Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

3

I'm trying to design my daily menu while minimizing costs subject to the following:

>150 g protein
1400-1600 kcal
All essential vitamins/minerals
Beef/butter must be pastured

I will be supplementing with:

A multivitamin
Fish Oil - 10 g
Vitamin D - 5000 IU
Zn/Mg/Ca

Everything except the omega 3s should be considered 'backup', i.e. I don't want to depend on any of these supplements. I will also look into using protein powder because there's no cheaper source of protein, and protein is the most expensive part. It can be added to things like frittatas, or simply with milk.

Keep in mind my goals are 1. Fitness and 2. Avoiding dental caries. So please don't tell me I don't need that much protein, do ZC, avoid dairy, etc.

I would like to have the same meals every day as an experiment in food reward and because I'm just a very regimented, boring person. That means (I can rotate a bit) 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners. I would prefer they are meals I can make in advance for 2-3 days. After workouts I have 1% milk, which is cheap and achieves what I want.

So here's an example of some things I love to eat that meet the requirements:

Frittata (3 meals) with 6 whole eggs, 1 T butter, .5 lb ham, misc veggies (carrots, spinach, mushrooms)
Curry (3 meals) with 1.5 lbs shrimp or chicken, misc veggies
1lb cottage cheese, .5 lb berries/pears/bananas (my favorite, I'd prefer having this every night)
.5 lb tuber, 5g butter, broccoli, lowfat cheese, baked chicken
1-4 cups 1% milk (this is my post-workout meal)

The first 4 meals come out to ~$4-5, ~500kcal, ~50g protein each

You come to realize that the cost for organic pastured butter is dirt cheap in the grand scheme of things. What really adds up are the proteins and the veggies. Red meat is, in general, difficult to fit into a diet unless it is very lean. I have considered making a beef/broth stew with leanish cuts, organ meats, onions, celery, carrots, etc. but don't know where to start.

So, what would you change, add, do?

Any big foods I'm missing that I should try and include?

How to make a diet-friendly beef stew?

Keep in mind this is just temporary out of boredom, economic, and reward interests to lose weight.

flag	asked Dec 31 2011 at 3:55 conciliator 2,942●3●14

is that 10g of fish oil per day??? – Jeff Dec 31 2011 at 7:39

10g/day. 5 with lunch, 5 with dinner. If I eat canned salmon I skip a few of those. – conciliator Dec 31 2011 at 7:59

2

is 1600 cal enough food for a day? – Eric Dec 31 2011 at 9:09

3

why so much fish oil? Why any at all? – cliff Dec 31 2011 at 14:50

Because I don't get that many omega-3s in the rest of my diet. The eggs aren't really that significant, I eat like... 5g of butter per day, etc. – conciliator Dec 31 2011 at 15:55

show 3 more comments

cliff · Answer 1 · 2011-12-31 15:02:32Z UTC

If your goal is fitness why are you so low calorie/carb? Avoiding carbohydrates and sugar won't help with dental problems imo, properly functioning thyroid, getting enough nutrition and avoiding stress are the most important elements for avoiding tooth decay in my experience(and I have plenty of first hand experience with this subject).

-I would drop the fish oil and multivitamin/supplements(too much PUFA, supplements most likely contain allergens/impurities)

-drink a tad more milk(cheap and extremely nutritious)

-decrease the eggs some(too High PUFA)

-get rid of the veggies or replace them with less harmful ones(no brassicas/spinach)(Anti-thyroid)

-drop the ham(too high PUFA)

-increase fruit(fresh squeezed oj is extremely nutritious) and potato consumption a bit.(increase fitness and help manage stress, eating soem fruit with your protien will help keep blood sugar regulated)

This is just based on my experience though YMMV

Kamal · Answer 2 · 2011-12-31 20:01:23Z UTC

Have you ever ordered frozen pastured meat from Slanker's or US Wellness? I've been thinking about buying some cow and/or pig meat to avoid having to get more expensive meat during grocery trips, and because Ted Slanker is cool.

