Protein Math

June 13 2025 · 17 min read

Y’all heard of boy math, y’all heard of girl math, let’s talk some protein math if you don’t want people calling you slurs like “small”, “weak”, or “League of Legends player”. I wanna preface this by saying I am fat and my background was not in health / fitness or anything so take the information in this article as you will. However, I do know a thing or two about math and am very into seeing tables. I will try to cite a source from someone who isn't fat if that kind of thing matters to you.

What this article is #

This article aims to dive into the topic of protein, specifically a high level overview of how to value shop to minmax protein to fit your goals. We’ll analyze a few foods to not necessarily make the case that you should or should not buy it, but to hopefully change the way you look at and shop for protein.

TLDR: Feel free to skip to the bottom if you just care about the table without any commentary

What this article is NOT #

This article presents a mathematical approach to comparing protein sources but does not account for individual nutritional requirements. These are NOT meal plan or food recommendations. and just because something here has a big number, does not mean I specifically recommend it. This is just me aggregating nutrition labels into an Excel sheet and sorting. Protein needs vary significantly based on age, weight, activity level, fitness goals, medical conditions, and metabolic factors.

This article ONLY considers the raw macronutrient, calorie, and price numbers and does NOT consider factors like

Consult with a healthcare professional or registered dietitian to determine your specific protein requirements.

Some context / prerequisite knowledge #

Before diving into the protein calculations, let's quickly establish some baseline nutrition concepts. I’ll try to speed run through this part as there’s plenty of literature on these topics that I will link in the sources

  1. Food consists of 3 macronutrients that we care about: Carbs, Fat, and Protein. They all do different things for your body but obviously this article will focus on protein
  2. To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit and to gain weight you need to be in a calorie surplus. There are calculators for this online
  3. To build muscle you need 0.8 - 1 gram per pound of lean muscle mass. This can be hard to calculate so often times people will generalize it to 0.8 - 1 gram per pound of body weight instead. Of course, none of this matters though without regular resistance training to actually stimulate muscle growth. Protein is just the bricks, and excercise is the construction work you need to actually build the wall

Sources

  1. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-are-macronutrients
  2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28630601/
  3. https://physiqonomics.com/fat-loss/

Variable 1: Cost #

Now that we understand the fundamentals, let's examine our first key variable in protein math: cost efficiency. This section is going to look like a Costco/Kirkland glazefest but I swear, it is not my fault that Costco just makes their stuff cost less. One of the reasons Americans have an obesity problem is because junk food heavy in carbs and fat are cheap, whereas protein, whether through meat or other sources, will come at a premium. Something you often hear is something along the lines of “protein powder is too expensive, I’ll just get my protein through my food”. With an upfront cost of $60 a bag, it’s easy to say “wow that’s way too expensive”. Not so fast though, because what’s important to realize here is that you’re paying for every gram of protein whether you realize it or not. Let’s take a look at a few foods that are typically regarded as high protein and see how much the protein is really costing us. To do so, we want to find out exactly how much protein we’re getting for our dollars (grams per dollar) or how much each gram of protein really costs (dollars per gram), depending on how you prefer to look at it. The way to calculate this is simple:

cost per unit(grams of protein∗servings per package)=dollars per protein (grams)

Or the reciprocal

(grams of protein∗servings per package)cost per unit=protein (grams) per dollar

For my testing methodology, Ideally I would pick the median price I can find from the grocery stores I usually shop at since they’re the ones I’m familiar with, which is usually Costco, Ralphs/Kroger, or Aldi, but realistically I picked the one that presented the information on their website the best. Serving size will be derived from what is listed on the nutrition label and not necessarilly what is a sensible portion size for your individual needs. Additionally, I will be using the non discounted price as to not throw off the calculations with promotional pricing. Of course, this is all specific to my area and the time of writing, the point is not to definitively say that X is the best source of protein or anything, but rather to help guide purchasing decisions and go over how to properly calculate the real cost of your protein.

Chicken Breast #

If you’re looking for the most cost effective way to get your protein in, it really doesn’t get much better than chicken. Light or dark meat doesnt matter too much. Nutritionally, they’re about the same, light meat like chicken breast will typically be a little leaner where as dark meat like thighs will typically have a little bit more fat, so choose whichever you prefer, we’ll look at chicken breasts for this example. Grocery stores will typically sell meats by the pound so we’ll use 1 pound as our “serving” for these calculations but realistically, a whole pound of chicken will be about 4-5 servings.

