Is It Possible To Get A Balanced Diet On A Budget In London?!

9th September 2019

The most important part of your workout is your diet, so finding a way to eat well without resorting to £12 organic salads every day is tough, especially when living in an expensive city like London.

One of our gay personal trainers and all-round fitness fanatic Darryl Lampen recently posted about this very topic.

With uni in my sights, I’ve wanted to be more mindful about how much I’m spending, so I’ve decided to start with my food.

Last year, I was averaging out at £15-£20/day, which is ridiculous I know! I wasn’t always home, and the studio I train clients in is inside a Planet Organic so I ended up buying food from there regularly.

I’ve now made it all the way down to £6-£8/day and I’m aiming to keep it at £6 consistently.

Darryl’s rules to eating well

  1. I want red, orange, yellow, green and purple fruits and/or veggies included each day.
  2. I’m not allowed to buy drinks! I reuse my water bottle and refill that throughout the day.
  3. I make sure that I roughly hit my caloric/macro targets (I don’t count like I used to, I just have a rough idea)
  4. If I go over, it cuts into the next day’s budget

A couple of loopholes:

  • If someone is offering me food, I’m saying yes
  • I have a 2.5kg bag of vegan protein I buy every month or so – this is because I found protein sources usually cleared my budget before the fruits or veggies

Darryl’s shopping go-tos
(prices set for Sainsbury’s shoppers)

  • Watermelon – that’s £3ish and that’ll last me 3 days depending
  • Seeds – 90p a bag! Winning!
  • Beetroot – 80p!
  • Grapes – £2ish
  • Oats – 50p-£1.70 depending on size
  • Frozen veggie medley (peas, carrots, sweetcorn, red peppers or green beans) – £1.30 for a kilo

None of these are organic mind you. The bottom line here is that I’m looking to invest more in my education and personal development in order to be the best coach, chiropractor, bodyweight practitioner out there. That means I can’t keep spending all my money on expensive food.

If you’d like some more advice about your nutrition or training, book a session with Darryl of any of our gay personal trainers.