Keto on a Budget: You Can Be Keto at Walmart
Quick answer: Keto doesn't have to cost more, because it's mostly a list of things you stop buying: bread, pasta, chips, juice, soda, snacks. Spend the money on cheap fatty cuts of meat, eggs, ordinary butter, vegetables you'll actually cook, and a box of bouillon. Skip the MCT oil, exogenous ketones and "keto" packaged foods. None of them is needed for ketosis.
In this article
- Why keto can be cheap
- What you don't need to buy
- How to do keto on a budget, step by step
- A sample of the arithmetic
- What the research says
- KetoDick's take
- Key takeaways
Why keto can be cheap
KetoDick's line is that keto is a diet where you have to not get things. It's a carb restriction, not a shopping list (video DWI8qQl5BbY). Ketosis doesn't come with a sales campaign, so what gets advertised instead is the add-ons: exogenous ketones, MCT oil, fancy butter.
The video that line comes from started with a viewer abroad who went from store to store looking for a "keto oil." His answer: canola and vegetable oils aren't ideal, but they're acceptable on keto. If you can only afford vegetable oil and shop at Walmart, you can still do keto at Walmart (video DWI8qQl5BbY).
What you don't need to buy
| Product | Needed for ketosis? | What he says |
|---|---|---|
| MCT oil | No | Solid research, but not required (video ffwBPoKxlDI); he had one dose in his first 35 days (video DWI8qQl5BbY) |
| Grass-fed or imported butter | No | Better if you can afford it; not a ketosis question (video DWI8qQl5BbY) |
| Exogenous ketones | No | He questions paying about $4 a dose and warns about multi-level-marketing selling (video cTGYIFOTPl8) |
| Blood ketone meter | No | Strips around $3.50 a test in his figures (video 8wOheKcBEd8); by 2019 he said most people don't need a monitor (video 1JbK1_ClDmY) |
| Pink Himalayan salt | No | He prefers light salt as the cheap basic option (video UygKGoP_BtA) |
| Packaged "keto" snacks | No | He suggests keeping processed foods to a few items a week (video UygKGoP_BtA) |
The three things he does name as useful are urine ketone strips, almond flour and erythritol (or stevia) (video DWI8qQl5BbY). Even those are optional; the strips are the cheap biofeedback, at roughly 7–15 cents a test (video 8wOheKcBEd8).
How to do keto on a budget, step by step
- Stop buying the carbs first. Bread, rice, noodles, potatoes, chips, juice, soda, sweet sauces. That money is your keto budget.
- Buy fatty cuts, not lean ones. He tells beginners to swap lean chicken breast and 85/15 beef for thighs, chuck roast and 70/30 ground beef (video DoSUgIr2rNo). Unpopular fatty cuts are the ones people who can cook prize, and he wants more talk about cooking chuck roast, pork shoulder and whole cuts (video DWI8qQl5BbY).
- Buy on sale and cook in bulk. His meal-prep demo used a 2.8 lb pack of sale pork chops in an inexpensive slow cooker (video hHFu6L-yedE). Cook chicken and beef the same way and keep a tray of ready protein in the fridge, because grazing is what gets most people.
- Use ordinary butter and oil. That demo used Walmart butter, not grass-fed (video hHFu6L-yedE).
- Season instead of saucing. Dry seasonings, in his words from the video, are the number one free kind of calorie, and they replace sugary sauces (video hHFu6L-yedE).
- Buy vegetables you'll cook well. Leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans. Frozen bags are often cheap and keep longer; just don't serve them as what he calls "sad wet" steamer-bag vegetables. Cook them in butter, bacon fat or seasoned oil (video hHFu6L-yedE; video 1vyxuWlxT5M).
- Cover electrolytes cheaply. Bouillon cubes, light salt, kosher salt. He calls salt the cheapest supplement you can take, and quotes bouillon at about 25 cubes for $3 (video -dHjt_Bpruk). Read the medical note below before using potassium salt.
- Make bone broth only if you have the time. It's good, but not everyone has hours to make stock (video DWI8qQl5BbY). Bouillon does the sodium job.
A sample of the arithmetic
From his pork-chop video: a 2.8 lb pack of sale chops came to $5.57 (video hHFu6L-yedE). He put that at numerous meals for under $6, plus about a dollar of seasonings, with a stick of Walmart butter on top.
He also points to how little Americans spend on food. He cites about 8% of income in the US against about 21% in France (video DWI8qQl5BbY). His point isn't that you should spend more. It's that "good for your health" and "needed for ketosis" are different lists, and you only have to buy the second one.
What the research says
- Fiber. The US Dietary Guidelines list fiber as a nutrient of public health concern because most Americans fall short (Dietary Guidelines 2020–2025). Cheap vegetables are where a budget keto diet gets its fiber.
- Potassium. The National Academies set potassium adequate intakes at 2,600 mg a day for women and 3,400 mg for men (NASEM, 2019).
- Salt substitutes. The WHO suggests potassium-containing lower-sodium salt substitutes in place of regular salt, except for people at risk of high blood potassium (WHO fact sheet).
- In a large trial of 20,995 people in rural China, a potassium-enriched salt substitute lowered stroke, major cardiovascular events and death (Neal et al., 2021).
The evidence pages here don't include a cost study of keto diets. The prices above are his, from the years he quoted them, so check your own store.
KetoDick's take
I've said you can be keto at Walmart, and that keto is about not buying things (video DWI8qQl5BbY). If I was a rich man I'd eat only grass-fed butter, but that was Walmart butter (video hHFu6L-yedE).
On electrolytes, I've said sodium and potassium imbalances can be serious, so talk to a doctor before supplementing (video 9r2Y74AnjUQ). Specifically: if you have kidney disease, or take blood pressure medication that raises potassium, don't add light salt or potassium chloride without your doctor's OK.
Key takeaways
- Keto is mostly what you stop buying. That money pays for the meat and vegetables.
- Fatty cuts on sale, ordinary butter and dry seasonings beat specialty products.
- MCT oil, exogenous ketones, blood meters and pink salt aren't needed for ketosis.
- Bouillon and salt are the cheap electrolyte route; light salt needs a doctor's OK if you have kidney disease or take potassium-raising blood pressure meds.
- Cook in bulk once a week so you're not grazing.
Related
- Guide chapter: Keto basics · The keto food list · Sodium · Potassium and magnesium · Do you need to test?
- Blog: Cheap fatty cuts of meat · Keto grocery list for beginners · Keto meal prep for beginners · Light salt and potassium chloride · Is dairy keto?
- Videos: What do I need for keto? · Making pork chops for meal prep · Electrolytes · MyFitnessPal and month one