The idea is going Paleo without breaking the bank. There are lots of foods that are Paleo that are analogues to non-Paleo foods, but many require some esoteric and sometimes rather expensive ingredients. For those who are cost-conscious, I recommend going slow into Paleo by purchasing one of the esoteric ingredients a week which will open up more food opportunities. By the end of a few weeks, you’ll have the basics required to make all kinds of Paleo foods, but in the beginning, there are lots of things you can make that don’t require the rare ingredients.

Here are some week 1 ideas for someone starting out with Paleo.

For week 1, I recommend finding coconut oil and cooking with it. If you have olive oil in your pantry, us it until it’s gone and then switch to coconut oil. Refined coconut oil has no taste. Unrefined has a bit of coconut flavor to it, but Sherry and I actually like it and use it in certain recipes.

Breakfast

Bacon and eggs. For bacon, Sherry and I use Kroger brand low-salt which has no sugar. It does contain nitrite, but in small amounts. It’s very tasty. As for the eggs, we buy the organic free-range, but regular eggs will do. Make these as you like. I prefer them sunny-side up.

Sausage and eggs. You can find sausage that has no sugar in it. We found two brands at HEB locally that had no sugar in them.

Omelettes. Using green pepper, onions, sausage and/or bacon, you can make a quite tasty omelette. Just make sure to watch portion size on this, as it’s easy to make an omelette that’s huge!

Lunch/Dinner

The main thing about lunches is that we prepare them ahead of time to take with us to work. We use Sundays as our meal-prep days. I recommend getting at least 5 plastic containers to put your food into to take it to work with you. An easier method is after making dinner, immediately put some into a plastic container for the next day’s lunch. That way, they’re not really left-overs.

Grilled meat. This one is easy. You can use whatever meat you can get on sale at the store and grill it up either on the stove top in a pan, or on a grill outside. For spices, you can use salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Grill the meat to your liking and serve.

Baked meat. Once again, using whatever meat you can get on sale at the store, bake some meat. Pork loin is especially tasty with salt and garlic.

Smoked meat. This one is a little controversial, as some people don’t consider smoking Paleo. They say that the smoke is a carcinogen, but I think most cavemen cooked with open fires which meant nearly all meats were smoked. My wife and I enjoy the flavor and convenience of smoking and do it often.

Vegetables. The following vegetables are what we eat with our meat for lunch and dinner:

• Sweet potato: these can be baked easily and don’t require any special ingredients. Serve with regular butter
• Asparagus: baked with some olive oil on top, these are very tasty when salted
• Brussels sprouts: baked with olive oil and bacon bits, this is one of the most amazing sides
• Cauliflower: the most versatile of vegetables, you can rice it, cream it, or roast it without much effort. They’re inexpensive, too!
• Broccoli: Typically we eat thease baked.
• Greens: I’ve been fortunate that we don’t eat greens often, even though I do like salad. I have been happy with the other sides and haven’t had to go with greens very often at all

The goal of week 1 is to cut out the foods with added sugars and anything with grains, beans, and soy. There are a lot of foods out there you can prepare that don’t have any of those in their ingredients, and that don’t require spending more on special ingredients.