Inexpensive High Protein Foods
 

So I'm trying to build muscle while losing weight, and I realized I was extremely unsuccessful at this during the fall because I was eating far too little protein.

Now I'm on a high protein diet, trying to work in at least 30 grams a meal (even breakfast), but its kind of expensive. Any recommendations on cheap, high protein foods, preferably low calorie? I'm already all over fat free hot dogs, eggs, turkey bacon, skim milk... lean ground beef... but what else?

Edit:
When I say low calorie, I kind of also mean low fat/carb. I like to have it around the ratio of 1:2:5 grams of fat/carbs/protein

tofu if you can stomach the texture
beans are high in protein -- and are plenty cheap- especially if you use the dried beans...

Peanut Butter... if you get natural peanut butter, the fats are good fats.

Tofu... lots of protein in tofu. If you make a chili, mix it in and you add tons of bulk and tons of protien... or you could just toss it into stir frys.

Tofu is cheap.

Tofu is pretty good, I got about a pound for 2.10 last time I went to the store.

Nuts aren't quite what I'm looking for. They have way too many calories for the protein they provide.

The only beans I managed to find that suited my needs were soy beans, then in a very distant second green beans and "?winged beans?".

what's wrong with the texture of tofu? The stuff is great.

Try slicing a brick of firm tofu into cube/chunks, and slightly warm it in a bowl (about 10 secs in a micro wave) then sprinkle with light soy sauce and sliced green onions. mmm what a nice accompanyment to any meal.

Or dice into a spinach/egg drop soup.

The thing with tofu (according to Alton Brown, of Good Eats on the Food Network) is making sure you let some of the moisture ooze out of it before you cook it. This makes the texture of it much better. Let a brick of tofu rest on a double layer of paper towels for ten minutes before you use it, and pat it dry with another double layer of paper towels right before you use it.

Go see the nutritionist at your school to get some recommendations (probably floating around in the Health and Wellness department)- it's free, and they'll have some really good ideas about how to get a whole diet plan going that will help you gain muscle- don't want to eat protein while sacrificing vitimans or anything like that!

Actually I just found this site...

http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-0...000000000.html

So I think I'll be buying some no fat mozzerella and cottage cheese... and more fish.

yeah cottage cheese is great, slap it on a salad or mix in some fruit :)

tofu is awesome... I love the little tofu crumbles

Alton B. is right you need to dry out the tofu a bit before you eat it or cook it.. the high water content makes it a little weird... but once it dries out I like it :)

and eggs... eggs are high in protien too

Protein powder is a pretty cheap source of protein. My jug was $27 and has 90 serving with 20 grams per serving, so 1800 grams for $27. However, I think that you are going about this in the wrong way. To gain muscle you must take in a surplus of calories, but to lose fat you must have a caloric deficit, so you can see how they are at odds. Plus, low fat is no good. Fats are used to produce hormones which help in building muscle.

Peanut butter is a great source of protien
as Charlatan has suggested
to ofset the higher calories eat grapefruit.
Grapefruit burns ten times the
calories that it contains.
In high school wrestling I needed to cut weight
I ate two slices of peanutbutter toast for breakfast
One grapefruit for lunch
And a whatever I wanted for dinner.
went from 171 lbs. to 132 lbs. in three months
and gained substantial muscle mass.
The two hour daily practice/workout helped too.

If you want to gain muscle and lose fat, you'll need a pretty serious exercise regimen. The only time I ever managed this was with pretty intense martial arts classes 3 times a week at 1.5-2 hours a piece and getting a reasonable amount of daily excercise. Bear in mind, I've got the genes for this kind of thing. I weigh 270-275 but look around 195-220 depending on the shirt. So scale up accordingly what you'd expect to need.

I'd also like to toss in my support for Tofu.

that's kinda like flavorless rubber... :(

The key is to buy all your foods raw and unprocessed, just think about all the weird things that are in your hotdogs! Also, I reciently read a report that supported information that eating large quantities of processed meats (lunch meats, hot dogs) can cause Pancreatic cancer, not good.

Chicken, Turkey (though sometimes the breasts are already pre-fried), fish. I generally buy my chicken through the deli because it's cheaper or they have sales on chicken buy the pound. Buy lots when the food is on sale and freeze it!

However, it is important to remember the rest of your fruits, veggies and fiber.

Sorry, not exactly. To gain muscle you must work the muscles (with lifting and the like). One does not need to intake more calories to build muscle. To lose fat, you must *incur* a deficit of calories, and eating less fat helps, but one also needs to use up the energy stored as fat one already has. Muscle at rest burns more calories than non-muscle at rest. Protein helps to rebuild the muscles after the lifting. It can also improve the metabolism speed, although each person is different. I do best on a high lean-protein and low carb diet, myself.
It's important to monitor the fat intake *carefully*, and it's vital that fats are not cut out completely!

I've noticed cottage cheese has been mentioned.

No fat cheese isn't worth your money. It's tasteless, doesn't melt if you try to mix it in chili or something, and (at least the shredded kind) kind of hard and rubbery, as mal said. Depending on what you want it for, such as tacos or chili, try adding a small dollop of low fat sour cream. Tastes much better.

Buy chicken when it is on sale and freeze it. Same with turkey.

Egg yolks have a lot of calories, so if you are trying to cut them, just have the egg whites.

Cottage Cheese :D

Just wanted to point out - that grapefuit thing is a total myth. You lost wright because you consumed so few calories during the day.

Grapefruits to not burn calories.

They are however, good for you so eat away...just make sure you're not taking any drugs that they might interact with.

Lentils. They cook up a _lot_ quicker than beans (40 minutes, no pre-soaking required), they're high in protein, they flavor up well with a can of tomatoes and a little meat (a hambone, or a little chopped hot sausage, or jalapenos, cayenne, and definitely garlic), and you can make up a ton at one time and freeze what you don't want.

You can eat 'em at any meal, including breaksfast, where they go well with eggs.

Lentils are _not_ low calorie, but they are low fat, and are digested slowly, like other legumes, so you don't get a sudden surge of excess carbs that the body decides to turn to fat. Because they're digested over a long period, they also help maintain an even blood sugar level, which is going to reduce your need to snack.

Actually, gaining mucle will metabolize more fat. Also, you grow muscle by feeding them the right nutrients and working them to near failure. You can balance all the calories with work to end up even; the added muscle will then burn up more of your fat. Plus, the right cardio will also train your body to process fat for fuel.

ON (Optimum Nutrition) makes a great powder that mixes well with anything - even water. And it tastes great. You can get it on line from www.musclesurf.com. I think it end up being about $35 with shipping and has 80 24 grams servings.

This site is pretty useful - nice find!

If you want high protein try going for a low carb powder. I use a high cal one right now to try and gain weight but the company that makes the stuff is great. Here is a linky to a description from an excellent store run by a very nice gentleman. (No I am not affiliated with him)

http://better-bodies.ca/index.php?pa...6dff1ab318b029