Bulk up on a student budget

Do you plan on getting the protein from traditional sources (meat, fish, eggs) or as powders? I've always suggested wholesalers for meats, chicken is £1.40/kg collected from your nearest https://www.jjfoodservice.com collection point and lean meat is about £3.00/kg. Eggs and such are quite affordable for the protein they give (Lidl/Aldi/Morrisons/Farmfoods/Iceland etc to source).

If you're on that strict of a budget you might find Protein Shakes a good idea, you just need to remember they AREN'T are replacement for traditional sources of protein (meat, eggs etc.)

MyProtein is by far the best I've tried (http://myprotein.com) On a bulk, I've used 50g of it daily and that provides around 40g of extra protein.
It's usually quite good just to have some around, in case you run short on meat or anything like that. A 1kg bag is only £11-12.

You're also suggesting you have 5 meals a day and then potentiallly replacing some of them with protein shakes etc, a good idea might be to work out the macronutrients you need and see where you can exchange them for alternate sources, it ensures you'll have the correct amount of macros a day.

I'd absolutely love to take whey protein! They're a much easier and cheaper way of taking in a lot of protein, but my parents don't let me have it

I am currently 17 years old and have had a pretty good transformation over the last year or so. My dad gives me a 20 pound budget per week to buy groceries and I find it to be more than enough. The groceries (all from tesco) usually are:
- Milk
- Egg whites
- Eggs
- Chicken breasts
- Nuts
- Rice
- Tuna
- Vegetables
- Fruit

I'm always able to get at least 3300 calories per day with these groceries alone. I haven't included stuff like seasoning or oil as they were already at home but they won't be expensive as you won't buy them too often

What you need is lots of pasta and tuna. Protein is just for muscle recovery. What gains weight quicker is lots of carbs. About 4000 cal a day diet is ideal. you want 5 meals a day and snacks. May sound like a lot but start with 5 small meals and once you get used to that increase the size. If you smoke, stop. This curbs your appetite. I recommend have eggs for breakfast, make a biiiig box of pasta n tuna for the day. Just eat a fist sized portion every hour or so with nuts as snacks in between. Grab some chicken for dinner. Carry on with the pasta til tea and a decent meal at tea time. Eat before bed so you're not burning it off and maybe have protein shakes morning, noon, night and when exercise. You will see noticeable gains in weeks. Just make sure you exercise or it'll go to the gut. Like I said sounds a lot but if you keep the portions to actual portion sizes (size of your fist) it's not that much. The goal is to keep your stomach open and eventually stretch it so it can accommodate a larger portion.

So i have a very slim build and plan on starting the gym again very soon. I have been for several months previously but unfortunately I wasn't getting the results I wanted which I put down to my crappy student diet and not getting enough protein. I plan on starting again and coming up with a proper diet plan, but given that i'll need to eat like 5 meals a day I am unsure how im supposed to afford all of that protein on a student budget?

do you gym vets have any advice on where to pick up a bargain on mind sharing your diet plan?

Thanks!