So I started going to the gym, I'm going to stop being fat and get so jacked, but ChatGPT says I should be eating like 200g+ of protein over the day. I ordered some protein powder but that's only like 20g post workout. What are the cheapest forms of protein I can eat over the day? My YouTube algorithm is all young guys working out by now and they all eat like millionaires. I need to eat as cheap as possible. What should I buy and where from?
Cheap Protein to Eat over The Day
AustriaBargain on 30/03/2025 - 15:42
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Did you miss the first 7 words
Nope
I'm losing weight and fat by exercising, but I'm not going to a gym. Going to a gym isn't required to do what is needed, AND this being ozbargain, IT'S CHEAPER by not going to a gym
Cool but you've totally ignored OP's actual question and given advice that wasn't asked for. (Gym).
Btw there is also no reason that OP couldn't lose weight whilst also building muscle (Via a gym).
no reason that OP couldn't lose weight whilst also building muscle
Muscle is heavier than fat so the OP will be gaining weight in kilograms by replacing blubber for muscle.
I didn't get fat in the first place so I don't need to lose weight and fat. In fact its not REQUIRED to get fat, and it's CHEAPER not to eat food you don't need. This is ozbargain after all, why would you SPEND money on food you don't need.
@CaptainJack: You seem to be new here. The idea of OzB is not to not SPEND money. In fact it's the opposite - it's to spend money on unnecessary things
Exercise only plays a small part of slimming. It's mostly your diet, replace sugar intake with protein and vegs. Consume food that releases energy slowly so you don't feel hungry quickly. Buy a mini food weighing scale and learn how to calculate calories intake. Identify your enemy(chocs, chips, liquid sugar) and learn real food. Of course its going to take time to get used to sugar deficiency state so don't go all out at one time your going to crash and return to day one or worse. Diet doesn't mean you have to live in hell, a bit of happiness at the cost of time is better than bitter life.
FYI some protein powder is made of dried crickets so go vegan if you are skirmish.
Squeamish?
It's an albany paintball expression
Yes thank you it's squeamish. Vocab crash.
https://www.thegrocerygeek.com.au/portfolio-item/macro-whole…
Eggs, chicken, turkey, beef, yoghurt- buy and cook/freeze in bulk. Protein in each meal.
I would also add tuna and cottage cheese
beef mince is really cheap theses days and very easy to cook up and season
Soylent Green is the GOAT.
Is it any good? I've heard the taste of it varies from person to person.
I went to my local butcher to get a kilo of politicians brains. He wanted $99.99 a kilo. I told him that's a rip-off. He then told me, "you got any idea how many politicians we have to harvest to get just a kilo of brains?"
Costco rotisserie chicken
That's a good idea. I should stock up on them and vacuum seal weighed portions to freeze.
costco chicken == cooked in brine (saltly taste) … very hard taste to get used to.
although they are slightly larger in size.spudshed do a good deal on bbq chicken … think it is $10 for 2x BBQ chickens.
and they are comparable to WW/Coles in terms of taste.
Which spudshed has cooked chooks?
Innaloo has all the gear for it, but I only swing by after 7pm so I've never seen it in use
related to the original question: spudshed also sells mutton roasts for $8/kg. Slow roast, portion and freeze it, and its a great way to throw a handful of tasty protein into whatever you're cooking. good if you want variety from the chicken and tuna.
It would be boiled chicken if it were cooked in brine! delicious 😋
I tried the costco chicken for a while - it's very plain tasting and eventually I got an aversion.
Amusingly even our Dogs won't eat the Costco chickens anymore, Not sure if it is just the brine or what else they do to it but they just sniff it and leave it in the bowl if we put any out for them.
I like the brine. The chooks from Colesworth are so dry I always get hiccups when eating it.
@AustriaBargain: yeah I do too, But I think something changed in the last year as dogs used to love a bit of breast or leg meat from it, now they look at me like I took a dump in their bowl if I put some down for them lol.
