Whats affordable for a college student, nutritional, low on carbs and relatively easy to prepare maybe 2 or 3 times daily?
I rely heavily on breads for most of my meals… I want to try dropping carbs and going fatloss for a few weeks… lose 8 or 9 lbs.
We will see how this thread turns out.
BTW, for those interested in my progress
Beginning: 212lbs
Start of working out, april 2008: 208lbs
July 15th 2008: 190lbs
Do you have access to a fridge for food storage? How about a hot plate or electric burner? George Foreman grill?
Scrambled eggs are a quick fix. Melt some butter in a frying pan, crack the eggs into the pan, and stir it up. Keep the eggs turning until they are fluffy but not too dry. Takes 5-10 minutes, tops, including waiting for the pan to heat.
With a Foreman grill (or similar) you can grill a steak, hamburger, chicken, hotdog, or sausage link in a short time. It takes 2-3 minutes to heat up then about 9 minutes for a medium-well steak, hamburger or chicken. Cooking time would be less for hotdogs and sausage I would assume but I never cook those on the grill.
Now, as far as cost goes, your best bet is probably going to be eggs and hamburgers (get the 80% lean beef, next to the cheapest variety and the best balance of nutrients I believe).
Hotdogs are cheaper but have a lot of additives and are relatively low in protein. You would have to eat about 8 hotdogs to get a decent amount of protein in a single meal. It would be cheap (about $1 if you get them on sale), but I can’t stomach having 8 hotdogs in one meal. I like to avoid the additives too.
Don’t forget cheese. I have become a bit of a cheese gourmet but some sharp cheddar is still good. Look for sales, and don’t worry about brand so long as you avoid the processed “cheese food product” items (this generally applies only to American cheese). Cheddar has a pretty good balance of fat and protein. Get some shredded and sprinkle it on salads, put a slice on your hamburgers, make some omelettes, or just have a meal of cheese.
Don’t overdo the cheese though. Even if you are not allergic to milk you are likely sensitive at some threshold. Many people develop milk allergies as they get older too and high intake of milk products is not going to help that.
We have an old wisconsin outlet (meat company) here they always have good meat on clearance prices. If there’s something similar around you I’d check it out.
Peanuts.
Tuna fish + celery.
Whey shake + 1/2 cup flax meal.
What Otep said, plus almonds if you can afford them. Buy them in bulk (30lb box) and save bigtime.
Kidney beans and lentils are also excellent for weight loss. ZOMGZ BUT THEY HAVE CARBS! So what? They are considered “very lean meats” by their protein content, are extremely low in fat, and very high in fiber. It will leave you feeling full without the calories if weight loss is your goal. These two are a personal favorite of mine and are very taste-submissive when cooking.
The kidney beans can be eaten raw or microwave heated. The lentils require about 45 minutes cooking time.
njrusmc is on point with beans. The upside is they have awesome fiber and protein. Especially fiber. You don’t think about it, but you probably need more fiber than you’re already getting. USDA recommends 20g minimum. And this is the USDA we’re talking about.
I’ve been doing a carb/cycling approach and have played with it quite a bit. My favorite non-grain carb sources are:
Vegetables. Either steamed or stir fried. I got a veggie steamer and can steam a bag of frozen veggies in like 20 minutes, with only 5 being setup/clean up. If I have more time, I will stir fry them in peanut/coconut oil. I can get 2-3 days worth of vegetables this way. Add meat and maybe some fatty cheese or olive oil and you have a pretty quick meal. Veggies, meat, and olive oil is a pretty staple meal for me during the work week.
Beans have been mentioned. I like meat+beans+salsa+maybe some cheese as a post-workout meal.
Sweet potatoes. Pop it in the microwave for about 7-8 minutes, add a little butter and cinnamon+meat+salad, another quick post workout meal.
Canned pumpkin. I read some recipes about pumpkin pie shakes on here awhile ago, and found a pumpkin pie recipe on figureathlete.com last night and made it. Not bad and I am going to double up the recipe and make a big batch for either breakfasts/pre-workout snack. Not sure if it is better than oatmeal, but I find myself craving oatmeal+whey+blueberries for breakfast about halfway through the week. This has about half the carbs and an equal amount of fiber. Some cassein from the cottage cheese too to get you through the morning.
The recipe is:
3/4c cottage cheese
1 can (15oz) pumpkin
2 scoops vanilla whey
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4c splenda
1 egg
mix and bake for 40 min @ 350 then refrigerate. You may even just cut the eggs out and refrigerate it or blend it all. This was courtesy of the recipe forum on figureathlete modified to what I had in the kitchen.
…The pumpkin is pretty high in fiber too.
I forgot about pumpkin.
I like to open up a 15 oz can of pumpkin (get 100% pumpkin, not the pumpkin pie mix, Libby’s has the best nutritional breakdown) and plop it in a bowl with about a tablespoon or two of butter. I microwave that then add a liberal amount of sea salt, pepper, all spice, and cinnamon.
Not half bad. I am sure if you played with including some other spices, and even a touch of sugar, you could get an even better taste.
Libby’s 100% Pumpkin has:
9 g carbs
5 g fiber
4 g sugar
per serving (3.5 servings in a can)
31.5 g carbs
17.5 g fiber
12 g sugar