Cost per unit: 3.99/lb

Protein per serving: 146g

Servings per package: 1

Cost of protein: $0.02/g (36.59g/$1.00)

Lean (90/10) Ground beef #

Again, stores will typically sell this by the pound so 1 pound will typically be about 4-5 servings. Not much to say here, it’s meat, it’s going to be a solid source of protein, albeit tends to be a bit pricier

Cost per unit: 6.69/lb

Protein per serving: 22g

Servings per package 4

Cost of protein: $0.08/g (13.15g/$1.00)

https://www.ralphs.com/p/kroger-90-10-ground-beef-tray-1-lb/0001111060420

Additional Meats #

Cost per package Protein per Serving Servings per Package Cost of Protein (dollar/ gram) Protein per Dollar (gram / dollar)
Chicken Breast 3.99 146 1 0.03 36.59
Egg Whites 17.54 5 59 0.06 16.82
99/1 Ground Turkey 7.99 28 4 0.07 14.02
Canned Tuna 1.69 23 1 0.07 13.61
85/15 Ground Pork 5.99 20 4 0.07 13.36
90/10 Ground Beef 6.69 22 4 0.08 13.15
93/7 Ground Turkey 6.99 22 4 0.08 12.59
Egg 6.69 6 12 0.09 10.76
Chicken Sausage 5.79 14 4 0.10 9.67
Canned Salmon 21.99 17 12 0.11 9.28
Kirkland Raw Shrimp 16.95 22 7 0.11 9.09
Pacific Gold Beef Jerky 21.99 14 12 0.13 7.64
Kroger Medium Raw Shrimp 7.99 15 2.5 0.21 4.69
Crab Claw Meat 13.29 16 3 0.28 3.61

Peanut butter #

Looking at a natural peanut butter here with just peanuts sugar and oil. At ~4 cents per gram, this ends up being even cheaper than a lot of meats, but at 190 calories per serving, you’re not just getting protein, you’re also getting some fats and sugar, we’ll revisit this idea but something to keep in mind if your specific goals involve minimizing caloric intake.

Cost per unit: 3.99

Protein per serving: 7g

Servings per package: 14

Cost of protein: $0.04 (24.5g/$1.00)

https://www.ralphs.com/p/jif-natural-creamy-peanut-butter/0005150025565

Vegetarian #

I will be considering dairy to be vegetarian but just ignore the rows if this offends you.

Cost per unit Protein per Serving Servings per Package Cost of Protein (dollar/ gram) Protein per Dollar (gram / dollar)
Peanuts 2.99 7 16 0.03 37.46
Peanut Butter 3.99 7 17 0.04 24.56
Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt 3.99 17 5 0.05 21.30
Grated Parmesan 4.29 2 45 0.05 20.98
Firm Tofu 1.79 8 4.5 0.05 20.11
Cottage Cheese 3.79 12 6 0.05 19.00
Canned Lentils 1.59 7 3.5 0.06 15.41
Quinoa 4.19 5 10 0.08 11.93
Almonds 4.79 6 6 0.13 7.52
Edamame 2.99 7 2.5 0.17 5.85
Baby Bella Mushrooms 2.99 2 2.5 0.60 1.67

Protein bars #

I don’t have commentary to give on the rest of these, other than the fact that for some reason Kirkland sells a lot of things they call “Protein Bars” but at this point I hope you get the idea, let’s take a look at some protein bars. They call a lot of things “protein bars” though so keep all this in mind when shopping

Cost per package Protein per Serving Servings per Package Cost of Protein (dollars/gram) Protein per Dollar (gram/dollar)
Kirkland Signature Chewy Protein Bar 16.99 10 42 0.04 24.72
Kirkland Signature Protein Bar 1 25.49 21 20 0.06 16.48
Kirkland Signature Protein Bar 2 26.49 21 20 0.06 15.86
Nature Valley 18.99 10 30 0.06 15.80
Robert Irvine Fit Crunch 22.99 16 18 0.08 12.53
Quest Nutrition Protein Bar 23.49 20 12 0.10 10.22
Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Caramel 8.49 20 4 0.11 9.42
RXBAR 20.99 12 14 0.12 8.00
Kind Nut Bar (Peanut Butter) 20.49 7 22 0.13 7.52

