Why are proteins so important?
If you as my father in law, if there is no meat there is no meal. A meal without a meat is just a snack! In previous articles I've looked at carbohydrates like flour, rice, corn, and potato. I've also looked at oils like butter, margarine, olive oil, sunflower oil, and canola oil. Today it is time to look at the final macronutrient which is :
Protein
Now protein is absolutely essential for the body to maintain itself and to grow. Carbohydrates and oils are great to give you energy to live but proteins are what help your body develop and grow. Missing out on protein is a sure way to stunt physical growth and have a weak body. Having said that, too much protein can be hard on your body too!. Your kidneys have to filter out the nitrogen from protein breakdown (as urea). They are good at it but can be overwhelmed if too much protein.
Getting too little protein and too much carb/fat is increasingly common. In developing nations because proteins are expensive compared to carbs and fats. In developed nations because loading things up with carbs and fats helps them sell better....and protein makes it more expensive. Want to make money? Make a tasty low protein snack that people love to eat (Potato chips, chocolate bars, ice cream...the list goes on).
Many people are overfed (too many calories) and undernourished (too little protein, vitamins and minerals).
So, please pay attention to proteins as they are very important!
And on that note here is a list of today's protein list to "Set the Bar" for upcoming posts on the cost of getting this valuable macronutrient.
Now in case you are impatient I'll give you the quick list of prices for 2000 calories. So if you were to get your entire daily calories from these sources this is how much you would need to spend daily! From least expensive to most expensive:
- Lentils..........1.07
- Chickpeas........1.15
- Soy Beans........1.30
- Pork.............4.58
- Milk.............4.58
- Chickpeas in can.5.24
- Chicken..........$5.98
- Beef.............7.56
- Eggs.............9.55
Notice: The cheapest meat is triple the price of beans.
From a price perspective it pays to be vegan. Although check the source of your protein even when your vegan to avoid paying too much. As a side mention going vegan is also better for the environment. So I am not vegan but would call myself flexitarian. I try to limit my meat but also try to get the most nutrition for the lowest cost. If that lowest cost is meat...well, meat is on the menu tonight.
Side note for 
Meats, Beans, Eggs, and Milk
Typically the "best" protein sources are either meats or beans. Today's list will focus on those.
Beef
The cheapest beef I could find was lean ground beef at $4.12/lb
$ 0.91/100g which means $0.91 / 240cal
Cost per day at 2000 cal/day = $7.56
Pork
At $5.49/kg it is much less expensive than beef.
$0.549/100g or $0.549 / 240cal
For a 2000 calorie daily allowance that would be $4.58
Eggs
At $4.01/dozen its a little hard to figure out their cost but here's the numbers as I see them. A typical large egg is about 50g. There are 12 in a carton so about 600g in a carton.
$ 4.01 for 600g
$ 4.01 for 840cal
$ $9.55 for 2000 calorie daily requirement
Chicken
Of course is chicken cheaper than eggs? $21.96 for 3.046kg of chicken. With a little math :
$ 0.72 for 100g which is
$ 0.72 for 240 calories or
$ 6.00 for 2000 calorie daily requirement
Believe it or not chicken is cheaper than eggs. I wouldn't have guessed! Doing the math is useful I suppose 😄
Milk
Now everyone thinks of Milk as a great protein source. It certainly is a complete protein source but it also has a lot of sugar and fat! It has 50% sugar (lactose) with 20% protein and 0-4% fat depending which type you drink. However, today I'm doing the math on 2% milk as follows: $5.95 for 4L is
$0.15/100ml and at 0.65cal/ml
$0.15/65 cal which is the same as
$ 4.58 for 2000 calorie daily requirement.
Chickpeas / Garbanzo beans
This gets a special section because its a great deal and a terrible deal at the same time! Take a look at the flyer that came yesterday. You have a choice of dried chickpeas of a can of chickpeas:
Dried is on sale for $0.99 for 454g (1lb) while the canned chickpeas are $0.98 for a 398ml can. How many dried beans equal one 398ml can? About 100g of dried beans. Sure you have to cook them for 6hrs in a crock pot to convert but still:
Lets look at the dollar cost per day and see how they stack up :
Dried Chickpeas
$0.99 / 454g which turns out to
$0.22 / 100g pretty cheap and that would be
$0.22 / 378 calorie and
$1.15 for 2000 calorie daily requirement
But
Chickpeas in Can
$0.99 for 398ml can which is equivalent to 100g of dried bean
$0.99 for 100g
$0.99 for 378 calorie
$5.24 for 2000 calorie daily requirement
Lentils
I hate lentils and don't know how to cook them but at $0.88/100g they seem really cheap. I'll do the math just for completeness.
$ 0.19 for 100g
$ 0.19 for 361 calories which equals
$ 1.07 for 2000 calorie daily requirement
Final Thoughts
Looking at the different protein sources I was quite surprised that eggs were more expensive than chicken. Go figure. I was also surprised that eating pork is actually cheaper than eating chickpeas if you decide to get the beans in a can
Take home message: Do the math!
When you compare everything based on how expensive the same amount of calories (in this case 2000 daily requirement) it is so much easier to see what is expensive and what is cheaper and by how much!