High Protein diet on a budget?

adutd

Hi, Ive fairly recently started weightlifting, Ive got a personal trainer and ive been advised to eat approx 5 meals a day with snacks in between aswell as the whey protein!
Ive already switched to frozen chicken and veg instead of the fresh stuff because of the cost, but any other ideas would be extreamly helpful.
Could also do with some large protein packed meal ideas I could cook for the week that I could freeze.

Quasar

Frozen fish is also high in protein and cheaper than fresh, without losing nutrients. Mackerel, coley etc. One average portion of fish should provide you with about 20g of protein.

A lunch pack of either chicken or fish with wholegrain rice is good as this rice will add a few grams of protein to the meal. You can have it cold, with a little oil and a good drizzle of lemon juice.

Cottage cheese will not add fat to your diet and contains a good dose of high quality protein.

silkcutblue

Cottage cheese was my fav. Buying whole chickens and cutting them up yourself is also good.

Egg white omelettes - I always baulked at the idea but once I tried them I was hooked.

Cans of tuna (with spring water)

Ultimately, though, a good quality whey is your best bet.

ruby_eskimo

Lentils are high in protein as well and can go a long way to bulking out various meals.

valk_scot

My son does a lot of (carefully supervised) weight training for rugby, he's still a teenager so he's growing anyway as well which make nutrition very important. His coach recommended he eat proper high protein foods rather than supplements at this stage so that he still gets other nutrients. The list I got included eggs, cottage cheese (Lidl cottage cheese is the best for taste and economy I think), tins of tuna, beans on toast, lean meat of any kind but especially chicken, milk (any sort) and vegetarian options with pulses and soya.

A particularly useful breakfast is beans on toast using bread with seeds etc in it and a couple of poached eggs on top. I make a low fat daal from yellow split peas to go with rice or in pitta as a snack or as a side dish with a meat curry to add extra protein. Other snacks are poached eggs on toast or boiled egg sandwiches, low fat hummus and toast or vegetable sticks, cottage cheese in pitta bread, anything that I've got in the fridge that's not marked Hands Off, several glasses of skimmed milk a day....

Daal freezes a treat btw, as do most meals with sauce or gravy such as meat curries, chilli, bolognaise sauce, casseroles etc. You can add lentils to just about any of these to up the protein content. Chick peas are nice in curries as well.

Quasar

silkcutblue wrote: »

Cottage cheese was my fav. Buying whole chickens and cutting them up yourself is also good.

Egg white omelettes - I always baulked at the idea but once I tried them I was hooked.

Cans of tuna (with spring water)

Ultimately, though, a good quality whey is your best bet.

I agree, whey is the best protein around, classed as better than egg, where egg ranks at 100 and good quality whey at 103. I take two tablespoons of Pulsin' whey a day. I'm not a bodybuilder but I eat little meat, so the extra protein (about 20g whey protein) makes an excellent addition to integrate my diet.

Pulsin' whey costs about £30 per kilo and is of high quality. I find it in some organic food stores here in London. It's made from (added)hormone free milk from grass fed cows, and it's a protein isolate, which some bodybuilders prefer to protein concentrate. It has no flavourings or additives except some healthy soy lecithin, so it is completely tasteless.

EDITED LATER to tidy up some duff grammar.

belfastgirl23

You can bulk buy some meats at eg Asian supermarkets much cheaper than buying elsewhere. Chicken especially is a lot cheaper.

belfastgirl23

Quasar wrote: »

I agree, whey is the best protein around, classed as better than egg, where egg ranks at 100 and good quality whey at 103. I take two tablespoons of Pulsin' whey a day. I'm not a bodybuilder but I eat little meat, so the extra proteing (about 20g whey protein) makes an excellent addition to integrate my diet.

Pulsin' whey costs about £30 per kilo and is of high quality. I find it in some organic food stores here in London. It's made from (addid) hormone free milk from grass fed cows, and it's a protein isolate, which some bodybuilders prefer to protein concentrate. It has no flavourings or additives except from the healthy soy lecithin, so it is completely tasteless.

Can I ask what it's like calorie wise? I'm also interested in non-meat protein sources.

Quasar

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Can I ask what it's like calorie wise? I'm also interested in non-meat protein sources.

That depends on what the whey powder has in it. The one I use has no added flavourings or sugars, and it states 75 calories per serving, a serving being about 2 heaped dessert spoons, giving 18 grams protein.

I take two generous tablespoons (which are a bit bigger than dessert spoons) at separate meals, therefore I guess I'm getting 90 calories in total for 20 grams of top protein. When you compare the cost of meat and chicken, and the calories and saturated fats in them, this whey protein works out as a very cheap way of getting complete, highly digestible protein.

The reason whey is popular in body building circles is that it has a high proporton of branched chained aminoacids (BCAA) three aminoacids that especially promote muscle recovery and building, and also help with wound healing. I started taking it after major surgery to help speed the healing process. To top it all, these amino acids are also being studied for some anti-aging effects on body and brain.

Brewers Yeast is another cheap, healthy high protein food, weighing in at 8 grams complete protein per tablespoon, plus a mighty whack of minerals and vitamins.

Target

Apart from protein powder in shakes/smoothies I have a lot of tofu in my diet, which works really well for breakfast or brunch as a scramble, or sliced in a sandwich. From local Asian supermarket it's £1.50 per 800gram! Kale and broccoli on veg front. Yellow split peas in soups and curries. Tescos Everyday Value Soya milk is also highest in protein among all milk alternatives and it's 59p per litre.

Edwardia

I'd suggest buying tinned salmon and tuna from a wholesaler if you can or just stocking up on special offers eg Princes wild pink salmon 213g £2 per can to 02/01/13 Tesco