid of? Do you really need 
that $18 per month Netflix plan? Redbox movies are $1 per night, 
and lots of stuff can be watched online for free. Are you using all 
your cellular minutes? What about that “high speed” internet plan? 
You could probably downgrade to a cheaper plan and save $20-30 
per month and get reasonably fast speeds. Eating out twice a week 
can easily rack up to $100-200 per week, depending on how many 
people are on your check. What about staying home and enjoying 
the challenge and fun of preparing a meal as a family and saving lots 
of money in the process.
All the excuses — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 10
Click to listen 
to Robb ranting 
about “Hippy 
excuses for 
failure” numbers 
1 and 2.
10
I don’t have fancy stores like Whole Foods 
or Trader Joe’s.
I want you to know right up front that you don’t have to have access 
to Whole Foods or any sort of “gourmet grocer” to eat a healthful 
paleo diet. You can absolutely eat a whole-foods-based diet with-
out shopping at Whole-Foods-capital-letter-store. There are other 
options out there: bulk buying clubs like Sam’s Club or Costco, 
Wal-Mart, local grocery chains, Asian markets, local butcher shops, 
farmers markets, CSAs, and farm meat shares are all budget-friendly 
ways to get your fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, and meat 
without having to spend a fortune or shop at a gourmet grocer.
The nice thing about paleo food is that it’s not special. It’s meat. It’s 
vegetables and fruit. It’s nuts and seeds. If you can find it, it’s 
coconut oil and almond flour, andthings like that. All these things 
you can find without having to shop at fancy stores.
I can’t afford grass-fed meat or organic 
veggies so I’m not going to eat paleo at 
all.
Well, grass-fed and organic are certainly optimal, but if you cannot 
afford it you cannot afford it. If it REALLY matters to you, make sac-
rifices and make it happen, but you might need to shelve your ideal-
ism long enough to survive, and reverting to bagels is not the way to 
go. Your health will be better served by eating conventional meat & 
mega-farmed produce than a largely grain based diet. 
This reminds me of the following:
• Hippy Excuse for Failure #1: I can’t find grass-fed meat… 
so I’ll eat a bagel.
• Hippy Excuse for Failure #2: I can’t find organic produce… 
so I’ll eat a bagel.
Substitute “afford” for the word “find” above and we have the same 
story. I can’t tell you where your value system should start or stop, 
but I will definitely tell you when you are sh*tting the bed with faulty 
logic.
All the excuses — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 11
Don’t think you 
have time to 
cook?
Track your time 
over a 24 hour 
period using a 
simple notepad 
and pen. Write 
down the time 
and what you’re 
doing each time 
you start a new 
activity. For ex-
ample: 
7:30am Wake
7:35am Shower
7:42am Prepare 
breakfast
And so on until 
you go to sleep. 
Write out a total 
next to each line 
to find out how 
long you spent 
doing that activ-
11
The choice is not between grass-fed, organic, free-range, 
constantly-hugged meat or a standard American diet filled with 
grains, sugar, and unhealthy franken-foods. It’s not all or 
nothing, folks. In Chapter 5, Budget Shopping Priorities, we’ll help 
you navigate all the confusing “green lingo” like grass-fed, free-
range, cage-free, organic, and such. Then we’ll talk about priori-
ties of quality when shopping on a budget. If you really can’t afford 
grass-fed meat or organic fruits and vegetables, we’ll clue you in 
on the “dirty dozen” fruits and vegetables to avoid if you can’t buy 
organic. We’ll also let you know some great alternatives to grass-fed 
and wild-caught. We’ll let you know what’s safer to eat and what’s 
not. You can absolutely still eat a healthful paleo diet, even if you 
can’t make the most sustainable choice possible.
I don’t have time to cook.
We feel you on this one. Time is precious, and preparing whole foods 
from scratch does take an investment of time and energy. We’ve got 
a ton of time-saving tips in Chapter 3, Meal Planning Basics, includ-
ing how to prepare a week’s worth of meals in the time it would take 
for you to sit down and watch a movie or a couple DVR’d episodes 
of Family Guy.
Oh, did you pick up on our hint there? We want you to think about 
reallocating your time (just a couple of hours per week) as well as 
your money. How much TV and Netflix are you watching? How many 
hours do you spend online on Twitter or Facebook or browsing blogs 
and news sites? Is your XBOX controller still warm from your last 
Skyrim marathon? 
I don’t have time to shop.
In Chapter 3, Meal Planning 101, we’ll have some tricks for getting 
you in and out of the stores more quickly. By being organized, you 
can really save time in the grocery store. We’ve also got a list of 
resources for things you can buy online, which will save you money 
and time. And honestly, in the scheme of your week, grocery shop-
ping doesn’t have to take any longer than any other errand. It’s a 
necessary part of living a healthy life. In the time that it takes to go 
out to a restaurant for a meal, you can go and buy food for your fam-
ily for an entire week of healthy meals.
All the excuses — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 12
I don’t know how to cook.
Well, let’s take care of that right now. In Chapter 2, Learn to Cook, 
we’ll teach you some basic techniques in the kitchen that will not 
only save you time, but help you to create delicious, healthy meals 
for yourself and your family. You won’t be graduating from Le Cordon 
Bleu, but you will be able to make tasty, nutritious food.
Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide
CHAPTeR 2
LeARN TO
COOK
Learn to cook — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 14
Click to listen to 
Robb talk about 
cooking. You’ll 
learn how he 
prepares 99% of 
his meals, plus 
some cooking 
tips that will keep 
things simple in 
the kitchen.
Get Robb’s Food 
Matrix with thou-
sands of meal 
combinations 
right here.
14
Learn to cook
We’ve teamed up with some of the most badass Paleo chefs 
and bloggers around to bring you some cooking lessons that 
will get you up and running in the kitchen in no time! First, a 
video from yours truly!
Learn to use a pressure cooker
Learn to use a slow cooker
Learn to cook — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 15
Learn to make soup
About your cooking mentor
Hi. My name is Cindy Sexton. Teach-
er by day…food blogger/chef by night. 
I love eating wicked food…and lots of 
it! I am all about trying new eats and 
creating all sorts of yummy paleo-style 
goodness in the kitchen. I have always 
been interested in health and wellness, 
but really put this passion into full practice and living proof about 3 
years ago.
 
My own personal journey towards achieving optimal health, became 
a priority of upmost importance, after losing my mom to a heart 
attack several years ago (full story here). With commitment and a 
desire to change, one step at a time, I have literally transformed my 
life into one that now exudes energy, vitality and exuberance. 
 
I thrive on helping other people become healthier beings and more 
in control of their body and its performance. As the little lady behind 
the PALEOdISH blog, I get pumped every time I post a new recipe 
for those who may be reading out there. It warms the cockles of my 
heart to think that folks are incorporating some of the dishes that I 
have created, into homes of their own. 
 
When I am not whipping up new concoctions, you will find me lifting 
Learn to cook — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 16
weights, listening to podcasts, reading, surfing the interwebs, stroll-
ing the beach and chilling with friends and family. On weekends, my 
husband and I are nuts about roaming the farmer’s market for good-
ies and seeking out new restaurants that offer scrumptious paleo(ish) 
options. 
