Can healthy diets be cheap?

howardman

It seems that many people buy fast food because it is cheap and easy to get hold of...... and ready meals can look healthy but arent... buying in bulk to be healthy is my only option i think but is it possible to buy bulk fruit and vegetables cheaply?

Bud_Fox

Yes. Buy frozen food in bulk & buy organics at the start of the week or on the day. Here's what I did when I was competing.

I'd buy:
-Bags of frozen chicken breasts & fish fillets.
-Bags of brown Rice.
-Bags of Frozen mixed vegetables.
-A massive bag of muesli/porridge.
-A massive bag of myprotein protein shake.
- Cans of tuna.
Daily/Weekly specific/organics pick up whenever.
e.g. leeks, spring onions, beetroot.

Breakfast:
A) Muesli & a half sliced fruit of your choice.
Scrambled Egg with leeks/spring onions. Wholemeal toast.
C) Mixed vegetable/spanish omlette.

Lunch/Snack
A) 2nd half of said fruit. A protein shake and a sandwhich.
Brown bread, no butter. (coconut oil is good). Tuna is a cheap filling.
Random vegetables. Carrots/celery sticks. Slices of cucumber.
C) Use your imagination.

Dinner
A) Boiled chicken, brown rice & mixed vegetables.
Fish Fillet, brown rice & mixed vegetables.
C) Omlette or any other combo of things.

Snack
A) Protein shake, any leftovers.
Snack on some random vegetable.
C) Muesli

Its cheap and effective. Set a small budget aside (could be the cost of a happy meal) for healthy things you may wanna add on the day. A pack of almonds for a snack, lemons for the rice, beetroot for the small side salad. etc. If you're starving and not allergic. Milk is always a great quick fix. £1 in poundland.

Also, you do something like this alongside an athletic strength & conditioning programme 3 or 4x a week and it would honestly be harder for you not to have a 6 pack than it would be to have one.

It may all seem boring and bland at first but you can soon learn to get imaginative with whatever cheap ingredients you can get your hands on.

nlj1520

Having weight trained now for several months, I am ready to start tackling my diet too. Partly to feel better about myself, partly to protect my joints from injury (I train HARD).
I am on a very low carb diet at the moment to help build muscle tissue. To the suggestions above I would add eggs and I would buy a whole chicken as it's cheaper than breasts and strip the meat to use in salads, omelettes or snacks. The bones then make a stock for a home made vegetable soup...........perhaps not in this weather!!! But it can be frozen for lunch on cooler days.
I would also add blueberries and greek yoghurt as (slightly expensive) snacks as it feels like a treat. At least it does to me, but we are all different.
No caffeine, no alcohol and perhaps some supplements if your budget runs to it? Magnesium and Zinc are what was recommended to me.
I am not looking at the scales, only at what dress size I am and how many 'wobbly' bits I have!
Good luck.