Paleo at the Right Price

As I have written about before....

You win the Diet and Nutrition Battle -

AT THE GROCERY STORE!

http://willsonwheels.blogspot.com/search?q=You+win+the+battle+at+the+grocery+store

In that post I quantified the cost for an entire week of nutritious eating.

It's something I am always on the watch for - getting the most Bang for the Protein and Paleo Buck.

Here's my example for this week.

The Big 3 of Proteins - Chicken, Beef, Pork

That's 7 lbs of protein for 7 days for $29 or a little over $4 / day or $1.33 / meal.

That's not bad!



Here's the vegetable and fruit part of the prep from the top:

Fuji Apples
Pineapple
Yellow Squash
Poblano, Red Bell and Jalapeno Peppers
Sweet Onions

About $12 for all this.

I added a pound of spicy brats and a pound of my favorite beef sausage for another $8.

So all total that's $49 for 7 days of meals or $7 / day.

I'll throw some salad with Romaine and tomatoes, carrots, broccoli slaw, blueberries and almonds together as the week goes along just to have some raw, fresh veggies to go with the cooked meat, veggies and fruit.

Repeat of last week except I added some hickory wood chunks to keep an active fire going through all of the cooking to come.

Might as well get this cooking party started right.

Batch 1 - Onions and Peppers

Then pineapple -

Squash -

As each batch of fruit and veggies comes off I put it in the Dutch Oven pot and drizzle a little EVOO and balsamic over it.

Here's the Sausage and some great corn infused bread - yeah not Paleo but I love to let the bread soak up all the good meat and veggie juices and eat it right along with the meat especially when I want some extra carbs.

I like to put the meats on top so that all the juices drip down onto the veggies to further flavor them.

It's not just about nutrition - it's also about taste and satiation especially if you're punishing your body with hard workouts.

You want to Restore and Recuperate but also feel Satisfied.

And that's all about Tastes, Textures, Fat and Seasoning.

2nd round of refreshments.

Love a Wine - Fresca spritzer with lime on a warm day over a hot grill.

Thin cut pork chops - these don't take long on a hot fire.

It's already dead - you don't need to kill it twice.

2 minutes on each side over a hot fire is good enough.

My pot runneth over!!!

Finally the New York Strips.

I want a really hot fire and 3-1/2 minutes on each side for these 3/4" thick steaks.

Sampling the Sausage - Nice grill marks on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside.

Another 3 mins and we're done.

Quick meal with meat and veggies and a small piece of bread washed down with the Fresca - Wine Spritzer.

There's 7 days of meat, veggies and fruit for about $50.

May seem like a lot of food but I'm trying to take in at least 1g of protein / # of bodyweight / day.  I weight 180# so that's 180g of protein / day.  I'll try to take in 150g of protein from this food and another 30g / day with a protein supplement.

For example 6 oz of New York Strip has 50g of protein - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/steak-new-york-strip-6-oz-313227881

6 oz of pork chop has about 42g of protein
http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/pork-chop-nutrition-facts

So you get the idea.... I have to eat a minimum of 16 oz of meat per day to get the 150g of protein.

From a Prep Time perspective, including time to prep the meat and veggies, it took about 2-1/2 hours to cook all of this on the outside grill.

A 5 minute heat up for each meal throughout the week is all it will take to prep a meal.

For my fellow Barnyard Brawl Prep'ers, we are spending 1 - 2 hours a day 5 days a week preparing our bodies.

All it takes is a little Paleo Planning at the grocery store and a little time on the weekend to set us up for another week of meals that will make our Diet and Nutrition as effective as our workouts.

As in all things, Planning and Preparation is the Key to Success.

Recovering from Last Week and Preparing for the Week Ahead

For the past several weeks, I've been subjecting myself to a form of torture otherwise known as the Barnyard Brawl prep at Praxis.

The Barnyard Brawl is a CrossFit competition sponsored by Big Barn CrossFit in Albuquerque and scheduled for August 19th and 20th.

http://bigbarncrossfit.com/2017-barnyard-brawl/

This last week was probably one of the toughest weeks of workouts I have had in many years but I survived.

My body was so beat up I have simply rested all weekend with a few walks for some easy, active recovery.

Looking ahead at the workouts for the week ahead, I realized it's gonna be another Barnyard Burner so I figured I better prepare myself the best I could in the food department.

So I fired up the back patio Weber.

And begin prep'g.....

Fresh pineapple cut in discs and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Vidalia onions, Poblano Peppers, Red Bell Pepper, Jalapeno Peppers, yellow squash, Fuji Apple, a few slices of Ciabatta bread and 3 ribeyes and a pork chop preseasoned with meat tenderizer, salt and pepper and a mix of curry powder, garam masala and allspice with these same spices and seasonings on the veggies.

Looks about right....

Round 1.... Peppers

Round 2.... Onion and Pineapple.

And on and on.... with all the cooked components ending up in a large Dutch Oven and hit with a little Balsamic Vinegar, EVOO and a dusting of salt.

Finally, the bread and meat.  I want a hard sear on the meat to create a crust with the spice rub and seal in the juice so I let the fire come on and watched it real close flipping as needed.

Now that's a pile of Paleo goodness!

And that ribeye is a perfect medium to medium rare.

When I cook a lot of meat and veggies and know I will be eating on them for several days, I will take the veggies off a little al dente and the meat a little rare because I know I will be heating them up.

Incidentally, I use a cast iron skillet for the heat up not a microwave to keep from getting that rubbery twice cooked texture.

Let's plate the first meal up and pair it with a Pinot Noir spritzer with Fresca and a squeeze of fresh lime.

Beautiful!

At 55, I will never keep pace with my younger and fitter compatriots at Praxis nor will I likely ever win any sort of competition, but I will give myself every chance I can to be the best I can be by managing the workouts I'm given and giving my body the rest, recuperation and nutrition it needs.

And in the end analysis, that's a Win for me in this Game we call Life!