How can I hit 3300 cals on a budget?

Your diary isn't public.
Things like pasta, rice, beans, lentils are cheap and high in carbs which is generally good for gaining weight.
To get your protein you will need meat, fish, greek yogurt, nuts, cheese and maybe protein shakes. Try and get more expensive things like meat on sale so you save money for the rest of your groceries. Buying bigger packages and bulk cooking for own 'ready meals' is cheaper than buying just enough for one or two servings.
To get your cals up, include high cals foods like full fat dairy, olive oil in your cooking, nuts, nut butter, avocado etc.

Yeah, she has great suggestions. Buy bulk chicken on sale, look in your meat coolers at the grocery. Cook ahead and freeze. Talk to the butcher for more suggestions. Frozen meals are not a good choice, they are expensive and small. Add extra cheese to your mac and cheese.

Eggs are good for protein and not expensive. Protein powder would be a good investment if you are on a budget and not getting much meat.

You have to eat if you want to gain weight. No other choice!

Eggs. (4 or more at a time)
Whole chickens. (eat the skin)
Higher fat ground beef.
Butter.
Whole milk.
Bananas.
Apples.
Green Leaf lettuce.
Tuna in oil.
Cheese.

Nuts are too expensive.

Get oatmeal - it's cheap when bought in bulk. See if you can't fit in your budget one of those bulk brand protein shakes from Costco. Decent quality for the price and helps tremendously in supplementing protein to the your diet. Walmart runs specials on their house brand once in a while too. Other than that, chicken chicken and more chicken. Drumsticks, thighs etc are the cheapest meat you can get. Chicken breast is sometimes on sale too. Rice is pretty cheap too. Get brown if you want to go with the healthier option. Potatoes... heck for the price of two servings of fries you can get a 5lb bag. Beans are also a decent source of carbs and protein.

By the way fast food is just about the worst way to get good nutrition on a budget.

But, I agree with em9371, your macros do not look right. I would say, you need 200 grams of protein, 100 grams of fats and 400 grams of carbs. That's roughly 1 gram of protein per pound, half gram of fat per pound and the rest from carbs.

That doesn't seem much food for $50!!!!

You have got some good stuff, I would maybe get whole chicken next time, it's cheaper and higher in cals than chicken breast, also try and add fresh veggies and fruits for your vitamins. Olive oil is better for you than plain vegetable oil.
You don't need to buy 'lean cuisine' if you want to GAIN weight, they are generally low cal small portions which is not what you need.

Plain oatmeal is LOADS cheaper than the flavoured sachets, over here 1kg of oats is 60p which is around $1, the flavoured sachets are about £1.50 / $2.50 for only 400g so £3.75 / $6.25 per kg, when those run out buy a bulk bag and add your own flavouring, you will get loads more for the same price!

Try and cook from scratch more too - for example the ezmac is $3.89, how many portions does that make?
If you made your own - pasta $1, cheese $2, milk $2, I bet it would make loads more for the same cost and will be better for you, cheese has to be refrigerated so think how many chemicals are added to the powdered cheese to make it last for years in a box!!

oh,cereal is fine.
3300 cals is what i have to eat but i dont usually eat over 1000 - so i have no idea what you should.
sorry,goodluck (: xx

Sorry for not responding so quickly but I just went shopping yesterday. Thanks everyone I think I made some better decisions. But expensive ones....why is it so expensive??? I went from 20-30 to 50.

Here's the list. I bought from Ralphs (which is like California's version of Shaws or Market Basket)


Chicken fettucini Lean cuisine : 2.59
Skippy's Creamy Peanut Butter: 3.49
EZ Mac : 3.89
Cheese : 2.00
Cheerios : 3.00
Vegetable Oil : 2.50
Whole Milk : 2.00
V8 Fusion : 4. 00
Apple Cider : 2.30
Cheez-its : 3.50
Angel Hair Pasta (x2) : 2.00
Stir Fry Broccoli n Veggies : 1.50
Bush Baked Beans : 2.00
Prego Onion/Garlic Tomato Sauce : 2.50
Peanuts : 3.00
Bologna : 3.00
Deli Chicken Breasts : 7.00


I already have at work or home :

Ralphs Oatmeal w Apple and cinnamon
Bananas/Apples
OJ
Cheerios/Honey Nut Cheerios/Raisin Bran/other cereals I forget



What do you think? I just got the cheezits because I wanted a tasty snack to go with the healthy one (peanuts) plus the nutrition for them didn't look that bad.

If you had a choice between cheezits and reduced fat vanilla wafers, which would you go for?

Thanks!


Oh one more thing, it seems like I'm overdosing on Iron by eating two cups of cheerios a day (a big bowl full). Is this bad? I'm pretty sure guys aren't supposed to have as much iron or something

I grew up very thin and putting on weight was hard for me for a long time. So I have some idea of what you're dealing with.

You did great for your first time trying out new things. I agree with the others though about eating less fast food or food from trucks and learning how to prepare more of your own meals so you'll eat better and it'll be cheaper. And you definitely don't need the diet or 'lean' foods if you're trying to gain weight. I suggest you look around for a cookbook designed for beginners and start trying to learn one to cook one new recipe a week. I often cook enough for dinner that I'll have enough leftover for lunch the next day that I can take to work with me. I also will cook more on weekends and freeze some of it so I can have it to eat later when I don't feel like cooking. It saves you from spending $ when you don't have to. By the way, women love men who can cook!

Eating two cups of cheerios and having the cheezits is fine. When you're building muscle you need more minerals and other nuturiton so you don't have to worry about this so much right now. If you are going to be a meat eater (I'm a vegetarian), skip the heavily processed meats like bologna which adds more chemicals, unnecessary salt, etc. to your diet. In fact, avoid all processed foods as much as you can for your health and eat fresh foods as much as you can afford them. Second best to fresh foods are frozen foods. Canned and deli foods are the worst. Also, cooking chilis, soups and stews are cheap, filling meals especially if you eat them with or over brown rice or multigrain pastas (you want to avoid the 'white foods', like white rice, white pastas, white breads, etc. because they'll cause you problems in the long run). If you can afford it, buy yourself a crock pot and learn to use it to cook your food while you're away at work and you'll come home to the wonderful smell of your dinner ready when you get home.

Buying foods in bulk makes many things affordable, like nuts, nut butters, rice, lentils, beans, family packs of meat or fish, etc. Go to the Dollar Store or a similar place and buy yourself some large plastic containers to put your bulk foods in and you'll be amazed at how much $ you'll save this way and what you can buy in these large quantities that will last awhile. Freeze some of the meats or seafood in individual sizes and this will help you save money too because then you're only cooking what you need at the time.

Another tip from a former thin person: rest for at least an hour after your meals. It'll hellp your body with getting the most out of what you are eating. And make sure you're going to bed and waking up at the same time most days, getting at least eight hours of sleep everyday. This will help you reach your ideal weight.

Lastly, take all of this just one step at a time. And lean on your MFP friends. Feel free to add me if you like.

Best wishes!

Lots of good stuff said already, like moving away from the low fat\light stuff, so I won't go over that.

One thing I would raise, is why such a low budget for food? If you're serious about gaining some mass, you might want to see if you can rearrange your budget to have a bit more for food - both quantity and quality.

Fortunately I am in a situation where I don't have to worry about this kind of thing so much, but when I was a student and my money was tighter, I considered my body and health important in my list of priorities, so didn't go too tight with my food and supplement budget, and made my savings in other areas.