Diet guide
Eating on a Budget: Cheap Calories, Protein and Meal Prep
In short
Budget eating means planning meals around low-cost staples, such as dried beans, rice, oats, eggs, frozen vegetables and seasonal produce, and wasting as little as possible.
By CalorTracker Team. Published .
What budget eating is
It is a constraint rather than a diet: the grocery bill sets the limit and the plan is built inside it. The usual tools are dried and tinned legumes, grains, eggs, frozen vegetables and fruit, seasonal produce, own-brand products and cooking in bulk.
Prices differ so much between countries and weeks that we do not quote any. What we can show is the nutrition of the staples, which does not change with the shop.
Calories and protein per portion
Dry staples such as lentils, rice and oats are the cheapest sources of energy and protein, but a dry weight is not a cooked weight. A cup of dry lentils becomes a much heavier cup of cooked ones, so log the state the food is in, as the food pages do.
Protein per cost is usually best from eggs, legumes and chicken thighs. The protein calculator tells you the target, and the plant protein list shows which cheap foods can cover it.
Planning to waste less
Batch cooking is the biggest saver in time and money. Cook a large pot of beans, grain or sauce, portion it, and build the rest of the week around it. The per-portion numbers in the app stay the same each time, which makes logging fast.
Frozen fruit and vegetables are consistent in price, keep for months and are logged the same way as fresh. Use up what is in the fridge first and plan around it.
A short list written before the shop does more than any single swap. Decide the week's protein, the grain and the two or three vegetables, buy those, and treat everything else as optional. Leftovers become the next lunch, and a log of what you actually cooked shows which meals were worth the money and which were not.
Foods that fit, per 100 g
These staples are commonly low-cost, though prices vary by shop and country. The table shows what a portion buys in energy and protein, so you can weigh price against nutrition yourself.
| Food | Calories | Protein (g) | Carbs (g) | Fat (g) | Fibre (g) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lentils (Dry) | 352 | 24.6 | 63.4 | 1.1 | 10.7 | Dried legumes are weighed before cooking, so check the state. |
| Lentils | 116 | 9 | 20.1 | 0.4 | 7.9 | The cooked version of the same staple. |
| Brown Rice | 112 | 2.3 | 23.5 | 0.8 | 1.8 | A grain that stretches a meal. |
| Oatmeal (Dry) | 389 | 16.9 | 66.3 | 6.9 | 10.6 | Dry oats are low in cost per portion. |
| Eggs | 143 | 12.6 | 0.7 | 9.5 | 0 | A low-cost source of protein. |
| Cabbage | 25 | 1.3 | 5.8 | 0.1 | 2.5 | Keeps for weeks and is cheap per weight. |
| Carrot | 41 | 0.9 | 9.6 | 0.2 | 2.8 | A cheap vegetable that stores well. |
| Potato | 77 | 2.1 | 17.5 | 0.1 | 2.1 | A filling starchy staple. |
| Peanut Butter | 598 | 22.2 | 22.3 | 51.4 | 5 | Calorie-dense and long-lasting. |
| Blueberries (Frozen) | 51 | 0.4 | 12.2 | 0.6 | 2.7 | Frozen fruit with a steady price and shelf life. |
Values are USDA FoodData Central figures for the food as listed, per 100 g. Each food name opens its own page with portions and every nutrient.
Calculators for this way of eating
These run on the same formulas as the rest of the site, so the numbers match what you see in the app.
- Protein CalculatorSuggests a daily protein range in grams from your body weight and goal.
- Calorie CalculatorTurns your maintenance calories and a goal (lose, maintain or gain) into one daily calorie target, a weekly pace and a per-meal split.
- Macro CalculatorSplits a daily calorie target for your goal (lose, maintain or gain) into grams of protein, carbs and fat.
Food lists to browse
Ranked tables of foods by a nutrient, computed from the same USDA data.
Side-by-side food comparisons
Two foods at the same weight, so a swap is one glance.
Recipes that match
Recipes tagged for this way of eating, with their nutrition worked out per serving.
- Banana Oat Cottage Cheese PancakesOpens the page.
- Banana Peanut Butter Protein OatsOpens the page.
- Chickpea and Spinach Curry with Brown RiceOpens the page.
- Cottage Cheese and Egg Rye ToastOpens the page.
- Cottage Cheese Bowl with Pineapple and Pumpkin SeedsOpens the page.
- Egg and Egg White Spinach Scramble on ToastOpens the page.
- Lentil Soup with SpinachOpens the page.
- Overnight Oats with BlueberriesOpens the page.
- Tofu and Vegetable Stir-Fry with Brown RiceOpens the page.
- Tofu Scramble with Peppers and SpinachOpens the page.
- Vegetable Omelette with CheddarOpens the page.
Read next
Guides from the CalorTracker blog.
Terms used on this page
Short definitions with worked examples.
Safety and who this is not for
Cheap does not have to mean unbalanced, but a budget that cuts total food too far can leave you short of energy and nutrients. If money is tight and meals are being skipped, local food assistance programmes and your doctor can help.
This page is general information, not medical advice. If you have a medical condition, take medication, are pregnant or are under eighteen, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before you change how you eat.
Tracking budget eating in CalorTracker
- Save your batch recipes in the app and let it work out the per-portion nutrition, then log a portion in seconds.
- Log meals by photo, text or voice and correct the estimate if it assumes a dearer ingredient.
- Generate a meal plan with batch prep if you are on the trial or Premium, and ask Pepperly to build a day around ingredients you already own.
Budget eating: common questions
Does eating on a budget limit protein?
Is frozen produce as good as fresh?
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central
- U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. 9th Edition. December 2020.
- European Food Safety Authority. Dietary Reference Values.
- Food values: USDA FoodData Central, as described on how we calculate. Every outside source we use is on sources.
Count budget eating without the arithmetic
Log a meal from a photo, by text or by voice, check the estimate, and watch the day against your own targets. Free to start, no card needed to explore.
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