Another vote in support of this. I get a rotisserie chicken and pick it clean. Tear it down into bite-sized chunks; skin, dark meat, and light meat all go in together. Depending on the size of the bird that nets me 5 or 6 130-gram portions, of which 35g is protein. At $12 a chook you're looking at less than $2.50 per serve. They heat up well in the microwave, and you can use a variety of sauces to keep it from getting boring.
cheapest protein you will get is plain old protein powder, be creative how you use it
Going off the nutrition information on Coles site, there's more sugar than protein tough. Not exactly ideal, especially when trying to lose weight.
You’d certainly add ‘bulk’ just having milk powder.
AI told me https://www.bulk.com/uk/products/complete-mass-gainer/bble-c… contains 'Whey Protein Concentrate (Milk), Flavouring, Thickener (Xanthan Gum), Emulsifier (Sunflower Lecithin), Sweetener (Sucralose).'
If you don't understand the similarities between Coles skim milk powder and the typically much more expensive 'bulk mass muscle protein powders' then I'll guess you're the ideal customer to pay $100/kg or whatever for that stuff … ;-)
@Hangryuman: That powder is 33% protein and costs $10/kg, a typical whey protein will be about 75% and cost $30/kg.
$10 * 75/33 = $22.7 for the same amount of protein, except you have to eat an incredible amount of sugar with each meal if you are going to be eating 80g serves of milk powder. Its a similar price because it's literally the same ingredients, but it costs an extra $5 per kilo to seperate out all that sugar.
Ah no, the cheapest is beans.
Homebrand Tuna is about the same if not cheaper and has other natural goodies. ;-)
tuna
I've read that you shouldn't have more than three serves per week to avoid mercury poisoning.
it's not a tuna!
Who is your daddy and what does he do?
sung to the tuna fish !
It depends. Ideally, you should buy a small tuna, such as Skipjack tuna. The best is to avoid big tunas like Yellowfin tuna. I haven't seen any other supermarkets in Australia.
Most Australian seafood is considered safe to eat every day, even during pregnancy, as long as you aren't eating specific higher mercury species of fish. There's no tuna varieties in that higher mercury list.
Australian dietary guidelines recommend aiming for 2 servings of fish a week due to the improved health outcomes associated with diets including seafood. This is a small achievable goal for people to increase their fish intake, not a maximum or upper limit.
Sometimes people get confused by numbers from parts of the world where mercury levels in seafood are higher, and they don't realise the WHO 'tolerable weekly intake' is intentionally set as 1/100th of the highest weekly dose found to cause no detectable harm during pregnancy.
Even if you accidentally ate more than the recommended amount of those higher mercury fish, you'd probably still be eating way less mercury than it takes to cause detectable harm in a population.
aside from protein powder …
milk == easy/good source.
back in the day … used to drink 2L of milk each/every day.also mix your supps with it too !
[EDIT] : my IGA has recently had on special - milk made by rokeby farms … on sale at similar price to "home brand" … but has extra protein.
always look out for the specials.WW/Coles sometimes has protein bars at half price too !
200g of protein is crazy high. ChatGPT is probably telling that number based on you being an athlete trying to maximize gains.
Aiming for 1.2 grams protein per kg of body weight is going to give you almost the same results, but much easier to maintain. As you lose body fat % you can increase that up to 1.6-1.7 if you want.
100% +++ since OP sounds like just starting out at gym too …
yep - like - how can I get a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger - in one week please ?
How do you know I'm not 166kg?
if that were the case … then you wouldn't be asking chatGPT about protein intake.
meh.
@AustriaBargain: I think it is supposed to be per kg of lean body weight, so if intending to lose weight you should be rounding down. If you are planning to add 50kg of muscle, you might be right.
@md333: Yes it is supposed to lean body weight. If you're 166kg and like 245cm tall, then that protein intake makes sense. Also congrats on 2nd place in worlds tallest man comp.
Basically calculate for how much you want to weight, not how much you currently weigh.
@md333: 50kg of muscle would be great. I see videos of young Arnie in my YouTube now and yeah I wouldn't mind being that kind of big. Realistically though, I know it's never going to happen.
@AustriaBargain: Sorry to tell you but you will never look like Arnie unless you go meet his friends Tren and Anna
Big cans of tuna
Chicken legs is probably the cheapest, put some spices in them and roast.
