Anybody out there on a tight ass budget? I am! I would like to know how much you spend in a week for your food? I would like to keep it as low as possible, but still get all the good stuff that I need. What would I be spending my money on. I would like to maintain my bodyweight at 180-185. My bodyfat% is 5-6 & will ALWAYS keep it low. I read a great article by Bill Starr on the subject once.
Just an observation: It sounds like you’re pretty dead-set against gaining fat. Is this correct? Because if you refuse to put on a little, you’re going to make it really hard to gain muscle. At your current BF percentage, you don’t have anything to worry about. As for cheap protein? My advice is eggs and milk.
I spend $300-400 a month on food. But I also go for premium meats (filet mignon, stew meat, ribs, pot roast, ground sirloin). I try to save money by purchasing a bag of chicken breasts at Sam’s Club as well as a few other items including large containers of cottage cheese. The other part of my diet is made up of fruits, vegetables and yogurt. Those things aren’t too expensive. It’s all the protein sources that kill me. Also, Grow and Advanced protein isn’t too cheap, so I spend a good deal on protein powders as well. I don’t mind spending so much. I eat well! But I do try to buy things on sale or in bulk. It’s hard to do on a budget. But like it was mentioned, milk and eggs aren’t too expensive. And if you’re willing, you could try other sources like beans, nuts, peanut butter, etc.
Where I live, whole eggs are by far the cheapest protein source. On the 2nd place are egg whites and cottage cheese - I plan to eat 5 lbs of cottage cheese per day (!) when I start bulking, now I am dieting and eat at least two pounds per day. Chicken and turkey breasts, protein powders and canned tuna all cost the same if you divide number of protein grams in one kilo with the price of the product. Cars are cheap anyway, you can buy a wagon full of oats for nothing. I also buy peanuts and flax - everything I outlined here makes a staple of my diet. I guess that absolute numbers would not mean much to you since I live in Croatia, but I guess I spend around 2500 Kn for food every month (1 US$ is roughly 8 Kn).