So what about protein powder? #

Hopefully now that we’ve shifted the focus away from flat dollar amount, let’s take a look at a few protein powders. Yes, I’ve included the trendy ones I keep seeing in my Instagram feed but keep in mind I have not factored in shipping costs for any of these

Cost per package Protein per Serving Servings per Package Cost of Protein (dollars/gram) Protein per Dollar (gram/dollar)
Kirkland Signature Whey 54.99 25 70 0.03 31.82
Optimum Gold Standard 67.99 24 80 0.04 28.24
Ascent Native Whey 54.99 25 62 0.04 28.19
Premier Protein Powder 21.99 30 17 0.04 23.19
Isopure 54.99 25 50 0.04 22.73
Ghost 49.99 25 28 0.07 14.00
Orgain 30.98 21 20 0.07 13.56
Boba Tea Protein 49.99 25 25 0.08 12.50
Lunar Lifts Nutrition 35.99 26 15 0.09 10.84

Okay but what if I just buy my protein powder already in the liquid? (Protein shakes) #

Honestly, it’s not a bad idea but you will be paying a premium over mixing the stuff yourself, I will note that the Fairlife that Costco sells looks unusually cheap, so I’ve also included the Amazon price (at the time of writing, it changed when I refreshed the page) since not everyone has a Costco membership.

Cost per unit Protein per Serving Servings per Package Cost of Protein (dollar/ gram) Protein per Dollar (gram / dollar)
Fairlife (Costco) 38.99 30 30 0.04 23.08
Orgain Protein Shake 34.99 30 18 0.06 15.43
Premier Protein Shake 36.99 30 18 0.07 14.60
Muscle Milk 31.99 25 18 0.07 14.07
Quest Protein Shake 39.99 45 12 0.07 13.50
Nurri Protein Shake 26.99 30 12 0.07 13.34
Fairlife (Amazon) 37.50 30 12 0.10 9.60
Ensure Original 49.99 9 30 0.19 5.40

What you’ll notice throughout all this is that protein powder / shakes dont necessarily blow protein rich foods out of the water in terms of cost or anything. That is, the edge isn't so massive that you should feel like you’re missing out on gains without it. You don’t need to incorporate a protein shake into your nutrition plan if you have no problems meeting your protein goals with your existing meals. What these actually are is a good way to help meet your protein goals since a liquid tends to be easier to consume compared to solid food.

Variable 2: Protein Density / Protein to Calorie Ratio #

Depending on your caloric intake goals, you will probably find that eating a whole jar of peanut butter might not be a great way to meet your protein goals. At 190 calories and 7g protein a serving, hitting 150g will have you consuming 21 servings for 3990 calories and this is not even considering the sugar and oil you would be consuming in the process. To quantify this, we will want to ask the question “Of the calories I am consuming, how many of them are going to protein”, or in other words, we want to know the protein density of any given food, this will be defined as

grams of protein∗4calories∗100=protein density

From the 3 macronutrients, we know that

Source: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-are-macronutrients

Using this formula, we can calculate what the percentage of the calories in a given food are going to protein vs everything else so let’s apply this to some of the foods we discussed earlier

Peanut Butter Part 2 #

As I’ve previously mentioned, despite peanut butter being a very cost effective way to get protein, it ends up not being very calorie efficient

Protein per serving: 7g

Calories per serving: 190

Protein density: 14.74%

Chicken Breast Part 2 #

No surprises here, chicken is still overpowered for everything, we’re still using a pound as our “serving” size but it doesn’t matter for this calculation but chicken still a solid source of protein

Protein per serving: 146g

Calories per serving: 720

Protein Density: 81.11%

Canned Tuna #

If you’re looking for something pretty darn close to straight up pure protein per calorie you can take a look at canned tuna. I would NOT recommend it for both taste and mercury reasons but THEORETICALLY, consuming 6 cans of tuna to hit 150g of protein would only be 652 calories. But it’s a great way to add some volume and protein to let’s say a salad without adding too many calories

