Post: #1

I'm trying to get up to 220 lbs. I'm hovering around 200 right now. I have been lifting weights for about a month. I can easily spend $150/week to eat as much as I need to including Smoothies. I got up to 206 lbs but went down to 197 lbs after not eating as much due to it becoming too expensive. My question is, how can I spend less money to eat more food?

Post: #2

Rice, butter, bacon, eggs, 80% lean ground beef, untrimmed chuck roast, potatoes, sour cream, bulk cheese.

Cook with lots of butter. It's $2 a lb at Costco, 3200 calories. Butter is very cheap, long grain rice is a cheap tasty source of carbohydrates. The healthiest cheapest option I've ever seen is grass fed suet, but it takes some time and effort to process it for consumption - I found it available for $1 a pound. Avoid lean cuts of meat - they're less tasty and they have fewer calories. Fish is never cost competitive with meat on a calorie basis.

I personally use a lot of heavy cream, because it tastes great in shakes and is very calorie dense, at 100 kcal/ounce. Unfortunately, it costs about 3x as much as butter, at ~$6 for a quart, 3200 calories.

And don't count protein, count calories - if you're eating lots of meat and dairy, you won't have to worry about getting enough protein. That's why, IMO, calculating the cost per gram of protein for eggs or beef is stupid.

Start shopping at Walmart/Costco, and buy only staples and spices. Some of the Kirkland brand dinners are tasty, affordable and mostly free of BS ingredients like soy.

Post: #3

what basilransom said.

if you don't care too much about getting fat I'd suggest all you can eat places or buffets. Here I can pay $15 and probably cram down 4k calories

when you're buying meat buy things in their whole form if possible (whole chickens, or skin/bone on) I bought an entire pork loin (5kg) for $20 here last week, its $20 for 4 chicken breasts here you just have to find the deals.

you can get beef fat for free from your butcher, some stores I go to just have a big chunk wrapped up. That shit is UNREAL in scrambled eggs.

id also suggest adding oats to a protein shake good source of calories. (400 for a cup i think)

buy veggies that are in season etc.

but all in all costco is your friend.

Post: #4

You stressed you did lift weights and I assume your going to get back at it. If your simply just trying to get fat then stuff yourself full of cheap junk and you'll be good.

The above posts got it right but its better to put on more clean weight. Just eating anything dense in calories will make you a porker. Not all weight is equal.

Go to your local italian or greek shop and get a 3L tin of Extra virgin olive oil. That probably last people a good 3months. Go through it in a month! This is like 25,000 calories of good clean weight. Spacing this out over 30 days will give you about 800 extra calories perday. You can throw it in smothies, ontop of salads, cooked pasta or rice.. Really anything you don't mind the taste of it in. A good thing I do is take cottage cheese + like 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil, and mix in your favorite jam, throw some fruit on if you want. The combo tastes damn good and its a gutbomb of protein and healthy fats. Drink the stuff strait if your ballsy enough I do that from time to time also.

Whole milk is a good bet mind you its not cheap where I am at and I personally don't fuck with it but if your in the USA I do know milk is still quite cheap there take down as much whole milk as you can.

Oats are dirt cheap and dense as fuck eat a big bowl in the morning and throw mad olive oil on it for more fats lol.

Rice + Beans this is probably the cheapest meal on earth. Get a big bad of beans for like 3 bucks and it will last you 3 months. A big bag or rice is no more than 9-15 bucks and will last you the same ammount of time.

Gut-bomb curries. Curries are simple to cook and you can pack them full of good shit to burst your gut. I like chickpeas so I use that and I get a tub of good curry paste from a Chinese grocer. I like thai curry more than Indian so its just preference. But I throw in chick peas, green peas, eggplants, mad olive oil and coconut milk, cook it down and your good to go. Throw it on rice you got a dense meal on the cheap.

For meat chicken thighs and legs are the cheapest cuts. If you got a slow cooker you get get strange cuts of beef and pork for fairly cheap.

If your mad stingy you can do this. I used to by whole salmons for like 9 bucks and cut and bone them myself. Its a Sunday project but your left with about 10 fillets out of the mess that's like 6 good dense meals with rice for 9 bucks if you get em in season. I have not done this in while though so not sure how fish prices are now.

Sardines are dirt cheap and a staple in my pantry. Mix them with avocado + lemon juice + red onion + parsley (if your feeling fancy) + olive oil - throw it on some bread and its a damn good meal.

