What are some cheap protein sources for a broke college student?
as for amazing recipes, search for indian "dal" recipes, which often include lentils with some vegetables(tomatoes, spinach, raw mango)
easy to make in a pressure cooker, lasts for 3-4 days in the fridge, and is an absolute delight to eat when heated up
indeed! and this for chana....soooo delicious
Gotta do protein complimentation.
not in the same meal
This is a fucking terrible answer. You’ll have to eat a ridiculous amount to get any meaningful protein content
I see "someone" knows little about nutrition 😂
I’m 240lbs, I clearly know enough to maintain my weight and muscle
There’s better options than chickpeas for protein
Is OP asking because they're trying to put on a ton of muscle and hitting the gym everyday or are they asking because they're a broke college student who just wants to make sure their diet is at least reasonably healthy? Just asking you since you seem to know already.
A lb of ground turkey has 60g of protein in it and costs $2.54 at Walmart. You can eat that in a day or make multiple meals out of it.
I only mentioned muscle and size because someone claimed I knew nothing nutrition, and knowledge of nutrition is kinda required to maintain the muscle and size that I have. That’s why I did not mention it originally
Not to sound like a broken record but "someone" still does not get it. WMT lentils are under $2 a pack and contain almost 120 grams of protein. Healthy protein.
I’m much less upset at the fact that I’m wrong and much more by the fact that you keep referring to me as “someone”
You really know how to get under “someones” skin
It’s not that deep
Beans, chickpeas, peanut butter, tofu, etc.
Brotein
Also known as brogurt
Also known as Man Chowder, or Cream of Sum Young Guy in Asian recipes
There’s plenty of knock offs but the name brand is Butters’ Creamy Goo
Isn't that in the aisle right next to the tube steak and nut-butter?
I hear Smegma salad has some good protein to it, but the smell is off putting to me.
Crowtein
From fight milk
I think he meant nut-milk. (And I don't mean almonds...)
I think he meant nut-milk. (And I don't mean almonds...)
Beans (and other legumes)
They have the added bonus of being good for the heart.
The more you eat, the more you...
In decreasing order of protein amount: chicken, tuna, greek yogurt, beans/lentils, eggs
edit
I poked around with chatgpt and cooked up this bachelor chow. It's about 2000 calories and 200 grams of protein. I think I would probably triple the spices too.
3 cups red lentils (cooked)
16 oz chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (14.5 oz) coconut milk
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups fresh arugula
Salt and pepper to taste
Prepare the Chicken: Season and brown the chicken pieces in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Remove and set aside.
Sauté Aromatics: In the same pot, add the remaining olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, and ginger. Sauté until fragrant.
Add Spices: Stir in curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder, and paprika. Cook for 1 minute.
Combine Ingredients: Add red lentils, diced tomatoes, coconut milk, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Simmer: Let the stew simmer for 20-25 minutes until the lentils are tender and the stew is thick.
Add Chicken and Arugula: Return the chicken to the pot and add the arugula. Stir until the arugula is wilted.
Season: Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
I'd probably drob the arugula and use cilantro instead. It looks like it's a recipe for a fairly mild south Indian curry.
It's curry inspired yes. Cilantro would work. The arugula is there for adding greens more than flavor.
cilantro is also green, and is used in India..
Tuna cans and eggs. At least here in Europe, u can have a dozen of eggs for 1.5 Euros and 6 ans of tuna for 4.
You're paying an easy $3.99 for a dozen eggs here.
Well, people in my country do 20-30k a year, so I guess it's closer than we think. We have public education and healthcare thought.
Yikes! A dozen large eggs are back down to $2.09 here in Indiana.
Where's "here?"
In most of the US, regular white eggs are $2 a dozen at Walmart and $3.99 is what cage free organic eggs cost at whole foods
$2.09 at Aldis!
I'd wap out canned tuna for canned chicken. If you are eating tuna as a main part of your diet you can actually accumulate a decent amount of mercury. If you eat tuna 2x/week you are probably OK, but going much beyond that and it can really start to add up
Canned chicken???!!! Screams in european
The things we sacrifice at the alter of swol father
Sardines are really good and have waaaaaay less mercury
Sardines are good, but they are potent (I can only eat one or two), and generally have waaaaay more calories since they are packed in oil generally.
Between heavy metals and plastics in the ocean, I don't feel comfortable eating tuna in any significant quantities.
Canned tuna has low amounts of it. Canned tuna is made with small fish in the tuna family. It's big predator fish you want to avoid.
tofu and black beans :)
Beans. There's a reason why they were popular during every rough time economically speaking.
