CrossFit Athletic Group

In remembering the thing that got me started on the right nutrition path was a cheap video by Pat Sherwood eating turkey, strawberries, and peanut butter, I just wanted to share how simple it is to pick good-enough food at a grocery store, and also how much cheaper it is than it sounds.

Note: this is all from Value Center right around the corner.

Protein

• Ground beef ($2.99 per pound, around $1.50 per serving)
• Canned tuna ($1 per can)
• Eggs (20 cents per egg)

Carbohydrate

• Apples (50 cents per apple)
• Bananas (20 cents per banana)
• Canned green beans ($1 per can)
• Canned corn ($1 per can)

Fat

• Postachios ($2.99 per bag)

Combo

• Whole milk ($3 for gallon, probably 20 cents per cup)

Notes. Nothing in here really fits together into a recipe that would be advertised at a restaurant, but it doesn't have to. The first thing that comes to mind here would be to throw some ground beef in a pan with a potato that I already have (probably 20 cents per potato) and eat some postachios while they're cooking. Then maybe have a glass of milk with it and I'm good to go. Which looks like this in terms of cost:

• Protein - ground beef, milk (less than $2 combined)
• Carbohydrate - potato (20 cents), milk already accounted for
• Fat - postachios (about 30 cents per serving - which depends on how damaged your fingernails get from cracking the shells), plus fat in milk and beef already accounted for

Total price for the meal: $2.50. At the most.

Total meal/prep time: 10 minutes at the most (I eat faster than a caveman, so your mileage may vary).

Even including snacks, it is not difficult to imagine a menu that provides different options for protein, carbohydrate, and fat for less than $10 per day that takes less time than a drive-thru. You don't need a wild tunafish from a pacific island village or a banana that a farmer wraastled out of a monkey's hand, just get whatever is on sale that covers those three categories (protein, carbs, fat) and eat the carbs and fat while the protein is cooking. Start there and then cherry-pick for food quality as your budget allows.