 
My hope is to offer my blog as a useful tool for you to explore, as 
you make choices to suit your own needs and lifestyle. I highly 
recommend that you do some reading and self-experimentation, to 
figure out what works best for your body and situation. Take away 
what you wish for you and your loved ones. My own journey is far 
from over. I am constantly learning, growing, expanding and revising 
my knowledge and stance on the science behind nutrition. You are 
given one body and one life. Take care of it and live it!
 
In addition to my blog, you can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter 
and Pinterest. 
Learn to cook vegetables - four ways
About your cooking mentor
Michelle Tam is the sardonic foodie and 
working mom behind Nom Nom Paleo, a 
popular food blog devoted to Paleo food porn 
and recipes galore. Covering everything from 
kitchen shortcuts to tips on dining out, the site 
demonstrates with vivid food photography that 
Paleo eating is possible for anyone – even 
Learn to cook — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 1717
those with busy schedules and demanding palates, Michelle is 
passionate about helping readers implement and sustain an ances-
tral dietary approach; on a daily basis she writes about how home 
cooks can spend less time in the kitchen and still end up with nutri-
tious, flavor-packed meals for the entire family. Currently, she is 
working on an iPad cookingapp that will be released Spring 2012. 
You can also check out Nom Nom Paleo t-shirts here!
Learn basic knife skills
About your cooking mentor
Julie & Charles Mayfield are co-authors 
of the best selling cookbook Paleo 
Comfort Foods, blog at paleocomfort-
foods.com, and are proud owners of 
BTB Vinings, a CrossFit affiliate in 
Smyrna, Georgia. They are avid cooks, 
gardeners and community volunteers. 
They reside in Atlanta with their dogs, 
Buzz and Phoenix.
Learn to cook — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 18
10 easy recipes to know by heart
Make any of these simple recipes. They’re easy enough to memorize 
so you can whip up dinner in a flash.
Bone broth
Roast a chicken 
Fritatta 
Pesto
Tomato sauce
Chicken soup
Balsamic vinaigrette
Salad dressings
Chili
Pot roast
CHAPTeR 3
MeAL
PLANNINg
101
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 2020
Meal Planning 101
Let’s talk about the foundation of smart grocery shopping: 
meal planning. Meal planning will help you to:
• Plan nutritious, healthy meals each week
• Save money by making sure no food goes to waste
• Get in and out of the grocery store more quickly
• Make sure you’re getting a good variety of foods into your diet
• Stay excited and engaged with healthy eating 
In this chapter, we’ll get you started right away about how to plan a 
basic menu, how to get your family involved, how to get organized 
for your grocery shopping trip, how to save money by shopping your 
pantry and scouring the sales flyers. In the next chapter, we’ll talk 
about Money Saving Tricks to save you even more money, and in 
Chapter 5, we’ll also cover some other questions like “what if I can’t 
afford grass-fed” and other such shopping priorities.
Let’s get started learning how to plan your meals.
A couple caveats
First, I feel like you should know that it’s not your job to please eve-
ryone. If you’re cooking for one, congratulations, you are lucky. If you 
have a spouse, children, or other family members, then you know 
as the “one who cooks” sometimes it can feel like you’re a line cook 
in a busy restaurant full of ticked off customers. Well, you are not a 
short order cook, nor is this Burger King where they get to “have it 
their way.” If you’re investing the time into meal planning, shopping, 
and cooking, then you get to make the decisions about what’s in 
the kitchen cabinets and ultimately what lands on the dinner table. 
We’ve got some strategies for making sure your family feels involved 
and heard, but unless they are willing to share the responsibility of 
cooking, shopping, and planning, you choose the meals.
Secondly, sometimes you’re going to make a bad meal. It just hap-
pens. Every cook and every kitchen turns out a bad meal every now 
and then, whether the eggplant is total mush or the steak is so rub-
bery your jaw is sore afterward. Know this. Be okay with it. Move on 
with your life.
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 2121
A few helpful pre-game tips
We advocate weekly meal planning. Before you sit down to actually 
plan your first week’s meal, there are a couple helpful tips to train 
your brain into getting this done easily.
Make a list of 30 meals your family loves
Again, if you’re cooking for one, congratulations. You get to do this 
one too. For those of us who are partnered or have kids, sit down 
with the family and make a list of 30 meals they love. Every meal 
won’t be a unanimous decision, but make sure everyone feels heard. 
Making a list like this will give you a solid month of dinners to work 
with for your upcoming menus and will also make sure that you’re 
setting yourself up for success from the start.
Grab some paleo-friendly cookbooks (we’ve got plenty in the 
Resources section) and flip through them with your family. Pull up a 
few paleo blogs (a huge list here) and browse their recipes together. 
Make a list of things that look great. Mark favorite cookbook recipes 
with little post-it flags or bookmarks, and add yummy online recipes 
to your favorites, or visually bookmark them with a tool like Pinterest.
com which saves the link along with a photo for a quick visual inspi-
ration. Encourage your partner or kids to keep adding to the yummy 
food inspiration board by bookmarking favorites. Show them how. 
Get them involved!
Ask your family what their favorite meals are. Some things like 
macaroni and cheese just can’t be “paleo-ized” properly, let’s face it. 
Together, we ALL mourn the death of these foods, we say goodbye, 
and we think about all the other wonderful alternatives that are out 
there. Keep this experience upbeat with your family! Instead of say-
ing, “You can’t eat that,” over and over again, ask a positive leading 
question like, “what’s your favorite food when we eat at the Mexican 
restaurant?” or “what’s your favorite orange fruit or vegetable?” 
Keep a running list - post it on your refrigerator or family bulletin 
board. Let your family members add ideas to it.
We’ve set up a 
paleo meals 
inspiration board 
just for you on 
Pinterest!
Go check it out!
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 2222
Think about theme nights
 
Another fun way to think about meal planning is to have “theme 
nights.” Maybe your week looks something like this:
• Monday: Slow cooker meal
• Tuesday: Taco or Fajita night (in lettuce wraps)
• Wednesday: Soup night 
• Thursday: Steak night
• Friday: Roast chicken & veggies night
Monday night’s slow cooker meal can mix it up. There are so many 
delicious things to make in the slow cooker: pot roast, pulled pork, 
curry chicken, the possibilities are endless and the slow cooker 
saves time and makes your life easier. 
Tuesday’s taco night is an endless combination of ground meats 
(beef, lamb, chicken, pork) or fajita style steak, chicken, or seafood 
with different toppings (fresh salsas, mushrooms, guacamole, cilant-
ro) in lettuce wraps instead of taco shells. And so on. 
If you like planning meals this way, adjust your theme night to fit 
your family’s schedule. If Tuesday night is a little more hectic and 
you don’t walk in the door til 6:30pm, that’s your slow cooker night. 
You throw a few things in there in the morning, and when you walk 
in the door that night, dinner is already prepared. If Friday is a night 
that’s more leisurely, pick a meal that maybe takes a little more time 
to make like a roast chicken (although, all said and done it’s still only 
an hour).
Avoid the one-meal ingredient
Think about recipes that complement each other by sharing ingre-
dients. We’ve all bought a whole head of cabbage to make some 
slaw, only used 1/4 of the cabbage, and the rest went to waste. That 
not only is wasteful (think of the starving children), it’s like throwing 
money directly in the garbage. So if you’re going to buy something 
like cabbage or a whole bag of avocados, think about how you could 
use what’s leftover in another recipe.
