Thread: Making a cost-efficient but high-quality high-calorie diet

Diet used to be my greatest weakness. I ate all the standard bodybuilding foods, and lots of it, but I never tracked calories or macros, and I also thought my active lifestyle and nature of activity meant I could eat bacon, chicken wings, and all sorts of pub food daily.

I decided last year to change my focus of (sort of) expertise from training to diet. I've become very analytical with diet, to the point that I've revised my entire diet by calculating the per ounce cost of each meat and the per gram cost of other foods so I could weigh the benefits/detriments of increasing or decreasing certain foods -- both for achieving my fitness goals but also saving my money.

Here's the problem: this lifestyle is expensive...really really expensive. I've managed to revise my diet(s) to the point of saving a few hundred dollars, and making it work for me even more in the gym, but at the end of the day if you need to consume between 3,000 and 4,000 calories daily throughout the week while providing your body with quality food sources you'll ultimately run into the problem that it's going to cost you a hell of a lot of money.

Hell, to eat my 4 oz wild coho (I'm not eating farmed to save a dollar) costs $100 - $120/month -- and that's only one of many foods in my diet.

I know food costs vary around the planet, but surely many of you have been forced to think hard about your purchases at the grocery stores.

What are your food bills? And, where have you been able to save money?

Eat turkey instead of chicken, roughly 30-40% cheaper where I live and taste virtually the same when you add some form of dressing/sauce. This saves a lot of $ considering how much chicken I/we normally eat.

I bulk buy the hell out of tuna when it's on offer. Also buying fruit and veg. from the local market saves a bit.

Bottom line is this BB business is expensive, just gotta do what you can.