Cheapest source of protein in UK??

Team Banana Spokesman

I mean cheapest pence per gram.

Lentils?
Yogurt?
Protein powders?
Cottage cheese?
Meat?
Some thing else?

benneally

powders

benneally

...but then again, powders are supplementary which means that you have to eat your normal food, then powders on top. So it would work out cheaper for an all round sustainable diet to load up on baked beans, meat, lentils...

freehub

You'd sprinkle protein powder on top of your food? :shock:

benneally

yeah, how you're meant to take them. No?

freehub

I don't know, I'd not even if it was, I'd put it in milkshakes or smoothies.

benneally

..i was joking.

yeah you take it as a drink, mixed with water/milk.

Scrumple

trap a few rabbits, pop a few pigeons, or snare a squirrel.

BeaconRuth

My guess would be a tin of tuna in brine. Contains very very little fat and virtually no (if any) carbs AFAIK. Almost pure protein so it must be pretty high on a 'grams of protein per pence' scale.

Ruth

DaveyL

Yeah, a can of tuna works out at about 70-80 p and you can get 25-30 g of protein from it. Cottage cheese is also quite a cheap source - a 250 g tub is about 65 p and also has about 25-30 g protein (it has about 12 g of carbs in it as well though).

You'll get a 2.27 kg tub of Reflex natural whey protein for about 30 quid.This contains 19.5 g of protein per 25 g serving, so there's 1.77 kg of protein in there. That's 71 x 25 g servings of protein, so it works out at 42 p per 25 g serving.

freehub

Is 25g enough? Surely you'd want like 50?

Tuna seems expensive, it's like 6 quid for 4 tins of good tuna, the cheap crap is exactly that, crap, with bones in.

DaveyL

freehub wrote:

Is 25g enough? Surely you'd want like 50?

Tuna seems expensive, it's like 6 quid for 4 tins of good tuna, the cheap crap is exactly that, crap, with bones in.

You might want more, but given that's what you get in both tuna and cottage cheese (per can or tub) I thought I would standardise to that.

Of course you could always have a bit more.... But then it would cost more as well

Scrumple

eat too much protein and it just comes out as poo

more is not always more.

freehub

So 25g of protein is enough? I thought the daily amount was like 70?

BeaconRuth

freehub wrote:

So 25g of protein is enough? I thought the daily amount was like 70?

I think 25-35g or so is enough for one meal. You can only digest it so fast IIRC. You haven't got to (and it wouldn't be wise to) eat your entire daily amount in one sitting! (And most keen cyclists' guideline daily amount would be more than 70g, more like 1.5g/kg body weight.)

Ruth

ut_och_cykla

I think Ruth's comments about tuna, amounts, spreading it over the day are spot on.

I also recall (wrongly possibly) that your body will almost always digest all protein it gets - but it is a slowish and energy consuming process. So... excess will not be excreted as pooh (only the associated fibre), large quantities will stay in stomach a long time (and delay uptake of other macro nutrients (carbs /fats). Most excess is simply burnt ( 25 g pure protein only gives about 100 calories) or perhaps excreted as urea in urine. You actually have to work at it to get in too much protein if you are watching calorie intake as it tends to be mixed in with fats (in meat and fish or dairy) or carbs bread, pulses etc. But if you are burmning plenty of calories in training this isnt a concern.
(And no - just in case somebody wonders - protein doesn't rot/ferment in the gut. It is broken down to building blocks for muscle, enzymes etc by acid and protein digesting enzymes which humans are born with.

SBezza

I have read that different proteins are absorbed in different percentages, and time. Meat protein being the best food source of protein, for the quality of that protein, and how much is processed by the body. Lean meats and oily fish being preferable to red meats, as red meats are generally fatty as well. Plant proteins are more difficult to process by the body and we do not as much of it.

Whey protein Isolate is probably the best in supplement form.

Now the cheapest is a different thing, though cheapest might not be the best, quality always should come first IMO.

dave milne

ut_och_cykla wrote:

I think Ruth's comments about tuna, amounts, spreading it over the day are spot on.

