We are proud to say that thousands of people have used this keto on a budget meal plan with great success! We’ve learned from the feedback we’ve received and would like to give guidance on how to make the most of this keto diet plan for beginners.
- Calculate your macros before starting the keto on a budget meal plan. It’s impossible to make a meal plan that’s suited for everyone, so make sure the macros delivered in this plan are well suited to you.
- This plan is for 1200 calories a day. That is on the low end of what most people are going to need. If you’re eating more than 1200 calories a day you can very easily scale this up!
- This plan delivers slightly more protein than most people starting keto will need. The easiest way to counteract this is by adding more fat to meals. Adding 2 tablespoons healthy fats each day will give you a 1450 calorie plan with a really solid fat:protein ratio.
Keto Budget Tips
Everyone wants to save money right? Well, this blog post will lay out a comprehensive plan for saving money while eating a healthy keto diet. Low carb on a budget is simple, it just takes some planning and flexibility to use whatever is on sale. Before we get too far into it I’d like to lay out the whole suite we have put together for anyone looking for more info on the specifics of this plan:
- Keto on a Budget: Grocery Haul Video
- Keto on a Budget: Meal Prep Video
- Keto on a Budget: Full Day of Eating Video
- Keto Budget Printable Shopping List(Located at the bottom of this post)
- Keto Budget Printable Meal Plan(Located at the bottom of this post)
When we devised this keto diet meal plan and shopping list we wanted to create something that was truly all-inclusive. Therefor we have things like butter and salad dressing included. Most people will have a lot of the basics already in their kitchen, so you could be pulling this plan off for well under $5 a day. Further down in this post we will talk about possible substitutions you could utilize to make this plan even healthier and cheaper with bulk purchases of a few items you’ll be using frequently on your keto journey!
Buy in Bulk
Buying in bulk is the easiest way to save money at the grocery store. Load up on whatever item is on sale that day and plan your meals around that. For example, a whole chicken will cost you less than $1 per pound, where a chicken breast will usually cost over $2 per pound. Check out this budget grocery shopping video we put together to give you some inspiration:
Be Flexible With Your Meals
If you go into the grocery store and choose the foods that are on sale, you’re going to save money compared to if you have a set grocery list before arriving. Sometimes we will want to make chicken for dinner, but there is a great deal on steaks so we switch up our keto diet menu to save money.
Cook At Home
Cooking at home is always going to be cheaper than eating out, getting fast food, and even buying precooked foods at the grocery store. After all, you’re paying someone to cook it for you. The same goes for processed foods. You can actually eat healthier for cheaper than it costs to eat junk food. The downside is you have to invest a little more time. Getting in the habit of cooking at home is a major component of better health and diet adherence.
Fall in Love With Healthy Budget Friendly Foods
This might be a tough one if you don’t enjoy these foods. A few of the best budget friendly keto foods in terms of nutrition and cost are going to be:
- Eggs
- Ground Beef
- Butter
Those are truly the big 3 of budget foods for a keto diet. The reason is they are high in fat, nutrient, and calorie dense, and are very cheap. A dozen eggs is always under $2. Ground beef can be found for under $4 per pound (often under $2 if you look hard enough). Butter is less than $1 for 800 calories!
Meal Prep!
This combines most of the previous money saving tips into one skill – Meal Prepping. This allows you to buy in bulk, cook at home, and focus on cost effective foods. If you’ve never meal prepped before it is a great skill to develop. It condenses all of your cooking for the week into a couple hours on the weekend. Meal prepping on keto sets you up for success because you always have food ready for you in the refrigerator. There has even been studies that show the positive effects of meal prepping!
Keto Meal Prep
Meal prepping is the secret to eating on a tight budget. It allows you to buy the items that are on sale, in bulk, and prepare them for quick access throughout the week. The meal prep detailed here took us about 2 hours of “active time” and another 3 hours of “passive time”. The passive time was mostly waiting for the chicken to cook/cool. The items we prepped for this meal plan are:
- 1 Whole Chicken – 9 lbs
- 12 Egg Cups – Sausage/Bacon/Egg Muffins
- 10 Slices of Bacon
- 12 Hard Boiled Eggs
Another benefit of meal prepping is that it greatly reduces your time spent in the kitchen. That’s right… you no longer have to work as a short order cook for 2 hours a day! This budget meal plan will make use of all the items we prep as well as the rest of the items on the shopping list. There is still some cooking required, but it will only be about 10-15 minutes a day, and is mostly just cooking broccoli/cauliflower. I would encourage you to check out this keto on a budget meal prep video we’ve put together as it was made specifically for this meal plan:
If you like this content and want to see more in the future, subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We put out 3 videos per week all relating to keto cooking and lifestlye.
