Need advice: Meal plannings to gain muscle (lower fat percentage)

joeyzuraski

I'm looking for good combination grocery items to gain muscle. My choices are limited to To Go pickups. I can't go to the cafeterias as they cost $20 a meal these days and only $5 for cop donut meals. So I need some help on what items I should buy for meals.

When I can buy the items again, these are my items for a week planning:
Breakfast:
- Instant Oatmeal in a cup
- Pre-Workout, Creatine and Protein Shake
- Sometimes bananas. They die quickly of course.

Lunch:
- Lunch Meat
- Soft Tortilla Wrap
- Nut Packs
- Sometimes lettuce mix with a wrap. They also die quickly.

Dinner:
What is served

MichelleSilverleaf

You might have more luck in the Gaining Weight and Body Building section, I know you'll want to make sure your protein intake is good and that you're following a program of some kind (usually a lifting program).

stanmann571

joeyzuraski wrote: »

I'm looking for good combination grocery items to gain muscle. My choices are limited to To Go pickups. I can't go to the cafeterias as they cost $20 a meal these days and only $5 for cop donut meals. So I need some help on what items I should buy for meals.

When I can buy the items again, these are my items for a week planning:
Breakfast:
- Instant Oatmeal in a cup
- Pre-Workout, Creatine and Protein Shake
- Sometimes bananas. They die quickly of course.

Lunch:
- Lunch Meat
- Soft Tortilla Wrap
- Nut Packs
- Sometimes lettuce mix with a wrap. They also die quickly.

Dinner:
What is served

So are you packing lunches and looking for easy/convenient? or are you preparing food where you're at.

Personally I like mixed nuts and the Balance brand protein bars as well as single serve almond pouches.

kommodevaran

joeyzuraski wrote: »

I'm looking for good combination grocery items to gain muscle. My choices are limited to To Go pickups. I can't go to the cafeterias as they cost $20 a meal these days and only $5 for cop donut meals. So I need some help on what items I should buy for meals.

When I can buy the items again, these are my items for a week planning:
Breakfast:
- Instant Oatmeal in a cup
- Pre-Workout, Creatine and Protein Shake
- Sometimes bananas. They die quickly of course.

Lunch:
- Lunch Meat
- Soft Tortilla Wrap
- Nut Packs
- Sometimes lettuce mix with a wrap. They also die quickly.

Dinner:
What is served

To gain weight, you need a calorie surplus and a good strength training program. That means more food and more exercise. I don't know anything about exercise, but I know about food and food shopping.

I don't know what To Go pickups is, what it's limited to and why you're limited to it, but to get value for your money, you should avoid most of the foods on your list; for good health and enjoyment, you need more variety, and for weight gain, you have to make sure your total calories add up to a surplus (your list suggests too little food for a grown man, but there are no amounts so I can't really tell).

Instead of instant single servings of oatmeal, get a big bag and normal or quick, not instant oatmeal, and only oats, no additives - add a pinch of salt and cook it with water+milk; if you want more flavor, you can add anything you want and still have a better nutritional profile, because you're in charge of the ingredients. Drop the protein shake for now. Only buy bananas for same day's consumption - choose other, more sturdy fruits for later in the week; apples and oranges are handy and tough, even plums and peaches last longer than bananas; you can keep a melon or pineapple cut up for up to six days. Buy a big bag of nuts and weigh out your portion. Heads of lettuce last longer than cut/bagged - alternate with other, less perishable vegetables too: carrots, sugar snap peas, broccoli, cucumber.

If you like sandwiches, yogurt, other kinds of porridge, omelets, you have a great fundation for good health. You can make more elaborate meals on your days off, for even more variety.

2GetFit2018

A great protein shake imho is ISOpure (dutch chocolate is my fav) it is Low carb, chock full of vitamins, sugar free. You can get it on Amazon. I also would look at simple things like hard boiled eggs I know they are boring but very easy to calculate your protein intake and portable.

joeyzuraski

I decided to scrap my current meal plans. I need to lose weight instead. Im going to go with maybe 7-11’s convenience fresh food section.

Breakfast: fruit salad bowl
Lunch: one of their salad mixes
$8 total a day but I’ll stretch it

JeromeBarry1

You can lose weight using the 7-11 for your breakfast choices. The calories of each item are listed.
If your dinner is still random whatever your partner cooks, you'll need to recruit your partner to record the weight of ingredients used in each meal. From that, you can accurately determine the calories in your dinner.