Eggs are still drity cheap, they make me fart tons but still a part of my overall diet. A good cheap meal which I used to eat almost evrey day was like a asian breakfast pasta. Supposedly its a quick type of fast meal in Japan its just buckwheat noodles (good price on these at a asian grocer) then the sauce is frying ginger + Green onions + chilies (optional) in sesame oil then putting a good ammount of soy sauce in the pan and let it cook down a bit toss in your noodles then add like 3 sunny side up egges with a soft yolk, mix it all around to make sure the yolk covers the saucy noodles and BOOM! Easy cheap meat that's dense as hell and oh yea.. Add some olive oil on there for extra calories!

That's all I got for now. Keep your fats and foods as clean as you can and just eat like a mofo. The biggest thing with eating cheap is time and keeping things fresh. Making big meals on the cheap Is great but its also good to have quick things like that soy - egg pasta to whip up in like 20min.

Post: #5

Date an Italian girl and have her mom cook for you

Post: #6

I like eggs, beans, brown rice, sweet potatoes, lentils, oats,

(03-23-2012 01:09 PM)basilransom Wrote:  butter, bacon, sour cream, bulk cheese.

heavy cream

This stuff doesn't work for me. It only adds fat to my belly.

I do love that bacon sometimes though!

(03-23-2012 02:32 PM)kosko Wrote:  Sardines. avocado

I like those.

My brother goes fishing and brings home tons of fresh fish which is basically free if you have a fishing pole!

Post: #7

(03-23-2012 12:56 PM)RougeNoir Wrote:  I'm trying to get up to 220 lbs. I'm hovering around 200 right now. I have been lifting weights for about a month. I can easily spend $150/week to eat as much as I need to including Smoothies. I got up to 206 lbs but went down to 197 lbs after not eating as much due to it becoming too expensive. My question is, how can I spend less money to eat more food?

Focus less on what you're eating and moar on how your squatting.

Also whole eggs.

also how tall are you? If you're 200ish and want to be 220 and you're under six foot and you aren't REALLY careful about what you eat you'll end up looking chubby. Dont focus on weight, focus on strength. You can be 210 and fucking beast mode, trying to gain an arbitrary amount of weight is silly.

Chef In Jeans
A culinary website for men

Post: #8

You're probably just losing fat or water. Muscle doesn't cannibalize itself THAT easily, unless you were eating absolutely nothing while losing that 9 lbs. At any rate, as far as maintaining a large supply of proteins and calories is concerned, eggs and dairy are complete proteins as well as calorie dense. Cook your own food and make dishes that mix eggs/dairy with starches. Fried rice, carbonara, alfredo...

Post: #9

Milk
1 liter = 650 cal

Especially good after training.

Post: #10

GOMAD. Gallon of milk a day. Cheap, high protein, and easy. Make sure to drink WHOLE milk.

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/N...and_Cardio (skip down to the Gomad section)

I went from 125lbs to 190lbs in 6 months doing GOMAD and lifting heavy. Here was my drinking schedule:

1 gallon = 4 quarts so

1 quart morning w/ breakfast/protein shakes
1 quart with lunch
1 quart in the afternoon as a snack
1 quart at dinner/ throughout the evening.

Super simple, no thought, and a gallon of milk is like 2 or 3 bucks in the states.

Post: #11

technically, you should gain weight by eating rice.
(you heard those nutrition junkies saying 'oh no I can't eat rice, CARBS!!'

I eat rice 2~3 times a day. I stay slim.

it's more about eating frequently whether it's bananas, chicken, beef, sandwiches, rice, eggs etc

Post: #12

Rice is like natures red bull if you are active it's quick energy and you can eat tons of it. If your a typical cubicle rat in America youll balloon like a blimp.

Pollenta is a good dense carb too. It's easy to cook and tastes good with spare ribs and a rich stew.

Post: #13

(03-25-2012 01:08 PM)kosko Wrote:  Rice is like natures red bull if you are active it's quick energy and you can eat tons of it. If your a typical cubicle rat in America youll balloon like a blimp.

Pollenta is a good dense carb too. It's easy to cook and tastes good with spare ribs and a rich stew.

polenta leftovers are amazing fried up in olive oil with some tomato sauce/mozzarella

Post: #14

(03-23-2012 05:11 PM)Chad Daring Wrote:  

(03-23-2012 12:56 PM)RougeNoir Wrote:  I'm trying to get up to 220 lbs. I'm hovering around 200 right now. I have been lifting weights for about a month. I can easily spend $150/week to eat as much as I need to including Smoothies. I got up to 206 lbs but went down to 197 lbs after not eating as much due to it becoming too expensive. My question is, how can I spend less money to eat more food?