Tinned tuna and salmon also pretty cheap
Hamburgers including from chicken or kangaroo mince
However don’t go bulking from day one. You probably eat enough protein for a beginner; once you have built a bit of muscle and have a proper routine then you can start looking at it
Skim milk powder is relatively cheap $/g protein.
Canned tuna.Don't trust chatGPT. Verify its claims. 200g a day sounds like a lot unless you're a big dude. From memory you only need around 2.2 to 2.5 g of protein per kg of lean body mass per day.
interesting.. Indeed, with current WPI pricing it's a bit cheaper. Just need to consume 3x more of milk powder :)
Easy to spread throughout the day. Of course it depends on your macros. If you're cutting or trying to keep cards down it probably isn't for you.
Why not Google the question? Instead of waiting for some random feedback
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cheap-protein-sources
https://coach.nine.com.au/diet/the-cheapest-sources-of-prote…LOL … eggs at $2-$4 per dozen.
was this article written in the 1990's ???nope - updated April 2024 !
The first link is US-based, you can always make your spreadsheet with 2024/04 pricing lol
I just eat KFC!
and while chickpeas may come out as one of the lowest cost per $$$ …
you'd have to eat 4x the amount to get the same amount of protein as per chicken breast.just saying.
You'll be farting 4x as much too
I need to eat as cheap as possible.
No need to buy anything. Flies and other insects are a great source of protein.
Chickpeas - roasted or steamed. Easy to pack a snack bag. Very cheap too.
From my YouTube algorithm.. he targets 140g protein and 1900 calories a day… This vid has a "Michelin star chef" reviewing his favorite meals
Why didn't you just ask ChatGPT?
honestly just smash 2 scoops of WPC a couple of times a day.
I'm thinking about it. I ordered the "Earth Protein" from Bulk Nutrients, which is a mix of pea and rice protein powder to cover all the amino acids or whatever. I chose plant based because I suspect whey would cause some digestive issues. If the powder is the cheapest then taking it more often might help keep costs down and simplify eating protein over the day.
I think bulk nutrients' soy protein has all the aminos you need
If the pea and rice mix causes me to far as much as gorgrond I'll have to give it a go. I could try whey again too but I feel like I remember it giving me diarrhoea. Maybe I just was eating bad in general when I tried it though.
Big mistake. Never farted so much in my life as when I made the mistake of trying pea protein powder. It was given to me due to the same effects in original buyer. I threw it all away, not wanting to extend the curse.
Whey does nothing of the sort to me.
Amino Z has some good specials on Protein Powder here every ~3 months, worth grabbing 2-3kgs. I've heard the costco is also a good choice but haven't tried/no exp myself regarding.
As others have said, Chicken, Tuna, Lean Beef Mince, are probably my big 3, outside of powder.
Target 40-60g per meal and you should be right.
For breakfast, I normally have overnight Weetabix with the protein yogurt and protein shake, you can easily hit 40g.
Lunch Chicken or tuna 2x 90g cans with rice and vegi's ~ 48-60g
Dinner like a Beef Mex meal. ~50gSnacks like eggs, nuts, & more shakes fill the gaps.
No idea where you got that 200g figure from, unless you're planning to be a body builder. You need to eat 100-150g max. According to chatgpt, there are 10 grams of protein in a small 50g bowl of mueslie with 100ml milk. You can get mueslie as cheap as $3/kg. And low fat milk for $3 per 2 litres. There are also 15 grams of protein in 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter on top. So, a small bowl of muesli and 2 pieces of toast for breakfast will give you nearly 1/4 of your daily protein needs. You could top that up to 1/3 of your daily protein needs by sprinkling a little whey protein powder on your muesli.
Keep in mind, recent data has shown that excessive consumption of protein is not healthy. Lower consumption of protein is correlated with longevity.
I fudged the recommendation to 200g because I figured too much was better than too little. I think I could eat two pieces of toast with peanut butter every day so that's a good suggestion, thanks.
Too much is better if you want kidney stones. The government recommends no more than 25% of energy intake from protein (source: https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/nutrient-reference-values/ch…) you can get that through normal food fine. If you want to lose weight run a (small) calorie deficit first, and then worry about building things up later.