Meal Ideas
Now we do have a full meal plan laid out for you below, but I would encourage you to experiment a bit with some meals that might better suit your tastes. We love all of these meals, that’s why we picked them! We know everyone is different though. If you want to sub something in, just check to make sure the nutrition is comparable. Keto on a budget can be pulled off all types of different ways. This is just one example using a lot of our favorite meals. For example, if you have a bunch of coconut oil sitting around feel free to sub it in for the butter. If you have olive oil, sub it in for the blue cheese dressing. Don’t let this meal plan feel restricting, it is best used as a reference point and not as a hard and fast rule book. We put together this full day of eating video to show you an example of how we ate on $5 a day:
Keto Cobb Salad Recipe Video
One of the meals you will see recurring frequently in the meal plan is a Cobb Salad. We are big advocates for the Cobb Salad! You know us… shills for Corporate Cobb Salad. Really though, we find Cobb Salads to be a great way to get a meal with perfect keto macros as well as pack in some much needed micro-nutrients. We love them so much we made a video to show everyone how we make them! For this meal plan you’ll be making a salad just like the one in this video minus the shredded cheese:
Stir Fry Dinners
The other meals we have listed in the meal plan mostly come from the meal prep items. We make 2 different types of simple stir fry dinners. One using some of the whole chicken we prepped and one using the extra ground beef. It’s pretty simple, but I’ll walk you through it really quick:
Chicken and Broccoli/Cauliflower
- 1. Heat a pan over medium heat.
- 2. Add broccoli/cauliflower mixture and butter
- 3. Cook until broccoli/cauliflower are soft, but still a bit al dente
- 4. Add precooked chicken in just to warm through.
Ground Beef and Broccoli/Cauliflower
- 1. Heat a pan over medium heat.
- 2. Add ground beef. Cook for 5 minutes.
- 3. Add broccoli/cauliflower and butter. Cook for about 10 more minutes.
- 4. Make sure broccoli/cauliflower is tender and enjoy.
That’s a quick primer on the essentials for creating meals tailored to this meal plan. See how easy eating keto on a budget can be? The “when” and “how much” are all shown in the printable plans at the bottom of this post!
Meal Plan Substitutions
This shopping list and meal plan can be heavily substituted to meet your needs. The first thing you’ll want to do is scan it over and make sure you like eating all of the foods listed here. Eating delicious foods is a big part of adhering to a diet long term! If there is a particular item you can’t stand just do a bit of research and find a substitution. Just make sure the item you decide to substitute in is similar in nutrition to the one you’re eliminating. This can be done with a quick google search or by using a website like My Fitness Pal.
Substitutions for the Meat: The whole chicken we got was $1 per pound, which is a great deal! You can sub in thighs or legs if you find those to be cheaper. Try to get it with the skin on so your meat comes with some fat! In the videos we got 2 pounds of sausage at $3 per pound. That’s a deal we couldn’t pass up! You can substitute any sausage in for that(check for sugar) or you can opt for ground beef. Make sure you get 80/20 fat/protein ratio or higher(it will be listed on the packaging).
Substitutions for the Vegetables: Avocado’s are a huge staple food for most keto dieters and we’re no different. You might be able to find a good deal on premade guacamole though. If that’s the case, feel free to go for that and sub out the avocado. If you don’t like broccoli or cauliflower you can try mushrooms or zucchini. If you don’t like any of those you should probably learn to like vegetables!!! But you could also just double down on the salad.
Other Substitutions: In this guide the only form of pure fat we use is butter. If possible, coconut oil would really be a nice upgrade. We couldn’t fit coconut oil into our $5 a day keto on a budget meal plan, but it’s cheap if you buy in bulk. Another good substitution would be olive oil or coconut oil and vinegar instead of the premade salad dressing. Most cheap premade dressings will use oils that are frowned upon on keto like canola or vegetable oil.
