How much money a week for a decent diet?

Anonymous

Hi.

I don't want to be spending much, but I am curious, I was to eat properly, I want to eat enough to maintain my riding, doing some 100+ mile rides a week and around 18-20miles a day on average.

I don't have much money but wondering how much I'd have to spend a week to maintain a diet that could maintain my cycling?

I like to eat allot of pasta and it's the main thing I eat, I eat it with everything.

Also, does drinking alcoholic drinks and eating general Christmas food really kill cycling performance that much? you know.. like cake etc..

Thanks
Will.

deal

It doesnt cost alot of money to eat well, try to cook in bulk where possible and freeze individual size portions. Use cheaper cuts of meat occasionally, such as chicken thighs (good for curries etc.) and shoulder of lamb.

As for the cake, i never ride without a piece of cake in my jersey pocket

Ricardo H

as long as you can cook a bit then a budget of £15 per person per week is more than enough for 3 meals a day. Good old fashsion thrift cooking is the way forward, and has been in my house for along time.
I'm heading out for a good 4 hours in the saddle later this morning. Will kick off with a big bowl of porridge with some dried fruit, cost about 50p.
Will take some lidil fruit bars with me for the ride (£1.20 for 8) and will drink holland & barrets own isotonic drink which i brought on special for £2.50 for 500g
A late lunch when i am back will be some home made turkey and parsnip soup. Made this last week from the turkey carcass plus left over veg, plus some more parsnips and carrots which cost about 80p. This made 2.5 litres of soup which i put in the frezzer in 0.5 L portions.
Tonight i will push the boat out and make chilli and rice.The meat is from my local butcher and is very good value when brought by the tray. Rice i buy in 10kg sacks from the local asian store. The cans of toms and beans come from a little hidden gem of a store called Barnham trading. They sell alot of can goods etc that the major chains dont want because of a short shelf life, or the tin is dented.
It will cost about £2.50 to make and half will do a meal for me and the Mrs tonight, the over half will go in the frezzer and will be another meal in a couple of weeks.

drummer

TRUE!

Spending more does not equate to eating better!

Just use a little fore thought and you can eat really well on a small budget including getting your nutrients.

Buy in advance is the key and only buy what you go far.
Going to do your shop every few days is the killer a you always spend more.

The only thing I would consider adding to this is a tub of half decent protein powder.
if you are cycling a lot then you need to make sure yor muscles are well fed!

Barrie_G

If you go for the protein powder then go to somewhere like MyProtein and buy the bulk powders you'll get 5x's as much than if you buy a tub from your local supermarket.

http://www.myprotein.co.uk/bulk-supplie ... d-protein/

markos1963

Its a myth put out by lazy people(usually on benefits) that you can't eat cheaply and healthly. We budget about 15 quid a week for each of us in the family(2 adults and a hoover mouthed 12yo). We all eat at least 1apple,1 banana, grapes, pears, satsumas and a Kiwi each, each day. On top of that is veg, at least 3 portions of whatever is in season. As the others have said, it comes down to good old fashioned home cooking. Cooking from scratch will always be cheaper and more importantly healthier. I make a soup/stew out of chicken thighs(nice and cheap but tasty) leeks, potatoes, carrots, butterbeans and sweetcorn. It lasts our family 2 days but when I was single I used to make the same amount and it would last me a week! I would just keep adding veg to it to keep it going, all for about a fiver.

GeorgeShaw

+1 (less the benefits crap - it's just education)

The easiest thing to remember is that processed food is expensive food.

Buy vegetables (or grow them and get some core stability exercise on your veg plot), get grains and pulses from your health food shop instead of out of a packet, and then eat quality meat. Think differently. For example, cook a rabbit - 4 meals for £3 and no fat.

Gavin Gilbert

Turning to the booze.... :? .....it's flithy stuff and should be avoided if you're even remotely pretending to train.

Firstly it impairs your bodies ability to use fat as a fuel during exercise (so you break down muscle), and secondly it disrupts your bodies ability to repair the muscle. And the killer is that it does this for several hours after consumption.

Not to mention the effects of dehydration, junk calories, bad food choices etc it causes.

I make a point of not drinking 12 hours either side of a training session. Which means with my training diary, I'm pretty well teetotal.

markos1963

GeorgeShaw wrote:

+1 (less the benefits crap - it's just education)

The easiest thing to remember is that processed food is expensive food.

Buy vegetables (or grow them and get some core stability exercise on your veg plot), get grains and pulses from your health food shop instead of out of a packet, and then eat quality meat. Think differently. For example, cook a rabbit - 4 meals for £3 and no fat.

Sorry I'm not some sort of right wing Norman Tebbit clone. Its just that when they interview people on telly about healthy eating they use people on benefits who are fat and they always use the excuse of cost.

GeorgeShaw

markos1963 wrote:

Sorry I'm not some sort of right wing Norman Tebbit clone. Its just that when they interview people on telly about healthy eating they use people on benefits who are fat and they always use the excuse of cost.

Sure. There are at least as many lazy TV reporters as lazy people on benefits.

Ricardo H

sorry gavin but booze is not filthy, and anything in moderation is fine.
A moderate or large amount of alcohol will greatly limit your bodies ability to burn fat if you are training or have a race next day, but glass of wine with dinner will do more for your morale than staying tee-total.
Try telling bradly wiggins that booze and cycling dont mix.. he will laugh you out of the pub.

FSR_XC

This thread is quite inspiring.

I have always believed that healthy eating can be expensive.

Hope people will share more food tips for a budget conscious healthy eater - 'cause I need this inspiration as temptation is a terrible thing!

Ricardo H

the only expensive bit is fresh fruit and veg. The rest is easy as long as you buy in bulk the stuff you use alot and that keeps. Only cook what you need unless it can be frozen, and dont watse anything.

Cooking all your own food is not just good for the wallet, but you know exactly what has gone in to it. most processed food has stupid amounts of salt and sugar added.

LittleB0b

Ricardo H wrote:

the only expensive bit is fresh fruit and veg.

It depends what fruit and veg - seasonal basic veg is pretty cheap - if you are eating mango chunks with pomegranate and mange tout - then it will be expensive.

Local green grocers and asian food stores do good cheap veg (they also do mega bunches of herbs really cheap).

Pulses and things like pearl barley are also cheap and good to add to stew or broths.