Go for beef/lamb over poultry, supplement with liver and canned oysters/clams. Grassfed butter isn't much more expensive than the storebrand, and most supermarkets carry Kerrygold or, at the very least, Wild Harvest Organic (which is mostly grassfed with some grain supplement). Failing that, go for coconut oil (it needn't be virgin either), which pretty much everyone carries these days.

Don't focus currently on super-duper high food quality. Ten dollars can go far in terms of conventional lean meats, and a variety of vegetables, with a potato here and there.

Like Kent Cowgill said, there's alot of Paleo on a Budget threads floating around. I recall Robb Wolf doing something like this, or Richard at Free the Animal, and it could come out to a filling meal without even breaking $4.

Just remember not being able to afford the highest quality meats and vegetables is not an excuse by any means to go off and eat bagels and pop-tarts!

Get the deals when you can. Canned fish is usually a safe choice (I've seen as cheap as 99 cents for a tin of sardines.) Conventional lean meats cooked in butter is pretty solid (even I still do this sometimes, when my grass-fed beef gets low, but I've never had to be on a budget, so I'm lucky. Props to you.

Buy produce that's on sale (but not rotten.) If worse comes to worse, you you can do a modified freeganism gig, where supermarkets throw out foods right before they expire, and are completely fine.

If you're into potatoes and rice, those could go a long way as well, but yes, are a bit suboptimal.

You needn't gorge on meat so much as to make quality product out of your budget.

• Local, free-range eggs. 2 dozen (six 4 egg portions) - not more than $10 per week.
• Frozen wild salmon - 1.5 pounds (four 6 ounce portions) for $10-12 bucks.
• 2 pounds (eight 4 ounce portions) of ground beef, even grass-fed shouldn't run you more than $10-12 bucks.

Total protein cost: $30 for 18 protein servings. $40 bucks left for produce, dry goods, pantry items...

Easy, regular meat is what, $3.99 a pound tops?

A dozen regular eggs are what, $1.99 a dozen?

That's plenty of food for a day, and you're only at $6, with $4 to go crazy with.

There've been plenty of other "paleo on a budget" threads, should you happen to search for them.

$10 A DAY? Where do you live? (must be expensive) That sounds luxurious to me! Although I eat a lot of organ meets, bones, and inexpensive cuts (although pastured).

That happens to be my budget for a day as well...and all my food is also what I consider high-quality because I really don't want to support factory farms, even if it is cheaper. I assume you're in the states, because those stores sound like the ones I had when I lived in Indiana.

Weekly list is something like: --1 lb grassed, certified humane beef ($6.49) --1 dozen local eggs ($3 from a family I found on craigslist selling eggs from their chickens) --7 cans of Wild Planet sardines ($21) --Jar coconut oil ($10) --Whatever produce is on sale (usually around $15) --1 carton of organic yogurt or kefir ($5)

I also have random stuff in the freezer from super sales that I stock up on, such as fish and fruits/vegetables that I throw in. And tea. But those last a long time.

I'm female and fairly short, so I don't know if this would meet your nutritional needs. If you need more food, learn to really really love eggs...and sardines are cheaper if you don't get the ones with bpa-lining (wild plant) so that would cut down your cost a lot.