Protein per serving: 23g

Calories per serving: 100

Protein Density: 92.00%

Canned Salmon #

If you’re like me and you dont like canned tuna, I like the canned salmon that Costso sells. It comes close at 85% protein density and tastes better but it is more expensive

Protein per serving: 17g

Calories per serving: 80

Protein Density: 85.00%

Additional Meats #

Protein per Serving Calories per Serving Protein Density
Kirkland Raw Shrimp 22 90 97.78%
99/1 Ground Turkey 28 120 93.33%
Canned Tuna 23 100 92.00%
Crab Claw Meat 16 70 91.43%
Canned Salmon 17 80 85.00%
Chicken Breast 146 720 81.11%
Egg Whites 5 25 80.00%
Kroger Medium Raw Shrimp 15 80 75.00%
Pacific Gold Beef Jerky 14 90 62.22%
93/7 Ground Turkey 22 170 51.76%
90/10 Ground Beef 22 200 44.00%
Chicken Sausage 14 150 37.33%
85/15 Ground Pork 20 240 33.33%
Egg 6 78 30.77%

Vegetarian #

Protein per Serving Calories per Serving Protein Density
Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt 17 100 68.00%
Cottage Cheese 12 90 53.33%
Grated Parmesan 2 20 40.00%
Firm Tofu 8 80 40.00%
Baby Bella Mushrooms 2 20 40.00%
Edamame 7 90 31.11%
Canned Lentils 7 100 28.00%
Peanuts 7 160 17.50%
Peanut Butter 7 190 14.74%
Almonds 6 170 14.12%
Quinoa 5 160 12.50%

Protein Bars #

Protein per Serving Calories per Serving Protein Density
Quest Nutrition Protein Bar 20 170 47.06%
Kirkland Signature Protein Bar 1 21 180 46.67%
Kirkland Signature Protein Bar 2 21 190 44.21%
Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Caramel 20 190 42.11%
Robert Irvine Fit Crunch 16 240 26.67%
RXBAR 12 210 22.86%
Kirkland Signature Chewy Protein Bar 10 190 21.05%
Nature Valley 10 190 21.05%
Kind Nut Bar (Peanut Butter) 7 200 14.00%

Protein Powders #

Protein per Serving Calories per Serving Protein Density
Isopure 25 110 90.91%
Ascent Native Whey 25 120 83.33%
Ghost 25 120 83.33%
Optimum Gold Standard 24 120 80.00%
Premier Protein Powder 30 150 80.00%
Lunar Lifts Nutrition 26 133 78.20%
Kirkland Signature Whey 25 130 76.92%
Boba Tea Protein 25 150 66.67%
Orgain 21 150 56.00%

Protein Shakes #

Protein per Serving Calories per Serving Protein Density
Fairlife 30 150 80.00%
Nurri Protein Shake 30 150 80.00%
Quest Protein Shake 45 230 78.26%
Orgain Protein Shake 30 160 75.00%
Premier Protein Shake 30 160 75.00%
Muscle Milk 25 160 62.50%
Ensure Original 9 220 16.36%

Conclusion #

For the most part I've focused on the whole foods, the base components of meals, to give you a rough ballpark idea of what processed foods like chicken nuggets might look like nutritionally compared to their pure protein sources. Theres a lot of products out there that are marketed a protein sources but rank pretty poorly in both metrics so hopefully this changes the way you go about value shopping beyond just looking at the price tag the next time you grocery shop.

My main takeaways here are

  1. In terms of cost for gram, protein powders tend to be some of the more cost effective options to get your protein in but they aren’t so much better than whole foods such that its a necessity, if you would rather eat your protein in the equivilent amount of chicken then it’s totally an option
  2. If you’re looking to maximize the the protein you’re getting while minimizing caloric intake you’ll want to look at foods with a higher protein density
  3. There’s no one size fits all solution and all of this depends on your own specific goals, dietary preferences, and budget

I’ll include the Excel spreadsheet I used to calculate all this so you can plug and play around with your own local pricing. If you enjoyed reading this or found the information helpful, consider donating at https://jasonw.me/donate

