Cost per gram of protein is the only column I trust

2026-10-06 22:17

Six weeks in I added a column to my budget sheet called protein-per-dollar, mostly to prove the pricey stuff wasn't worth it. I was wrong in a boring way. Store-brand cottage cheese and a bag of frozen thighs beat everything else, and my weekly grocery total slid from about $190 to $132 without me really trying.

The bigger change is Saturday. I used to burn 90 minutes building five identical containers of sad chicken and rice. Now it's 25 minutes: two sheet pans, one pot of lentils, and I portion by weight instead of by vibe. My log shows 140g+ protein on 6 of 7 days this month, versus 3 of 7 back in January.

Contrarian take: the prepping isn't the win. The win was admitting I don't want to eat Wednesday's dinner on Wednesday. Anyone else tracking something that quietly outperformed the scale?

2026-10-12 00:05

Love this. The column that changed mine was protein actually eaten, not just protein bought.

That big tub of store-brand cottage cheese is a steal until the last third goes fuzzy—then it’s not. Same with rotisserie chicken: I weigh the meat after pulling it, because bones and skin wreck my math.

Our little grocery with the pharmacy counter marks them down after 7, and I freeze the shreds in half-cup bags. Yogurt cups beat the big tub for me because there’s zero waste.

Wish my insurance covered groceries, but nope, so I count every egg. Sharp follow-up: do you tally the protein in oats, bread, and milk, or only the obvious meat/dairy?

I used to skip those and then wonder why my weekly total looked low.

2026-10-19 14:02

The column that humbled me was protein per dirty dish. Frozen thighs and cottage cheese win there too, but eggs tank it because of the pan.

I also started logging cooked weight, not raw—my chicken numbers were off by like 25%, which skewed the whole sheet. Now I batch two sheet pans Sunday and portion into four containers; if it’s not grab-and-go by Wednesday, I don’t eat it, no matter how cheap the grams were.

What was your Saturday change? That’s the part I’m curious about.