Focus less on what you're eating and moar on how your squatting.

Also whole eggs.

also how tall are you? If you're 200ish and want to be 220 and you're under six foot and you aren't REALLY careful about what you eat you'll end up looking chubby. Dont focus on weight, focus on strength. You can be 210 and fucking beast mode, trying to gain an arbitrary amount of weight is silly.

also agree.post up a pic and we'l see where your at.if your over 6foot you should be okay but if your smaller at that weight you should be trying to lose fat (unless you want to gain weight with use of hormones - less likely to add fat).

the reason is because if your trying to gain weight (muscle) at a high bf% your insulin sensitivity will be lower and your estrogen will be higher = not good.

Post: #15

(03-24-2012 02:16 PM)Laser Wrote:  GOMAD. Gallon of milk a day. Cheap, high protein, and easy. Make sure to drink WHOLE milk.

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/N...and_Cardio (skip down to the Gomad section)

I went from 125lbs to 190lbs in 6 months doing GOMAD and lifting heavy. Here was my drinking schedule:

1 gallon = 4 quarts so

1 quart morning w/ breakfast/protein shakes
1 quart with lunch
1 quart in the afternoon as a snack
1 quart at dinner/ throughout the evening.

Super simple, no thought, and a gallon of milk is like 2 or 3 bucks in the states.

Out of curiousity how tall are you Lazer?

I'm 6'4" and about 190. Would really like to be about 220 but have never been one to gain much weight no matter what I eat.

I really need to start working out as it would probably help, eh?

Post: #16

I'm 6'3, so holding 20 more pounds will not make me chubby. But, thanks everyone for the replies. I'm going to drink more milk as well as eat more tuna sanwiches, which very simple to prepare and eat.

Post: #17

(03-27-2012 09:37 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

(03-24-2012 02:16 PM)Laser Wrote:  GOMAD. Gallon of milk a day. Cheap, high protein, and easy. Make sure to drink WHOLE milk.

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/N...and_Cardio (skip down to the Gomad section)

I went from 125lbs to 190lbs in 6 months doing GOMAD and lifting heavy. Here was my drinking schedule:

1 gallon = 4 quarts so

1 quart morning w/ breakfast/protein shakes
1 quart with lunch
1 quart in the afternoon as a snack
1 quart at dinner/ throughout the evening.

Super simple, no thought, and a gallon of milk is like 2 or 3 bucks in the states.

Out of curiousity how tall are you Lazer?

I'm 6'4" and about 190. Would really like to be about 220 but have never been one to gain much weight no matter what I eat.

I really need to start working out as it would probably help, eh?

I"m 5'10". I felt huge at 190 at my height. I went through a cutting phase to get rid of the fat I gained as well, so I'm currently walking around at 165 w/ a 4 pack. I'm aiming to get back to 190, but ripped to shreds this time.

Post: #18

(03-27-2012 09:37 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  Out of curiousity how tall are you Lazer?

I'm 6'4" and about 190. Would really like to be about 220 but have never been one to gain much weight no matter what I eat.

I really need to start working out as it would probably help, eh?

I am same height and was same weight or under that for most of my adult life,no matter what I did I could not get my weight up even with gym. Then I did two things that changed my physique and my life in some ways:

I'd always heard guys in the gym say how important eating was and that it was 50% of getting bigger and finally after years of hearing this I decided to test it out. I began eating a minimum of 6/7 meals a day ( 2 of these being protein shakes ) spread throughout the day. Forget 3 big meals a day,split them up so your body is constantly being fed. This is vital to make sure your body never cannibalises itself. I ate healthy meals but allowed myself some crap in between meals for extra calories when I felt like it. My weight started going up to a point where for the first time in my life I had to cut.

Secondly and equally important I read a book that I recommend EVERY hard gainer read: 'Beyond Brawn'. This book blew my mind and broke down what I and most who want to gain mass were doing wrong i.e trying to train like Ronny Coleman with 5/6 sessions in the gym a week for a couple of hours a time and doing lots of isolation exercises like tricep push downs and reverse curls etc.. This will destroy most of us ectomorphs and not yield significant result. Now I train 3 times a week,I ONLY train compound moves such as squats,deads,bench,one arm rows etc. I do low reps ( max 8 ),I train no more then an hour on these days and I train as heavy as I can with gradual weight progression on the bar. I went from dead lifting 100 Kilo to now doing 180 kilo. My squat has gone up from about 60 to about 115 kilo with good form.