All at once #

Excel Spreadsheet Download

Cost per package Protein per Serving Calories per Serving Servings per Package Cost of Protein (dollar/ gram) Protein per Dollar (gram / dollar) Protein Density
Peanuts 2.99 7 160 16 0.03 37.46 17.50%
Chicken Breast 3.99 146 720 1 0.03 36.59 81.11%
Kirkland Signature Whey 54.99 25 130 70 0.03 31.82 76.92%
Optimum Gold Standard 67.99 24 120 80 0.04 28.24 80.00%
Ascent Native Whey 54.99 25 120 62 0.04 28.19 83.33%
Kirkland Signature Chewy Protein Bar 16.99 10 190 42 0.04 24.72 21.05%
Peanut Butter 3.99 7 190 14 0.04 24.56 14.74%
Premier Protein Powder 21.99 30 150 17 0.04 23.19 80.00%
Fairlife (Costco) 38.99 30 150 30 0.04 23.08 80.00%
Isopure 54.99 25 110 50 0.04 22.73 90.91%
Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt 3.99 17 100 5 0.05 21.30 68.00%
Grated Parmesan 4.29 2 20 45 0.05 20.98 40.00%
Firm Tofu 1.79 8 80 4.5 0.05 20.11 40.00%
Cottage Cheese 3.79 12 90 6 0.05 19.00 53.33%
Egg Whites 17.54 5 25 59 0.06 16.82 80.00%
Kirkland Signature Protein Bar 1 25.49 21 180 20 0.06 16.48 46.67%
Kirkland Signature Protein Bar 2 26.49 21 190 20 0.06 15.86 44.21%
Nature Valley 18.99 10 190 30 0.06 15.80 21.05%
Orgain Protein Shake 34.99 30 160 18 0.06 15.43 75.00%
Canned Lentils 1.59 7 100 3.5 0.06 15.41 28.00%
Premier Protein Shake 36.99 30 160 18 0.07 14.60 75.00%
85/15 Ground Pork 5.99 20 240 4 0.07 13.36 33.33%
Canned Tuna 1.69 23 100 1 0.07 13.61 92.00%
99/1 Ground Turkey 7.99 28 120 4 0.07 14.02 93.33%
Muscle Milk 31.99 25 160 18 0.07 14.07 62.50%
Ghost 49.99 25 120 28 0.07 14.00 83.33%
Orgain 30.98 21 150 20 0.07 13.56 56.00%
Quest Protein Shake 39.99 45 230 12 0.07 13.50 78.26%
Nurri Protein Shake 26.99 30 150 12 0.07 13.34 80.00%
Robert Irvine Fit Crunch 22.99 16 240 18 0.08 12.53 26.67%
Boba Tea Protein 49.99 25 150 25 0.08 12.50 66.67%
93/7 Ground Turkey 6.99 22 170 4 0.08 12.59 51.76%
90/10 Ground Beef 6.69 22 200 4 0.08 13.15 44.00%
Quinoa 4.19 5 160 10 0.08 11.93 12.50%
Egg 6.69 6 78 12 0.09 10.76 30.77%
Lunar Lifts Nutrition 35.99 26 133 15 0.09 10.84 78.20%
Quest Nutrition Protein Bar 23.49 20 170 12 0.10 10.22 47.06%
Chicken Sausage 5.79 14 150 4 0.10 9.67 37.33%
Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Caramel 8.49 20 190 4 0.11 9.42 42.11%
Kirkland Raw Shrimp 16.95 22 90 7 0.11 9.09 97.78%
Canned Salmon 21.99 17 80 12 0.11 9.28 85.00%
RXBAR 20.99 12 210 14 0.12 8.00 22.86%
Pacific Gold Beef Jerky 21.99 14 90 12 0.13 7.64 62.22%
Kind Nut Bar (Peanut Butter) 20.49 7 200 22 0.13 7.52 14.00%
Almonds 4.79 6 170 6 0.13 7.52 14.12%
Edamame 2.99 7 90 2.5 0.17 5.85 31.11%
Ensure Original 49.99 9 220 30 0.19 5.40 16.36%
Kroger Medium Raw Shrimp 7.99 15 80 2.5 0.21 4.69 75.00%
Crab Claw Meat 13.29 16 70 3 0.28 3.61 91.43%
Baby Bella Mushrooms 2.99 2 20 2.5 0.60 1.67 40.00%