Personalities Writers and Coaches
Catch All |
PmWiki /
Muscle Building On A BudgetFinding yourself on budget can make you feel like there's no way to eat healthy and grow muscle. Following are some suggestions for achieving a healthy, muscle-building diet, on the cheap. I've pulled the following information from previous posts and I've tried to give credit to the original author. Find a grocery store that has "quick move bins" in the meat department. the meat is still good but they have to sell it quick to stay within the use by date and sometimes they mark it down by 50%. Get into the habit of reading the local paper for the sales at the grocery store, there's almost always some kind of meat on sale. They often do chicken buy one, get one free--even tho it might be the bone-in, you can work with that. Look on the bottom shelf when you're shopping. for instance, in the rice aisle, the boxes of instant white will be eye level but if you look on the bottom shelf, you'll find bags of brown rice for less than a $1.00. it takes longer to cook, but that just means you'll have to think ahead. Check out different grocery stores and compare prices on the things you need. Look for a discount grocery store. Save some money and get yourself a few items for the kitchen that will help you with food preparation. Alot of the following can be picked up at a garage sale. Pots and pans with lids. Utensils such as spatulas, flippers, and spoons. George Foreman grill. Strainer. Food processor. Blender. When I was in college and law school, I didn't have any money. I purchased all of the above except the George Foreman at garage sales and thrift stores. Probably didn't spend more than $40 for the whole set-up. No need for supplements if you’re short on cash. Your money will be better spent on real food. However, for protein powder, C Crow says: A good quality protein supplement is still pretty cheap food. Even if you're watching every dime, I think that powdered milk has outlived it's usefulness as a protein supplement. It contains more sugar than protein (as does milk). As for the cost, well, if you buy the 10 pound containers, whey protein is a little cheaper gram for gram of protein; if you buy the 25 pound buckets, whey is much cheaper. The Teach: Buy eggs, peanut butter, cottage cheese, oatmeal, bread, tuna, lean turkey breast, fruit, raw veggies. If you don't have one, invest in a Foreman Grill. They aren't expensive anymore. Then buy chicken breasts (cheap for 1.75/pound) and grill them up. Chicken breasts are great alone or on sandwiches. Neander: Instead, use your hard earned money to buy eggs, peanut butter, cottage cheese, oatmeal, bread, tuna, lean turkey breast, fruit, raw veggies. Keep your dorm fridge stocked with these essentials. Dark Ferrous Metal: Eggs are the perfect food, just about the cheapest source of quality protein you can get and you can prepare them so many ways. Milk is another great source and like the previous people mentioned, chicken is probably second only to eggs for bang-for-the-buck. Other cheap foods of varying nutritional quality are brown rice, lettuce, yogurt, and what I lived on for years, macaroni. Check out the real oatmeal too. Wicked Willie: Protein drinks are good...although if money is tight, you may wish to consider using powdered milk as your protein powder. A very pleasant drink is: 1 cup milk 1/3 cup powdered milk 1-2 raw eggs or lightly boiled eggs (they still have to be a little runny) Some type of flavoring...couple drops of real vanilla (expensive), vanilla flavored yougurt (1-3 TBS, makes it thicker like a shake) or whatever flavor yougurt you dig. (Obviously, this requires a blender.) Drink 2-3 of these daily in addition to your regular meals and be patient. Eggs are your highest source of protein at a reasonable cost. A dozen large eggs where I am varies from 99 cents to $1.19. Couple that with cottage cheese, tuna and raw peanuts...and you can get all the protein and fat that you need. If you can tolerate milk, mix whole milk 50/50 with reconstituted powdered milk...that'll stretch a dollar, also. C Crow: You can eat pretty healthy and cheap. I'd replace the grain products with various potatoes and squash. Drink milk if you're caught away from home and hungry, you can buy a pint almost anywhere for not much and it will tide you over. DPS should have one from Sports Science International. If you are like me you can choke down anything. If you are at all fussy about protein, call the manufacturer and see if they'll send a sample. Big on a Budget by Bill Starr Total Rebuild reports eating the following when he was a shoestring budget: Breakfast: 3 whole eggs & 3 egg whites 1/2 cup (uncooked) oats w/honey celery Remaining 5 daily meals: 1 can tuna in water 1 package of Ramen noodles. (Throw away the flavoring packets!) Mix with fat-free western salad dressing (to kill tuna taste) celery All the water you can manage to drink and 3 tbsp olive oil daily Did this for a full year. About the cheapest possible way to eat. Tuna is about $.50 a can, Ramen noodles about $.40 a package (ed. note: Walmart frequently has Ramen noodles 10 for a $1.00), Eggs $1.00/dz, oatmeal lasts about a week and a half for $2.00, celery about $1.50 for a days worth, olive oil, well it's cheaper than flax and fat-free salad dressing to kill taste of tuna...priceless! gzimonel: Cook all of your foods for the next 2-3 days in advance. Keep a cooler in your car with lots of water, fruits, veggies and/or protein, this will help you avoid needing food and not having healthy or cheap options. jej: Re: buying protein in bulk. These folks sell a 50# sack for $29.10. Plus shipping.
Last edited by Michelle. Contributors: Laree and Michelle |