Average cost of food per day?

ahf318

ahf318

New member
Putting together a bulking diet and wondered what the average cost of food per day is for everyone else... Also whats your favorite bulking meal and how much would you say it costs?
 
I forgot to add that my average cost per day right now is like 10 bucks for 6 - 8 meals. Yet to find a favorite meal, but anything with beef and whole grain pita chips is great...
 
avg. cost per day is prolly around 12-15 bucks cuz i usually eat at subway or roly poly about once a day due to my living situation.

FAV BULK MEAL- 12inch meatball marinara w/ swiss cheese & pepperoni, bag of sunchips, choc. milk from subway.

prolly bout 2000 cals & only cost $7.50!!!
 
yeah, mine's right around 10-12 a day right now, I get a 2.5 lb. bag of chicken breasts from wal mart and eat one every day usually or mix in some beef/fish on occasion, usually 8-12 eggs, a few shakes, some veggies/fruit, and some grains if I am not trying to lose weight
 
Verdicts in
To eat this exact meal plan each day for 4 weeks will cost $291.37 (thats w/ tax). The stuff I priced is from a local grocery store, mixed and match'd store brand and name brand.

I'm shooting high here just to be on the safe side of things. Also it doesn't include protein powders. I'll probably buy 50lbs from ATW of the Whey blend and 25lbs Milk Protein. As a going away to school present

I'm doing DC training so gotta follow the DC type diet

Meal 1:
6 whole eggs
8oz OJ
1/2 cup oats (dry)
16oz skim milk
1/2 cup fat-free plain yogurt

Meal 2:
50gr protein powder
2 peices whole wheat bread
1banana
2tbs natty peanut butter

Meal 3:
8oz Chicken
1/4 cup Long Grain Rice
1/2 cup green beans

Post Workout:
50gr protein powder
1.5 cups Oatmeal (dry)

Meal 5:
8oz chicken
1/4 cup long grain rice
1/2 cup green beans

Meal 6 & 7:
8oz 90/10 ground beef
1 cup brocoli
1TBS EVOO

Before Bed:
1-2 scoops Milk Protein

Daily Macros
Protein: ~450gr
Carbs: 250-350 (non-workout and workout)
Fat: 80gr
Calories: 3,500-4,000
 
I go about every other day and spend anywhere from 10-30. I try to go less but I ususally end up running out of something.
 
awesome responses

Wow Distilled, thank you so much for such a detailed response! Thats incredibly helpful! I'm actually going to try DC this year and will follow it to the letter so you took a lot of the work away!
 
I aim to please :thumsbup:

No problem man. I was bored one evening and decided to actually price it all out. I will start DC monday more than likely. Im really excited. I've done a few DC leg days and i love them.

I went a little heavy on the protein and light on the carbs for a safe cost sake. Carbs are dirt cheap and protein (lean meats) are expensive as hell.
 
Yea meat is what kills the wallet! Anybody know of a killer deal on meat? (fish included in meat...) I dont remember the price exactly but i wanna say the grocery chains usually run a buy one get one free deal on frozen chicken two for $7.50 or so... ive been meaning to get to Sams Club or costco for a while. I know they had the best deal on cans of Albacore.
 
best bulk meal by far:
chicken breast grilled then sliced into small pieces....
2 or 3 whole wheat tortillas lightly grilled in canola or a natural oil to get them warm but still flexible (haha sounded dirty)
with your choice of cheese...
if you love chicken and tacos....woowee i eat these 10 times a week.
 
1 million dollars!!!! Invalid Link Removed
 
Resurrecting an old thread here but i've spent much of this afternoon working out not only my calorific needs for my 3 month clean bulk but also how to get there and how much its going to cost.

Using John Berardi's Invalid Link Removed (cheers to whoever posted the link on another thread) i came up with the following figures:

Weight : 72kg's (159 lbs)
Fat Mass: 16% BF (11.5 kg's)
Lean Muscle weight : 60.1 kg's (133.56 lbs)

Resting Metabolic Rate (Calories) = 1835.6
Level of Activity (Upper end of 'Light') = 1.6
Basic calories required each day = 2936.96

Exercise MET Value (Intense weight lifting) = 6
Duration (in hours) = 1
Total Calorie Expenditure = 434

Thermic Effect of Food = 0.1
Calories Burnt Digesting Food = 184

Total Calorific Requirement : 3555

I then totted up all the daily food i needed to hit this:

