by If you’re like me, and you dabble in the paleo/keto spectrum, you probably start your day off with a high protein/high fat diet that will power you through your day. And, like other paleo/keto enthusiasts, if you look for ways to not break the bank with your lifestyle, you probably would like a little help with a breakfast that won’t leave your wallet hurting.
I think I can help.
I call my morning dining ritual my “farmhand breakfast”. This is how our grandparents ate. And then for years everyone thought eating like this would kill you due to a lot of shoddy science. Well, what is old is new again. And, as it turns out, our grandparents were right. This is a really quality to start off your day.
I start off with bullet proof coffee, which includes:
- 8 oz coffee
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp spoons of half & half
In case your wondering how that is not gross, let me explain — you let the butter melt. Then you apply the use of a handheld battery powered device to froth it, which you can find online for about $6. You end up with a really thick head on the coffee and you feel like you are consuming a coffee shake. Trust me, this a great cup of coffee.
The key budgetary success? I recently started shopping at Aldi, and let me tell you, it changed my life. The food is high quality and in many cases half the price of other local markets. I purchase a 10 lb bone-in ham, which works out to rendering me about 5 lbs of ham at around $2/pound, after I toss the fat and bones. I also found a local Italian market that sells 3 dozen eggs at $5/dozen, from a small local farm, which I pick up every weekend.
Once I get about half way through the coffee, I eat about 3 or 4 oz of ham and two eggs, sometimes scrambled, sometimes hard boiled, and sometimes fried in coconut oil. The whole thing gets chased with 8oz of vegetable juice, which comes in a 46oz bottle at Aldi for $1.75.
By my back of the napkin math, each meal runs me about 70 cents for the ham and eggs. The coffee probably adds another 20 cents, so I’m doing this every day of the week for less than a $1 per meal. As you might imagine, all of this provides me with about 1/3 of my daily caloric needs. I do the “low carb/moderate protein/high fat” macro thing. But if you’re cool with carbs, splurge with a tart fruit like a kiwi, and you’ve got yourself one meal you’ll look forward the moment you pop out of bed.
