So I do this thing where I try to eat healthy and cheap and get enough protein to help my athletic development. I personally don’t think that’s far out of reach really. It takes a bit of elbow grease and a bit of planning though.
I’m doing this ‘diet’ called LeanGains which in a nutshell is carb cycling every day. Off days I eat about 1400-1600 calories and training days where I need to hit the gym, I eat about 2000 calories. Basically I need eat 1lb to 1g of protein everyday to sustain strength training and use the rest to fuel workouts and day to day metabolism. That’s like 150-160g of protein a day! Which in very loose calculations, it’s roughly 100g raw meat = 20g or protein. Do the math… Yup, if I were to eat raw meat, I’d be eating the equivalent of 800g per day, that’s a little over 1.5 lbs!!
Yea, I’m gross.
As much as I love meat, 1.5lbs is way too much. I actually eat more like 1lbs a day, raw equivalent. When you cook it and account for the water loss, it’s really more like .75lbs which doesn’t sound as high. I eat the rest drinking a protein shake.
Anyway, I digress. Long story short, that’s a lot of meat. A lot of money if I were eating out. You go out to eat, they hardly give you anything! The best I found is eating two patties at Super Duper on Market Street in San Francisco or Chipotles. But one man can only live off pseudo mexican food and burger patties for so long… not to mention the hole burning through my wallet!
Solution? I cook myself. Duh. Fortunately my slave driver of a chef father drove some excellent professional chef skills into my system. When I finish work, I usually run to the gym, or do some errands or do dancing. I come back at home around 9 and I simply don’t have the energy to cook something new every night.
Solution to that? I cook mega meals per week and assemble them. Invest in spices… drop $50 to $100 in spices and you’d be amazed how long that takes you. I cook TWO giant meals. One for lunch, one for dinner. And I eat them for five days in a row. Now, remember… I grew up a spoiled little kid that ate different restaurant quality food every day of the week. I was pretty concerned that I would get too bored of eating the same thing over and over. So I made myself a promise – put some serious effort in the meals to make them taste good so I at least am eating 5 flavour packed meals each day that fits my budget and nutritional requirements. I’ve been at it for about 6 to 8 months now (no results in the abs since I’m not really diligent with counting macros… I’m trying!) and it seems to have been working very well. I eat out often enough on the weekends or when I’m out with friends to get my fix of variety.
Anyway, back story complete. Here’s my dinner for the week!
Tandoori Chicken with Garden Salad
Got some Chicken. SHAN tandoori spice mix that I found at Jai Ho Indian Grocery Store on Fillmore. Followed the instructions, marinated and baked it. I’m actually a big fan of the flavour. I’d much rather grill this though. One day…
The greens were just some pre-washed bagged salad and I bought some fresh grape tomatoes to go with it.
I have a lot of left over bacon grease that I always save. I got some aged balsamic vinegar and whisked it together. And Voila, there you go. That’s like 250g of chicken right there. I really like the bacon-y taste of the dressing as well. I like the salad with a bit of fresh cracked peppers and some himalayan salt as well to make it pop a little bit.
Cost?
I think I paid 12 for 3.5 lbs.. so roughly $3.40 per pound. This was about $3 of chicken thighs, $1 of greens and tomatoes (could be cheaper but I was lazy). Not bad for $4 and meeting my protein requirements. My mom would probably want that to be cheaper… but I have no freezer space and can’t find cheap chickens to debone… oh well!
Keep an eye out for my Meal of the Week (MotW)!!
