Keto will help you lose fat, but it’s also going to change your eating habits drastically. 

You’re going on a high-fat diet, and you’re not going to be able to buy the cheap pastas and carbs that people normally stock up on from the grocery store.

But don’t worry: you can do keto on a slim budget.

1. Invest in the Right Type of Beans

Beans are a go-to item that can add healthy protein to your meals without the high price tag that comes with meat. The trick is finding the right beans that fit into the keto diet. Most beans have too many carbs, but black soybeans are an exception. Black soybeans have around 1g of carbs per serving versus canned black beans, which can have 11 g of carbs.

2. Keep Meals Simple

Limiting the number of ingredients in each meal is going to help keep you on a tight budget. When you start adding in new ingredients, costs rise. It’s best to buy in bulk, use high-quality ingredients and keep it simple. 

Meal planning is also much easier when you keep things simple.

3. Whole Chickens Instead of Cuts

We’re all guilty of not wanting to do extra work when cooking, but that extra work can save you money. A lot of people go into the grocery store and purchase expensive meat cuts. But you can often find whole chickens for a lot less than their cut counterparts. You’ll save more on your chicken costs, and you can also use the carcass to make chicken broth.

4. Start Meal Planning

Meal planning allows you to save money and save on waste. You’ll discard less food, and you’ll have a general idea of how much you’ll spend each week at the grocery store. I recommend keeping your receipts and making a list of how much certain foods cost.

Nuts, for example, will be a healthy part of your diet and a go-to snack.

Knowing how much your favorite nuts cost will allow you to plan your meals for success. You’ll be able to have a list of the foods you plan on eating this week and can come up with a general overall cost per week. If you’re over your budget, you can cut out some of the high-priced meals or ingredients you’ve chosen.

You can also skip organic, grass-fed options if your budget is restricted.

Add in eggs as an additional healthy fat (which is also relatively cheap to purchase). A large egg has 6 g of protein and nearly 5 g of fat with just 0.5 g of carbs. Eggs also allow for a lot of versatility in your diet. Add in cheese or leafy greens for a delightful breakfast.

Low-cost oils can save you money, too.

Avocados are expensive, and while they provide an abundance of healthy fats, they may not fit into your budget. You can opt for avocado oil instead, which is less expensive and still provides you with healthy fats that will help you stay in ketosis.

With the holidays right around the corner, it’s time to start planning your dinner menu. But how can you stay on track when most classic holiday dishes aren’t keto-friendly? 

We’re going to show you how you can transform your classic holiday recipes to make them keto-friendly.

Make Your Stuffing Low-Carb

Stuffing is a classic holiday dish, but its key ingredient is bread – not exactly a keto-friendly food. Here’s the good news: you can transform your classic stuffing recipe into a low-carb side dish that will please everyone.

First, you’ll need to choose a replacement for the bread. You have two main options:

• Keto bread 
• Cauliflower

Keto bread is typically made with a combination of almond or coconut flour, egg, fat and baking powder. Once cooked, it resembles regular bread in texture and taste. You can find several keto bread recipes online.

Regardless of whether you choose cauliflower or keto bread, you will use the bread replacement the same way you use bread crumbs when making stuffing.

Alternatively, you can omit the bread (or bread replacement) and use turnips, carrots and mushrooms instead. These vegetables combine perfectly with sage, rosemary and thyme.

Switch Out Potatoes for Cauliflower

Mashed potatoes is another classic holiday side dish, but it’s not exactly a keto-friendly food. Transform this classic holiday side dish by replacing the white potatoes with cauliflower. 

Cauliflower takes on whatever flavors you add, so it’s an excellent choice for a potato replacement. Simply steam or boil the vegetable, and mash as you would regular potatoes. Add salt, butter and cream for a keto-friendly side dish that tastes just like the real thing. Feel free to add roasted garlic and fresh herbs to kick the flavor up a notch.

You can use cauliflower in place of potato (and even sweet potato) in any side dish. For example, whip up a cauliflower casserole loaded with bacon and cheese. 

Whip Up Some Keto-Friendly Gravy

Gravy is a staple at most holiday tables, but some of the ingredients aren’t exactly keto-friendly – primarily flour. Most of the other ingredients, like pan drippings, stock and butter, are perfectly fine to eat on the keto diet.

So, how can you thicken gravy without flour? 

You have a few different options:

• Egg yolk
• Cream cheese
• Xanthan gum

Xanthan gum is the most effective thickener, but if you don’t mind a thinner gravy, egg yolk is a great option and will help create a richer flavor. 

Use Keto-Friendly Flour for Desserts

Many holiday desserts call for all-purpose flour, but in most cases, you can substitute these ingredients for keto-friendly flours, like coconut and almond. 

When baking non-yeast treats – like cookies, muffins, biscuits, etc. – substitute almond flour for 25% of the flour called for in the recipe.

Coconut flour goes a long way. For every cup of all-purpose flour, you only need about 1/4 cup of coconut flour.

Whether you’re using almond, coconut or a combination of the two, you’ll probably need to use more eggs than the original recipe calls for. 

With just a few simple substitutions, you can make most of your holiday dishes keto-friendly, and most of your guests won’t be able to tell the difference.

If you’re going to have success with the keto lifestyle, you need to learn how to handle social situations. 

You want to go out to eat with your friends and have a good time.

And your diet or lifestyle should not hold you back. You can maintain a social life and eat out when on keto. 

How?

Handling Happy Hour Properly

Don’t be the person who walks into a bar and announces that you’re on a diet.

If you don’t want people to notice what you’re drinking, make it a point not to tell them about your diet. 

Alcohol is acceptable on keto (in moderation). Wine is a good choice, and a few good options are:

• Red wines. A glass of merlot or cabernet sauvignon will have around 3g to 5g of carbs per glass.
• White wines. A dry white wine is similar to red wines in terms of how many carbs are in each glass.

Dry wines are best. Vodka, tequila or gin are also viable options. You’ll want to keep it to one or two glasses, depending on your daily carb intake already. Avoid sweet wines, mixed drinks and beers, which are all high in carbs.

Bring a Lunch to Work Just in Case

Does your workplace order food on Fridays? A lot of people entering the keto lifestyle will take their one lunch a week as a cheat meal.

But you shouldn’t be cheating on your diet if you want to see results. 

If the office is ordering lunch, check the menu to see if anything will fit into your diet. 

Bring lunch on this day just in case. In the worst-case scenario, you can eat the lunch you packed and still enjoy the company of your colleagues. If you don’t bring your lunch and there’s nothing on the menu that fits into your diet, you’ll either starve, or end up cheating.

Browse Menus Online Before Agreeing to Go

You have goals to reach. Maybe you’re trying to lose fat to look good in your wedding dress, or maybe you want to lose weight to for health reasons.

The keto lifestyle is flexible, but you have to try your best to stay in ketogenesis. 

If your friends are going out for pizza or to a fancy Italian restaurant, this may be your trigger and cause you to abandon your diet. But you may be able to order a steak or choose a keto-friendly dish that will fit into your daily macros. Go online and view the restaurant’s menu to find something that fits into your diet.

When you can’t find anything, offer to meet your friends for a drink afterward – a nice compromise.

Planning ahead of time can help a lot. Perhaps you don’t eat carbs until dinner, and this means that you can indulge a little more for dinner than you would otherwise. If it’s a family gathering, you can always bring your own food or a keto-friendly dish that everyone can enjoy.

Researching restaurants will also help.

Knowing which restaurants have keto-friendly options and which do not in your local area will help you maintain your social life while still following the keto diet.