June, Delish's senior food producer and resident budget eats expert, set out to cook as many low-carb meals as she could for $25. Watch to see how she fared—and catch the rest of her series Budget Eats on YouTube!
If 8 meals were too few and 10 meals were too many, I think you'll like this newest episode of Budget Eats: nine low-carb meals for $25. While Julia was busy spending $25 on a single lobster roll, your penny-pinching girl here was trying to figure out if she should splurge on a 3-pound bag of almonds (only $9.99!).
Spoiler alert: We didn't buy almonds. We bought some walnuts though, at only $3.99 per pound! Low-carb diets often have high-fat, high-protein ingredients as spotlight stars: meats, dairy, nuts, which all happen to be not very budget friendly. The key in my case was to use those ingredients in moderation and in combination with vegetables. I ran around my neighborhood in an attempt to harvest all the best that my discount bins had to offer and luckily found some $1 bags of less-than-perfect kale, zucchini, and peppers, as well as a sleeve of garlic and a $1.99 head of cauliflower.
When it came to buying meats, I chose to purchase only $1 bags of bones (for stock, but with a sparse-yet-substantial amount of attached meat) and offal. Chicken hearts were a given, because Aaron said he loves them...and then we picked up a package of mystery meat.
The only clue we had was that it was...pork meat. Of some sort. We didn't know what kind, but it looked very dark, very rich, and slightly like liver. I asked my butcher in Chinese what it was, and he tried to explain that it's similar to liver in that it filters out the toxins in the body of the pig. Aaron immediately said spleen, and sure enough, a quick Google image search confirmed as much.
Having never cooked with it—or honestly even heard of people eating it—I was fascinated. Plus, Aaron was in full support of trying new things. We got it home, I did some research and landed on this Atlantic article, which has the following description of our novel ingredient:
With equal parts fear and excitement, we advanced into the week of food adventure. Not all were winners. One experiment was so disgusting Aaron had to spit it out. If I had any feelings left anymore, I would've been hurt. But I wasn't: I changed direction and made something edible. And that's an American dream come true for me.
Pesto Zoodles
Zoodles are a staple for low-carb diets, but some garlicky toasty walnut-kale pesto takes them to a whole different plane. Top it with an egg and you've got yourself a nice light-but-filling meal.
Chicken Heart Kale Breakfast Cups
Aaron called this a salad, I called them cups—no matter what you think these are, they are good and delicious and hearty and I would eat them again in a heartbeat.
Egg Noodle Soup
Yes, zoodles are great, but have you ever had...egg noodles? Steeped in a flavorful broth and topped with everything your heart may desire, this is a bowl you need to try, low-carb diet or not.
Kale And Soy Stuffed Spleen
You must try spleen. That is my only takeaway for you this round. Don't make me beg.
Chicken Heart Meatball Soup
The highest rating Aaron gave out of all 9 dishes I made this week. I think he liked it.