If you’re buying the cabbage to make slaw, make ground meat & 
sauteed veggies wrapped in steamed cabbage leaves the next night, 
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 23
and grate up the rest and make fresh sauerkraut. If you have a bag 
of 5 avocados, make some into guacamole for dipping veggies, slice 
some up to go along with eggs at breakfast, and put the rest into a 
salad topping. 
Check out the What Do I Do With That? cheatsheet at the end of this 
chapter for help with how to avoid the one-meal ingredient and to 
keep from wasting food.
How to plan a menu
This next section might seem a little long and rambling, but the steps 
are actually quite simple. Check out page 27 for a helpful flowchart 
that shows each easy step.
Shop your pantry, fridge, and freezer first. 
Before you startputting together your first week’s menu from your 
family’s list of favorite meals or yummy food inspiration board on 
Pinterest, shop your cupboards first. Take inventory and use the 
Meal Maker Checklist to list what you already have. If there’s some 
chicken breasts in the freezer, a bag of apples in the produce drawer, 
and a can of coconut milk in the pantry, those are all things you can 
build a menu around. The chicken breasts can get roasted with garlic 
and lemon for a main dish one night, the apples can make a yummy 
baked treat or get cut up for lunches and snacks, and the coconut 
milk is a great start to a fast and easy curry. 
Check out the What Do I Do With That? cheatsheet at the end of this 
chapter to help you figure out what to do with what’s in your pantry, 
fridge, or freezer.
Shop seasonally
By now you’ve probably heard at some point or another that we 
should be eating “seasonally.” Eating according to what’s in season 
(what’s growing in your area right now) has a lot of benefits.
First of all, it’s cheaper. Buying something like strawberries in Feb-
ruary is going to be way more expensive. The food is going to be 
traveling from somewhere that you can wear a bikini in February 
(think Mexico, Chile, places that are warm all the time). So you’re not 
only paying for the berries, you’re paying for them to be harvested, 
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 24
packaged, refrigerated, and shipped thousands of miles to your local 
store. You might pay $5.99 for one pound of strawberries! Contrast 
this with going to a local you-pick strawberry patch where you can 
get a whole pound of strawberries for about a dollar, and you’re talk-
ing about some serious savings.
You also get to take care of the planet by purchasing local foods 
when they are in season. It costs money to ship food thousands of 
miles, but it also adds up in terms of pollutants, fossil fuels to run 
ships, airplanes, and trucks, extra packaging and energy costs to 
keep the food stable, and more. 
Seasonal produce also keeps the money local. Your food dollar 
goes directly to a farmer in your area, providing jobs and putting the 
money right back into your community. 
Finally, seasonal produce is more nutritious and simply tastes bet-
ter. Shipping food thousands of miles causes the food to lose nutri-
ents (as soon as it’s harvested, the nutritional breakdown begins). 
The fresher the food you eat, the better it is for you and the better 
it tastes. If you’ve ever eaten a strawberry picked at the peak of its 
season, still warm from the early summer sun, then you know the 
wonderful, intoxicating deliciousness of seasonal produce. Con-
trast that: if you’ve ever been tempted to buy a strawberry from the 
grocery store in December, you remember what a bland, flavorless 
disappointment it was. There really is a difference when you eat pro-
duce in season.
What’s in season when? 
Click on your country below to find out. Don’t see your country listed 
here? We’d like to add it. Send us an email and we’ll try to update 
the guide.
• United States 
• Australia 
• Canada 
• Mexico 
• United Kingdom 
• Italy 
Add some seasonal fruits and veggies to your Meal Maker Checklist.
Check out the 
links below for 
more tips and 
advice on making 
seasonal eating 
an easy part of 
your lifestyle.
Healthy eating 
with the seasons
How to eat 
seasonally
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 25
Shop the sales flyers
Many grocery stores have a weekly sales flyer where they adver-
tise “manager’s specials” and discounts on certain grocery items. 
It takes a bit of planning to shop from sales flyers, but if you are 
serious about saving money, this can be a big help. Here are some 
simple steps for planning your menu around the sales flyers.
Get a flyer. Obtain a flyer from your grocery stores (or two or three 
local stores). You can get these in the newspaper, in the mail, online, 
or from the stores. Check online first, since that’s the most conveni-
ent. Your local store may post the flyer directly on its website.
Find sales on whole foods. Go through the flyer and note any sales 
on fresh ingredients. No doubt your store is having a sale on soda 
and cereal, but we’ll be skipping those. See what produce and meat 
is on sale and ignore the sales on processed and packaged items. 
Add these ingredients (ground beef, onions, zucchini, chicken legs) 
to your Meal Maker Checklist.
Time to make the menu
Now you’re equipped with a few things:
• A list of meals that your family loves
• Bookmarked recipes in your paleo-friendly cookbooks
• Your recipe inspiration board on Pinterest
• Your Meal Maker Checklist which shows what foods are available 
to you in your pantry and what’s on sale at the local grocery store 
This is the most fun part of the meal planning process. You get to put 
it all together and decide what to cook for the next week. Grab your 
blank This Week’s Menu worksheet and get ready! 
Start with your pantry items. Grab the Meal Maker Checklist and 
note what pantry items you have for each category - meat, produce, 
other stuff. Start with the meat you have available. Use the What Do 
I Do With That? cheatsheet to come up with some ideas or look at 
your family’s list of meals to get started. Then plan some sides, ac-
cording to the produce you have and what’s on sale. Figure out what 
to do with your other stuff.
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 26
Then decide out what else you need to buy according to the seasonal charts, or just by filling in any 
blank spaces with meals your family loves. 
Make your shopping list
Now it’s time to get organized for the grocery store trip. Use the This Week’s Menu worksheet you 
just filled out to make a shopping list. The shopping list is divided into sections just like a grocery 
store. Start by filling in items you’ve scouted out that are on sale, marking them down under each 
section on the worksheet. Then add in other things you need to buy, keeping things organized in 
each section. If you need an item more than once, put a tick mark next to it each time, so you’ll 
know how many to buy.
Time to go shopping
Now it’s simple. Go to the grocery store and stick to your list. Don’t toss stuff that’s not on the list 
into the cart. That’s it! Using this method will make your shopping trip quicker. Your purchases will 
mostly be around the outer perimeter of the grocery store, where the produce and meat are located. 
You won’t have to go up and down each aisle trying to find what you need.
When you get home, unpack your groceries and put your meal plan up on the fridge or bulletin 
board, you’ll have a plan, you’ll have saved money at the grocery store, and you’ll know no food will 
go to waste.
Check out the next page for a flowchart showing each easy step.
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 27
Meal Planning 101
Shop your pantry
Write down what ingredients
you already have. Use the blank
Meal Maker Checklist.
What’s in season?
Add a few seasonal ingredients
to your Meal Maker Checklist.
This will be helpful when 
planning recipes.
What’s on sale?
Check the grocery store flyers
and add some items you can get 
on sale to your Meal Maker 
Checklist. This will be helpful
when planning recipes.
Plan your meals
Use your recipe inspiration 
board, family’s list of favorite 
meals, and paleo-friendly 
cookbooks to find recipes. Base
dinners around protein. Add in sides
based on your produce, what’s 
seasonal, and what’s on sale.
