Is 2,500 calories enough to build muscle?

Only if it is above what you burn. 2,500 kcal is a surplus for some people and a deficit for others — a lean 90kg man training five times a week may need considerably more. The protein target does the muscle-building work; the calorie number decides whether you are gaining or losing while you do it.

Why is this plan more expensive than the lower-calorie ones?

More food, and disproportionately more protein — meat and fish are the costly lines in any basket. The priced shop on this page is the real figure from the Tesco catalogue, so you can see exactly where the extra goes rather than guessing at it.

Do I have to cook every day?

No. The plan is built for batch cooking, so each recipe makes several servings and those servings fill consecutive days. A seven-day week usually needs eight to twelve cooking sessions rather than twenty-one.

Are these Tesco prices accurate today?

They were accurate on the date printed beside the basket total, which is when they were read from the Tesco catalogue. Supermarket prices move week to week, so treat the total as a reliable guide rather than a quote. Generating your own plan prices it fresh.

Can I get this plan for a different supermarket?

Yes. FitFresh prices the same kind of week at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons or Waitrose — you pick the chain when you build your plan.

What if I have an allergy or do not eat meat?

Both are handled when you build your own plan: you can exclude any of the 14 major allergens, and choose a pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan plan. Allergen matching is best-effort and derived from ingredient text, so always check labels yourself.

A 2,500 calorie meal plan for muscle gain, shopped at Tesco

A real 7-day 2,500 calorie high-protein meal plan for building muscle, with the Tesco shopping list priced product by product. Free, no account needed.

Calories a day: 2,493kcal
Protein a day: 158g
Priced basket: £76.87
Plan score: 94.5/100

The shop

The Tesco shopping list, priced product by product

Real products from the Tesco catalogue, in the pack sizes the week actually uses — not an estimate, and not a per-serving average.

Product	Qty	Price
Tesco Hot Smoked Salmon Fillets for Smoked salmon	1	£5.65
Tesco 4 Beef Quarter Pounders for Beef	2	£5.58
Tesco British Turkey Breast Steaks for Turkey breasts	1	£5.45
Tesco Ripe & Ready Avocado for Avocadoes	7	£4.83
Woodside Farms Boneless Pork Loin Steaks for Pork loin	1	£3.60
Tesco British Chicken Drumstick Fillets for Chicken breasts	1	£2.95
Tesco Parmigiano Reggiano cheese for Parmesan cheese	1	£2.80
Creamfields Mature White Cheddar for Cheddar cheese	1	£2.45
Tesco Sesame Seeds for sesame seeds, sesame seeds, Sesame	2	£2.40
Tesco Mascarpone Cheese for Mascarpone cheese	1	£2.25
Tesco Jumbo Peanuts for Peanuts	1	£2.25
Tesco Fresh Cut Coriander for Coriander	4	£2.00
Tesco Frozen Sweet Potato Chunks for Sweet potatoes	1	£1.80
Warburtons 4 Our Dough Bagels with Sourdough for sourdough bread slices	1	£1.35
Tesco Unsweetened Almond Drink for Almond milk	1	£1.30
Fresh & Naked baby spinach for Baby Spinach	1	£1.20
Tesco Chia Seeds for Chia seeds	1	£1.20
Rosedene Farms Strawberries for Strawberries	1	£1.19
Grower's Harvest frozen garden peas for Frozen peas	1	£1.15
Natco Bay Leaves for Bay leaves	1	£1.10
Tesco Hot Chilli Powder for Chilli powder	1	£1.10
East End whole coriander seeds for Coriander seeds	1	£1.00
Tesco Cherry Tomatoes for Cherry tomatoes	1	£1.00
Tesco 6 Mixed Weight Barn Eggs for Eggs	1	£1.00
Tesco Crunchy Peanut Butter for Peanut butter	1	£0.99
Tesco Frozen Sliced Mushrooms for Button mushrooms	1	£0.99
Tesco Whole Cucumber for Cucumbers	1	£0.99
Creamfields Greek Style Natural Yogurt for Greek yogurt	1	£0.95
Tesco Jalapeno Chillies for Jalapeno Peppers	1	£0.90
Creamfields Low Fat Cottage Cheese for Cottage cheese	1	£0.89
Tesco Red Cabbage for Red cabbage	1	£0.89
Tesco Broccoli for Broccoli	1	£0.82
Tesco Baking Potatoes 4 Pack for Potatoes	1	£0.79
Tesco Celery for Celery stalks	1	£0.75
Tesco Sweetheart Cabbage for Chinese cabbage	1	£0.75
Tesco Green Pepper for Peppers	1	£0.70
Tesco Classic Round Tomatoes 6 Pack for Tomatoes	1	£0.69
Tesco Bunched Spring Onions for Spring onions	1	£0.69
Tesco Limes for Limes	3	£0.69
Growers Harvest Red Kidney Beans in Water for Cooked beans	2	£0.66
Creamfields Semi Skimmed UHT Milk for Cow's milk	1	£0.65
Tesco Red Onions Loose for Red onions, Red onions, Onions	3	£0.60
Tesco Tomato Puree for Tomato paste	1	£0.59
Creamfields Mozzarella 210g for Mozzarella cheese	1	£0.59
Tesco Root Ginger for Ginger	1	£0.56
Tesco Mixed Chillies for Chilli peppers	1	£0.55
Tesco fresh thyme for Thyme	1	£0.50
Tesco Large Garlic for Garlic	1	£0.50
Tesco Fresh Cut Flat Leaf Parsley for Parsley	1	£0.50
Tesco Cut Basil for Basil	1	£0.50
Tesco fresh mint for Mint	1	£0.50
Tesco Cut Chives for Chives	1	£0.50
Tesco Lemons for Lemons	1	£0.37
Tesco Carrots Loose for Carrots	2	£0.22

54 items, priced at Tesco

Prices read from the Tesco catalogue on 10 August 2026

£76.87

Assumed already in the cupboard, so not in the total: Butter, Ground cumin, Cooked chickpeas, Black pepper, Turmeric.

