Healthy Weight Gain on a Budget

Hey, same goals here - bulking on a budget.

Best cheap staples for me are:
-Eggs
-Potatoes
-Offal
-Bananas

These have a really good calorie/dollar ratio, are very "healthy" and supply good macros/micros - particularly the offal, of which can be a VERY lean protein and tastes just like steak. Potatoes are a ridiculously cheap carb source, and you can pretty much do anything with them and eggs. (Baked/Fried/Chips/Hashbrown/Omelette/ETC)

Spend the remainder of your food cash on veggies, fruit, etc. and some goodies of your own that you want - to me, that translates as chocolate.

Oatmeal, nut butters, whole milk, ground beef, chicken, avocados, bacon (MMM bacon)

Eat more calorie dense food so you can eat less (saves money) and still get the calories you need.

Here is a website for Ideas...

http://paleoonabudget.com/category/shopping-trip/

I also try to find out when most supermarkets put out their discounted meats. They are still good but you can really stock up at times. ( I picked up several pork tenderloins for $3 each recently as we as some NY Strips for $4.) Watch the circulars for sales this weekend chicken (dark meat quarters) were 99c/lb. When they are cheap often the price of the breasts falls too.

Look for Grocery Outlets....they carry items that are often just have cosmetically damaged packaging but they are still good. I used to pick up protein and nutrition bars there as well as staples such as rice, beans, nut butters, etc.

Invest in quality fats/oils, easy way to help you meet your calories. (Quality Butter, Coconut oil, olive oil)...

I second the advice about bulk buying on discounted meat if you have a freezer. You can also buy fresh in bulk and freeze it yourself (meat, fish, veggies and fruit). Freezing does not destroy nutrients (some people think it does, but it doesn't)

Farmers markets can be good for picking up local produce at cheaper prices (that depends where you live though) - some farmers markets you can get discounted stuff if you go late in the day. Where I live, locally produced food is cheaper than imported western brands, and often tastes better as well. Buying food (espeically fruit and veg) in season also gets you a good price for local produce, they're usually very cheap in season, but expensive out of season.

Also stock up on very cheap foods in bulk. For example buy 10kg+ bags of rice, they are not that expensive and will last for a very long time so long as you keep it in an airtight container to prevent insects/weevils getting in. If you can get these on a special offer, even better.

homecooked food works out cheaper than ready meals, if you don't have much time during the week you can make homecooked foods like curry, stew, and similar in big batches and then store it in individual portions which you can then microwave as needed.

Buy nuts from the baking aisle or bulk bins. They have no added sugar, salt, or usually oils. And they are significantly cheaper than purchasing from the snack food aisles. Switch to chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts, significantly cheaper (especially if you find them on sale at end of sell by date) and if you get the skinless (or take skin off), not really that much more fat than breasts. Buy dry beans instead of canned, just remember to soak overnight. Buy the discounted or sale fruits (they are usually at the end of their shelf life), then puree and freeze in ice cube trays or silicone mini muffin pans for later use in fruit smoothies.

Frozen chicken wings and drummies. Fairly calorie dense, almost matched gram for gram in the protein/fat department, and about the cheapest meat one could possibly hope for. Failing that, you could always buy whole chickens, turkeys, etc. A bit more work involved, and a longer cooking process, but much better bang for the buck, assuming you eat the entire thing.

Also, potatoes.

I am having the same issues, but I am still losing at the moment. Potatos are great, because you can easily add more calories to mash depending on your needs. My husband makes chillis with either chicken thighs, minced beef, Turkey or even sausages. We add 4 bean mix to bulk it up. My favourite crockpot recipe is a soup vegies, (basically carrot, potato, parsnip, swede, onions) and garlic and tinned tomatos. That with diced lamb, can use cheaper meat. Really satisfying. Also it's worth learning to bake. There are some yummy muffin and things you can add to pancakes to 'fatten' them up. My girls like banana pancakes with peanut butter or nuttella. I have tried protien powder in them and they kind of disapeared. Basically get creative