Fill out your weekly plan
Write down what’s for breakfast,
lunch, and dinner on the This 
Week’s Menu worksheet. Fill in 
blanks with favorite family 
recipes or by choosing side items 
or meats thatare on sale.
Make a shopping list
Write down ingredients you’ll
need for your meal plan on the
blank Shopping List worksheet.
Go shopping
Stick to your list.
Convenience-prep
Hard boil eggs, pre-cook meat,
cut up veggies, make guacamole, etc.
See the In The Kitchen section for ideas
on making meals in advance.
Eat!
Confidently make healthy meals
for yourself or your family each
night, knowing you’ve saved money
and have a plan!
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 28
Want something a bit more techno-glitzy?
Notepad and pen just too old fashioned for you? There’s no end to 
the amount of apps, programs and websites out there that will help 
you create menus, save recipes and keep track of shopping lists. 
Here are a few that seem pretty cool to us. We still like to keep it old 
school, though.
Springpad - Save your favorite recipes and then organize your week-
ly meal plans, create shopping lists and more.
Supercook - Enter ingredients you have in your pantry, and the 
search engine will find recipes you can make with only those ingredi-
ents. 
Once a month mom - A program designed to help you plan and 
freeze a whole month of meals at once. You can choose special cat-
egories as well like whole foods, gluten/dairy free or even baby food. 
Plan to Eat - Keep all of your recipes in one place with your Plan 
to Eat Recipe Book. Access, print and share your recipes from any 
computer with internet access. Import recipes from over 100 web-
sites and blogs or add your own. Filter the recipes in your collection 
by ingredients, tags or how often you’ve planned them to simplify 
the meal planning process. 
Menu planner app - for the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Lets you 
store your favorite recipes, create shopping lists and meal plans, and 
keep track of what’s in your pantry. 
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 29
A menu to get you started
We’ve attached a sample weekly meal plan to get you started. Your menu plans will vary based on your 
family’s favorite foods, what’s in season where you live, what sales you can get at your local grocer, and 
more. But this one will give you an idea of how a week’s menu can look.
Breakfast Lunch Dinner Snack
Monday
Egg “cupcakes”
Apple slices
Cold leftover chicken
Guacamole
Green pepper strips
Slow cooker pot roast 
with root veggies
Handful of almonds
Tuesday
Pastured bacon & 
fried eggs
Leftover pot roast
Celery sticks & 
guacamole
Baked chicken thighs
Roasted sweet 
potatoes with 
rosemary
Beef jerky
Wednesday
Egg “cupcakes”
Apple slices
Leftover roasted 
sweet potatoes
Deli meat
Stir fried garlic flank 
steak with broccoli, 
onion, and carrots
Apple slices & 
almond butter
Thursday
Jerky, dried fruit, 
handful of walnuts
Spinach salad with 
tomatoes, cucum-
bers, avocado, and 
leftover flank steak
Slow cooker stew 
with sweet potatoes, 
carrots, parsnips, and 
beef shanks
Guacamole
Green pepper strips
Friday
Frittata made with 
any veggies in the 
fridge on the verge of 
spoiling - topped with 
avocado
Leftover frittata on top 
of a green salad
Roast chicken with 
roasted cauliflower 
and broccoli
Hard boiled eggs
Saturday
Coconut flour 
pancakes, fried eggs
Cold leftover roast 
chicken and veggies
Dinner out with 
friends at a steak-
house - 8oz sirloin, 
steamed broccoli, 
baked sweet potato
Celery sticks with 
almond butter
Sunday
Eggs, pastured 
bacon, canteloupe
Big salad with hard-
boiled eggs and 
crumbled leftover 
bacon
Slow cooker chicken, 
shredded for “tacos” 
in lettuce cups with 
lots of toppings
Jerky, dried fruit, 
handful of walnuts
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 30
Stocking your paleo pantry
So you went to shop your cupboards and came up empty? Here are our list of paleo pantry, fridge, 
and freezer must-haves. Keep your house stocked with these items and you’ll always have a base 
for a nutritious paleo meal. Just add meat & seasonal veggies!
Check our “buy online” guide if you can’t find it locally!
Pantry items
Full fat coconut milk 
(look for a brand without 
added sweeteners or 
preservatives)
Coconut oil
Olive oil
Olives
Flaked or shredded un-
sweetened coconut
Coconut flour
Almond butter
Raw almonds, walnuts, 
macadamia nuts, pump-
kin seeds, and sunflower 
seeds (keep in the freezer 
after you open)
Almond meal or flour
Tomato paste
Marinara sauce (check 
the label, we want no 
added sweeteners or 
unpronounceable ingre-
dients)
Canned chipotles in 
adobo (check the label 
for gluten-containing 
items)
Canned tomatoes 
Canned artichoke hearts
Dried unsweetened Bing 
cherries
Dried unsweetened figs
Fridge items
Bragg’s Raw Apple cider 
vinegar
Deli meat
Coconut aminos (instead 
of soy sauce)
Balsamic vinegar
Dijon mustard
Dill pickles
Toasted sesame oil
Salsa (check the la-
bel, we want no added 
sweeteners or unpro-
nounceable ingredients)
Grass-fed butter or ghee
Hot Sauce
Chili Oil
Thai Curry Paste
 
 
Protein
Ground beef
Eggs
Ground turkey
Chuck roast
Salmon
Bacon
Whole chicken
Ground breakfast sau-
sage 
Smoked oysters or sar-
dines in olive oil
Canned wild salmon 
Beef jerky
Fruits & Veggies
Avocado
Cucumber
Cabbage
Spinach
Broccoli
Mixed greens
Onions
Garlic
Tomatoes
Bell Pepper
Lemons
Yams/sweet potatoes
Celery
Carrots
Limes
Spices & Herbs
Black pepper
Ground cinnamon
Ground cumin
Ground coriander
Granulated garlic powder
Old Bay
Freezer
Whatever frozen fruits 
and veggies you can get 
a good deal on that you 
like to eat!
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Spinach
Butternut squash
Fruit
Occasional treats
85%-90% dark 
chocolate
Cocoa nibs
Chicharrones
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 31
What do I do with that?
Shopping your pantry and fridge, but can’t figure out what to do with a certain food? Here are a few 
ideas on some of our favorite foods. Still can’t figure it out or want some more ideas? Pull up google.
com or any of the Paleo blogs in the resources section and type in paleo ______ such as “paleo 
chicken thighs” or “paleo artichoke hearts” to find recipes!
