money and food

[knox]

well, i was just curious on how much all of you spend a week on food. i am a poor college student and i'm having a tough time managing the amount food i buy with the amount of money i make..lately i've been buying alot of round steaks, chicken breats, peanut butter, brown rice, oatmeal, cottage cheese, eggs, and milk. i roughly spend $50 a week on food, to me this is expensive.

knox

[Jergo]

well, i was just curious on how much all of you spend a week on food. i am a poor college student and i'm having a tough time managing the amount food i buy with the amount of money i make..lately i've been buying alot of round steaks, chicken breats, peanut butter, brown rice, oatmeal, cottage cheese, eggs, and milk. i roughly spend $50 a week on food, to me this is expensive.

knox

Yeah that sounds about right to me too. 5o bones/week is my normal feeding budget.

Buy tuna, it's cheap as all hell. I just can't stand it anymore as I used to eat it like drinking water. I buy my chicken breasts frozen and individualy wrapped. It's pretty cheap that way, and is convenient. I just cook a whole 15lb. bag of them at once and then put 'em in a huge bowl in the fridge. When I want one, I just weigh what I want on my food scale, and that's it....

Buy your powder in bulk.....so much cheaper that way....

Use rice for carbs, dirt cheap as well. Do away w/ the peanut butter and get a big bottle of oilve oil, canola, etc. from like Sam's club. Mix it up with different oils every day and you'll get more good fats, at a low cost. ****, sometimes I even pour a glass of skim milk, add in 3 Tbsp. of oil and chug...desperate times call for desperate measures...

You want more tricks of the trade, lemme know.

[SCORPIO]

Bump on Jergo's advice....I was just gonna say, buy tuna. I was even to the point where I'd get a fork full, put it towards the back of my throat, grab a drink then swallow. Yeah, go to a wholesale warehouse like sams or costco. 6lbs (indv) frozen chicken breast $12.....Large bottle of olive oil $11.....I beg to differ on the natty peanut butter, it's good for you as long as you don't over do it....two large cans natty pb $5.99. Large bag of frozen mixed veggies $3-$5. Other than that just shop around. Keep some of those eggs boiled for quick and easy snacks. I chop onions ans celery in my tuna w/ a bit of mayo on whole grain with 1 boiled egg on the side.....makes a good meal. I also get whole flax seeds for about 89 cents a lb. Grind'em up and add them to your shakes for efa's.

[cr4ytonic]

$80 not including protein powder, the stores where I go to school are sooo friggin expensive

[knox]

damn, $80 a week! i'd be living on the streets in month flat sorry but i forgot to mention that i buy tuna also. i go through about 8 cans a week. i just eat it raw, normally i'm in a hurry, but celery w/ a lil mayo and an egg sounds pretty darn goood. i'll try it. what other tricks you got jergo? thanks for the advice fellas.

[Jergo]

Bump on Jergo's advice....I was just gonna say, buy tuna. I was even to the point where I'd get a fork full, put it towards the back of my throat, grab a drink then swallow.

LMAO!!...Dude I used to do the same exact thing..lol...so much easier to drink your food, ain't it? Tonight I'm gonna have a steak shake.

[Jergo]

damn, $80 a week! i'd be living on the streets in month flat sorry but i forgot to mention that i buy tuna also. i go through about 8 cans a week. i just eat it raw, normally i'm in a hurry, but celery w/ a lil mayo and an egg sounds pretty darn goood. i'll try it. what other tricks you got jergo? thanks for the advice fellas.

Okay, buy your veggies frozen in great big bags..convenient, and cheap. Also, buy pasta, again..lol...big bags of it. You can mix thaty with just about anything and it's a nice change up from drinking tuna all day long. I also like to buy those packets of gravy. You know they have like ckicken gravy, beef, etc...mix that with the noodles, etc, and it tastes pretty good. And the gravy really doesn't have many unwanted cals....like 10-12/serving...

Slightly off topic, but get yourself one of those cooler type luch bags. You know like the one's Marlboro used to (they might still) sell in their miles catalogues? If you got a nice sturdy lunch box, then you can be more leniant with the foods you eat, etc, cuz you'll be able to take 'em w/ you no matter what, even if they aren't in a can...

If you work in a big office complex with mini kitchens, steal others tupperware containers....lol...J/K..

[knox]

excellent. thanks jergo

[psb]

50 lb sack of oats: about $40 (includes shipping)
11 lb TeamSkip mix trueprotein.com: about $105 (includes shipping)
huge ass jug of olive oil at Sam's club: about $12

The oats last about 3-4 months each bag, protein 3 weeks, and olive oil 3-4 months. This is the cheapest solution I've found.

Yeah its boring...but it gets the job done. Add in multivit/min and vit C from sams for a huge ass bottle about 6-8 bucks each and you're solid.

[knox]

sweet, thx psb, what kind of pasta do you guys prefer?

