A Keto meal plan on a budget
Welcome to Keto for beginners. This is a special 3 ingredient Keto meal plan. The reason I’m doing this is because currently due to the coronavirus pandemic a lot of us are at home. To add to that not all the ingredients we normally use are available as well. It’s a time where I hope a meal plan like this can help you stay on track with your Keto diet. I also realized that this works great for people who are Keto on a budget since it’s only 3 ingredient meals.
I must also mention this 3 ingredient special doesn’t include basic pantry items of salt, pepper and oil for frying. But it’s about keeping it simple and clean. If you are just starting out also check out my Keto for beginners playlist with episodes 1-5 which will help you get started.
It’s important to remember that I’m NOT a doctor, nutritionist or dietitian. I’m just a musician/Youtuber who has done Keto so please do not take any of this as medical advise. If you have pre-existing conditions please consult your doctor or a qualified professional before doing anything. This is simply a resource for people who need it. So please treat this as a disclaimer before proceeding. Enjoy the video below and then carry on reading.
Keto for beginners – The basics
Eat only when hungry
Tracking macros is essential when it comes to any diet for weight loss. However there is plenty of flexibility to manage weight loss on Keto without doing this in the start. There are many reasons for this which I won’t get into but. However it’s important to still exercise restraint and portion control. So make sure you don’t just eat for the sake of eating. Eat only when you feel hungry. You don’t even need to finish an entire portion of food if you can’t. In the event you’ve eating say a serving of something and still feel a wee bit hungry that’s fine, give it 10 minutes or so. The reason being it takes you stomach about that much time to let the brain know it’s full and being a tad hungry is never a bad thing. Of course don’t starve yourself but you have to learn intuitive eating.
Track your progress
Hopefully you haven’t just weighed yourself at the start of your journey but you also took measurements. I did forget to mention to also take photographs. The scale is just one way of measuring progress and often can be deceptive. On Keto you might not lose weight but you might lose inches. This is why measure yourself, take pictures and compare them week after week. Don’t get into a habit of checking daily. Just do it every Monday morning, same time, in your birthday suit and be done with it. Also watch my video called ‘The Goal Weight Delusion‘
Start exercising
It doesn’t matter what exercise you do but just do something. As the song goes, 1-2-3-4 get your body on the floor. This is important for many reasons. Even though you can lose weight without exercising and I did that myself in the start it’s not the best practice. Exercise has many health benefits and it’s also vital to help keep your BMR up. You can choose from a variety of options for physical activity based on how fit you are currently. Whether it’s going to the gym, running, cycling, dancing, drumming or even just walking, it’s all good. Do something!
The Menu & Food substitutions
Here is the full meal plan. I’ve given some information about each meal along with the substitutes for certain food items. If you can’t find one to your liking then leave me a comment below.
Breakfast – Sour cream and onion omelet. This is pretty simple. Sour cream can be replaced by heavy cream or even coconut cream if you want it dairy free. You can use any kind of onion, red onion, white onion, spring onion etc. You can also replace the onion with any vegetable you have like tomato or you can just eat the omelet with say half and avocado on the side. If you don’t eat eggs then check my Keto breakfast playlist for egg free breakfast options.
Lunch – Chicken in a creamy mustard sauce. I’ve used boneless and skinless chicken thighs in the recipe. You can use any protein you like. Beef steak, pork chops, chicken breast, fish and if you are vegetarian just use Paneer or Tofu. The mustard can be anything you have available. You can use wholegrain, Dijon or even your standard yellow mustard. Heavy cream can be replaced by coconut cream if you want to make it dairy free. You could also just use sour cream and in the worst case scenario skip the cream and just make the sauce using mustard and water.
Snack – Garlic Butter Mushrooms. Since there hasn’t been any veggies so far (barring the onion) I figured mushrooms would be a good snack. Keeping it simple with garlic and butter. I guess you can toss any vegetable in garlic and butter if you don’t have mushrooms available. Butter can be replaced by olive oil and worst case scenario you can use garlic powder if you don’t have fresh garlic. You can also up the antee by adding fresh parsley if you have some.
