£20 Bulking Diet

I don't think it's possible. Even if you made what in my opinion would be the wrong decision to omit fruit and veg entirely, you'll still struggle:

30 tins of tuna per week = 15 quid
bag of oats - 1 quid
enough rice for a week - say 3 quid
enough milk to cover your oats each day - 1 or 2 quid

Nobody would survive eating quite literally the same 4 foods every single day, and as people have mentioned he'll want a takeaway or whatever at least once a week.

That's not to say you can't do it with a manageable diet for say £30 quid a week. You'd still have to be very shrewd about it and probably wouldn't be able to afford too much fruit or veg, but it would allow you to change it a little to include some chicken/turkey, some nuts and some eggs for the morning with a little left over for some cheaper fruit/veg.

If you're earning 50-100 (and presumably have money from a student loan/bursary etc. also?) I see no reason to restrict yourself to 20 quid. I live with 3 people who don't work out and have no interest in changing their physiques and all of them spend more than £20 on food every week.

Age: 21
BW: 92.6kg
Bench: 105kg
Squat 145kg
Deadlift: 205kg

Goal:

Bench 100x6, Squat 165, Deadlift 220, at BW < 88kg

I've just had a quick workout based on the things i buy and came up with the following;

Weekly;

1kg Oats
8 pints Milk
7 Chicken Breasts (200g each)
1kg Frozen Sweetcorn
1kg Frozen Broccoli
1Kg Frozen Green Beans
30 large eggs
Loaf of bread
Spread/Butter
Instant Noodles x 5
Peanut Butter
Chocolate Powder
Sugar Free Jelly
Mandarin Segments x 2

This all comes to a little over £19 but doesn't include oil, salt & pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, hp sauce and sundries like that. That's plenty for 75g oats twice a day, 4 eggs, 100g chicken with rice and veg, just realised i forgot to include the rice as i buy that in bulk but then i did include noodles as i tend to have chicken with veg and noodles instead of rice half the time. Plenty of milk, 50g peanut butter a day, no real treats in there but i did include the sugar free jelly with mandarin mixed in before it sets.

I don't stick to this as i have the odd meal my brother cooks or round my parents, maybe even a takeaway. I also tend to have other treats like i made a bunch of flapjacks and a batch of brownies.

I think that although £20 is tight if you plan ahead and get yourself organised you can do pretty well on £20 a week. Maybe rounding it up to £100 a month would make it a lot easier to include all the sundries.

It's certainly a good benchmark to aim for - then if you go over it or you need a treat then who cares.

I can give a breakdown of the above if needs be

"bring me an ambalamps" - mouthy dude after getting his arse handed to him

On the above he'll barely scrape 1g of protein/per lb bodyweight. IMO that isn't enough

Age: 21
BW: 92.6kg
Bench: 105kg
Squat 145kg
Deadlift: 205kg

Goal:

Bench 100x6, Squat 165, Deadlift 220, at BW < 88kg

Didn't  TT/Marmite do an article on bulking on a stupidly low budget. i think the secret is going to be buying some items such as rice in bulk (Asian supermarkets sell big bags of rice at good prices). Mince can also be bulked out very cheaply with soya mince (good protein content).  can also make seitan with wheat glutan really cheaply

tyre flipping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO-Oo5y_aZY[/link

some new PB's 17 August 2008

bigjack


Going back to the ops question i think its doable still. You forget that bulking up is about high protein, high cals but that doesnt mean expense. Say he had 4 tins of tuna a day thats £2, a couple of bags of nuts at 60p a pop, rice pudding 18p per tin, pasta is dirt cheap like £3 for 5 kilos! rice again a weeks worth costs £2.50ish. the most expensive thing will be chicken or lean beef mince. it is doable or near on guys

there u go near on double u said it lol bulking is not cheap how do u bulk on under £40 if your 18 stone ?is it clean?high in protein?

beans and toast with scrambled egg will go a treat :D

Tins if baked beans are golden. Cheap, protein nice!

People are still forgeting a few things;

a) You don't need a huge variety in a week
b) The OP is quite small in weight training terms
c) You don't need huige amounts of protein

As I said £20 quid is a big ask but you can get dam close.

Meal plan-

1) Make a smoothy;

100g oats
1 pints worth of skimmed milk powder
2 spoonfulls of olive oil
1 banana

Approx 900kcals with 30g of protein for approx £1. Good source of protein, carbs, fats and fruit/veg. 