[DougMan]

There is a sauce called Cholula, it is a red hot sauce with a mexican guy on the front. Its pretty damn good. I use it on anything if I need a change of pace. I have tried it on tuna and cottage cheese and it was decent with both. Spices really can add some much needed flavor some a reasonable cost. Just dont get addicted to the expensive stuff! My roommate had a bottle of really nice spices, I think I went through most of it in like 2 weeks haha. A nice hot pepper sauce (and spices in general) will help keep things a little bit more favorful without any calories and saves you money in the long run IMO. You just have to find what you like

[SCORPIO]

Some other good deals.....For protein 50lbs look here:
http://www.blackstarlabs.com/?products_id=181
it's a chunk of change, but it'll last. Or another place for good protein deal:http://www.allsportsnutrition.com/pr...roductid=11010

A good idea is to make your own MRP's.....You'll need 2 scoops whey...2tbs ground flax seeds....2-4 tbs ground raw oats.....put all this in a ziplok snack bag....8oz or more of water and a shaker cup....make a few of these and carry them with you.

Jergo has a good idea which I used last week. I fired up the grill and cooked up several chicken breasts and chicken sausage for the week.

Tried something today my wife suggested, maybe you guy can suggest a way to spice it up. 1/2 can of tuna with 1 raw raw egg mixed it bowl.....a little cooking spray in a pan and it makes a nice tuna patti....it was ok, but I think I needed to add some hot sauce or something.

[Cardinal]

A few things that have turned out to be fairly economical for me...A lot of these ideas aren't an ideal way to obtain nutrients, but when money is the key short term factor....

Unflavored WPC 80 from BSL. All the whey off Ebay may turn out to be slightly cheaper depending on shipping costs. BSL's shipping it very difficult to beat. Even better, try to strike a deal with a local dairy manufacturer.

For chocolate flavoring, cocoa and a bulk 700 count box of splenda packets is a good compromise b/w economy and good taste. Splenda packets taste better to me than the baking splenda since they contain dextrose in addition to just malto. Cocoa is a must have on my list. One container goes a long way.

Supplements that help control my appetite also go a long way toward saving money on grocery bills. For this reason I invest in Nicotine Gum, E/C, and fiber/fiber-like supplements. Soluble fiber especially has an overwhelmingly nice satiety effect.

Raw Powdered Psyllium Husk (1 lb/$3.90)
Xantham Gum (A 1/2 Teaspoon/Liter fluid goes a long way)
Other options: Grapefruit fiber, Guar gum(tastes like crap)

Another compromise: For oatmeal, I go with Bobsredmill, 25 lb bags of extra thick oatmeal. 50lbs will run a bit over $50 which isn't that cheap but I can vouch for the quality compared to quaker. Buy local and you can probably find another brand for .50 per lb.

Veggies, though a near necessity in most ppl's diets, can be very expensive. I get NOW brand phytofood and veggie carotenoids as a temporary replacement. Saves me a bundle to go the supplemental route here as well. Then I can just take my carbs from cheap sources of grains.

Many specialty items cost a great deal of money unnecessarily. Specifically I refer to the low-cal and low carb diet options. You can obtain ingredients separately and make things like sugar free jams, syrups (Like Cary's) by just seeing what they put in them and playing kitchen chemist.

Minimizing the cost of protein is the hardest thing to do. As mentioned many times already in this thread, cho and fat costs can be brought to nearly nothing. Just something to keep in mind.

[knox]

i appreciate everyone's information. sounds like ordering food in bulk is the why to go. i'll attempt to make some homemade mrp's. i actually work at a grocery store so i get see what is available. the only problem is i work 5 hrs or so w/out a break to eat. i've been buying frozen veggies since they are picked at their peak quality and processed as soon as they are picked. and they are really cheap. also, i've been buying frozen pre-packaged burgers that are %90 lean. then i grill them up on the ol' Foreman. pretty cheap too. a dozen eggs costs around $.99 around here so i buy 3 dozen at a time. the hardest thing is to get use to eating the same thing day-in and day-out. adding a little salsa and mixing things up abit to add flavor is a must after several months of chugging tuna......thanks everyone.
knox

[silverSurfer]

WalMart has a box of 10 round steak thingies with bacon wrapped around it for $10.00. I had my first one last night and it was pretty good. They also have 6oz can of tuna for $0.50 each.
You can get good seasonings at the dollar store, just watch out for high sodium.

[Cardinal]

There are several brands of premade patty turkey burgers that wouldn't be bad on the Foreman either (need to get me one of them). Jenny-O and Pilgrims both sell frozen varieties. For the lazy at heart these turn out to be really economical. I am usually too lazy to take ground meat and do something with it. Semi-lean ground turkey can be had pretty cheaply though.

[Jergo]

WalMart has a box of 10 round steak thingies with bacon wrapped around it for $10.00. I had my first one last night and it was pretty good. They also have 6oz can of tuna for $0.50 each.
You can get good seasonings at the dollar store, just watch out for high sodium.

You happen to know the name of them bro? I love **** like that. Another one I like is those pre-made pizzaburgers...lol...