Lentils, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans... So many cheap options. I suggest learning how to make rice and beans if you want a full cheap meal package.
Chicken and eggs. Check the grocery store ads every week and buy what's on sale. Tofu is cheap and can be stir fried in a sauce with rice and veggies. Ham is always cheap around holidays and can be frozen in smaller portions.
Chicken for cheap protein? Guess depends on where you live.
I'm in Ca. and buy boneless skinless chicken breast for $2.20 a lb.granted, I have to buy 3 lbs at a time but I wrap each one individually and freeze.
If you’re in a place where broaster chickens breasts are easily purchased frozen ina freezer, then it’s still a reasonable purchase.
what’s your alternative besides talking unsubstantiated words
Bidenomics has left the chat.
Canned tuna.
Just be careful of the mercury content
Dried beans
Beans (legumes)
😏😏😏
Rice, beans and peanut butter.
Beans, lentils, chickpeas Ground turkey, chicken Eggs and milk
White fish, lentils, chick peas
Whole chickens are dummy cheap. So are bone-in, skin-on thighs.
Eggs give you the eggdge
Eggscelent!
Turkey dogs, cheap and full of protein
It's going to vary based on where you are but I'd suspect in terms of most protein for money eggs or some non-whey based shakes.
So for me this comes out to $2/breakfast bowl and makes 5, so I usually double the recipe. Roughly breaks down to: 450 calories, 45p (40%), 45c (40%), 10f (20%)
• 1 Tube (1lb) of Turkey sausage
• 1 carton (32oz) of egg whites
• 1 package (30oz) of hash browns
• 1 medium onion
• 1 package (16oz) of mushrooms
(Lot of people aren’t fans of onions or mushrooms, feel free to omit)
Season hash browns with salt or other seasoning. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes flipping halfway.
Start cooking the egg whites in a skillet.
Cook the Turkey sausage in a separate skillet, preserve the grease if possible.
Sautée onions and mushrooms in the Turkey grease.
Combine all ingredients in meal prep containers as they each finish cooking to minimize counter space. Throw in the freezer. If you really optimize your cook, you can get 10 breakfasts made in about 40 minutes!
Eggs, peanut butter, chicken. Particularly, learn to use the whole chicken. Sometimes you can find whole chickens on sale. Stock up on them and freeze them. Making your own stock gives you loads of soup options.
There was a guide recently on price per gram of protein at costco.
Their peanuts are the cheapest.
Rotisserie chicken also works well. $5 per chicken already cooked. Shred it at home, freeze it, and thaw it as necessary.
Shred it at home, freeze it, and thaw it as necessary.
And use the carcass to make soup! Also some Costcos have packaged cooked turkey breast with no added ingredients other than salt and water. A little more expensive per lb than uncooked chicken breast, but a very convenient option.
Go in with some friends on a Costco or Sam's membership. Chicken breast is like $2.99/lbs and Rotisserie is $5 for a whole chicken.
Tuna....
Other college students
Lentils and kidney beans
Lentils and beans. Throw in a bit of spice and it can be really good even on a budget.
Lentil tofu
Rats
beans/tofu
Beans, as lots of others have said. But for the cheap part, get dried beans over canned. It means planning ahead, but super cheap.
Ground beef, fish, and chicken.
Depending on where you live and whether you hunt, there's also deer, elk, goat, bighorn sheep, antelope, rabbit, possum, bear, and bison. If you process the meat yourself, wild game is inexpensive.
Hunting... Bison?
Can you elaborate how one broke college student hunts a wild Bison, takes it home and processes the meat on a budget?
My elk tag was $750 and I didn’t even get anything lol
My elk tag was $28 I think. Don't hunt in states you're not a resident in and it's a lot cheaper.
Well there’s no elk in NY so that would be difficult
One more reason not to live there, IMO.
Colorado isn’t much better these days lol
There are very few people that don't have family.
I'm listing options. If you don't like them, that's your problem.
MURICA 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅
?? Beef and fish are some of the more expensive protein options
GROUND beef. It's fairly cheap.
Fish depends on type and how you get it. Red snapper purchased at some bougie grocery store is going to be significantly more expensive than a rainbow or brookie, pike, or catfish that you catch yourself.
Even ground beef is like twice as much per pound as chicken or turkey or pork or tofu and way more than beans. The cheapest frozen fish from Walmart is still gonna be $5/lb and a broke student isn't prob gonna be able to afford the money or time to buy a fishing pole and supplies, learn how to fish, and regularly take hunting or fishing trips.
Where do you live that beef is that expensive?