Also, I ate a beef stew almost every day for three months, with a handful of ingredients: stew beef, carrot, celery, onion, rotating tuber, rotating spice. It worked out well!

Bill1102inf · Answer 3 · 2011-12-31 18:44:27Z UTC

2

And you can add

1 whole Partridge served with sliced pears. = 50grams protein/serving.

answered Dec 31 2011 at 18:44

Bill1102inf
7,656●7●28

1

I need to look around for partridges. And 2 turtle doves. – conciliator Dec 31 2011 at 20:12

Bill1102inf · Answer 4 · 2011-12-31 04:35:44Z UTC

1

1/4 lb 96/4 Ground beef cooked in frying pan with onions / mushrooms / peppers = 50 grams protein/4.5 grams fat

Whole chicken in crockpot with carrots / potato / celery / whatever else you like should work out to 50 grams of protein/serving and what about 4 servings?

answered Dec 31 2011 at 4:35

Bill1102inf
7,656●7●28

1

Wally World had them on clearance, and good ones for like $15.00 lol – Bill1102inf Dec 31 2011 at 5:01

1

walmart.com/ip/Hamilton-Beach-33176HB/… Thats a large one. Perfect. – Bill1102inf Dec 31 2011 at 5:04

1

Bill, you are a gentleman and a scholar. – conciliator Dec 31 2011 at 5:10

1

Apparently, a pressure cooker is a good investment too: hippressurecooking.com – Sue Dec 31 2011 at 5:45

2

Haters gonna hate. – conciliator Dec 31 2011 at 19:46

show 5 more comments

Eric · Answer 5 · 2011-12-31 05:04:48Z UTC

1

Hard Boiled eggs are great. Also pre-cooking meat and freezing it. Then bring it frozen for lunch.

Make sure to use whey protein powder and not soy.

edited Dec 31 2011 at 5:04

answered Dec 31 2011 at 4:28

Eric
22.5k●1●18●71

3

What No gelatin??? – Bill1102inf Dec 31 2011 at 4:37

2

what's wrong with gelatin? – Jeff Dec 31 2011 at 7:40

2

@Eric, just add some real meat to your frittata (does that now make it an omelet?) to get some more significant nutrition in. – Matt Dec 31 2011 at 14:20

2

"Blocks of ballistic gelatin simulate muscle tissue as a standardized medium for testing firearms ammunition." <--from wiki – Bill1102inf Dec 31 2011 at 18:52

2

@Futureboy, what's essential in gelatin that's missing from muscle meats? (Which all contain collagen aka gelatin, in connective tissues.) Heck, if you're supplementing with gelatin, it's a pretty sterile looking white powder. Not something packed with nutrition by any stretch of the imgination. – Matt Dec 31 2011 at 19:34

show 13 more comments

Matt · Answer 6 · 2011-12-31 14:19:01Z UTC

1

Red meat is hard to fit in unless lean? 1/8" trim round steak, 6 ounces is 380 calories and 52 grams of protein. That puts you under calories and over protein for an average meal right there.

answered Dec 31 2011 at 14:19

Matt
37.9k●2●10●70

	Thanks, that's a good idea, but last I checked round steak is one of the leanest cuts :). Still, that will fit in nicely. How would you cook it though? – conciliator Dec 31 2011 at 15:56
	Fine, how about a fatty ribeye? 11 calories per gram protein. 550 calories for 50 grams of protein, still very "affordable" in a caloric budget. As for preparation, however you like it. – Matt Dec 31 2011 at 19:37
	Point taken, even fattier cuts fit I just can't be as liberal with the rest of the ingredients. I think I'm just gonna go for the cheapest cuts of red meat I can find (since grassfed is already expensive), which tend to be lean. And as for preparation, I just don't cook red meat often so I don't have a way I like it. Stews for the win I guess. – conciliator Jan 1 2012 at 22:04

3 Perfect Meals

6 Answers