How To Get Big Without Breaking The Bank
When you are trying to get as big as possible as fast as possible there is one commandment you must follow:
You Need To Eat A Lot Of Food.
While there are many people who believe that calories are all that counts, we disagree.
Ideally you want to eat as much heathy, organic, whole foods as possible to fuel your growth in a positive direction.
Unfortunately a lot of healthy food is much more expensive than garbage food.
While eating organic and ‘free-range” is ideal from a health standpoint, it is certainly less than ideal from a budget standpoint.
Luckily there are some key healthy foods you can eat that will help you reach your goals, without breaking the bank.
Here are some of our favorite “get big foods” that are actually quite affordable, healthy, and can be implemented into any mass building diet.
Keep in mind, if you are slammed for money; forget about getting premium cuts of meat, and go for the bulk options.
Also look for generic brands, they are usually cheaper, and stay on the lookout for sales at all times.
Protein:
When it comes to protein there are a lot of great options out there.
Here are some of our favorites:
Chicken: Obviously fresh chicken tastes better than frozen chicken, but beggars can’t be choosers.
When you're in the market for chicken breast, go to your nearest wholesaler (like Costco) and grab the biggest bag of frozen chicken they have.
You can usually get a 10 lb bag for the same price or cheaper than what it would cost to get 1/2 as much fresh chicken.
Alternatively you can drop the chicken breasts all together and just go straight for chicken thighs.
Chicken thighs are much fattier than chicken breast (they taste 10x better) and are not as popular so they routinely go for much cheaper prices.
Most supermarkets in the USA will sell fresh, quality, chicken thighs for only .99 cents a lb.
Buying fresh chicken thighs can sometimes be even cheaper than buying frozen chicken breast!
Lean Ground Beef: Getting the ground stuff will be much more cost efficient than buying lean steaks.
Check for the bulk sizes of lean ground beef. You can usually find a pretty good deal on it.
Extra lean is ideal, but obviously on a budget the lean will have to suffice.
Alternatively, if you are at a wholesaler (such as Costco), you could also look into purchasing a sleeve of frozen hamburger patties.
They usually come made out of lean or extra lean ground beef, stay good forever, taste great, and can often come out for 1/2 the price of the equivalent amount in fresh ground beef.
Ground Turkey: Another great, cost efficient option for meat.
Not to mention that turkey is one of the highest sources of lean protein available out there.
If bacon is your thing, consider switching over to turkey bacon instead.
Turkey bacon is delicious, less fatty, more protein dense and much cheaper than traditional pork bacon.
Eggs: Eggs are actually very cheap.
Just go to the egg section of your local wholesaler and look for the best priced big carton of eggs.
You can easily buy 30+ eggs for less than $5 at most places.
With the options above, you should have more than enough protein to last you through all of your meals the entire week.
Carbs:
Luckily, there are a couple awesome carb choices that are very cheap.
White Rice: It has been the main food source of Asia for thousands of years for a great reason.
Getting a big bag of white rice will probably cover an entire week's worth of meals for only a few bucks.
This is a staple in a cheap but effective bulk diet.
Oats: Look for the cheapest generic brand of oats you can find.
Typically the big brand names are multiple times as expensive as the no-name (or less well known) brands.
They are the exact same quality, you are just paying a marked up price for the brand name, so always go for the cheapest one to save some money.
Fats:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: A great, cheap source of very healthy fats that will last for a long time.
Simply adding a couple teaspoons to your meats can make a huge difference in getting your calorie intake higher and providing your body with much needed nutrients.
Peanut Butter: A staple for sure because it’s delicious, it's calorie dense, and it's pretty cheap.
Get the cheapest brand and you shouldn’t have to spend too much.
Peanut butter is a great addition to protein shakes as well to boost the calorie content up of the shake for when you are on the go and don’t have time to pack/eat a whole food meal.
Fruits/Veggies:
If you have any money leftover, it’s always a good idea to get some leafy greens and some fruits for health purposes.
Big bags of frozen veggies are almost already the right way to go when you're on a budget.
You can go for the blends or just broccoli for example.
The great thing about frozen veggies is that you can prepare them in an instant, they taste great, and are just as nutritionally dense as fresh veggies.
Just grab a handful of frozen veggies and throw them in a tupperware with a little bit of water.
Put that tupperware in the microwave for a few minutes and now you have a bundle of steamed vegetables ready to go!
On-The-Go Food Choice:
High Quality Whey Protein: Obviously not everyone has the time to cook and prep 6 meals per day, or eat them out of Tupperware containers each day either.
In this scenario, a meal replacement protein shake is ideal for those times when you simply cannot get in your required calories due to a lack of time.
For a quick meal-replacement shake, mix 2 scoops of Whey with a tablespoon of peanut butter blended into it.
Add crushed up oats too if you need some carbs in that meal.
This makes a fantastic on the go bulking shake with 2 cheap whole food sources you will already have on hand from the above list.
If you want to mix things up a bit more, checkout Red's Purple Protein Shake recipe!
