I'm interested in starting this diet, but I'm on a very strict food budget. I get produce at cost, so that's not a problem. I've been looking at the book on Amazon and thinking about giving it a try.

There are ways to eat at a reasonable cost on this plan. For many of us the cost of produce is one of the largest expenses so it sounds like that won't be a problem for you. Many people eliminate or cut back their eating out so they save money there. Certainly eating without processed foods is more expensive but you can catch meat on sale and you can use dried beans if necessary to save money. Things like Splenda are expensive but not required on this diet. Remember that you do not need to follow the menus in the book, just eat from the food lists so you don't have to have expensive seafood or other items.

I think it is worth the extra cost but I do shop the sales.

well considering that you will not be spending money on fast food or junk food and you get produce at cost (lucky lucky lucky YOU) you should be fine since this plan is mostly about lean protein whole foods and mostly veggies....

Thanks everyone. I don't really eat a lot of processed foods anyway, except for the occasional granola bar. I do eat A LOT of breads/grains/cereals, which I understand aren't allowed until a certain point in the diet. That will be my problem if I do because I have a guy and a daughter to cook for too.

I don't think I spend more now on groceries than I did before. I'm more willing to spend a little more on quality food though, things I might have considered too expensive in the past, but since I am not buying cookies, candy, soda, etc., it evens out.

And most of us here have families or others that we cook for. That really isn't too difficult, as we are cooking normal, healthy food. I make my chicken and veggies or whatever, then add in some potatoes or rice for DH and kids. I haven't had too many complaints so far. The whole family eats WW pasta now and loves it.

I don't like potatoes so I rarely cooked with them before. I still cook rice (Uncle Ben's Converted is allowed in phase 2) and I switched to whole wheat pasta and whole wheat bread and tortillas. During phase 1, I would just eat vegetables instead of these starches while fixing the starches for my family and in phase 2, I eat smaller portions of the starches with a lot of vegetables while my 10 year old eats the starch and some vegetables.

I've also started serving Brian and I salads while the rest of the dinner finishes cooking. It helps fill us up so we eat less of the rest of the meal when it is ready. I don't make him eat totally on plan but I figure every little bit helps.

CLZF,

One way to save money is to get the book at the library! A new book is coming out next month, so if you want to buy a book, save your money and buy that one. It'll have updated lists and a bigger emphasis on exercise, or so we're told. You can find updated lists for the book in our FAQ.

You can't eat grains during Phase 1, but it only lasts 2 weeks. Then you can introduce them during Phase 2 and figure out what works for your body.

I think the biggest cost involved with the food on SBD is the move from (cheap) processed food to (expensive, relatively) unprocessed food. If you aren't buying a lot of processed food already, I don't think you're going to see much of an increase. I agree about produce, too--that's the biggest cost for me as well. At least 1/3 of my shopping list is produce...sometimes as much as 1/2. Meat can get expensive, but you can find ways to save--I tend to buy boneless pork chops at Sam's Club when it goes on sale for something like $1.29/lb. They'll slice them for you at whatever thickness you want. When I make them, I just cut off the layer of fat on the edge and end up with a very lean cut of meat.

I find it easy to cook for others on this plan. We'll make a meal with meat, veggies, and a starch. I'll just eat two servings of veg while DH has grains. Or we'll have something like the Taco Bake and I'll have it on angel-hair coleslaw while DH has his on a WW tortilla.

Hope you decide to join us, CLZF!

I've always found that eating/shopping healthy is more expensive. And if you go organic, it's sky high. In the long run, it's well worth it.

I definitely spend more! Dairy, produce and lean cuts of meat are much more expensive than buying some of the processed foods and fattier meats I used to buy. We do tend to eat less on this diet, so we save a little that way, but overall I'd say we are spending more. Hope this helps

Do you have a favorite "normal food" cookbook?? I will be cooking for my family and need to keep things as normal as I can.

TIA

Gina

I think the recipe section of this SBD forum is fabulous. I have made several of the recipes and my family loves them. I checked out the SBD cookbooks but the recipes were either too fancy or food my family would not have eaten.

what do you make for them now?

I agree with finding recipes here on this forum or even over on the low carb, sugar busters and even ww forums. You just have to make sure the ingredients are SBD friendly or be able to tweak those to make them ok.
I also will use the computer...usually google to search for recipes. Then I just make things SBD friendly. The original SBD book has a lot of recipes in the back and we have the orange colored SBD recipe book. We have used those recipes, but the majority of the ones I use are from online.
I tend to blend recipes. I will find 3 or 4 recipes for an ingredient and then I blend those recipes to suit our tastes. I like to create in the kitchen!

We spend about the same amount of money at the grocery as we did before, but we already cooked most of our meals and used very few prepared foods.

My DD, 23 years old, doesn't hardly ever cook and is on a limited budget, she managed to do a SBD inspired food plan very successfully. Basically she just stopped eating fast food. She does buy the prepared SBD foods and fresh salads, veggies, fruits. She still eats out a lot, but avoids bad carbs, bad fats, avoids all fried foods and eats a lot more soups and salads. AND she looks fabulous!!! (not a biased mom at all???)
Karla