I was looking into the okinawa diet, the warrior diet, v-diet ect. I am a college student and i can cook my own meals but i have a budget of about 30 dollars a week for food. Can anyone reccommend the best diet plan for this, and also give some examples of what to buy at the grocery store? also just fyi, im 6′5" 230 pounds with about 12 percent body fat and work out 6 days a week on average an hour a day.
12% body fat would put you in the category of very lean athlete with no need for weight loss. I would suggest you stick to whole foods as much as possible. I’ve been doing Atkins low carb way of eating for the past 6 years, I am disabled with limited funds and eat a lot of chicken, turkey & eggs.
Walmart (and most grocery stores) usually have 10# chicken leg quarters for $4 ($.40#) I make lots of soup (bone stock) or chicken pizza cacciatore, sugar free pasta sauce (or alfredo sauce) pepperoni, mushrooms, mozzarella over steamed cabbage. I usually get a 20# turkey for .68# – I love love love my rotisserie and make turkey every couple of months. Turkey soup, turkey salad, turkey tetrazinni over cabbage. I buy the cheapest pork $1# add it to green mexican sauce with fruit add greens & ground flax seed.
I buy lots of canned greens, collard, mustard, turnip – for high nutritional value and lots of fresh cabbage some frozen broccolli. I usually buy store brand processed cheese (twice the cheese for half price) – Bacon ends & pieces in 4# package – ground flax seed (lots) – canned tuna & mackerel – Buy mayo in the gallon container (about half price as equal amount smaller containers)
Ground flax seed (2-3 Tbsp) 1/4 cup of water, cinnamon, artificial sweetener, mix in a raw egg – let sit 10 min to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle and nuke for 1.5 min. for hot cereal or 2 min. for more of a muffin type thing. Great low carb, high fiber treat.
Chia seeds sound so expensive but 1# will make 10# food (when you can splurge some – Amazon.com has couple lbs. for $15 shipped to you.
I also order off Amazon – Lowrey’s Pork Rinds 18 for $15 – they pop like popcorn and are portion controlled.
Faux tapioca – 2 cups of water, 5 scoops of low carb whey protein powder, stir together & add cup of chia seeds, after they have started to absorb the water, add in 2 cans of coconut milk & artificial sweetener if you like and mix it all in. Can be eaten after an hour but will be better tomorrow. Cream a pkg. of cream cheese into a can of pumpkin and add to the faux tapioca for an even more nutritious pumpkin pie pudding
If I only had a few bucks and nothing to work with at home (no basics) I’d buy cheapest per pound of rice, dried beans, bag potatoes, pasta, tomato paste, salt & 10# chicken leg quarters. (you could render chicken fat and use on potatoes instead of buying butter or margarine and use in cooking instead of buying oil) You should be able to get all that for about $10+ Usually (not always) you can get twice as much for very little more money. Consider quantity for $ versus cheapest unit price.
I try not to buy anything over .50 a pound when I’m watching pennies. Most stores sell 10# of chicken leg quarters for $4-$5 (less than .50#) and well worth it for the bones alone. Do not waste the bones & fat, render the fat & use for cooking, chop up fat chunks left over after rendering and add to soups & sauces with some of the meat. Don’t eat the meat alone, add it to sauces and soups to stretch it. You can use the bones 3-4x to make bone stock (add vinegar and simmer a couple of days) Do not include meat in the long simmering. I add my old bones to my new bones and store in freezer. Use the stock to make soups and add to everything for more nutrition. Eggs are sometimes cheap. Buy lots if they are less than $1 dozen (wash egg shells with vinegar and add to bone stock for more calcium) Store brand processed cheese is usually half cost of hard cheese
Fresh cabbage is about the cheapest most versatile veg. Carrots are usually cheap and nutritious also. Canned collard, turnip and mustard greens are all highly nutritious and fairly cheap & can be added to soups & sauces for added nutrition. Canned tomatoes, watch the per ounce prices, don’t just grab. You would probably be better off just using tomato paste and adding water or bone stock. A little tomato paste will make a lot of tomato sauce or you could make catsup with it. Sometimes you can get huge gallons of pickles fairly cheap (couple bucks) Make sure you have apple cider vinegar on hand.