Canned Tuna: My go-to for cheap protein

If you're trying to put on muscle one thing remains true for all body-builders and that is that you need a LOT of protein in your diet. Most of the time the really serious guys talk endlessly about how you should just eat chicken chicken and more chicken but I think that everyone that lifts for muscle gains reaches a point where they don't even want to look at a piece of chicken breast after a while.

There are only so many ways that you can prepare chicken and at one stage I got to the point where I was just choking it down rather than enjoying it and honestly, this is no way to live. There are tons of other sources of protein out there of course and the ones that are highly recommended because they also tend to be low in fat tend to be fish. However, unless you are wealthy this is an untenable method of getting high amounts of protein into your diet.

For me, I need a back up plan to the usual "tons of eggs for breakfast and then chicken for lunch" and this is why my cupboard always has cans of tuna in it.

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I will admit that when I open a can of tuna, I am not always super impressed. Sometimes I am turned off by it and think to myself "am I really going to eat that?" But since there are so many choices of canned tuna out there I think it is just a question of finding one that agrees with you. For me, I like the tuna chunk cans as these tend to at least appear to be less processed even though I am quite certain they are very heavily processed.

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This kind of tuna seems less like something that only your cat would get excited about and more like something you actually want to eat. I put mine on some whole grain crackers with a dash of Tabasco. The great news about this is that tuna is one of the most protein-rich foods on the planet and with most cans you are getting around 30 grams of protein per can. Since this is basically the exact level of protein I am looking for in a meal, it suits me just perfectly.

So if you find yourself getting sick and tired of chicken breast, and this will happen to almost anyone who lifts at one point or another, canned tuna is one of the cheapest and most effective sources of protein out there and it's available basically everywhere. I did some math and found out that at least where I live, tuna ends up costing about 8 cents per gram of protein, and there are probably other places where it is even cheaper.

So if you are bulking on a budget, canned tuna might be the way to go if you can find a way to make it taste like something you actually want to eat :)