Since making these changes a year back my weight went up 215 pounds but there was a large part of fat in that and so I now cut down to 200 Lbs which is a weight I feel really good at and look my best at ( no double chin,flat stomach with abs ). The thing is I recommend ectomorphs like myself cheat the weight up in the beginning with calorific food because once your body has been at that weight it's very easy to go to it again at will. It's like muscle memory.

Putting on weight and muscle ( I'm still average compared to most but compared to what I was there are big differences ) has improved my look and confidence no end,especially with women. It's nice to see people you have not seen for a couple of years and hear them tell you how great you well you are looking. If you follow my advice I promise you you will get bigger.

======================================================

As to the OP: it's hard to do it cheaply. I spend about 90GBP a week ( ($140 US ) on food. It's expensive and I wish I did not need to do it and could just eat baked beans on toast like lots of people but I don't resent spending that much as the benefits it has given me outweigh the costs enormously.

Post: #19

Cheap as hell bulking up in Ukraine

500g chicken breast 2euros
Free range eggs 10cents each
Small Sirloin Steak 1Euro

etc

Post: #20

(03-31-2012 12:25 PM)Deb Auchery Wrote:  Cheap as hell bulking up in Ukraine

500g chicken breast 2euros
Free range eggs 10cents each
Small Sirloin Steak 1Euro

etc

with all the cardio you'd get in with the ukranian chicks, you'd have to eat twice what you'd eat at home to bulk, ends up being the same price

Post: #21

(03-31-2012 11:14 AM)Vorkuta Wrote:  

(03-27-2012 09:37 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  Out of curiousity how tall are you Lazer?

I'm 6'4" and about 190. Would really like to be about 220 but have never been one to gain much weight no matter what I eat.

I really need to start working out as it would probably help, eh?

I am same height and was same weight or under that for most of my adult life,no matter what I did I could not get my weight up even with gym. Then I did two things that changed my physique and my life in some ways:

I'd always heard guys in the gym say how important eating was and that it was 50% of getting bigger and finally after years of hearing this I decided to test it out. I began eating a minimum of 6/7 meals a day ( 2 of these being protein shakes ) spread throughout the day. Forget 3 big meals a day,split them up so your body is constantly being fed. This is vital to make sure your body never cannibalises itself. I ate healthy meals but allowed myself some crap in between meals for extra calories when I felt like it. My weight started going up to a point where for the first time in my life I had to cut.

Secondly and equally important I read a book that I recommend EVERY hard gainer read: 'Beyond Brawn'. This book blew my mind and broke down what I and most who want to gain mass were doing wrong i.e trying to train like Ronny Coleman with 5/6 sessions in the gym a week for a couple of hours a time and doing lots of isolation exercises like tricep push downs and reverse curls etc.. This will destroy most of us ectomorphs and not yield significant result. Now I train 3 times a week,I ONLY train compound moves such as squats,deads,bench,one arm rows etc. I do low reps ( max 8 ),I train no more then an hour on these days and I train as heavy as I can with gradual weight progression on the bar. I went from dead lifting 100 Kilo to now doing 180 kilo. My squat has gone up from about 60 to about 115 kilo with good form.

Since making these changes a year back my weight went up 215 pounds but there was a large part of fat in that and so I now cut down to 200 Lbs which is a weight I feel really good at and look my best at ( no double chin,flat stomach with abs ). The thing is I recommend ectomorphs like myself cheat the weight up in the beginning with calorific food because once your body has been at that weight it's very easy to go to it again at will. It's like muscle memory.

Putting on weight and muscle ( I'm still average compared to most but compared to what I was there are big differences ) has improved my look and confidence no end,especially with women. It's nice to see people you have not seen for a couple of years and hear them tell you how great you well you are looking. If you follow my advice I promise you you will get bigger.

======================================================

As to the OP: it's hard to do it cheaply. I spend about 90GBP a week ( ($140 US ) on food. It's expensive and I wish I did not need to do it and could just eat baked beans on toast like lots of people but I don't resent spending that much as the benefits it has given me outweigh the costs enormously.

