Food and drink to help aid training

[John]

Please list on this thread anything you take (non-supplement) to help with muscle growth. :)

I'm trying to collaborate together a list of small and easy-to-make snacks or meals, however big or small, to help both myself and others, so we can share what we are eating for enhancement. I know Presto's diet for eating the right things looks second-to-none, lots of small meals a day and rock solid consistency.

I just checked out the back of a TESCO "Deep Crust Cheese Feast" pizza I bought last week, and I'm quite amazed at the level of each nutrient contained within it! Not sure who said pizza was good to eat after a workout (Street Cry?) but it rings so true after reading this.

Pizza weight - 530g. A 265g serving (half the pizza) gives you an intake of:

30.5g protein
83.5g carb
9.0g fat (which I could really do with adding too)

So if you ate the whole pizza which usually I tend to do, that's:

61.0g protein
167.0g carb
18.0g fat

Not bad at all! :D

[vegyjones]

Donor Kebabs! (Hold the salad!)

[presto]

fish. poultry. lean red meat. all high in protein.

FISH
tuna - small amount of mayo, bread (brown wholgrain) for carbs. bit of pepper. quick and tasty.
- cook some pasta, add tomato sauce (chopped tomatoes are better - contain less sugar) , any vegy's if you want, tin of tuna.
mackrel - full of essensial fish oil. microwave eat with some crusty bread.
- fry (only a little olive oil) the fish oil will be released when cooking, serve on a salad.
- get the tinned kind (in tomato sauce) - cook and eat on toast.

i love fish, and tend to eat quite a bit of salmon / mackrel for the fish fats and a tin of tuna is just pure protein.
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poultry
chicken is easy to cook - if you really want to get technical though turkey is a superior food (diet wise) to chicken - also cheaper.

with poultry it's just about finding the sauce you like. just butterfly it and grill or bake in the oven, when cooking i always like to season first with pepper or bake with a garlic butter.

for a quick sauce get some 'fresh' still lemon / orange juice drink and reduce in a pan, add some cornflower to thicken and a bit of zest. quite a bit of sugar, but you dont need much.

stir fry - just cut into thin strips, and stir fry with a bit of olive oil and some vegys.

lean meat
nothing beats a medium rare rump stake :) for taste.
i prefere it to sirloin / fillet. but being a student it may be a bit pricey.

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tins

baked beans, are quite good (and cheap) for protein. can't get much easier either. just drain some of the shugary sauce off first.
stag chilli - thats what i have stocked up for for strength days, tastes great and contains a lot of protein.

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make your own soup.
chop / boil some brocoli and cauliflower, add a little vegetable stock, blitz in the food processor (or mash like mad) then simmer till thickens (can add a bit of potato if you put too much water in - to thicken), add a bit of cream if you want - this is one of my favourite soups

chicken / turkey soup
after roasting (and eating) a chicken:
boil a chicken carcus with any left over meat on, add some onion (finely chopped) till you get a good stock. cool overnight - remove the layer of fat, add some chicken stock cube if nessary. add some barley if you want (reccomended).

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the best thing is just to experiment, fresh ingredience are cheaper than microwave meals, and you can always make a big pot full of something, and freeze the rest in tuppar wear containers. fresh ingredience are also far superior than pre made cack.
just go to the local market / supermarket. and fill the basket with some 'good' ingredience - then think of what else would go well with them.

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if you want to bulk up john - you really can eat everything though.
the male body needs around 2500 calories to maintain it's equlibrium - though as you are a thin (Ectomorph) guy - i would suspect you need less than that john. but to build muscle you need to take in more calories than you burn. say you need 2000 calories per day - try upping that to 2500 calories per day. if you dont work out these extra calories will be stored as fat. but when you work out they will be uses to (bulk) build muscle. (basic explanaion).

[John]

Thanks Presto.

It's all about getting the balance right. I'm starting to eat before and after I go the gym from now on as this will really help the build up. I'm a fussy eater though so I'm pretty limitless in what I will eat (guess I shouldn't say that to an ex-chef!) but I will eat chicken, fish, pasta, and soup is a must.

I had my deep crust cheese feast pizza last night but I only managed to eat half of it before the taste got so bland and the dryness kicked in. I've saved the other half though and put it in the fridge for later.

Thanks again, I really need to start experimenting with different ingredients in the kitchen, I'm 21 and can't do :censored: all!

[John]

Just had my tea - 2x chicken breasts and some pasta with it. :) I'm cack at cooking though, I really am. It's embarrassing. My chicken was done and I didn't even realise it was done, so hadn't even started to cook the pasta! Had to put the chicken in the oven to keep it warm (housemate'd just used it) while I boiled the pasta.

Jeepers. Tasted nice, though the honey and mustard chicken tonight sauce was a little... pungent. Ooo

[bigcumba]

I'm cack at cooking though, I really am.

I'd never really cooked properly till I got married.... then discovered I'm actually pretty good at it - but I do tend to do my own thing as I'm not too hot at following recipes... my spag bol is legendary, and I do a superb curry that the wife can enjoy as it's not too spicy but very full of flavour.... just chuck in a bit of whatever spices we have lying around, and a tin of coconut milk.... keep some of it in the fridge overnight and reheat it and the flavour really comes to the fore. I've not long had dinner, but thnking about it is making me hungry again!

[mathare]

I'm cack at cooking though, I really am. Same here mate. And I even have a GCSE in it, near enough. It's actually Food Studies. Grade B.

