So, after reading about how much it helped you, part of me wants to try out the Carnivore diet for myself. But I worry it would be too expensive, I'm not much of a cook, and I still live with my parents. Is there a cookbook you would recomend? Or another good place to get started? I apologize if you have answered this already.
I’m going to link two YouTube playlists from Steak and Butter Gal, the YouTuber who first inspired me to get into carnivore.
The first is her advice for new carnivores playlist which includes some basic meal ideas and recipes. Her channel generally has a ton of helpful stuff for new people, and every Friday night she and other Carnivores do a Q&A livestream where people ask all kinds of questions about the diet.
The second is her “Bella’s Cafe” playlist which has more recipes, many of which mimic non-carnivore comfort foods and desserts.
Also, Chris Cooking Nashville also has a bunch of recipes.
KetoAndEat has some quality recipes - not all are carnivore, so just check the ingredients list.
I will say, having tried a lot of the “copycat” recipes, I’ve really just settled into some very simple meals. For breakfast I have 3-4 slices of bacon and 5-6 scrambled eggs (cooking the eggs in the bacon grease is an amazing way to up the fat intake, which is crucial especially for hormone health), for lunch I have two 1/3 lb burger patties with half a stick of butter, and for dinner I usually either have a steak or burger patties with more butter, sometimes with a side of scrambled eggs. I also occasionally make a breakfast casserole on Saturdays - it’s a big meal, but it’s often my only one for the day. I’ll put the recipe at the end.
Ground beef/burger patties, bacon, eggs, and butter are a great foundation for this diet, and you don’t have to do the expensive pasture-raised grass-fed stuff if money is tight. The higher end foods are awesome if you have the budget, but you can get great results buying the cheap stuff (just check ingredients and make sure there’s no additives! And make sure the butter is butter and not vegetable oil)
I definitely spend less because I don’t eat out nearly as much (although McDonald’s 1/4 lb beef patties are just beef, so sometimes I order those a la carte at $2 per patty) and I’m also not buying processed junk or fruits and vegetables that will go bad before I eat them anyway. I’m buying basic ingredients and making very simple meals, so nothing goes to waste.
Because I’m eating mostly the same foods every day, buying in bulk saves me a bunch too. I buy frozen burger patties, butter, and eggs at Costco just about every week. I just recently switched to buying my bacon there as well - the Kirkland thick sliced bacon is delicious and less expensive than my local grocery store brand.
My cast iron skillet and air fryer were also great investments!
My Breakfast Casserole Recipe:
Ingredients: 6 eggs, 3 strips of bacon, 1/2 lb pork breakfast sausage or ground pork, 4 oz cream cheese, 1/3 cup shredded cheese
Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350F. Beat or blend the eggs. Cook the bacon in a skillet. Remove the cooked bacon and brown the breakfast sausage in the bacon grease, chopping it up as you cook. Mix in the cream cheese. Spread the sausage and cream cheese mixture on the bottom of a square glass baking dish and add the eggs, crumbled bacon, and shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
(You can also do the whole thing start to finish in a cast iron skillet - baking time is closer to 15-20 min if you do it that way)
Feel free to ask follow-up questions any time - I’ve learned a lot over the last year and I’m happy to share!
