Keto Meal Prep on a Budget: 10 Keto Meals made for $21.89
If you saw my post last week (Keto Meal Prep on a Budget: 10 Keto Meals for $18.19), you know I’m all about doing the Keto diet on a budget. Planning ahead and even preparing your meals ahead of time can help you save money and stick to your budget.
I’ll show you how I prepared 10 Keto Meals-including 3 filet mignon and asparagus dinners-for $21.89. Now that’s eating Keto cheap! And delicious.
If you feel like you’re missing something, make sure you go back and read last week’s post (here) to get the full story on why I’m prepping meals for my sister and my process (how I decide, plan and prep).
This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission. Full Disclosure
Should you Keto meal prep and why?
I don’t meal prep for myself, but I do this meal prep for my sister.
For me, I work from home (for a health insurance company) and can make what I want when I want. I know I’m lucky and working from home is amazing and fits my lifestyle really well. Instead of making my meals ahead of time, I keep my freezer well stocked with meat, fresh produce in the fridge and my pantry full of Keto staples. Then I make each of my meals fresh when I feel hungry and I can make what I’m in the mood for.
But, it takes a lot more time, energy and dirty dishes! And I have found myself in situations where I’m hungry and not prepared.
So, my recommendation is YES you should meal prep if you can.
You will save money! By preparing your Keto meals (even if you only did lunches), you have a plan in place, set ingredients to shop for and a way to use them. No wasted groceries. Plus no emergency take out meals, because you forgot to by ingredients or defrost the meal or whatever.
Save time! I batch cook these meals all on the same day, so I am cooking multiple meals at the same time and it’s way faster than cooking each separately. Plus, you won’t be scrambling cooking dinner or preparing lunch the day of. Grab it and go!
Portion, calorie and macro control! If you have made your meals ahead of time, you have your portions set to go, so there is less of a chance of over-eating, exceeding your set calories or carb count for the day. So if your goal with the keto diet is weight loss, this is a huge win, if you can keep your carbs and calories within set limits, you’ll lose weight faster!
What did I make? What did it cost?
This week, I made 3 different types of Keto meals. The total cost for all 10 was $21.89. This includes 3 filet mignon dinners! I stopped at Save-a-Lot to pick up some weekly groceries and found bacon wrapped jalapeno filet mignon on sale for $2.99/10 oz! I couldn’t pass that deal up, so I bought all 5 packages and included some in this meal prep and served the rest for dinner at my house.
1. Chicken Alfredo over Carrot Noodles (7.5 net carbs). This week my sister requested another round of Chicken Alfredo. I’ve been making it with zucchini noodles, but sometimes those “zoodles” get so soggy, especially when reheating, so I switched to carrot noodles and they are delicious. I used Ragu alfredo sauce (check it out here), pan seared chicken breast, and carrot noodles. Super simple and yummy!
Here is what I used:
–$1.24 for 20oz chicken. I bought this chicken from Zaycon for $0.99/pound when it was on sale (check it out here)
–$1.79 for Ragu alfredo sauce from PriceRite
–$0.48 for 12oz of carrots from Save=a=Lot
–$0.11 for 1TBSP coconut oil. Purchased from Aldi for $3.49/jar
–$0.20 for spices. This is an estimated cost, I usually get spices from Aldi or on sale from Penzy’s
–$0.50 for Parmesan cheese. Purchased from PriceRite
2. Bacon wrapped filet mignon (4 net carbs). I cooked the filets in my sous vide (check it out here) and seared them in the cast iron skillet. And I pan fried the asparagus with BUTTER!.
Here is what I used:
–$9.00 for Bacon wrapped filet mignon bought on special from Save-a-Lot.
–$2.29 for asparagus from Aldi
–$0.48 for 12oz of carrots from Save=a=Lot
–$0.19 for 3TBSP butter. Purchased for $1.99/pound at PriceRite months ago and stored in the freezer to keep fresh. I stocked up since this was an amazing price.
–$0.20 for spices. This is an estimated cost, I usually get spices from Aldi or on sale from Penzy’s
3. Cheeseburger Casserole (6 net carbs). This is another favorite of my sister’s! I didn’t follow an exact recipe, but I basically followed a recipe from Buns in my Oven (see it here).
Here is what I used:
–$9.00 for Bacon wrapped filet mignon bought on special from Save-a-Lot.
–$2.29 for asparagus from Aldi
–$0.48 for 12oz of carrots from Save=a=Lot
–$0.19 for 3TBSP butter. Purchased for $1.99/pound at PriceRite months ago and stored in the freezer to keep fresh. I stocked up since this was an amazing price.
–$0.20 for spices. This is an estimated cost, I usually get spices from Aldi or on sale from Penzy’s
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