Building Muscle on a Budget

Working on your body doesn't have to break the bank.

Below are three important tips that will help you stay on budget while still ensuring you're eating good food that will fuel your development.

Then below that, are various low cost, high taste, high protein meal suggestions - you can literally steal and start eating them today.

TIP ONE - BUY IN BULK (when you can)

This is especially useful for the more expensive products, like chicken breasts. There a number of meat (and other food) delivery services that work out far, far cheaper than the supermarkets. I use Muscle Food for meat (and a few other bits and pieces) (no, I haven't received any free meat from them, alas).

TIP TWO - BECOME A MEAL PREP KING

What do you usually do on a Sunday evening? Veg (!) out to Come Dine with Me? Same. Well instead, use your time to prepare some meals for the week. This will ensure you have them to hand so you don't get too hungry between meals which means you're less likely to snack, it also means you know what you're eating, so it's easy to track in MyFitnessPal. This isn't to say I want you to live out of Tupperware, but it is a handy strategy.

TIP THREE - DON'T BE SCARED OF FROZEN

Frozen food last longer, is usually cheaper, comes in bulk and is often virtually as tasty and healthy as fresh food. But it means you'll always have items on hand for meals and meal prep. For example: bags of veg and fruit, chopped onions and garlic for flavour and obviously, all the meat you ordered from Muscle Food.

BREAKFAST IDEAS

- Poached Eggs on a bed of spinach

- Smoothie made with milk, frozen berries, Greek yoghurt, peanut butter and whey protein

- Grilled sausages and poached eggs

- Whey protein shake - if bought as a powder online (ie. from Bulk Powders) can work out as cheap as 30p a serving

LUNCH IDEAS

- Wholemeal pittas with tuna, red onion and tomato

- Prawn Thai curry using coconut milk, frozen peas and sweetcorn, brown rice

- Mackerel with a tomato, onion, courgette and carrot salad

- Leftovers from dinner the night before is particularly budgety

DINNER IDEAS

- Chicken thighs roasted with garlic, lentils and courgette ratatouille

- Chilli with kidney beans, brown rice, green beans

- Steamed salmon, broccoli and sweet potato

- Braised steak and mushroom casserole, broccoli and cauliflower

SNACK IDEAS

- Greek yoghurt with frozen berries

- An apple with peanut butter/handful of nuts

- Cottage cheese and carrot sticks, celery etc

- Hummus and whole meal pitta bread

So there you have a wide range of meals and snacks, none extravagantly expensive, but all delicious and supportive of a healthy body.

Enjoy!