Getting Started with Keto Cooking: Three Complete Days of Easy Meals with Family Modifications

When you first start with keto, the cooking can be a challenge. What does a typical keto day look like? What do you make for breakfast without carbs? What about work lunches? What about kids? What if you have to cook for your non-keto family on top of it all?

Think of this as part meal plan, part guide to making your own meal plans, and part instruction manual for modifying keto recipes for your specific needs.

The plan is written for an imaginary keto beginner, Emma. Emma works Monday-Friday and needs to pack a lunch. She’s not a vegetarian and has no major food allergies. She eats some dairy and she’s trying to stay below 50 grams net carbs per day.

Below are three days of meals, modified for three different scenarios:

• Emma lives alone and is cooking only for herself - instructions for bulk meal prep, cooking ahead, and halving recipes to be manageable for one person.
• Emma lives with her husband and 2 kids, and they’re all eating keto - instructions for cooking keto for a crowd.
• Emma lives with her husband and 2 kids, and Emma is the only one eating keto - instructions for satisfying everyone without cooking two separate meals because nobody has time for that.

Weekday 1

Breakfast

Protein/Fat: Egg frittata muffins

Portion and prep instructions:

Emma alone	Keto family	Non-keto family modifications
Make one recipe in bulk for a few days - these are great cold or reheated.	Make one recipe as written for the whole family. If you want to cook in bulk, make several batches at the beginning of the week.   If your kids are picky vegetable eaters, it’s easy to swap out one low-carb vegetable for another in these.	Family eating Paleo, but not keto: serve the muffins with cranberry sauce (surprisingly great with eggs!), ketchup, or another sauce of your choice.   For a non-Paleo family: if they won’t eat eggs, it’s not a lot of extra work to buy cereal or oatmeal. And then Emma could easily make the egg muffins in bulk for herself.

Lunch

Protein/Fat: Stuffed peppers (make the night before if you need them to go)

Portion and prep instructions:

Emma alone	Keto family	Non-keto family modifications
Make five peppers for a bulk recipe that will last all week.	Make one recipe as written for the whole family. For kids, depending on age/appetite, half a pepper might be plenty.	Family eating Paleo, but not keto: add some tomato sauce for everyone but Emma for extra flavor.   For a non-Paleo family: if desired, replace some of the ground beef in the peppers with wild rice or canned beans/chickpeas. Non-Paleo eaters could also have bread or couscous on the side.

Dinner

Protein/Fat: Baked salmon with avocado salsa

Keto Side: Big tossed salad with spinach, red onions, walnuts and lots of delicious olive oil.

Portion and prep instructions:

Emma alone	Keto family	Non-keto family modifications
Cook just one salmon fillet and cut down on the salsa ingredients (unless you really like salsa, in which case, go wild!)	Make one recipe as written for the whole family. If you have leftover salmon because your kids don’t want it all, save it to throw into some scrambled eggs or another batch of egg muffins - delicious!	Family eating Paleo, but not keto: serve the salmon with mashed potatoes.   For a non-Paleo family: Serve with crusty bread and butter.

Weekday 2

Breakfast

Protein/Fat: Breakfast pork sausages

Keto side: Fried mushrooms and onions

Portion and prep instructions:

Emma alone	Keto family	Non-keto family modifications
Make 1 batch of sausage for 4-5 breakfasts; fry up as many vegetables as you want each day (you could vary them from day to day, depending on what you feel like)	Make 1 batch for the whole family. Plan on 2-3 onions and 1 pint of mushrooms for the family, depending on how many vegetables your family likes. You could also replace mushrooms and onions with any other vegetables depending on what the family likes.	Family eating Paleo, but not keto: make 1 batch of sausages with fried vegetables for Emma and fresh fruit for the rest of the family.   For a non-Paleo family: the typical “breakfast is easy to DIY” advice applies. Also, these sausage patties would be great for homemade sausage sandwiches - stick ‘em between two English muffins with a slice of cheese and let them have at it.

Lunch

Protein/Fat: Spicy bacon-wrapped meatballs (made with 75/25 ground beef, without the optional honey)

Keto side: roasted cauliflower.