2) Tin of baked beans + 2 eggs + tomato. Approx 700kcals and 30g protein for approx £1

3) 100g mince, portion rice, portion of veg. Approx 800kcal and 30g protein for £1.50

4) Another smoothy 900kcal 30g protein £1

Totals per day
Kcals 3000-3500
Protein 120g
Cost £4-5

Per week £20-25

So that's plenty of kcal for the OP to grow (depenent on life style and training) for pretty close to his budget and having a pretty balanced diet with fuit and veg. 

I would not suggest it is some kind off perfect diet but would do the job for the time being.

 

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Haha, what school of finance did some of you boys study. '£4-£5 a day' isn't '£20-£25 a week'. it's £28, minimum.

And you can't clean bulk on 120g of protein if you weigh 150lb, i'm sorry, it's just not viable. And variety may not be important to you, but the vast majority of us, whether athletes/bodybuilders or not, would get very bored and lose motivation if we had to eat exactly the same meals day after day, week after week.

Age: 21
BW: 92.6kg
Bench: 105kg
Squat 145kg
Deadlift: 205kg

Goal:

Bench 100x6, Squat 165, Deadlift 220, at BW < 88kg

lol Whoops thinking weekdays! Brain dosn't work like it used too!

Well that's me even more stumped than before. Looks like it's harder than I imagined.

And you can't clean bulk on 120g of protein if you weigh 150lb, i'm sorry, it's just not viable. And variety may not be important to you, but the vast majority of us, whether athletes/bodybuilders or not, would get very bored and lose motivation if we had to eat exactly the same meals day after day, week after week.

What's 'clean bulk' got to do with anything. Did the OP mention that term? No.

As for protein content 120g is over 1.5g per kg for the OP. More than enough. He could have less and do well.

As for 2nd highlighted point; that's you problem with motivation. Are you telling me you'd give up on your goals if you money was tight and you couldn't afford a 'vared' diet?

This thread is nothing about taste or the fact you need varity to do well, or making silly assertations with limited experience, or infact any other side issue. It's about trying to come up with the cheapest way the OP can bulk so as to help him out!!!

So let's do that!

Now, I have failed to come up with the £20 quid mark. Can anyone else?

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No, he didn't, but I made the assumption that he wants to get more muscular. Not fatter. and feeling sluggish through a crap diet.

I disagree with 1.5g per kilo, in my opinion, isn't enough but it wouldn't be productive to argue this point now.

I have no problem with motivation, far from it - If money was tight i'd work more hours and eat what I eat now, or make other sacrifices in order to ensure I could eat well.

I'm not making an silly assertions. I'm stating that it's not possible to have a good bulking diet for £20 a week, and gave the OP some advice of how he would be able to survive on perhaps £30.
You have no idea of my 'experience' or knowledge so let's not get into petty digs. I'm not claiming to be an expert, just pointing out obvious flaws with trying to bulk on £20.

Age: 21
BW: 92.6kg
Bench: 105kg
Squat 145kg
Deadlift: 205kg

Goal:

Bench 100x6, Squat 165, Deadlift 220, at BW < 88kg

iaink


Tins if baked beans are golden. Cheap, protein nice!

People are still forgeting a few things;

a) You don't need a huge variety in a week
b) The OP is quite small in weight training terms
c) You don't need huige amounts of protein

As I said £20 quid is a big ask but you can get dam close.

Meal plan-

1) Make a smoothy;

100g oats
1 pints worth of skimmed milk powder
2 spoonfulls of olive oil
1 banana

Approx 900kcals with 30g of protein for approx £1. Good source of protein, carbs, fats and fruit/veg. 

2) Tin of baked beans + 2 eggs + tomato. Approx 700kcals and 30g protein for approx £1

3) 100g mince, portion rice, portion of veg. Approx 800kcal and 30g protein for £1.50

4) Another smoothy 900kcal 30g protein £1

Totals per day
Kcals 3000-3500
Protein 120g
Cost £4-5

Per week £20-25

So that's plenty of kcal for the OP to grow (depenent on life style and training) for pretty close to his budget and having a pretty balanced diet with fuit and veg. 

I would not suggest it is some kind off perfect diet but would do the job for the time being.

