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Book Review: The Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide

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I sometimes hear people claim that eating a Paleo diet is too pricey for them or their family, and that price is an obstacle when trying to improve their eating habits. The idea that this style of eating is substantially more expensive is a misconception that can prevent many from changing their diet to a more healthful one. In order to dispel this myth and teach people how to make a Paleo diet affordable, Robb Wolf has written a useful e-book called The Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide.

As Robb explains in his book, this style of eating can be made much more, or much less, expensive than any other diet. In the first part of this e-book, Robb tackles all the common excuses he hears from clients as to why they are unable to afford a Paleo diet, such as a too-tight budget, poor availability of specialty stores, and an overall lack of time to cook. Robb gives practical advice on how to plan meals in order to save time and money, and provides a great number of resources to help plan meals, organize recipes, and develop shopping lists.

There are some great cooking videos and demonstrations by Paleo bloggers and chefs, which teach everything from how to cook basic recipes, proper knife skills, and even using a slow cooker effectively. Sample menus with recipes are provided, and Robb has also put together a great list of pantry, fridge, and freezer “must haves” in order to maximize your kitchen’s utility.

Robb gives some great tips on how to make ingredients stretch between meals to minimize waste and excess purchasing. He advocates weekly meal planning and theme meals, particularly for readers that have children and struggle to keep their family happy with the food they put on the table. There are some creative, kid-friendly meal ideas that will help parents avoid dinner table drama when making inexpensive Paleo food.

Some of the most useful components of this guide are the money saving tips that Robb has devised, such as price journaling, favoring whole products rather than pre-prepped, buying in bulk or direct from a farm, and freezing extra produce and meat for long term storage. He also gives great advice on how to prioritize food quality when money is tight, since there is a lot of “greenwashing” that goes on in grocery stores in order to raise prices on items that are no better than a conventional product. Often times words like “natural” and “free-range” are used to make products appear better, but Robb cuts through the green lingo to help the reader prioritize his or her spending, especially for animal products.

Besides all the advice from Robb himself, he also provides a handy list of resources to help get the best bang for your buck when buying and cooking food. He provides Paleo recipes, recommended brands, links to helpful blogs, and informative videos to teach the reader the best way to make delicious, healthy meals without breaking the bank. There are several shopping and meal planning guides in this e-book to help organize and track one’s food spending for the week. Plus, Robb gives his recommendations for apps to use for those readers who prefer a more technologically advanced method of budgeting their weekly diet.

While some folks are lucky enough not to worry about the price of their food, there are many out there who truly must stay within a strict budget when choosing their meals. Fortunately, Robb’s guide is an inexpensive but useful tool for anyone looking to make the switch to Paleo without going broke. I encourage anyone who’s struggling to afford this dietary change to check out Robb’s e-book for some useful tools for saving money while still improving one’s diet.

Now, thanks to Robb, there’s no more excuses for not eating healthily! CLICK HERE to learn more about The Paleo Diet Budget Shopping Guide.

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21 Comments

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  1. Personally I would be happy to invest $20 towards my health and buy Robs book….$2 a week for 10 weeks!! Then Id have my book, which for me would be the beginning of something new, something to look forward to. I am addicted to carbs and cant wait to start my paleo journey xx

  2. I have to agree that $20 is a little steep. It does look like a fantastic resource, but I think Amazon is setting the price point for e-books at $10-13, and that’s what I look to spend. I know it’s only $7-10 more, but in 2012, that matters to most of us.

  3. I think its a bit ironic to price a ebook on saving money and have it for 20 dollars personally. I still might try to get it or save up a bit but 10-15 dollars would have been a better price honestly at least for me.

  4. I was hoping he’d release this on Amazon, so we can read reviews from people who don’t know him or aren’t already big fans of his. $20.00 is quite a bit, and people tend to factor that into their reviews, as they should. I’m holding off.

  5. Jeff Goins gave away his ebook last weekend (and he still is) because he is concerned that some won’t buy it because they lack the funds. Then I see this today: a book written by the face of Paleo for people who want to be healthy but can’t figure out how to fit it into their budgets. It costs $20. Low-income families and single moms/dads have a tough time coming up with 20 bucks for the necessities in life, let alone a book.

    I’m all about making money online and charging for ebooks, services, affiliate links, whatever–but there comes a time when those who have heard the message and understand it well should give back to those who need a helping hand.

    • I kind of agree with you. I agree that $20 is too steep. I think it would be awesome if this book was a lower price since it is about saving money!

      I think $10 would be very reasonable for everyone.

      I own the book and will be writing a blog post on it soon. I’ll be giving away my smoothie ebook for free for anyone who buys through my link to help them out for those who like smoothies too.

  6. Well, not to be too vitriolic, but the $20 the “e-book” costs is a bit steep for this budget, so I am off to get 3 pounds of baby greens instead.

  7. I follow a more or less Paleo diet. Most veggies come from my garden, and most purchased products are top of the line, organic foods. I never thought about those who might wish for Paleo, but think that price is a factor. But I admit I never went to organic meats and eggs until I started growing my own vegetables year-round. That did help me consider that using the food budget to buy the best animal products was not so expensive.
    All I’d like to provide here is one consideration, which may or may not be in Robb’s book. That is, carbohydrate foods are almost universally low in nutritive content, in addition to being full of toxins if not organic, and already leached of valuable nutrients if they have been “processed” in any way. So they are, by definition, physiologically, less satisfying. So if you just drop them from the diet, which you likely will if you are on “Paleo”, then your diet will be so much more nutrient dense that you will be surprised at how little hunger you have. You will also likely lose weight which means your body will need less food. And you will feel vibrant and strong and forget about eating as an entertainment or addiction. All these little side effects of the diet mean you will be paying LESS for food just because you will require/hunger/obsess LESS. Simple formula.
    So I’d say first, stop thinking you need to consume a certain quota of calories or bags/packages or number of protein-helpings, or vegetable-helpings per day. You will likely be eating less and enjoying life more on a Paleo diet, and spending about the same on food.
    Now back to discovering what Robb Wolf has to say, as I haven’t read the book yet.

    • Not to mention the money you could possibly save on medical bills, doctors visits, medication, etc. if you’re healthy

    • I was always under the impression that certain starchy carbs such as;

      sweet potatoes / yams
      cassava
      plantain
      squash
      etc.

      were highly nutritious?

      • @SHAMEER:

        I think most paleos when using the word ‘carbs’ generally mean grains, beans, and sugars (not fruits).
        Most paleos, from what I’ve gathered, don’t have anything bad to say about the things you listed.

        The main caveat to that would be: if you are trying to lose weight, limit your intake of fruits and starchy vegetables and if you are not trying to lose weight, still keep it sensible so you aren’t overstimulating your glucose-response.