A couple of months ago I shared a recipe for a fabulous quinoa salad I was introduced to at a preparedness camp. Quinoa has never been a part of my family’s preps because 1. It became a “popular” thing to do. Following the crowd has never been my thing. 2. It’s expensive.
But that quinoa salad was super tasty. And quinoa is a fairly respectable source of protein. And, it seems, other forms of protein are getting increasingly expensive. Perhaps quinoa, when compared to beef, chicken, or eggs, isn’t all that expensive. So I decided it was time to perform a cost analysis.
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Protein Cost Analysis |
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Food |
Serving size |
Amount of protein, in grams |
Cost at Smith’s/Kroger (per serving) |
Cost on Amazon (per serving) |
Home Storage Center (per serving) |
|
Beans (pinto), canned |
½ cup cooked (3 oz dry) |
7-9 |
Ranges from $0.80-1.20 per pound, ($0.15-.23) |
$61, case, dry beans ($.20) |
|
|
Cheddar cheese |
1 oz |
7 |
$7.99/2 lbs ($0.25) |
-- |
-- |
|
Chicken breast |
3 oz |
24 |
$4.99/lb ($0.94) |
-- |
-- |
|
Chicken breast, canned |
5 oz can, drained, to 3 oz meat |
19 |
$1.29 ($1.29) |
$1.49 ($1.49) |
|
|
Eggs |
2 |
12 |
$3.59 ($0.60) |
Powdered eggs can, cost/serving for 2-egg serving |
-- |
|
Ground beef, 85% |
3 oz |
21 |
$6.99/lb ($1.31) |
-- |
-- |
|
Milk |
8 oz |
8 |
$3.59 ($0.22) |
-- |
$82, case, dry milk ($0.27) |
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Peanut butter |
2 tablespoons |
6-8 |
$2.29 ($0.18) |
$1.95 ($0.16) |
-- |
|
Quinoa |
¼ cup, dry |
6 |
|
$17.99 ($0.45) |
-- |
|
Tuna |
5 oz |
22 |
$1.49 ($1.49) |
$24.00 ($1.00) |
-- |
|
Yogurt, regular |
5.3 oz |
9 |
$2.99/quart ($0.60) |
-- |
If you make your own using dry milk from the Home Storage Center, the cost is $0.25/serving for regular yogurt, and $0.38/serving for Greek yogurt. |
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Yogurt, Greek |
5.3 oz |
15 |
$0.89 |
-- |
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Naturally, estimating cost per serving gets a little dicey. We have different grocery stores and other sources for getting our foods. Azure Standard doesn’t ship everywhere. Some don’t have access to Costco or Sam’s (and I usually find better prices at a regular grocery store, to be honest). Shopping the loss leaders reduces the cost substantially. And some people raise their own meat and eggs. In addition, these are the prices in my area where costs sometimes run a bit higher because of our distance from major hubs. So the prices I found merely provide a guideline to help folks estimate the best protein bang for the buck for their situation.
Notes. Canned beans cost about three times more than dry beans. Pressure cooking or canning your own reduces your costs. Quinoa is less expensive than chicken and stores very well. So I will be increasing our storage of that new (to us) source of protein. Warehouse stores are not always the best buy. The same goes for the bulk bins. These are the regular prices. Buying the loss leaders will bring the cost down substantially. I was really surprised to find that Amazon was cheaper than the grocery store for some items. We have a lot of shelf-stable sources for protein!
References:
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/-/media/bariatrics/nutrition_protein_content_common_foods.pdf
https://now.tufts.edu/2025/05/29/sources-serving-sizes-what-you-need-know-about-protein
https://www.bradfordperkinsmd.com/protein-chart-by-serving-size/
https://www.todaysdietitian.com/pdf/webinars/ProteinContentofFoods.pdf
Links to related posts:
Dietary Deficiency and Consequences—Protein
Make Creamy Yogurt from Dry Milk Powder
No mention of the staff of life Bread?
ReplyDeleteSNIP 30 grams
In 500 grams of wheat berries, there are approximately 30 grams of protein. This is based on the average protein content of 9 grams per 48 grams (0.25 cup) of wheat berries. Wheat berries are a nutritious whole grain that also provides fiber and essential vitamins and minerals.
A small loaf of bread along with some olive oil and such was the basis of the Roman Army's rations.
Something about give us this day our daily bread.
Thank you for keeping me honest. ;) Yes, folks, WHEAT!
DeleteChuckling, now Jennifer what's the cost of wheat protein?
DeleteIn ww2 the US navy did a study on meats and how many oz of each was required to provide x grams of protein. They were less interested in cost and more interested in volume as they wanted most meals for given ship space. I'm away today so don't have it handy but they found bunny was the most protein per weight, better than chicken which was better than pork or beef. Its why rabbit production in the US skyrocketed during the war
ReplyDeleteExile1981
You need an extra column in your chart of cost per gram of protein.
ReplyDeleteExile1981
Some other good low cost/ high protein sources you missed; Lentils and TVP are 9, and 12 g per 1/2 cup, Tofu is 10g per 1/2 cup, and Tempeh is 16 g per cup. Cooked Farro is 12g per cup. Most of these can be bought in bulk at Winco grocery. FYI - 2 lbs of block Cheddar is $5.99 at Sams Club in N. Calif.
ReplyDeleteI think I was originally lumping lentils in with the dry beans. I'm pretty sure tempeh isn't sold in my town, and I know farro isn't. I didn't even know what it was and had to look it up. People in larger communities have more options for buying food. And I know you can buy most food much cheaper than I can here.
Delete