Almond butter
• Dip apples, celery or any crunchy fruit/veggie in it for a snack
• Put some in a smoothie
• Eat a spoonful
Almond meal or almond flour
• Use for breading on meats (think chicken fingers)
• Use in paleo baked goods (search for almond meal on any of our recommended recipe sites)
• Mix with cocoa powder and coconut oil - roll into little balls, pop in the freezer for a quick treat
Apple cider vinegar
• Add some to your homemade broth/stock - helps to grab minerals from the bones
• Use in salad dressing or vinaigrettes
Artichoke hearts
• Drizzle with olive oil and top with cracked pepper for a side dish or snack
• Combine with other veggies for a salad
• Throw them into a stir fry
• Put them in a marinara sauce for an extra “hidden” serving of veggies
• Serve cold on a platter with pickles, hard boiled egg and cold leftover meat
Avocado
• Make fresh guacamole (here’s a favorite, very simple recipe) 
• Cut in half, sprinkle with salt & pepper and eat with a spoon
• Cut into slices and use to top salads or scrambled eggs
• Use it in a lettuce wrap
• Dairy-free chocolate pudding
Bacon
• Eat it by itself or with its best friend, eggs
• Wrap dates in it and bake until bacon is cooked
• Crumble and sprinkle on top of salads or veggies
• Chop into pieces and cook through, then add any veggie for a quick and delicious saute
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 32
Balsamic vinegar
• Make homemade salad dressing
• Combine with a little olive oil for a marinade for meats
• Drizzle over a salad, sauteedveggies, or cooked fruit like peaches 
or pears
Beef (ground)
• Make burgers
• Make bean-free chili
• Add taco seasoning and ground tomatoes and cook it - eat it on 
lettuce wraps
• Make meatballs - Sarah has a ton of yummy recipes.
• Make cabbage rolls
• Google “paleo ground beef” and make something that pops up
• Make something on this page
Bell peppers
• Cut into strips and dip into guacamole or baba ghanoush
• Use in a stir fry, soup, or stew
• Use in fresh salsa
• Stuff with ground beef and spices and bake
Berries
• Eat them fresh
• Make a smoothie
• Add a splash of coconut milk and a sprinkle of cocoa powder, eat.
• Make a cobbler
Broccoli
• Lightly steam or saute and drizzle with olive oil or balsamic vinegar
• Roast with bacon and top with pine nuts
• Eat raw dipped in guacamole or baba ghanoush
• Shred the stems and make a fresh slaw (just add a bit of mayon-
naise and lime juice)
Butternut squash
• Make a hearty soup
• Roast or cook in a pressure cooker until cooked through and pu-
ree Top with coconut oil or butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon
• Roast it
• Cube it into small pieces and saute it in a skillet with greens
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 33
Cabbage
• Shred it and make fresh slaw (just add a bit of mayonnaise and lime juice)
• Shred it and saute with apples, sprinkle with cinnamon
• Make cabbage rolls 
• Cut into wedges and steam it lightly
• Use it in a soup or stew for an extra “hidden” veggie serving
• Make your own sauerkraut
Carrots
• Dice and use as a base along with onions and celery for ANY soup or stew
• Chop and roast, drizzle with olive oil, coconut oil, balsamic 
vinegar, or butter
• Chop into sticks and use for dipping in guacamole or baba 
ghanoush
• Shred and make a fresh slaw (just add a bit of mayonnaise and lime juice)
• Pickle it 
Cauliflower
• Make cauliflower “rice”
• Steam and mash it, then prepare like mashed potatoes
• Lightly steam and drizzle with olive oil, coconut oil, balsamic vinegar, or butter
• Chop into florets and roast with bacon pieces
• Pickle it (you can keep in the fridge instead of canning if you like)
• Steam it along with carrots, then puree it and sprinkle with cinnamon or your 
favorite spices
Celery
• Cut into sticks and use for dipping into almond butter, guacamole, or baba 
ghanoush 
• Dice and use as a base along with onions and carrots for ANY soup or stew
• Finely chop and put into seafood patties like crab or salmon cakes
• Chop for a stir fry
• Slice it very thin and add to chicken salad
• Chop roughly and use in a stew or with pot roast
Chicken (pieces)
• Toss into a slow cooker with curry sauce, coconut milk, enchilada sauce, etc 
and cook on low all day
• Google “paleo chicken recipe” and make something
• Make something on this page 
• Or this page
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 34
Chicken (whole)
• Rub skin with butter, lard, or coconut oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper 
or a spice blend and roast it! 
• Sprinkle with salt & pepper, put into the slow cooker, and cook on low 
for 7-8 hours
• Use the carcass to make bone broth
Chipotles in adobo
• Use sparingly! These are spicy!
• Puree and add to a marinade
• Add to your “cauliflower rice” (see cauliflower)
• Put in a blender and then add some of the puree to a soup, chili, pu-
reed veggies, or make enchilada sauce
Chili Oil
• Add to ground meat for spice and flavor
• Make a spicy salad dressing
• Make Thai “no-peanut” sauce 
Cinnamon (ground)
• Sprinkle on roast cauliflower, sweet potato, or butternut squash
• Use in a meat marinade for something unexpected
• Add to chili or hearty savory stews
Coconut (flaked or shredded unsweetened)
• Eat it!
• Make curried coconut chips 
• Combine with dried fruit, nuts, and jerky for a great snack
Coconut aminos
• Use this anywhere you’d normally use soy sauce
Coconut flour
• Bread meats with it (think chicken fingers)
• Make paleo baked goods (just search on any of our 
recommended recipe blogs in the Resources section)
• Make biscuits 
Coconut milk
• Make a curry (see Thai curry paste)
• Mix with fruit in a blender for a delicious smoothie
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 35
• Use it to flavor your coffee
• Use it anywhere you’d normally use cow milk
Coconut oil
• Use as a cooking fat
• Use like you would butter (to top veggies, to melt on a sweet 
potato)
• Use in baking instead of butter
• Use as a moisturizer or on your hair for a special conditioning 
treatment (really!)
Cucumber
• Slice and dip in guacamole or baba ghanoush
• Chop and put on salads
• Slice, combine with diced tomatoes, onions, and vinaigrette for a 
simple side dish
• Top with chicken liver pate
Dijon mustard
• Spread on deli meat or cold, leftover meat
• Combine with mayonnaise for a yummy dip for veggies
• Use in a salad dressing
• Use in a marinade or as a topping for meats or seafood
eggs
• Scramble, fry, poach, or hard-boil and eat!
• Make a simple omelet or frittata with lots of veggies
• Use to bind meatballs or meatloaf
Lemons/Limes
• Slice and put into water for flavor
• Use juice or zest in a marinade or salad dressing
• Use juice in guacamole or a fresh slaw
• Cut in half and stuff the cavity of a roasting chicken
Lettuce
• Make a lettuce wrap
• Make a salad - top with tons of veggies
• Shred for tacos
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 3636
Nuts
• Sprinkle on top of a salad (raw or lightly toasted)
• Sprinkle on top of fresh berries with coconut milk
• Eat raw as a snack
Salmon (canned)
• Make salmon cakes
• Make salmon salad (mix with mayo, old bay and finely 
chopped celery)
• Eat right out of the can
• Spread on cucumber slices or celery
Salsa
• Dip raw veggies in and eat
• Top cooked meats or seafood
• Top scrambled eggs or throw into an omelet
• Put into the slow cooker with chicken thighs for “enchilada meat”
• Use with lettuce wrap tacos
Spinach
• Use in an omelet or frittata
• Add to marinara sauce or a soup/stew for an extra “hidden” 
veggie serving
• Eat raw as a great salad base
• Put into a fruit smoothie
• Throw into any stir fry or along with a sauteed veggie
Thai curry paste
• Make a curry - Heat a pan, pour in some coconut milk , add a 
small amount of curry paste and stir until incorporated. Add the 
rest of the coconut milk from one can, add some meat (diced 
chicken thighs, scallops, or shrimp), sliced veggies, and cook until 
the meat is heated through
• Add to scrambled eggs
Toasted sesame oil
• Drizzle on top of sauteed or steamed veggies
• Add to cauliflower rice
• Use in a salad dressing
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 37
Tomatoes 
• Make fresh salsa
• Slice and sprinkle with salt & pepper
• Dice and toss into any veggie or ground meat dish
Tomatoes (canned whole, diced, or crushed)
• Use in any soup or stew
• Make salsa or marinara sauce
• Cook with spinach for a simple side
• Make something from this page! 