I'm finding I'm losing weight without consciously adjusting my diet. Working out seems to make me less hungry for some reason. And even if I eat a huge meal after working out I still lose weight. But I might find what I'm eating now will be losing weight at my current maintenance, but will still keep me somewhat fat if I keep it up. Cramming in the protein over five or six smaller meals might help me stay on track and not eat too much or too little.
five or six smaller meals
This is what bodybuilders do when they want to gain weight. A lot of smaller meals every day.
On a different note, everyone I've spoken to who gave up alcohol (either temporarily or permanently), including myself, commented on how much weight they lost almost immediately (like within a few weeks).
The average age of participants in that study was 78. In addition, the protein intake observed in that study is already on the low side in comparison to the quantities mentioned here. The highest protein intake observed in the study was 1.4 g/kg/day, which for a 75 kg person equates to 105 grams per day. The other intake categories in the study were even lower, for example 1 g/kg/day, which equates to 75 grams per day for a 75 kg person, or 1.2g/kg/day, which equates to 90 grams per day. I'm basing body weight here roughly on the Swedish average for men (81.9 kg) and women (66.7 kg).
My limited understanding is that more feeble, more diseased people will tend to eat less, especially less protein, which in my opinion could explain a correlation between lower protein intake and higher mortality. It does not necessarily mean that eating less protein causes higher mortality.
This is the difference between correlation and causation. In many cases there are spurious correlations and reverse correlations which are too eagerly read as causative correlations by people with limited scientific understanding.
Also, while it is difficult to track protein intake across entire lifespans in a scientific study, this study of people in the 50-65 age bracket found that participants with higher protein intake had a 75% higher mortality rate.
My initial assertion was based on a study I saw a long time ago that looked at different groups in the US and their longevity. The group that had the highest longevity was people belonging to a vegetarian religion that had very low protein intake. The same study looked around the world and found a correlation between lower protein intake and longevity.
Is that vegetarian religion the same that also don’t smoke, drink, eat processed food, have good health practices and avoid risky behaviours? Talk about correlation vs causation…
@nse: Can't remember. Possibly. I did initially state this is a correlation. Also, when I mentioned "excessive protein consumption" in my initial comment, I was not talking about the difference between low and moderate consumption of protein like the study you linked to. I was talking about people who load up excessively on protein believing it is essential for health or will help them build muscles faster. The reality is, if you're going to be eating >200 grams of protein a day, you need to eat a lot of food, but unfortunately eating too much is correlated with higher mortality, while calorie restriction is correlated with longevity, not only in humans, but across the animal kingdom.
@nse: There's pleeeenty of studies showing that calorie restriction, and more specifically protein restriction, is associated with longer life spans (mostly animal studies but should hold true)
Take a pick, all Aussie made:
http://macromike.com.au/I recommend the protein water in rotating flavours, the bars are amazing and addicting, meal replacement if you’re lazy or busy, puddings for fun.
I haven't looked at these specifically but I have seen a trend where protein water is mostly casein protein, which has limited function for muscle building
You don't need 200g protein a day. I was 110kg and eating around 100g protein a day with weight training 4 days a week and packed on heaps of muscle. As someone above said, 100 - 150g is more than enough for most people.
A scramble with 250ml egg whites + 2 eggs is 47g protein for about $3.50. A quarter of a roasted whole chicken is about $2.50 and about 60g protein.
cries in "no eggs at supermarket"
You can still get the frozen egg whites pretty easily and you can still get eggs if you go to IGA, markets, etc, otherwise just sub in more egg whites.
Your kidneys can only process a certain amount of protein at a time. It can cause long term issues if you keep overloading on protein
Exactly. Hydration helps with this. Water Hydration is as important as protein for lean muscle mass.
You can digest more than 20g per sitting, depending on your size and gender. Saying that, cheap sources of protein are eggs, Tuna, WPC. Remember also, that most things have some small amounts of protein anyway and that can add up over the day.
I buy Coles unflavoured pea protein powder.
1 scoop is 80grams (into a daily banana smoothie)
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Just adding protein to an unhealthy diet doesn't help.