Thanks for the info Vorkuta. That's just the sort I was looking for as I generally do not gain weight easily and since I do not see myself ever being a gym rat, hitting the weights 6 times a week is not something I'd interested in. A few times a week with simple exercises is much more doable for me.

The only time I have been over 200 is when I was drinking a 12 pack of Coke a day along with plenty of beer and booze. Most of that extra weight was in my gut obviously. Switching to diet coke got rid of the gut.

All the males on my dad's side of the family, back as far as my great grandfather, are tall and lanky so I'm genetically predisposed to be this way. And while it's not as common, us skinny guys have weight issues much like fatasses. It's just as hard for us to gain weight as it is for someone to lose it if they are predisposed to being overweight.

I'll give it a roll and see what happens.

Post: #22

There's two sides to a healthy and affordable diet that has you bulking up.

The first is already covered: What foods should you eat? Eggs, chicken, beef, vegetables, rice, nuts, seeds, butter, oil...

The second one is just as important: What foods should you not eat? Besides a lot of processed foods being unhealthy, they also cost a lot and you get no nutrients in return. You pay for worthless ingredients (sugar) and you pay for the entire processing industry.

I started saving so much money when I changed my eating habits. Drinking tap water and bringing homemade food to school instead of buying expensive crap on-the-go makes a major impact.

* No more soda, sugary juices and other crap (water is free): saves a few dollars a day.
* No more processed crap like candy, chips and other snacks: saves a few dollars a day.
* Make your own food: saves a few bucks a day.

An example of how I could eat (The Netherlands):
* 3 liters of water: 0 dollars
* 2 liters of milk: 1.25 dollars
* 1 pound of chicken filet breast: 4 dollars
* 1 broccoli: 1 dollar
* 100 grams of almonds: 0.75 dollars
* 300 grams of rice: 0.75 dollars
* Add some oil/butter, fruit, sandwiches etc from the supermarket and it's cheap cheap cheap.

Post: #23

Most of this advice here is for dieting if you want to gain weight this is what you do..
Breakfast: Two sausage mcmuffins and two hashbrowns with a iced mocha coffee.
Lunch: I large pizza and two cans of coke.
Dinner: Make a pot of sausage and meatballs. Pour over pasta with loads of parm cheese.
Desert: 1 container of ben and jerrys chocolate brownie ice cream.
Keep a dozen donuts with you and drink as much starbucks as possible.

Post: #24

(06-10-2012 10:55 AM)el mechanico Wrote:  Most of this advice here is for dieting if you want to gain weight this is what you do..
Breakfast: Two sausage mcmuffins and two hashbrowns with a iced mocha coffee.
Lunch: I large pizza and two cans of coke.
Dinner: Make a pot of sausage and meatballs. Pour over pasta with loads of parm cheese.
Desert: 1 container of ben and jerrys chocolate brownie ice cream.
Keep a dozen donuts with you and drink as much starbucks as possible.

I coin this the "american woman diet"

Post: #25

(03-23-2012 12:56 PM)RougeNoir Wrote:  I'm trying to get up to 220 lbs. I'm hovering around 200 right now. I have been lifting weights for about a month. I can easily spend $150/week to eat as much as I need to including Smoothies. I got up to 206 lbs but went down to 197 lbs after not eating as much due to it becoming too expensive. My question is, how can I spend less money to eat more food?

I really think you should be asking yourself the question - how can I consume quality calories and nutrients economically? Don't just throw 4 or 5 lbs of shit into your body every day like those idiot body builders who proudly call themselves "mass monsters," cant run two blocks w/o getting winded, and are headed for premature death by heart attack. Stop for a second and visualize what it does to your arteries and heart and body when you are pumping fried chicken and whole milk and bacon into it by the truckful everyday.

You are changing your body mass and composition. If you want this change to be healthy and sustainable, and protect your long terms health, do it slow and do it right , and pay attention to what your body needs. Run your own race, and don't look over your shoulder at what some other guy is doing.

My dietary staple is to combine lean meat (skinless chicken, salmon, tuna, etc baked or boiled or sauteed in olive oil) with a high quality grain (quinoa or brown rice), rely on pepper and hot sauce rather than salt or oil or fat for flavor, and then on the side add in some veggies/fruit either steamed or washed and raw.

This can be done very economically. Buy in bulk, freeze, etc.

Also get yourself good tupperware containers, I cook to have enough for 2-3 days of staple meals (in a more or less random fashion I mix in social lunches or dinners which are either at restaurants or if they are at my place involve something much more involved than my staple).