Keto on $5 a Day Quick Reference Infographic
Check out this quick reference Infographic! The perfect reference for eating low carb on a budget. This is really a stripped down, basic plan. It’s perfect if you want to take it as a reference and add your own twist to it!
Printable Shopping List and Meal Plan
We’ve included a printable shopping list and meal plan for your convenience! Again, use these tools as a reference and not as the be all end all. If you see something else on sale that you enjoy eating, go for that! This can be used as a framework for how to eat on keto. This isn’t the most ideal meal plan for optimal health, but it’s a pretty good one for cheap. I would recommend getting some coconut oil in this plan if possible, but we couldn’t fit it into our all-inclusive approach. If you buy in bulk on amazon coconut oil is cheap!
To get the printable shopping list and meal plan simply sign up below and we’ll email you a copy. Thanks for reading and we hope this meal plan helps you get on the path to achieving your goals. Our goal is to help you reach yours!
Get The FREE Meal Plan + Shopping List
If you want further guidance on coming up with a meal plan for you, feel free to reach out to us. We will do our best to help you devise a meal plan to match your specific goals. This is a cheap meal plan is geared towards weight loss. We will have different meal plans in the future that can be applied to different goals. Thanks for reading!
Written by
Matt Gaedke
Matt is a former college basketball player turned computer engineer who discovered his passion for health and nutrition after cutting sugar from his diet in 2016. That year he founded KetoConnect with Megha in order to share their ketogenic lifestyle through recipes, videos, and educational content. Matt is always seeking to grow and try new things, a passion he shares with his wife and two amazing sons.
Carlyn says
I would like the printable list
Kathryn says
I work nights and am always looking for things to bring to work, especially for snacks. Strangely enough, your egg cups are fantastic. They are good at room temp as well as warm. I love that they can be nibbled on during my shift (I’m not necessarily hungry, but I am a stress eater).
Thanks so much for great recipes and tips
Adrianna says
How many people does the $5 dollar a day plan feed? My husband and I are starting out keto and I was curious to see how you both do it.
Megha Barot says
$5 per person – so Matthew and I spent $10 a day altogether.
Tonya Southern says
Would like the menu and shopping list please.
Matt Gaedke says
Did you enter your email into the sign up box? You will be sent it automatically once you enter your email.
Deborah says
Hello. I’m new to Keto and will be trying this. Your video was excellent and it really was helpful to see how you can meal prep for a week. Thank you for a detailed video which really helped understand everything.
Matt Gaedke says
Glad to hear you’re giving keto a try and you found our site! Let us know if you have any questions along the way.
Brianna Meadows says
Way to go guys!
DavetteB says
Fortunately I decided to start before Easter, so eggs where on sale everywhere, as well as butter (I guess they figured some people would be baking). 2lb. blocks of cheese were on sale too so that was easy; made my own cheese sticks for a car trip. Hotel breakfast had bacon, sausage and eggs every day, plus grabbed some cream cheese packs for instant fat bombs. Carried my butter, coconut oil, and Ninja so I made BPC in the room every day. Had slight cheats (like Popeye’s chicken with the skin, but no biscuits or beans and rice), but no huge going overboard like I would normally do on vacay. Son decided to help out and got me some things I needed to keep going.
After 3 weeks, down 6.5 inches and 15 lbs, and not feeling miserable 🙂
Sheila says
Love, love, LOVE this site! Finally a basic plan that can be followed to get past the keto ‘flu’ and not break the bank! I am a Type II diabetic and my doctor actually suggested I look into the keto/lchf diet. I have already lost 67 pounds just hiking….did that in a year and have kept it off. Hit a plateau, but I’m hoping to bust that with this eating plan. Thank you so much for your help and inspiration!!!
Kathy says
Hey hi I have been doing keto for about a week or so. And intermittent fasting. Have you done these to together before. My questions is have you every took to much fat good fat in by mistake and then the need day feel icky? And all I smell the next day is butter or the fats that I took on the day before. I don’t feel like eating anything. And I just found you Web page. Good stuff and I think this well help me. One more question how much weight have you all lost on this Keto lifestyle? I need to lose like 50 to 55 pounds!!! ;/ thank you and also I am old I am 57 so I hope and prayer it works for me too!!! Thanks again
Matt Gaedke says
If you’re having lots of trouble with all of the dietary fat it might be a good idea to ease into the transition to keto. Start slowing increasing your fat intake each week.