You want to do what I eventually did - find a bird who likes cooking. She does my tea every night now and has done pretty much since we got together. Magic. She even does most of the shopping for the food too :)

[John]

Interesting chaps! I always had you down as a great cook Campbell, no idea why but that's just the kind of "aura" I got about you... Ooo Spag bol is lovely with some finely chopped veg, and is more or less idiot proof to make too. But I've never made it! It's just a case of throwing some mince meat and spaghetti into a pan I guess.

Cheers Mat! Finding a bird is one thing, finding a bird who likes cooking (plenty about) and will do all my cooking (not so many about) is another! If yours enjoys cooking then that's what matters. I guess you repay the favour in other ways. :D

[mathare]

I guess you repay the favour in other ways. :DYep, she knows more about gambling than she ever wanted to know thanks to me. And I spend most evenings on here learning more and putting my knowledge into practice. She loves me for that :hearty

[bigcumba]

She even does most of the shopping for the food too :)

I'm more or less banned from going food shopping as we spend twice as much cash when I'm there on all sorts of meat and cheese! That's a good way of getting out of the shopping! :D

[markwales]

I really enjoy cooking....

Every Sunday I cook a roast, and I would say I cook 4 out of the other 6 nights of the week, Dani cooks once, and we have take away the other night!

I agree with Presto about oily fish.... the tins of mackerel in tomato sauce are a great source of all things good for the body, are cheap as chips, and can be eaten cold, or heated up. Mackerel in Tommy sauce on brown bread toast is great as a snack.
Salmon is also cheap these days.... place a large nob of butter on top of the salmon in a microwavable dish, and nuke it for 1.5 mins (ish depending on microwave strength)...taste-tastic.

You can't go far wrong with what you had tonight, chicken and pasta....rather than cooking chicken, throw a tin of tuna in instead, and a light tommy sauce...GREAT :D

I think me and Presto are on the same wavelength here.... it's all very simple. Don't over complicate cooking, there's no neeeeed...no neeeeeed.

SOme people can't go more than one meal without meat.... I'm like that with Potatoes!!... I adore them. Roast, Mashed, Boiled, New, Old, Chipped, Rosti's, Shepherds Pie and the list goes on.... I have some great simple recipes for potato based dishes if you want them John. Here's a simple one.
Peel and chop into smallish pieces about 8 potatoes
Peel and chop 2 red onions
8 peeled garlic cloves (segments not the whole thing!!)
a few sprigs of rosemary.
Par Boil the potatoes for 3-4 mins
Place all the above ingredients into a pre heated roasting dish with plenty of olive oil already sizzling, season with salt and black pepper.
Roast for about 25-30 mins depending on size of potatoes.
Serve WITH the garlic cloves and onion.... roasted garlic isn't as strong as you may think.
GRRRRRRRRREEEEAAAATTTTT (so Tony the Tiger says :D)

[mathare]

I'm a pretty fussy eater (which annoys the missus) but you are spot on with spuds there Mark - I love 'em!

[andyp]

fish. poultry. lean red meat. all high in protein.

FISH
tuna - small amount of mayo, bread (brown wholgrain) for carbs. bit of pepper. quick and tasty.
- cook some pasta, add tomato sauce (chopped tomatoes are better - contain less sugar) , any vegy's if you want, tin of tuna.
mackrel - full of essensial fish oil. microwave eat with some crusty bread.
- fry (only a little olive oil) the fish oil will be released when cooking, serve on a salad.
- get the tinned kind (in tomato sauce) - cook and eat on toast.

i love fish, and tend to eat quite a bit of salmon / mackrel for the fish fats and a tin of tuna is just pure protein.
.........................................................

poultry
chicken is easy to cook - if you really want to get technical though turkey is a superior food (diet wise) to chicken - also cheaper.

with poultry it's just about finding the sauce you like. just butterfly it and grill or bake in the oven, when cooking i always like to season first with pepper or bake with a garlic butter.

for a quick sauce get some 'fresh' still lemon / orange juice drink and reduce in a pan, add some cornflower to thicken and a bit of zest. quite a bit of sugar, but you dont need much.

stir fry - just cut into thin strips, and stir fry with a bit of olive oil and some vegys.

lean meat
nothing beats a medium rare rump stake :) for taste.
i prefere it to sirloin / fillet. but being a student it may be a bit pricey.

......................................................
tins

baked beans, are quite good (and cheap) for protein. can't get much easier either. just drain some of the shugary sauce off first.
stag chilli - thats what i have stocked up for for strength days, tastes great and contains a lot of protein.

.....................................................

make your own soup.
chop / boil some brocoli and cauliflower, add a little vegetable stock, blitz in the food processor (or mash like mad) then simmer till thickens (can add a bit of potato if you put too much water in - to thicken), add a bit of cream if you want - this is one of my favourite soups

chicken / turkey soup
after roasting (and eating) a chicken:
boil a chicken carcus with any left over meat on, add some onion (finely chopped) till you get a good stock. cool overnight - remove the layer of fat, add some chicken stock cube if nessary. add some barley if you want (reccomended).

....................................................



(as you may have read in Presto's workout thread), i have been working out lately in order to bulk up and gain more strength. I have been logging my regimes in a diary and i have also been logging my protein intake too.

I am aiming at consuming 180g protein + on a daily basis and i was wondering if anybody knew of a website that provided the nutritional (grammes of protein) information for most foods.

I ask this, because on things such as a chicken breast it does not state the nutritional information. I am also not a big lover of fish (apart from Tuna), so i was looking towards alternative options. I have been eating foods such as beans, tuna sandwiches, chicken, ham etc. I need some more high protein foods please.