A complete basic fishing setup costs less than one night of college partying. License cost could be reasonable or insane, depending on the state. Find a good spot and it doesn't take long to catch fish. Instead of sleeping half of Saturday away because hangover, get up early and head to the river.
I keep seeing a lot of excuses here. Guess that's because it's easier to piss and moan than to actually do something.
It's been like that everywhere I've lived since I've been buying my own food, in NJ, NY, MI, NH, and now IL. The absolute cheapest fattiest pound of no name brand ground beef at Walmart is currently $5.48 with leaner stuff being like $7. Most pork is like $3-4/lb. Boneless skinless chicken breast is under $3/lb and cheaper cuts off chicken like quarters or drumsticks are less than $1/lb. That's all pretty similar in most large grocery stores.
You're also talking like OP is out pissing away money partying like someone else is paying the bills. If they're actually broke to the point they're trying to cheap out on food, they're probably not wasting their last $100 at the bar. I'm assuming like most broke college students they don't have a reliable car and if they do, the gas money to waste driving around looking for somewhere to fish and be likely to not even catch anything after wasting the day. They're probably in a tiny apartment with roommates and no room or money to get a chest freezer and fill it with fish or hunted meat.
Like it's one thing if you live in a rural area near a river that isn't too polluted, have been taught how to fish before, have money for a bunch of upfront expenses, and space, and can risk still not catching anything, but that's not the average broke college student.
No one was pissing and moaning.
This is like telling some broke college kid whose car isn't running right and looking for a cheap mechanic recommendation - "Just buy a bunch of tools, take it apart, learn how everything works, figure out how to fix it, order new parts, and put it back together! All I hear is excuses!"
Like sure long term the tools and knowledge might be a good investment of time and money over their lifetime, but for someone who's already broke and just needs a cheap solution now, it's pretty unreasonable.
Remember to pair your beans with rice for a complete protein!
Whey protein powder. You can't get 100 % bioavailable protein any cheaper.
Semen? Could be free as well
If your business model is just right, you can earn money while gaining protein. . . .
Nothing is free is this world.
If you live in America. Costo, get a pack of chicken thighs ( I like breast but thighs are cheaper) for like 20 dollars. And that can last two months.
And a crock pot! Sooo easy
or air fryer. Just throw it in there and forget it.
Crazy thing recently:
Boneless skinless breasts are cheaper than boneless skinless thighs at my costco. Breasts are $3/lb, thighs $3.5/lb
Bone in, skin on thighs are cheaper at 1-1.5/lb
Also, the rotisserie chicken is great at $5 for the whole chicken.
Shred it, put it in a zip loc bag, freeze it.
Those chickens for 5 dollar are a great deal. That completely slipped my mind. I got these little trays from amazon. And I put the chick in them then in the freeze so its like part of meal is already done. However after I get the Chicken. I have to the re cook it up. Add some spices since I just don't like the taste of it normally.
Yeah, the chickens can use a bit more for a consistent meal.
I shredded the chicken, put it in wraps with hummus.
It would work well with fajita style onions and bell peppers.
Become lord of the pork. I can already picture you screaming in victory covered in pork shoulder. Learn to love carnitas.
If you get desperate often, fishing is usually pretty cheap to get into. That depends mostly on how regulated it is where you live.
I'm gonna get banned for this...
depending on HOW broke you are... bugs... i'm not even kidding. Just make sure you can sanitize them before consumption.
Cheapest high protein source is usually a cheap whey powder depending on how many grams & calories you need per day. If you don’t need to limit calories 2 parts black beans to 4 parts brown rice. They are cheap to buy dried.
Protein = eggs.
If you know anyone with a Costco membership, go pick up one of their rotisserie chickens. You can get multiple meals out of one and they’re only 5-6 bucks each.
Costco Chicken Breasts. Those with their frozen broccolis can feed you for nearly 2 weeks off like $35
Cottage cheese! I eat it as a snack but also add it to recipes to add a bit of protein.
Egg noodles and ground beef... Make yourself stroganoff, it's protein packed. Even without the beef the noodles have a solid amount of protein.
Tuna fish is a good one too.
For snacks, peanuts, almonds. You can get them raw super cheap and toast them up in a toaster oven, coat them in whatever you want at home (honey roast, cocoa powder, salt, whatever you like).
Costco Roasted Chicken. You’ll probably get at least two meals out of one
If you can’t get into Costco, many supermarkets have similar priced roasted chicken.
Canned tuna
Eggs, canned tuna, beans
Canned sardines.
Less mercury than tuna.
Eggs
Canned chicken and fish. Eggs. Cottage Cheese. Greek Yogurt.