Yams/sweet potatoes
• Bake whole, top with butter or coconut oil and a sprinkle of 
cinnamon
• Cook and puree or mash
• Make sweet potato pancakes
• Make grain-free Thanksgiving-style stuffing
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 3838
Meal Maker Checklist
Protein Veggies Fruit Fats
Spices
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 39
This Week’s Menu
Breakfast Lunch Dinner Snack
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Meal planning 101 — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 40
Shopping List
Protein Veggies Fruit Fats
Spices
Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide
CHAPTeR 4
MONeY 
SAVINg
TRICKS
Money saving tricks —Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 42
Money Saving Tricks
We’ve laid out some basics that are going to set you up for 
success from the start. You’ve got some cooking skills under 
your belt. You’ve made your meal plan, you’ve shopped from 
your list, you’re all set to eat healthfully and not waste food. 
But what if you want to take it further? Here are some money 
saving tricks that we’ve learned along the way that will help 
you take shopping on a budget even further.
Keep a price journal
The savviest shoppers keep a price journal. This doesn’t have to be 
anything fancy, a simple notepad will do. Bring it with you each time 
you go shopping and write down the prices of staples you buy all the 
time. You can even use our Stocking your Paleo pantry cheatsheet 
and fill prices in next to each item. This way you will know the aver-
age price for something, and when it really goes on sale. When the 
item is on sale, stock up.
Here’s an example of what that might look like:
Coconut Oil (Nutiva Brand)
November 12, 2011 - $9.29
December 15, 2011 - $8.29
February 20, 2012 - $8.99
March 12, 2012 - $7.49
Don’t pay for preparation
There’s a reason why a whole chicken costs less per pound than 
boneless, skinless chicken breasts or that bag of frozen, breaded 
chicken nuggets. The whole chicken is unprocessed (well, if you 
don’t count the guts and feathers), but the other products require 
some labor to get them that way. You are absolutely paying for that 
at the cash register.
When you go to the produce section, many stores now have a case 
of pre-cut vegetables. These are extraordinarily expensive compared 
Money saving tricks — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 43
to their whole counterparts! Anytime you buy pre-cut, pre-cooked, 
pre-whatever, you’re paying more. 
Learning some basic skills in the kitchen, which we taught you in 
Chapter 2, will be a lot better investment of your time. When you get 
home from the grocery store, you can even do a little bit of prepara-
tion right away. Slice bell peppers into strips you can dip into guaca-
mole. Make a big container full of chopped onion, celery, and carrots 
as a base for stews and soups. Cut up a whole chicken if you don’t 
plan on roasting it. 
Do your own preparation and you will save money.
Buy in bulk
Buying in bulk can be a money saver, especially when it comes to 
things you can freeze, or shelf-stable things like coconut oil or 
almond butter. If you have the space in your pantry or freezer, stock 
up!
Buy direct from a farm
Buying a whole cow or a side of beef (half a cow) directly from a 
farmer can save you money in the long run, and is also a great way 
to ensure that your meat is local, that the animal has been treated 
well and harvested responsibly. Here are some simple steps for 
buying direct from a farm:
Find a local farmer who will sell to you. Local Harvest and Eat Wild 
are great resources for finding farmers who will sell to you directly. 
If that fails, you can call local butcher shops, ask around at organic 
or natural food grocers, or ask friends. Another resource is the local 
paleo crowd - call a CrossFit gym and ask if any of their members do 
a meat share or if they know where you can find grass-fed beef, or 
check in with your local chapter of the Weston A Price foundation.
Mark’s Daily Apple also has a post on “cowpooling” with some re-
sources broken down state by state.
Think about 
joining a CSA 
(community sup-
ported agricul-
ture). 
One of the best 
ways to make 
sure you are eat-
ing seasonally is 
to buy directly 
from a farm. You 
invest money at 
the beginning of 
the year when 
farmers need it 
most, and then 
when produce 
starts being 
harvested, you 
get a basket of 
fresh, extremely 
local, and usu-
ally organic fruits 
and vegetables 
directly from 
the farm. It’s 
extremely cost-
effective, and is 
super for all the 
reasons we gave 
you. 
Read more about 
CSAs and see if 
they are right for 
you.
Money saving tricks — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 4444
What to expect
From one family’s tale of buying their first whole cow:
Our cow had a hanging weight of 527 pounds and we had agreed 
to a price of $2.50 per pound hanging weight. The butcher said that 
our cow only lost about 25% of his weight (which was on the smaller 
side of weight loss?). That brought our grand total to $1,317.50 for 
the entire cow, which figures to about $3.33 per pound on average 
(though it also depends on your actual packages, some of my group-
ings have averaged under $3 a pound). Mind you this is for local, 
natural (not technically organic due to a some of the feed they get 
during winter), mainly-pastured beef. The equivalent in the grocery 
store would likely range from $5-$25 a pound depending on the cut. 
Continue reading here - there are also photos so you can know how 
much meat you could expect and what cuts are included. 
Of course, if you’re short on cash or freezer space, you could always 
organize a group buy with friends. Split a cow four ways and the 
investment is much less per person.
Organize a group buy
Talk to your friends and see if they are interested in splitting a case of 
coconut oil or almond flour with you. Or if they want to split that side 
of beef from the farm. If you are part of a gym, make an announce-
ment at your next class or ask your gym owner if they’d be willing to 
post about it on the gym’s website. Know of a health food store or 
small coffee shop frequented by like-minded folks? Post a notice on 
their community bulletin board with your phone number or email. Or 
start a post on Craigslist or the Robb Wolf forums.
A little bit of organization can go a long way to save some money 
here. Make a plan, collect cash or use paypal if that’s more conveni-
ent for you (with online purchases that can be helpful), and go forth 
and purchase!
Freeze it!
Buying in bulk can only work well if you have storage for the extra 
food. For something shelf stable like coconut flour or almond but-
ter, most people can find somewhere in their pantry or even an extra 
Advice on buying 
beef for home 
freezers
Money saving tricks — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 45
closet, but with meat, you really need a dedicated freezer. If you 
have space for this, it can save you a lot of money in the long run. 
It is, however, an up front investment to buy the freezer. We’ll talk 
about how to save to buy a big item like this in just a little bit.
Look into buying clubs and restaurant supply stores.
Stores such as Costco and Sam’s club often have great deals on 
large amounts of food. These stores are also filled with tons of junk 
that you don’t need, so make sure you have a plan when you go in, 
so you don’t get derailed and spend a bunch of money that’s totally 
not in your budget. 