Tess says
Thanks so much for this great site. Im hoping to start in a couple of days and plan to go by your guidelines. Sending love from Ireland. Will keep you posted.
Megha Barot says
Yay!! Please do keep us posted and welcome to the keto family hehe
Belinda Weiland says
interested in your Keto on $5 a day meal
Ashley says
Accidentally hit submit too soon. I wanted to also thank both of you for all of the information, videos, blog posts, etc. I discovered you guys looking for keto budget and spent a lot of time on your blog and youtube channel over the weekend. I think you guys are awesome!
Megha Barot says
Hi Ashely! We’re excited to hear that the budget meal plan is working for you! It helped us a lot when we did and it seems to be a simple enough source to start off with. Thanks for the kind words and feedback!! And, thank you for the support.
Ashley says
Hey guys. I’m on day four of keto and following the keto budget meal plan and so far it’s going great. Tonight while preparing for tomorrow I discovered that we actually need 16 boiled eggs for the meal plan and only 10 egg cups.
Mary Condon says
I have been watching your videos all morning! You guys are the first that makes sense and break down all the info easy! Thank you thank you! I’m still trying to understand the calculations but I’m starting!
Matt Gaedke says
Awesome! Let us know if you have questions and we’ll try to help!
Teresa says
I never type comments, but I just have to tell you how much I love this. Not even that it’s economical, but more than anything because it’s so simple! I’m not much of a cook and I love that this is so easy and has a shopping list and basic directions! Thank you so much! I’d love to see more like this!
Matt Gaedke says
Thanks so much Teresa, glad you found it useful! We’re planning on having another one soon!
Janice D says
I’m not sure where you’re shopping but I can guarantee you that I cannot purchase a whole chicken for $10 where I live. A lot of times a pack of chicken breasts costs as much as $12. And the eggs I get are very often close to $3.00 a dozen. Nice try, and that’s a great way to lay things out, but shop around because those prices are not realistic.
And if you’re trying to both eat keto and avoid unnecessary additives to foods, it gets even tougher. The bacon I get has to be uncured, nitrate and nitrite free because otherwise, it activates my IBS. Guarantee you that makes bacon more expensive. And I avoid chicken and meats that have added hormones.
Matt Gaedke says
We shopped in downtown Philadelphia. This shopping list should be relatively easy to replicate most places in the US as Philly is on the higher end of prices, but with the limitations you laid out it obviously becomes harder. The point was to make a budget meal plan that people can use as a reference.
Kellie says
Sorry if this has been asked and answered but… I don’t like eggs and can’t eat beef. I got the beef part worked out but, any suggestions on egg substitutions? This menu is almost exactly what my macros are.
Thank you in advance!
Kasey says
This is perfect for people on a budget! I’ve been trying to eat somewhat healthy for some time due to just being diagnosed with fibromyalgia but my lifestyle and finances plus being totally new to cooking almost always leads me to eating convenience foods, so thank you so much for all of the videos! Most helpful reference I’ve come across yet.
However, I was wondering if you had any links/ideas/recipes for lighter breakfasts and just more plant based fat in general. I’m not big on heavy breakfasts and I usually end up feeling sick if I eat too many animal products together, especially early on. I’m all about avocados and coconut oil! Just any suggestions would be amazing.
Thank you so much for doing what you do!
Matt Gaedke says
The only one that comes to mind is this one:
Keto Oatmeal
We’ll try coming up with some more for you soon!
Pat says
I love the simplicity but I’m struggling to get organized in my head how to start and how many calories any suggestions?
Megha Barot says
You can start by figuring out your macros by using the macro calculator on our site. Once you know how much of each in grams you should be consuming generally you can but the right amount of foods and add fat where needed, such as to the chicken and broccoli when microwaving. You can use the free version of my fitness pal (what we use) to track everything to see how well you are doing and what, if anything, needs to be altered!
Kimberly says
This is the easiest meal plan I’ve found so far. I had most of the stuff in my fridge or freezer already. I think the Cobb salad is good enough to eat without dressing, for me anyways. I was able to prepare everything right along with my non-keto meal for the rest of my family. Cheers!
Matt Gaedke says
Glad to hear that Kimberly!