My protein.com
Ground turkey and make some nice turkey burgers.
Chicken is one of the cheapest meats for protein. Peanut butter great for protein as well.
Ground turkey. One lb of ground turkey at Walmart is $2.54 and has 60g of protein. Add some taco seasoning and bang. Oikos Greek yogurt as well, I think you can get the 15g for $1 at Walmart as well. Tilapia too. Also, get a Costco card. A 4lb bag of just bare chicken is $14 and you can microwave it
I am a broke bodybuilder, trust me
Wealthy college students
I go with pure Handkase, but thats more a local hessian thing
Fat content1.1% to 2.3% Protein content 26.6% to 37.7%
Protein Powder
Caned tuna
Jizz. Plenty of it around campus 👌🏼
Boil your leather belt and eat it
I buy yogurt on sale all the time. Different brands constantly going on sale. They have high protein varieties. They come in clutch.
If you can get a Sam’s club membership. That will be the most expensive but it pays having one. Large packs of chicken legs or thighs for under 10 bucks if you catch it at the right time. It’s what I did before I was married put my wife on. No more Publix or regular grocery stores for protein (meats).
Peanuts! I snack on the 1$ planters peanuts when I want something cheap and simple, and one has 13g of protein. Maybe not the straight up most cost effective source but easy to integrate into your life and low risk.
Tuna in a packet, chicken in a packet. Like 20 grams a pack, packs $1.50-$2.00 where I am.
Eggs like 7 grams each one.
Milk 9 grams a glass.
Ground turkey, ground chicken.
Yogurt.
You can search your local super market for frozen chicken cuts with the bone in. It is pretty common to find these for less than a dollar per pound.
Funnily enough, pasta has decent amount of protein (maybe 14-20 grams), which stacks well if you can add canned tuna or even beans (idk if thatd taste good but if it's just cheap protein ur after lol). A good tip for cheap protein is trying to add cheap plant based protein to whatever meat/animal based protein ur eating to kind of stack it/make your food go longer. Even sandwiches can be high protein although high protein bread probs isn't classified as broke college student.
Peas are also a good protein source for adding to meals, not as a stand alone tho! When you're broke, you have to stack cheaper proteins with your more expensive protein (often meat) imo. So you could add some microwaved peas to your rice, and add a beef stock cube to it (this will make it taste 10x trust me, it makes rice and beans/peas much less depressing!)
I'm writing this assuming you're in an american style dorm where u cant cook in your room/area, but you could also make lentils into a nice side dish by adding some salt, olive oil, lemon juice (you can get the stuff in the bottle which is cheaper), and add a touch of feta cheese to make it taste nicer, maybe some red onion, tomato, etc. Idk what your kitchen situation is like tho
I forgot firm tofu of course, maybe there's recipes online for frying up large slices of marinated tofu to keep in the fridge for sandwiches or something? It could probably keep for 3 days id say. Or u could make tofu rice paper rolls, and add the veggies of your choice, and dip it in hoisin sauce which helps if you need extra flavour to eat tofu
Eggs, black beans, tuna, hot dogs, turkey burgers to name a few.
Chicken leg quarters
Dogfood
Peanut butter and tuna
Make a big pot of beans with a smoked turkey drumstick and onion and green pepper. Look up a recipe for Hoppin John. Add rice to stretch it out.
Baked beans. Or eggs.
Pork loin. Chicken legs and leg quarters. Ground beef. Learn to cook a little bit and these can be transformed into 100 different meals.
Rice, beans, chicken. The cheaper the chicken the better, I like to ground it up anyway and just mix and match seasoning/sauce.
Huel
Tuna
Fight Milk
Eggs, spam, deli-meat, kielbasa, what helps me the most is shopping around and seeing which stores have sales on meat.
Google beondegi can.
Though some people are fond of silkworm pupae from the first bite, many people find beondegi to be more of an acquired taste. It first became popular as a wartime food during the Korean War, since its excellent nutritional value and wide availability were helpful to people in need of a stable supply of protein.
Family pack chicken thighs. They are like $5
You can get all the protein you want for free at the truck stop glory hole, trust me.
Protein shakes with frozen banana. Ideally other stuff but bananas are the cheapest.