 

as already pointed out, the maths isnt quite right lol, BUT im bloody impressed mate, thats not a bad diet for bugger all money! 
 
its alot better than i thought you would get for under 30 quid, sure not perfect in this internet forum world, but id put money on it being a damm bit better than alot of gym goers!
 
high carbs and calories is going to be protein sparing, so id agree that for the OP it would be enough protein to gain weight.

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lol Yep my maths sure did let me down! Just nobody tell my PhD supervisor please lol

To be fair ch237 you do have point, but felt this thread would be better served giving some constructive advice.
 
Anyway still waiting for a bonafida £20 quid a week diet for the OP that wouldn't leave him with scurvy!
 
Maths skills optional! ;)

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ok, so, if the OP were to hand round the supermarket everynight before closing, he should be able to get a whole cooked chicken for £1.  so that would be proten for the day more or less.  a large bag of cheap rice for a quid, and a large bag of oats for a quid takes care of the weeks carbs.

so thats £10 spent, and we have carbs and protein for the week.  buying budget, and putting up with the taste, 3 quid should get an apple, banana and an orange for every day.  £2 on froxen veg (cheapest) gets veg for one meal a day. 

so we have a fiver left, how much are cheap eggs?  we need maybe 3 per day. couple of pounds on olive oil to bump cals and fats.


breakfast-  200g oats, with water, 3 eggs, olive oil, banana

lunch- half a chicken, rice. apple and orange

tea- half a chicken, rice, serving of veg.

before bed, portion of oats in water

of course, it relys on getting a reduced chicken!

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lol Who dosn't hang around supermarkets late?
 
Good effort!
 
At least the OP has some ideas to be getting on with!

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its about as close as i can get! i suppose someone with a knowledge of prices to the pence of very budget food could possible squeeze a bit more out of it!

bicep reattatchment surgery recovery journal
no shows this year :-(

I'm in the same situation at the OP. You can get a better than "average" diet for £20 a week but you can't get everything you want.

I'm spending £27.70 a week and get around 3200 cals & 230g protein. OP if you're interested in my shopping list I'll try and find it tomorrow and type it up.

Protein
Whey/casein blend £8 per kg = 20p per 25g scoop
10p per egg?
Minced beef £3 per kg
Tinned tuna steak 50p per 150g (drained weight) tin

Carbs
Oats 50p/kg
Rice £1.50/kg
Pasta 85p per kg

Veg
Frozen veg £1 per kg

meal 1: 4 eggs (40p) + 100g oats (5p) + 1 scoop whey/casein (20p) = 65p
meal 2: 1 tin tuna (50p) + 100g rice (30p) + 200g veg (20p) = £1.18
meal 3: 2 scoops whey/casein (40p) + 100g oats (5p) = 45p
meal 4: 200g minced beef (60p) + 100g pasta (8.5p) + 200g veg (20p) = 98.5p

£1.04p

Probs lacking some serious flavour so say add some tins of tomatoes/beans/soup etc all about 30p each. Another 60p per day perhaps. Also no healthy fats, but fats are expensive. Add some mixed nuts/seeds each day about 50g? So about another 50p per day? Prob less. But that brings total to about £2 or so a day? £2.50 a day is £17.50. I await my bad maths to be highlighted Prices mostly from asda (smart price). Best bet is to hand around getting the late deals tho, can get packs of 6 bread buns or pitta breads etc for about 8p.

gold star for allen!

two gold stars for anyone that can eat that diet everyday for more than a week!  lmao!

i hate to think what some of that stuff tastes like at those prices! lol

bicep reattatchment surgery recovery journal
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would benefit from some fruit though, im not sure you would get a full spectrum of everything from just frozen veg

bicep reattatchment surgery recovery journal
no shows this year :-(

Just to add, try your local butchers.

I went to mine today and bought in bulk.

22 Large chicken breasts with no added water/never been frozen (until I stuck them in my freezer) for £24. Very good value in my opinion!

When you buy in bulk one thing then everything else you get you will get a discount on so just buy alot at once so make that £20 - £40 for one shop and then you'll have meat to last you a good few weeks!

I'm a student so budgeting for me i like to think is one of my fortes.

Adam - AKS

May 08 = 73kg, March 10 = 84kg LEAN MUSCLE -  http://www.muscletalk.c...t-training-m2684997.aspx