Public health aside, let’s look at the grocery prices we’re now facing. Eggs are no longer your cheapest bet, although fortunately the price of whey powder has come down since the last egg price spike in 2023. So I figured it’s time to recalculate the price we pay for a serving of protein, across a variety of grocery items. I’m including the classic meat, eggs, and protein powder, as well as a few underrated options like tofu and peanuts.
Methodology
The following calculations are not from an exhaustive national survey of prices. After failing to find a good source of up-to-date prices that could be fairly compared to each other on deadline, I instead used non-sale prices from chain grocery stores in Pittsburgh, checking Amazon and Walmart as well for a few items that weren’t available in store. I did most of my price lookups via Instacart. When there were multiple packages or brands available, I chose the cheapest reasonable-looking item, the thing I would most likely grab if I were shopping for myself on a budget. I didn’t use bulk prices. If one store had a drastically cheaper price than the others in town, I skipped that one and picked a more typical price from among its competitors. Basically, I’m trying to be fair, using my judgment as to what prices are most representative of the market we’re in.
The prices in your location may be higher or lower than the specific ones I found, but I’m hoping the relative prices—which items are cheaper than others—will be similar in your area. You can calculate your own with this formula:
(price per item) / (grams of protein in the whole package) = price per gram
As we go through the list, note that I’ve calculated the price per 20 grams of protein. (Multiply the number you get above by 20.) That would be enough for a small snack, or you can double or triple it for a big protein-rich meal. For comparison, a chicken breast is about 40 grams of protein.
The cheapest protein sources overall
Nothing on my list matches the cost-effectiveness of $2 or even $2.50/dozen eggs (RIP), but the following are all under $1 per 20 grams of protein:
Tuna didn’t make my list this year, coming in at $1.29 for a can with 20 grams of protein. (It was slightly cheaper last time I made up a list like this.) Chicken breast and canned black beans are both honorable mentions at just over a dollar per 20 grams.
The cheapest meats to get your protein
Chicken is cheap enough that it made our overall cheapest list above. Chicken breast is expensive per pound, but you get a lot of protein for that money. Bone-in, skin-on chicken legs are, by contrast, dirt cheap—but that price includes bones, which are inedible, and plenty of fat in the meat and skin. Some of that fat may drain away, depending on how you prepare the chicken.
When it comes to cuts of meat, you’ll be making a similar tradeoff. In terms of protein price, more expensive cuts of meat can still be cost-effective if they are lean. We’ll let you run your own numbers for your favorite steaks and such, but here are two common types of ground beef:
80/20 beef (20% fat), $1.58 ($5.99/lb, 76 g)
93/7 beef (7% fat), $1.46 ($6.99/lb, 96 g)
At the moment, several other meats are coming in cheaper than ground beef, although meat prices vary a lot, and you may find something different. Here’s what I found at my local stores:
Pork tenderloin, $1.43 per 20 grams of protein ($5.99 per pound, with 84 grams of protein)
Frozen tilapia, $1.22 per 20 grams of protein ($9.76 per pound, for 160 grams of protein). Note that fish prices vary, and that you can usually get better prices if you buy frozen—so this one might move up in the rankings if you can get a good deal in the frozen section.
Ground turkey, $1.73 ($8.29 per pound, for 96 grams of protein).
For comparison, here are two items that worked out to be more expensive than the others. One I expected, one not so much:
Salmon, $2.10 for 20 grams of protein ($9.66/lb for 92 grams of protein—and that’s cheap for salmon!)
Canned chicken, $2.17 for 20 grams of protein ($2.41 for a can that includes 18 grams of protein)
Cheapest vegetarian protein options
What about things that aren’t meat? Besides eggs, it’s good to know that dairy, beans, and tofu are also great protein sources. Peanuts and dried beans were the only plant-based items that cracked our under-$1 list above (alongside milk, for you lacto-ovo folks). Here are a few more non-meat items with their prices, many of them a better deal than the meats (mostly cheaper than beef but more expensive than chicken):
Dried black beans, $0.66 for 20 grams of protein ($3.29/lb, 100 grams of protein)
Canned black beans, $1.03 for 20 grams of protein ($1.29 per can with 25 grams of protein)
Eggs, $1.12 for 20 grams of protein if you buy them at $4.69/dozen (extra large). Prices are volatile here, so calculate your own: large eggs have 6 grams of protein each, extra-large have 7 grams.
Cheddar cheese, $1 per 20 grams of protein ($2.79 for an 8-ounce block of cheese with 56 grams of protein)
Extra firm tofu, $1.16 per 20 grams of protein ($2.49/lb, 43 grams of protein)
String cheese, low-moisture mozzarella, 88 cents ($3.69 for a 12-pack, 84 g)
Whey protein powder, $1.10 per 20 grams of protein ($38.25 for a tub that contains 696 grams of protein)
Egg whites in a carton, $1.41 per 20 grams of protein ($3.53 for a 16 ounce carton with 50 grams of protein)
Greek yogurt, $1.50 per 20 grams of protein ($5.99 for a 32 ounce container that includes 80 grams of protein) Yogurt is another one of those items where the price varies a lot by brand and variety, so shopping around is especially important here.
As with any price comparison, check the numbers at your local store. Prices vary across the country, and some items (like those eggs!) are changing from day to day. Sales, coupons, and frozen items can also help you find cheaper prices than these, so if you manage to beat what we found, we’re happy for you.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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By Nermeen Nabil Khear 