Dinner – Ground beef in tomato sauce. Couldn’t make life easier eh? Ready to eat pasta sauce with some ground beef topped with sour cream. Perfect! You can use any store bought sauce available. If you are particular you can make your own at home. I have a great Keto marinara sauce recipe. Alternatively you can just use fresh pureed or canned tomatoes. Sour cream can be replaced by cheese, heavy cream, coconut cream. You get the idea right?
Shopping List
Shopping ListJust edit the quantities based on your appetite. If you have left over food you can always freeze it for up to a full month. So this is more just a list, quantities will vary based on how much you eat. Also double check if you have any of these things left over from last weeks meal prep before buying fresh stuff.
- Eggs
- Onion
- Sour Cream
- Chicken Thighs (boneless)
- Mustard of choice (I recommend whole grain or djon)
- Heavy Cream
- Mushrooms
- Garlic
- Butter
- Ground Beef (try to get 80-20)
- Ready to eat Pasta/Marinara Sauce (you can also use canned tomatoes/puree)
- Avocado Oil/Olive oil for cooking
That should cover everything. Adjust the quantities based on how much you are going to eat. For example if you eat 2 eggs a day then that’s 14 eggs you need in total. If you eat say 1 can of tuna a day then get 7 cans. You get the idea. And just a reminder for my Indian viewers to check my Shopping guide for Indians for suggested brands.
Eat for the week
Try and eat the same food everyday and it will help you stay on course or at least till I come up with another 3 ingredient meal plan. But you can always refer t the numerous meal plans I’ve already made and adjust accordingly.
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Tbsp Sour Cream
- 15 grams Onion
- 250 grams Boneless & Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1 Tbsp Mustard
- 100 ml Heavy Whipping Cream
- 200 grams White Mushrooms
- 1 Tbsp Butter
- 10 grams garlic
- 500 grams Ground Beef
- 200 grams Marinara Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Sour Cream Per Serving
- salt and pepper to taste
- Avocado Oil (for frying)
- Water
- Finely dice the red onion and make sure the sour cream is at room temperature. In a bowl beat together the eggs, onion, sour cream, salt and pepper. Then heat some oil in a frying pan and when hot pout in the beaten eggs. Cook the omelet to your liking. You can either move it around to create egg curds like in the video or leave it be on a low heat before either flipping or folding the egg. All depends on your preference. And that's it. Your egg is done.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Make sure it's at room temp so it cooks properly. Heat the oil in your pan and then when hot add the chicken and pan fry for about 3-4 min on each side. Once cooked remove from the pan and deglaze the pan with water (about 30ml or so) and then add in the mustard and mix everything well. Finally add in the heavy cream and also the resting juices from the chicken and cook for 1-2 minutes. Taste your sauce for seasoning and season accordingly. That's it's your sauce is done. Serve the chicken and pour the sauce over.
- Chop the mushrooms into quarters (or however you like it) and heat the butter in the pan along with the garlic. Once the garlic starts to turn golden brown add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and turn up the heat. Now sautee till the mushrooms release their water and all that water cooks out. Once the mushrooms have some caramelization on them remove form the pan and serve.
- Heat some avocado oil in a pan and once it's smoking hot add the ground beef and mix well. You want to break up big chunks of meat so you get small granules. Season with salt and pepper and cook till the meat releases it's juices and those cook out. Once the meat starts getting some colour add the marinara sauce and cook for a couple of minutes. Add water if you want it more soupy else cook out the liquid. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.
2 Comments
Dr Rubbab Zahra
April 21, 2020 at 9:15 pmHi sahil …. thanx fr making keto so easy…i somehoe cant find the macro details onyoutube videos or the blog…can u help…
Sahil Makhija
April 22, 2020 at 2:32 amThere are no macros for these recipes because they are 3 ingredients which you can just input directly in your app depending on how much you are eating.