The first time you go into one of these stores, don’t even take your 
wallet. Just go on a scouting mission! Survey what they have and 
see if they carry staple items for your household at a significant sav-
ings. My list for Costco looks like this:
• Frozen sausage patties (one brand they carry is just pork, salt, 
and sugar)
• Organic chicken & apple sausage
• Canned wild caught salmon
• 2 pound grass-fed beef (3 pack)
• Boneless skinless chicken thighs (6-pack of about 5-6 each)
• Bag of 6 avocados
• Case of sweet potatoes
• Large jar of raw almond butter
• Case of organic canned tomatoes
Your store will vary in what they carry, but if you can scout out some 
items that your family eats often, this can definitely work in your wal-
let’s favor.
Restaurant supply stores can also be a fascinating and value-packed 
trip, if you have one in your area that’s open to the public. Many res-
taurant suppliers that are not open to the public only require a busi-ness name and tax ID number to sign up (you often don’t have to 
prove that you are a restaurant owner). For example, I know people 
who have signed up with their dad’s lawn care business tax ID or their 
friend’s consulting firm tax ID. I am not endorsing dishonesty, but sim-
ply putting this information out there - do with it what you will.
One restaurant supply store I visited recently has a walk-in freezer 
the size of your local grocery store (this is JUST the freezer) filled 
Money saving tricks — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 4646
with sides of beef, cases of ground meat, floor to ceiling - every 
kind of meat and processed meat product you could think of. If you 
could organize a group buy, this could be a really great resource. I 
have purchased for example, a case of wild caught salmon fillets and 
another case of free range chicken breast for much cheaper than it 
would have cost just buying them individually from the supermarket.
How to save for buying in bulk
So you want to buy half a cow or even a big ticket item like a deep 
freezer, but the up front investment (several hundred dollars) seems 
totally unattainable. My advice is to save a little each week until you 
can afford to buy.
Here are some steps to figure out how to save for a 
dedicated purchase. 
Figure out what disposable income you already have that you can 
put toward this purchase. Maybe there is an extra $20 per week that 
you could put here. 
Revisit Chapter 1 for some tips about where you might be able to 
reallocate some money from your budget. Can you cancel Netflix 
for a few months? Forgo a dinner out per week? If you are like most 
American families, you could probably find another $20-50 per week 
here. 
Once you have figured out how much money you can reasonably 
save each week, start withdrawing that amount from your bank ac-
count each Sunday (or whatever day works for you). Get an envelope 
and mark it BUY THE DEEP FREEZER FUND or something similar, 
and keep it in a safe place. Each week, place your money inside and 
keep track of how much you’ve saved. After a month or three, you 
will probably have what you need!
You can also open a savings account that is connected to your 
checking account and transfer the money every week. Some people 
like the cash method, some people like to bank online. Either way, 
lots of people have successfully saved up this way for big ticket 
items, Christmas shopping, vacations, and more.
Money saving tricks — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 47
Buy local
We’ve already talked about how shopping seasonally can really 
make a difference in price. Don’t forget about that! Farmers markets 
and CSAs can help you stick to your budget.
Butcher shops are also a great resource. For example, a Trader Joe’s 
in my area sells grass-fed ground beef for $6.95 per pound, but my 
local butcher has grass-fed ground beef for around $5. If you don’t 
burn a lot of gas getting to this extra stop on your shopping route, it 
can save you a decent amount of money per item.
Butcher shops also have an advantage over grocery stores and 
bulk stores - they know where their meat came from and how it was 
raised. So ask them! They can also be a great connection to help 
you buy directly from a farmer.
Many butcher shops have “meat plans” where for a family of 2 or 4 
you can get a week’s worth of meat for a certain amount of money. 
For example my butcher shop offers a weekly family package for 
two, which is plenty of meat for dinners, breakfasts, and enough to 
have leftovers for lunch. It looks like this:
Family Package for 2
$49.99 plus tax
1 lb. Ground Chuck
1 lb. Homemade Sausage
1 lb. Bacon
1 lb. Hot Dogs
1 lb. Cube Steak
1 lb. Pot Roast
1 lb. Stew Beef
1 Whole or cut up Chicken
2- 8 oz NY Strips
4 Boneless Pork Chops
What about coupons?
Coupons can be difficult to find for whole foods like produce and 
meat, which the paleo diet is centered around. Most of the coupons 
you’ll find will be for processed and refined foods or straight up junk. 
However, this doesn’t mean you should abandon the coupon craze 
Money saving tricks — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 48
altogether. If you have a few extra minutes, grab your Sunday paper 
and browse through to see what they have. Sometimes you can find 
a great deal on things like almond butter, coconut oil, or a specific 
brand of eggs. Since coupons for whole foods are tougher to find, 
this is not a top priority for most budget-savvy paleo shoppers. Your 
mileage may vary, however!
Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide
CHAPTeR 5
BuDgeT
SHOPPINg
PRIORITIeS
Budget shopping priorities — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 50
Budget shopping 
priorities
Ok, let’s assume you’ve got the basics down and you’re 
feeding and watering yourself successfully. What’s next? 
What are food quality priorities when shopping on a budget? 
If you’ve got a little extra to spend, where should you spend?
Navigating the “green lingo”
Grass-fed, free-range, organic, cage-free... what does it all mean? 
Here’s a little primer on deciphering the “green” marketing lingo.
Grass-fed - This means the animal was fed grass, rather than 
grains. However, a grass-fed label doesn’t mean the animal was fed 
exclusively grass. Some grass-fed cattle are “grain finished” which 
means they ate grains from a feedlot prior to slaughter. 
Grass-finished - This means the animal was fed grass the last few 
months before slaughter. Typically, feed lots finish cattle for 90 to 
160 days on grain, usually corn, whereas, grass finished cattle are 
fattened on grass only, until the day that they are processed.
Free-Range - You’ll see this label on both eggs and poultry. While 
this term may conjure up images of chickens running through the 
grass, in reality this label may be used as long as the producers 
“give poultry access to the outside.” There is no rule on how long 
they must be given access to the outdoors, or how large the space 
is. For example, a confinement chicken operation can have a tiny 
door on the far side of the warehouse that they open for one hour a 
day, that opens into an outdoor area the size of a kitchen table, and 
still consider the thousands of hens inside “free range.”
Cage-free - Again, this label is found on poultry and eggs. It also 
conjures up an image of hens running free, however this only means 
that the animals were not confined to cages. It does not guarantee 
that they were given access to the outdoors, or raised in a “natural” 
environment. Many cage-free operations cut off the chickens’ beaks 
to prevent them from mutilating one another in their crowded con-
finement, cages or no cages.
Budget shopping priorities — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 51
Organic - All organic agricultural farms and products must meet 
the following guidelines (verified by a USDA-approved independent 
agency):
• Abstain from the application of prohibited materials (including 
synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and sewage sludge) for 3 years 
prior to certification and then continually throughout their organic 
license.
• Prohibit the use of genetically modified organisms and irradiation.
• Employ positive soil building, conservation, manure management 
and crop rotation practices.
• Provide outdoor access and pasture for livestock.
• Refrain from antibiotic and hormone use in animals.
• Sustain animals on 100% organic feed.
• Avoid contamination during the processing of organic products.
• Keep records of all operations. 
However, not all “organic” products are created equal. If a product 
contains the “USDA Organic” seal, it means that 95 to 100 percent 
of its ingredients are organic. Products with 70 to 95 percent organic 
ingredients can still advertise “organic” ingredients on the front of 
the package, however, and products with less than70 percent or-
ganic ingredients can identify them on the side panel. 