Portion and prep instructions:

Emma alone	Keto family	Non-keto family modifications
Make 1 batch of meatballs and 1 head of cauliflower (or more, if you’re a big vegetable lover!)  for 4-5 lunches.	Make 1 batch of meatballs + 1 head of cauliflower for the whole family.	Family eating Paleo, but not keto: serve with BBQ sauce (two suggestions: here and here!) and/or plantain chips in addition to the cauliflower.   For a non-Paleo family: spaghetti is the obvious choice, but non-Paleo eaters could also have their meatballs over rice, mashed potatoes, or any other starch that they like.

Dinner

Protein/Fat: Roasted bone-in chicken thighs - for more fat and extra-crispy skin, drizzle the thighs in schmaltz (chicken fat), duck fat, or butter before roasting.

Keto side: Roasted or pan-fried zucchini with lots of cooking fat (fat of your choice; ghee or butter would be delicious).

Portion and prep instructions:

Emma alone	Keto family	Non-keto family modifications
Make a big batch to have leftovers, or just enough for dinner - it’s up to you! (Nutrition information given for 1 thigh with a bit of extra fat)	One full recipe as written should feed the whole family.	Family eating Paleo, but not keto: Served with baked or hasselback potatoes   For a non-Paleo family: serve with dinner rolls

Weekend Day

Breakfast

Protein/Fat: Eggs fried in butter or coconut oil with salt and pepper

Keto side: Wilted spinach and avocado slices

Portion and prep instructions:

Emma alone	Keto family	Non-keto family modifications
Make as many eggs as you like, fried up in lots of healthy fat, plus a big pile of spinach. Avocado optional for more healthy fats and nutrients.   (Nutrition info given for 3 eggs with a few handfuls of spinach and half an avocado)	2 eggs per child and 3 eggs per adult is a good ballpark to aim for. For the kids, you could leave off the spinach if they don’t like it.	Family eating Paleo, but not keto: give the non-keto folks a side of baked sweet potatoes, topped with cinnamon and a pat of butter.   For a non-Paleo family: Instead of serving avocado on the side, serve it on toast.

Lunch

Protein/Fat: Coconut curry shrimp with cauliflower rice

Keto side: If you want even more vegetables besides the cauliflower rice, you could roast some tomatoes, broccoli, or anything else that sounds good: use a generous amount of fat and the same spices in the coconut curry shrimp recipe.

Tip: to save time, you can buy fresh or frozen bags of pre-riced cauliflower.

Portion and prep instructions:

Emma alone	Keto family	Non-keto family modifications
If you have a bunch of leftover shrimp, try it over salad greens for easy lunches or dinners. Leftover cauliflower rice can easily be frozen.	Make 1 full recipe for the whole family. If your kids aren’t fans of cauliflower rice, roasted cauliflower (in plenty of coconut oil) might be better because it has much more of a sweetness and crispiness to it.	Family eating Paleo, but not keto: try baked Japanese sweet potatoes for a Paleo-friendly starch (they’re the ones that are purple on the outside but creamy white on the inside).   For a non-Paleo family: if they don’t like cauliflower, substitute Asian noodles or white rice for the cauliflower “rice.”

Dinner

Protein/Fat: Slow-cooker fennel and rosemary pork shoulder

Keto side: Baked bacon and cabbage

Portion and prep instructions:

Emma alone	Keto family	Non-keto family modifications
This would be a great make-ahead protein to cook in bulk on a Sunday night. Cook a big roast pork shoulder and you’ll have protein for the whole week ready to go. For the cabbage, you could just buy one cabbage, cook as much of it as you want, and save the rest - it keeps for weeks.	Adding bacon is a great way to make cabbage more enticing to kids. It would also be easy to throw some Brussels sprouts, broccoli, or other vegetables into the baking dish to give any picky eaters a bit more variety to choose from.	Family eating Paleo, but not keto: roast some squash (butternut would be good) as an extra vegetable side.   For a non-Paleo family: pork and cabbage would be tasty with beer bread or dark rye bread.

Dessert

Chocolate and almond butter fat bombs

What's your favorite way to modify keto recipes? Got a great easy bulk meal to prep for keto eaters living alone? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!