Cheap Food: Price Per Calorie

Working out my budget for this term at university tells me at my current rate of shopping (£50p/w, roughly $80) I will be left with very little for living.

So guys, some reccomendations on how best to structure a bulking diet when moneys tight? At the minute im spending around £35 just on meat per week, and I consider that pretty minimal (1 day = 250grams turkey, 250grams chicken, 300grams steak).

Any suggestions of the best way to up calories in a diet whilst reducing the cost? I enjoy clean food more but it’s most important that I am gaining the weight. I want to be aiming for 4000 calories+ really, as even though I weigh NOTHING, 3300+workout shakes hasnt been doing the trick…

Natty pb, different types of oils added to shakes. I’ve done both and they’re cheap and effective.

If you are strapped for cash, ditch the turkey, chicken, and steak. Those there are food for the wealthy.

Eggs, Milk, Ground Beef.

Dry beans! Where I live its 5$ for 5lbs, and 100g of dry beans has about 330kcal, 15 fiber and 15 protein.
And sardines are also pretty cheap sources for your Omega-3s

Edit: Nuts as a fat source make a tasty compliment to beans as a carb source :smiley:

chimera- Cheers, i have done similar in the past and i’ve got no idea why i’ve stopped really… PB+rice cakes works too, tried that the other day.

[quote]DOHCrazy wrote:
If you are strapped for cash, ditch the turkey, chicken, and steak. Those there are food for the wealthy.

Eggs, Milk, Ground Beef.[/quote]

I cant tolerate milk anymore which is a big blow for me, but I am trying to slowly work it back in (failing so far, really). Eggs & ground beef are something I just cant stomach so easily anymore after forcing myself to survive on mostly them for so long… I think I’m going to try and learn a few new recipes to try and make extra lean ground beef + eggs go down a bit better… got “muscle chow” book for christmas so I think I’ll be trying a few of them out.

I spose if I stuck with eggs for breakfast and ground beef for lunch, I’d save abit and still be cool with steak dinners, which i refuse to replace :slight_smile:

Edit: Beans and sardines are good suggestions thanks. Nuts wise i still cant work out if the cost per calorie is good, even though they are high calorie and very useful.

[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
chimera- Cheers, i have done similar in the past and i’ve got no idea why i’ve stopped really… PB+rice cakes works too, tried that the other day.

[quote]DOHCrazy wrote:
If you are strapped for cash, ditch the turkey, chicken, and steak. Those there are food for the wealthy.

Eggs, Milk, Ground Beef.[/quote]

I cant tolerate milk anymore which is a big blow for me, but I am trying to slowly work it back in (failing so far, really). Eggs & ground beef are something I just cant stomach so easily anymore after forcing myself to survive on mostly them for so long… I think I’m going to try and learn a few new recipes to try and make extra lean ground beef + eggs go down a bit better… got “muscle chow” book for christmas so I think I’ll be trying a few of them out.

I spose if I stuck with eggs for breakfast and ground beef for lunch, I’d save abit and still be cool with steak dinners, which i refuse to replace :slight_smile:

Edit: Beans and sardines are good suggestions thanks. Nuts wise i still cant work out if the cost per calorie is good, even though they are high calorie and very useful.[/quote]

You’re only eating three meals a day? :facepalm:

You have three options when trying to get big:

  1. Quit being a pussy and eat a lot of food you don’t like.
  2. Do very well in college and get a very good job.
  3. K-fed a girl who has a trust fund.

You’re in college and you think you can afford steak? lol.

Corned beef, eggs, peanut butter, ground beef, visits to the local fish market, wholesale chickens (I got 8 for £13) and most importantly… meat markets.

Oh and eggs again, 10 eggs cost you £1 and yet supply you with 1000 cal + 125g protein.

Shredded cheese.

It’s cheap at a wholesale club and you can melt it on anything (beef,eggs,rice,pasta,potatoes,veg,etc.) and make anything taste better.

[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
Nuts wise i still cant work out if the cost per calorie is good, even though they are high calorie and very useful.[/quote]

Not almonds, the popularity of them has caused their price to increase a lot in the past years (Just like blueberries and pomegranites, damn you media).

Stick to the lesser liked nuts and peanuts, examples of the former being pine nuts, macadameia nuts (buttery!), and walnuts (omega-3s!).

[quote]DOHCrazy wrote:
You’re only eating three meals a day? :facepalm:

[/quote]

Nah not at all, shouldnt have phrased it in the breakfast/lunch/dinner way, causes problems.

Meal 1=breakfast meal 2= snack meal 3=lunch meal 4=dinner meal 5=snack, meal 6=pre-bed shake.

Usually something abit like that, snacks are usually yoghurt and fruit. Make sure the main 3 meals are calorific enough so the snacks can be abit smaller eg. it may look like 1000, 300, 700, 300, 1000, 300. Equals 3300… still not enough to grow though as I have been finding out (that’s no debate).

I’m in University and my budget for the week is about £65, so yes, I can afford £50 on food if that is my priority over drinking much or going out loads… I still do that enough (once/twice p/w)… but just on the cheap! However it doesnt mean i’m not going to be looking to cheaper options where possible. Fish market/meat market HAS to be done… theres a biggish one in Leeds and im thinking buying in relative bulk might save me a fair bit of money if I managed to get down there on a weekly basis. Need to do this! (shameless note to self)

Thanks for the other reccomendations, adding cheese where possible and looking for cheap nuts is definitely at least a couple hundred more cals per day potentially!

There are cheap cuts of beef that require a little more care to prepare, but are cheap and satisfying: flank steak, skirt steak, beef tips, beef brisket. Buy cheap chickens (dude said below, buy them wholesale), learn to break them down and cook them. Peep out the discount meat sections at big supermarkets.

Here in Vancouver, I do most of my shopping at the Richmond Public Market and small ethnic markets, which have the cheapest meat and produce. There’s no bullshit, no styrofoam containers, low overhead = good prices, and there’s a real person behind the food.