I also recall (wrongly possibly) that your body will almost always digest all protein it gets - but it is a slowish and energy consuming process. So... excess will not be excreted as pooh (only the associated fibre), large quantities will stay in stomach a long time (and delay uptake of other macro nutrients (carbs /fats). Most excess is simply burnt ( 25 g pure protein only gives about 100 calories) or perhaps excreted as urea in urine. You actually have to work at it to get in too much protein if you are watching calorie intake as it tends to be mixed in with fats (in meat and fish or dairy) or carbs bread, pulses etc. But if you are burmning plenty of calories in training this isnt a concern.
(And no - just in case somebody wonders - protein doesn't rot/ferment in the gut. It is broken down to building blocks for muscle, enzymes etc by acid and protein digesting enzymes which humans are born with.

Pooh is a bear

ut_och_cykla

dave milne wrote:

ut_och_cykla wrote:

I think Ruth's comments about tuna, amounts, spreading it over the day are spot on.

I also recall (wrongly possibly) that your body will almost always digest all protein it gets - but it is a slowish and energy consuming process. So... excess will not be excreted as pooh (only the associated fibre), large quantities will stay in stomach a long time (and delay uptake of other macro nutrients (carbs /fats). Most excess is simply burnt ( 25 g pure protein only gives about 100 calories) or perhaps excreted as urea in urine. You actually have to work at it to get in too much protein if you are watching calorie intake as it tends to be mixed in with fats (in meat and fish or dairy) or carbs bread, pulses etc. But if you are burmning plenty of calories in training this isnt a concern.
(And no - just in case somebody wonders - protein doesn't rot/ferment in the gut. It is broken down to building blocks for muscle, enzymes etc by acid and protein digesting enzymes which humans are born with.

Pooh is a bear

Oxford English dictionary says pooh is ok spelling tho' it is more usually poo.Wiki says similar. Pooh is/was not a bear - it was a character in a A A milne book that looked like a bear but was infact a childrens toy.
And shouldn't you be working

andy_wrx

Not sure I'd be lecturing someone called Milne about Pooh - probably the guy's grandson or something

bompington

Look through your local wheelie bins for cats?

ut_och_cykla

andy_wrx wrote:

Not sure I'd be lecturing someone called Milne about Pooh - probably the guy's grandson or something

oops - dind't spot that one. No pun or harm intended..... :oops:

dave milne

no relation. just a pedant passing through

Determination

Quorn is a high protein food that vegetarians use instead of meat. The price can vary quite a lot but I think it depends mainly on where you shop.

neeb

SBezza wrote:

I have read that different proteins are absorbed in different percentages, and time. Meat protein being the best food source of protein, for the quality of that protein, and how much is processed by the body. Lean meats and oily fish being preferable to red meats, as red meats are generally fatty as well. Plant proteins are more difficult to process by the body and we do not as much of it.

It all gets broken down into amino acids anyway before it's absorbed across the gut. "Good" proteins just have ratios of the 20 or so amino acids that are similar to those in your own tissue, so you are not deficient in any. Meat has a good balance of amino acids for humans because humans are made out of meat, but you can get all the same amino acids from plant sources just by mixing the protein sources up even a little bit, e.g. tofu + wholegrain cereals pretty much has them all.

neeb

I mean cheapest pence per gram.

Roadkill? Provided you are using the petrol for some other reason anyway...

hopper1

Turkey is a good, lean source of protein.
Eat a piece of fresh fruit with your protein, to aid digestion.
Like Ruth says, spread your intake, so eat little and often...

stonehouse

Not to mention the possible health issues of consuming too much protein, we need far less than is commonly thought:

http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog ... -risk.html

Edamame beans are a very good source of cheap protein, I use them as in between meals snack.

neeb

stonehouse wrote:

Not to mention the possible health issues of consuming too much protein, we need far less than is commonly thought:

http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog ... -risk.html

This is something I have seen references to before - some people reckon that lower cancer rates in vegetarians may simply be due to eating less protein overall.

But nonetheless if you are doing strenuous exercise, it's a good idea to make sure you are getting enough protein.

So the trick would seem to be to eat just enough (given your lifestyle, including requirements of exercise / training), but not too much. Unfortunately it's quite difficult to know how to get this balance right..

Team Banana Spokesman

Well thank you!

Very informative posts.

I will try the tuna because it will go well with the pasta I love so much after riding.

I was thinking powders could be the cheapest but I went in a 'holland and barrett' shop today and it was a lot of money. :shock: Is this an expensive place?

jibberjim

Team Banana Spokesman wrote:

I was thinking powders could be the cheapest but I went in a 'holland and barrett' shop today and it was a lot of money. :shock: Is this an expensive place?

Yes buying online has at myprotein.co.uk has it cheaper per gram than tuna.