Dog food is by far the cheapest
feta cheese and canned fruit.
also try making your own charcuterie board. you can buy cheap crackers (carbs) cheese (dairy and protein) and a deli meat (protein) for the same price as pepperoni sticks nowdays, if youre smart. only downside arguably is its high in salt and stuff, but makes a great snack.
protein powder pancakes/french toast. some grocery stores that bake their own bread sell day old bread for a dollar.
buy canned beans. any kind, even do beans and hot dogs with toast.
chickpea salad. (dont eat everyday, chickpeas arent good for you for daily use (cant remember why) have every second day)
peanut butter (be careful, it can very quickly put you over your calorie count for the day)
fish. best source of protein (salmon) if you cant afford, try buying those little tins of tuna and add to salad when ready to eat.
go to a grocery store that sells whole cooked chickens, take it apart and spread it out through the week in different meals for variety.
eggs. egg salad, eggs on avacado toast with salt, omelettes, stir fries. eggs are your most versatile protein aside from lentilles
cheap protein is white meats best bang for your buck is fish expensive but worth it are red meats
buy a large roast, slowcook it and freeze meals for the next two weeks. also do this with bean-heavy chillis.
Beans, sausage. Eggs
Peanut butter
Tofu, peanut butter, beans, eggs.
I would think the powdered protein, especially if you catch a deal you can get it for less than $1/serving and if you mix it with milk, it’s like 30-35 grams of protein.
Beans
How flexible are you?
Eggs, ground beef, protein powder
Peanuts, peanut-butter, and nuts in general. You don’t need to add the protein via a big meal, you can add it via snacking.
Those are high fat content that op might not want to add in tho.
Eggs
It's weird that a whole rotisserie chicken from Costco is only $5...can you even buy a dozen eggs for that lately?
Eggs here are $2,79 for 18 eggs. Buy a rotisserie chicken for 8 dollars at Kroger.
Eggs.
Tofu and PTS are overlooked and can be pretty cheap
Tofu, beans, lentils, chickpeas. Basically all the plant based proteins. Meat is expensive. You could also look for higher protein yoghurt. I prefer soy yoghurt, but that may be difficult to find, depending where you live.
Oh and eggs I guess.
Riced cauliflower. Replace rice with it when making egg-fried rice. Incredibly easy, and cheap.
beans.
Gloryhole
A whole Costco rotisserie chicken is only $5, almost no way you'll beat that.
I'm a big fat guy and that is enough food for 4 days (along with some salad or rice).
banana...
Can you work in food service at your college? Even if can’t get part time or an official job there’s usually someone willing to swap shifts or let you clean dishes or facilities for a meal.
Can you work in food service at your college? Even if can’t get part time or an official job there’s usually someone willing to swap shifts or let you clean dishes or facilities for a meal.
So for me this comes out to $2/breakfast bowl and makes 5, so I usually double the recipe. Roughly breaks down to: 450 calories, 45p (40%), 45c (40%), 10f (20%)
1 Tube (1lb) of Turkey sausage 1 carton (32oz) of egg whites 1 package (30oz) of hash browns 1 medium onion 1 package (16oz) of mushrooms
(Lot of people aren’t fans of onions or mushrooms, feel free to omit)
Season hash browns with salt or other seasoning. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes flipping halfway.
Start cooking the egg whites in a skillet.
Cook the Turkey sausage in a separate skillet, preserve the grease if possible.
Sautée onions and mushrooms in the Turkey grease.
Combine all ingredients in meal prep containers and throw in the freezer. If you really optimize your cook, you can get 10 breakfasts made in about 40 minutes.
Eggs.
Greek yogurt.
Lentils.
Beans.
Cum.
Start a Guinea pig ranch bro
I don't know if it is still the case, but canned tuna was pretty cheap when I was a broke young lad.
Go to smart and final, buy ten lbs of wings for 24 bucks or 40 lbs of chicken thighs for $82. You can also buy bulk meat in Costco. If you have a Costco membership a whole chicken roasted is like 4.99 and is usually around 3lbs. Costco membership is totally worth it just for the chicken. Costco membership is like 60 bucks, then buy 4 chickens a month for $20- then it’s like 144 lbs of chicken a year for $200. You can totally live off the TB12 diet for less than 600 a year at Costco. (2 bags of 50 lb rice, romaine lettuce and bulk salad dressing) , eggs
Also Costco eggs are cheap af
Eggs all day
Eggs
Ground Beef
Canned tuna and salmon! Costco/Sam’s club/aldis chicken breasts. Buying meat from a butcher and learning to cut steaks yourself. Dollar per gram of protein can’t be beat here.
Canned Tuna
Sardines go for about $1-1.50 at Grocery Outlet (I recommend the “Louisiana hot sauce” Season brand). They’re not hot. Not very fishy but packed with protein, omega-3 fatty acids and calcium.
Canned tuna and ground beef are both relatively cheap
Eggs
lentils and chickpeas