To show you how to pull it off, we scoured the aisles of a Whole Foods in New York City (where grocery prices tend to be high), chose a number of healthy staples, and crafted them into seven workweek lunches with fewer than 30g of carbs and at least 25g of protein. This way you can easily stay on track with our beginner bodybuilder’s meal plan.
In addition to showing you the total cost of each meal, we also broke down the recipes so you can see the cost of each ingredient based on our suggested serving size. This way if you decide to tweak the recipes to better satisfy your taste buds or macros, you can easily recalculate the dollars and cents.
*We assumed that standard pantry staples (such as spices and cooking oil) would already be in your kitchen. They were not used to calculate the total cost of these meals.
Open-Faced Tuna Sandwich with Red Bell Pepper Slices and Walnuts
Nutrition per serving: 498 calories, 23.5g fat, 28g carbs, 44g protein
Cost per serving: $4.28
Serves: 1
What you’ll need:
1 slice Ezekiel bread ($0.29)
5-oz can chunk albacore tuna ($1.99)
Balsamic vinegar, to taste ($0)
Ground black pepper, to taste ($0)
1 cup loosely packed baby spinach ($0.40)
1 medium red bell pepper, sliced ($1.04)
1oz walnuts ($0.56)
Directions:
Drain the water from the tuna can and put the fish in a small Tupperware container.
Mix in balsamic vinegar and ground black pepper.
Wrap a slice of Ezekiel bread in some foil and place spinach in a sandwich bag so that you can assemble your open-faced sandwich in the office kitchen.
Put peppers and walnuts into individual baggies or containers for easy transport.
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Alexander Ruiz Acevedo / Shutterstock
Tex-Mex Amaranth Bowl
Nutrition per serving: 385 calories, 15 g fat, 23 g carbs, 40 g protein
Cost per serving: $3.44
Serves: 1
What you’ll need:
¼ cup cooked amaranth ($0.59)
4-ounces boneless skinless chicken (cooked in Tex-Mex seasoning), sliced ($1.24)
1 red bell pepper, chopped ($0.52)
½ Roma tomato, chopped ($0.26)
⅓ avocado, sliced ($0.83)
Balsamic vinegar, to taste ($0)
Directions:
In a medium-sized Tupperware container, combine all ingredients except for the balsamic vinegar.
Top with balsamic right before eating.
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Chicken & Veggie Stir Fry
Nutrition per serving: 333 calories, 4.3 g fat, 32 g carbs, 39 g protein