Also, the “organic” structure is set up to accommodate large produc-
ers, and the bureaucratic red tape required to be certified organic is 
prejudicial and hard to access for small farms. So the key here is to 
ask. A small community-supported agriculture operation might not 
have the money or the infrastructure to become certified organic, but 
they may still use 100% organic practices. If you buy local, you can 
ask the farmer directly how their food is grown, what kind of fertiliz-
ers they use, and how they treat their animals.
Natural - Be wary of this claim. It can mean just about anything. The 
claim is only regulated by the USDA in the case of meat and poultry, 
where “natural” means no artificial ingredients or colors have been 
added, and the product has been minimally processed. 
Pastured - Pasture-raised chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cattle have 
been raised on a pasture where they’re able to eat grass. They are 
typically given access to fresh pasture each day.
Fresh - This means the food is raw and has never been frozen or 
Budget shopping priorities — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 52
heated. However, “fresh” foods can be treated with radiation, which 
is never mentioned on the label.
Abandon all hope!
When it comes to labels, it is clearly “buyer beware.” So I can hear 
you thinking, “But Robb! Even if I buy the free-range, cage-free 
labeled eggs, they can still come from a factory farming operation? 
What hope is there in finding safe food that was humanely raised? 
What should we do?”
Do I have to buy organic?
It’s true - organic fruits and vegetables cost more. However, there 
are some places to save and places to skimp here. According to the 
Environmental Working Group, there are a “dirty dozen” in the pro-
duce aisle that you should always buy organic, and a few that are 
less dangerous.
12 Least Contaminated 
(ok to buy non-organic)
Onions 
Avocado 
Sweet Corn (Frozen) 
Pineapples 
Mango 
Asparagus 
Sweet Peas (Frozen) 
Kiwi Fruit 
Bananas 
Cabbage 
Broccoli 
Papaya
12 Most Contaminated 
(buy organic)
Peaches 
Apples 
Sweet Bell Peppers 
Celery 
Nectarines 
Strawberries 
Cherries 
Pears 
Grapes (Imported) 
Spinach 
Lettuce 
Potatoes
Do I have to buy grass-fed?
There are many articles online about additional benefits of grass-fed 
meat. 
• Eat Wild talks about grass-fed basics
• More on the health benefits of grass-fed
Click to listen to 
Robb talk about 
the importance of 
buying local and 
maintaining good 
relationships with 
local food 
producers.
Click to listen to 
Robb talk about 
why grass-fed 
meat is beneficial 
to your health 
and the planet.
Budget shopping priorities — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 53
• US Wellness Meats on grass-fed nutrition
• Read more about how grass farming benefits the environment
If you cannot afford grass-fed meat (have you tried some of the 
options in our Money Saving Tricks chapter - buying in bulk, seek-
ing out a direct buy from a farmer, found a butcher shop, or tried 
to share a large cut with friends?), then focus on the leaner cuts of 
traditionally raised meat. These leaner cuts will have less fat in them, 
which means less omega-6 fatty acid. We don’t suggest lean meats 
because fat is bad for you, only that fat from feedlot-raised animals 
contains an unhealthy balance of omega-6 and conjugated linoleic 
acid. Naturally raised, pastured animal fat is good for you and not 
a problem. However, if you cannot find or afford pastured animals, 
these cuts of feedlot-raised animals are a good secondary choice.
• Skinless chicken breast
• Skinless turkey breast
• Eye of round roast or steak
• Sirloin tip side steak
• Top round roast and steak
• Bottom round roast and steak
• Top sirloin steak
• Low-fat ground beef
• All kinds of seafood (fish, shellfish)
• Wild game such as venison or duck
What are my priorities when buying fats 
and oils?
Diane Sanfilippo of Balanced Bites has put together some great 
guides on fats and oils. Here they are:
Fats & Oils: Which to Eat & Which to Ditch
What Are Safe Cooking Fats & Oils?
Find out a lot 
more about how 
grass farming 
and pasture-
based agricul-
ture benefits the 
environment and 
our health in 
his delightfully 
cranky new book, 
Folks, this ain’t 
normal!
Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide
CHAPTeR 6
IN THe
KITCHeN
In the kitchen — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 55
In the kitchen
You’ve mastered meal planning, shopping, and finding a little 
“extra money” in your budget. Here are some tips for making 
things work a little more smoothly in the kitchen.
How to cook meals in advance
Here are some reader-generated tips for managing food when your 
schedule is all out of whack or when you’re short on time.
gimme protein
Once a week, hit up Sams Club (or Costco or whatever wholesaler 
is nearby) and buy big amounts of protein (upwards of 20 pounds of 
meat). Mix it up each week with steak, hamburger, chicken, pork or 
beef tenderloin, shrimp, fish. Then fire up the grill and cook enough 
for the whole week.
You can add in seasonings (Old Bay for the shrimp, taco seasoning 
for ground meat, salt & pepper for steak, paprika for chicken, etc.) 
while grilling everything. The trick is to cook everything just shy of 
being done (medium rare, even for the chicken & seafood). Then later 
when the food is reheated in the microwave, it still tastes good and 
doesn’t get dry and rubbery.
You can then portion out the food and put it in ziplocks or plastic 
containers. Leave enough in the fridge for the next few days, and 
throw the rest in the freezer. Each day, pull a portion down into the 
fridge so it’s ready for the next day.
What about veggies?
Follow the same procedure for veggies with a little variation. You can 
buy bulk amounts of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, brussels sprouts, 
asparagus, whatever veggies look good that week. Leave the veg-
gies raw and portion out 2-3 cups or however much looks yummy. 
Another option is to make a big chopped salad at the start of the 
week and keep it in the fridge. Each day just scoop out a portion. 
Slice up your meat and put on top, add some olive oil, and you’ve 
got a darn tasty lunch.
In the kitchen — Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide 56
Other ideas from the Paleo blogosphere
Meals for the week – Paleo style - This amazing post from Julie Sul-
livan Mayfield, author of Paleo Comfort Foods, is a veritable treasure 
trove of information. It has shopping lists, a meal plan, photos of 
their results, times it takes to prep things, and more. Go check it out!
Gable Barber said:
8 lb pork roast in the crock pot on Sunday. Pull it apart and portion 
into little tupperware containers, usually ~8-10 oz servings. Some-
times we bake 6 or so sweet taters, peel em, toss in a bowl with 
some olive oil and mash em up. Portion that into tupperware con-
tainers too. Each day I usually put some frozen broccoli florets into 
tupperware and toss some pork (or whatever meat), broccoli, and 
sweet taters into my lunch box, and I’m set!
Tupperware almonds, beef jerky, etc too, for quick snacks. We save 
all our pedialyte containers, then brew a lot of green tea, cool it, and 
cut it 25% tea, 75% water and stash those in the fridge too. Any-
thing to make the mornings less rushed, and to ensure I’ve got the 
right foods with me at all times.
Zach Marcy said:
• Buy sectioned containers for the food.
• Cook enough protein, veggies, sweet potatoes, etc for 5-7 days 
worth of lunch and dinner.
• Use frozen organic veggies with every meal.
• Place them in the freezer for fast access every morning before 
work.
• Pack fresh veggies and healthy snacks like apples and almond 
butter or fresh