Weight Gain shake : 540 Calories x2 Servings = 1080 Calories
Can of Coke : 139 x2 Servings = 278 Calories
Chicken Breast : 192 x2 Servings = 384 Calories
Wholemeal Pasta : 245 x2 Servings = 490 Calories
Egg: 103 x4 Servings = 412 Calories
Wholemeal Bread: 108 x3 Servings = 324 Calories
Cheese Strings: 69 x5 Servings = 345 Calories
Peanut Butter: 95 x2 Servings = 190 Calories
Butter: 72 x1 Serving = 72 Calories

GRAND TOTAL : 3575 Calories

This worked out at:

Protein: 227g
Carbs: 407g
Fat: 108g

or

Protein: 30%
Carbs: 55%
Fat: 15%

Total cost of food per week : £45.20 ($83)
So per day i make that : £6.45 ($11.86)
Cost per week INCLUDING shakes : £63.12 ($116.24)
Per day : £9.02 ($16.61)

Thank god for student loans, and my part time job!
(Oh and for anyone thats thinking, hang on that calorie count isnt really in excess on workout days. No it isnt, but i only workout 3 times a week, so the other 4 days i'll be nearly 500 calories in excess. This is how John Berardi recommends doing it.)
 
Nice post. Just wondering about the cans of Coke though... you really like the stuff? Or Just throwing it in for carbs? I would suggest replacing it with milk if/when possible. Just trying to be helpful!
 
ahf318 said:
Nice post. Just wondering about the cans of Coke though... you really like the stuff? Or Just throwing it in for carbs? I would suggest replacing it with milk if/when possible. Just trying to be helpful!
Click to expand...

Yeah cans of coke are like cigarettes to me. I cant get up in the morning without one. They're also there to stop me going insane during my (cleanish) bulk. Without a little of something nice, I think I would just end up eating donuts and pizza and stuff.

Milk would be way up there if i wasnt Lactose intolerant, my digestive system seems to be some sort of Milk jet. milk just goes straight through me and leaves my body faster than it went in. :toilet:
 
ahf318 said:
Yea meat is what kills the wallet! Anybody know of a killer deal on meat? (fish included in meat...) I dont remember the price exactly but i wanna say the grocery chains usually run a buy one get one free deal on frozen chicken two for $7.50 or so... ive been meaning to get to Sams Club or costco for a while. I know they had the best deal on cans of Albacore.
Click to expand...

I've been buying fish from the frozen food section of Wal-Mart. I can get 32oz of flounder for around $5. Eight servings at around 17g of protein per serving comes out to around 136g of protein total. I usually try to get at least 3-4 meals out of each bag, so that's around 34-45g of protein per meal. They have better tasting fish, but it's a more expensive. But the flounder is okay if you cook it right. A four pack of tuna cost $3 nowadays, containing around 88g of protein. So tuna and flounder are probably the cheapest forms of quality protein you're going to find in the food section. I guess chicken breast would come next, if you're talking "just meats." Anymore, beef is a treat for me, so I could care less if it's lean ;). But that's just me!

I'll also make a meal out of beans and tuna fish, at least once a day. A can of kidney beans, rinsed, and a can of tuna comes out to a little over 500 calories, and around 60g of carbs, 50g of protein. Sometimes I'll add a spoonful of peanut butter. You could even eat this meal twice a day. The only drawbacks to not varying your food sources are that you risk not getting all of the essential vitamins and minerals your body needs, but if you're taking a good multi-vitamin, you shouldn't worry too much. As far as your body is concerned, vitamins are vitamins, no matter where they come from.
 
I know Lucky's just had a sale boneless skinless chicken breast at only 1.99lb and my local Safeway ususally has them at around 2.25lb if you buy the house brand.
 
I'd like to add a couple things in here, and contribute.

My favorite bulking meal is cooked pasta, topped with lean ground beef (there is still grease after cooking it and I leave it in for increased fat intake, I'm an ectomorph) and I throw a chopped tomato on top of all that for prostate support and overall health (plus tomato tastes great with beef). It's relatively cheap, and I make a big batch then throw the leftovers into the fridge for easy calories the next day.

Also, one might use coke for many reasons. I've used it to manipulate my insulin before. A can in the morning with some flax oil can help your body take in some supplements. I prefer arginine and carnitine in the morning before I eat for increased absorption. I'm sure a lot of you know this, but it's the same idea as the sugar/creatine supplement. The sugar is only in there for absorption. It can work with more than creatine though. You have to be careful about taking in simple sugars right after your workout though, as high amounts of insulin can result in a drop of GH levels. Lifting can raise your GH levels, so one method is to take in zero carbs for a full hour after your workout. Though you should still use a protein supplement right after lifting.
 
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