32 more ingredients are not in that total, because we could not match them to a specific Tesco product: ghee, noodles, vinegar, 1 bread, maple syrup, garlic powder, soy sauce, beef broth, powder sugar, flour, olive oil, cardamom, sesame oil, cress, tofu, oats, salt, mustard, chicken broth, rice vinegar, honey, pastum, breadcrumbs, pesto, Cooking cream, protein powder, edamame beans, soba noodles, mango powder/ amchoor, ghee or vegetable oil, nutritional yeast, edamame. Those are ordinary shop items — the gap is in our matching rather than in the aisles — so read £76.87 as the priced part of this week, not as the final till receipt.

The week

Seven days, 12 things to cook

Built to batch-cook: a recipe's servings carry across consecutive days, so the week runs on 12 cooking sessions rather than 21 of them.

Day	Meals	Daily total
Monday	Breakfast High Protein Overnight Oats Vegan Noodle Stir-Fry Pork shashlik	2,524 kcal · 179g protein · 270g carbs · 82g fat
Tuesday	Breakfast Cheesy Beans on Toast with Pesto and Egg Dairy-Free Beef Stew with Potatoes Pork shashlik	2,455 kcal · 177g protein · 157g carbs · 120g fat
Wednesday	Breakfast Cheesy Beans on Toast with Pesto and Egg Dairy-Free Beef Stew with Potatoes Peanut Noodle Salad	2,454 kcal · 157g protein · 215g carbs · 106g fat
Thursday	Breakfast Open-Faced Sandwich with Scrambled Eggs and Pea Puree Dairy-Free Beef Stew with Potatoes Peanut Noodle Salad	2,451 kcal · 151g protein · 205g carbs · 114g fat
Friday	Breakfast Open-Faced Sandwich with Scrambled Eggs and Pea Puree Dairy-Free Beef Stew with Potatoes Spiced Chickpea Curry (Channa Masala)	2,460 kcal · 115g protein · 240g carbs · 113g fat
Saturday	Breakfast Tofu Scramble Sweet Potato Boats Herb-Marinated Turkey Tenderloins with Avocado Dip and Cucumber Salad High-Protein Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake	2,515 kcal · 162g protein · 219g carbs · 104g fat
Sunday	Breakfast Avocado and Smoked Salmon Toast Herb-Marinated Turkey Tenderloins with Avocado Dip and Cucumber Salad High-Protein Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake	2,595 kcal · 164g protein · 159g carbs · 149g fat

How this plan was made

The week was generated by FitFresh on 10 August 2026 against a target of 2,500 kcal and 190g of protein a day, and it lands at an average of 2,493 kcal · 158g protein · 209g carbs · 112g fat. Nothing here was written by hand: the meals are what the planner chose, and the daily totals are the sum of what it chose.

Prices come from Tesco's own catalogue, read on 10 August 2026. Supermarket prices move, so treat the total as accurate on that date rather than today. Where an ingredient had no match, it is named above instead of being dropped from the total.

Macro targets should come from your own body, not a round number on a page. This week is built for a 2,500 kcal day at 190g of protein; yours probably is not.

This week, built around your numbers

Answer a few questions about your body and goal, and FitFresh builds the same kind of week at your calories and your macros — priced at Tesco or any of the other four chains.

Build my free meal plan

Free, and you do not need an account to see your plan.

Not sure 2,500 calories is your number? Work out your TDEE first — it takes a minute, and the plan is built from whatever it says.

Questions

Is 2,500 calories enough to build muscle?: Only if it is above what you burn. 2,500 kcal is a surplus for some people and a deficit for others — a lean 90kg man training five times a week may need considerably more. The protein target does the muscle-building work; the calorie number decides whether you are gaining or losing while you do it.
Why is this plan more expensive than the lower-calorie ones?: More food, and disproportionately more protein — meat and fish are the costly lines in any basket. The priced shop on this page is the real figure from the Tesco catalogue, so you can see exactly where the extra goes rather than guessing at it.
Do I have to cook every day?: No. The plan is built for batch cooking, so each recipe makes several servings and those servings fill consecutive days. A seven-day week usually needs eight to twelve cooking sessions rather than twenty-one.
Are these Tesco prices accurate today?: They were accurate on the date printed beside the basket total, which is when they were read from the Tesco catalogue. Supermarket prices move week to week, so treat the total as a reliable guide rather than a quote. Generating your own plan prices it fresh.
Can I get this plan for a different supermarket?: Yes. FitFresh prices the same kind of week at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons or Waitrose — you pick the chain when you build your plan.
What if I have an allergy or do not eat meat?: Both are handled when you build your own plan: you can exclude any of the 14 major allergens, and choose a pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan plan. Allergen matching is best-effort and derived from ingredient text, so always check labels yourself.