If you read this blog regularly you probably know I have an unnatural affection for English cheese, particularly Cotswold, a spicy pub cheese that runs about $16 a pound. At roughly $1 per ounce I'm only getting about 5-7 grams of protein per one ounce serving at 100 calories. I don't buy or eat it often, mostly on holidays. Nor do I eat any full fat cheese often for that matter as the fat to protein ratio is not very good. Even if store bought cheese is way cheaper (and mostly tastes like crap) it’s still an iffy deal at roughly $7 a pound and for 5 grams of protein an ounce.
The big issue with cheese, if you’re trying to build muscle mass and not gain a lot of body fat in the process, is that you have to eat too much of it calories-wise to get your protein quota. Cheese is really a fat source and not such a good protein source. I’m not saying fat is bad. I’m saying consuming the quality protein needed to build mass should be delivered in less calories to prevent the wrong kind of weight gain – body fat. Not to mention it should be consumed at an affordable price. (Except for Cotswold cheese which is worth its weight in gold).
Sedentary or lightly active people who do low carbohydrate diets for weight loss don’t have to factor in a protein versus fat ratio. Their goal is weight loss not mass building. Building muscle is a whole different territory to navigate.
My main goal is to build muscle mass. When you're a female natural bodybuilder, have a small frame, and have naturally low testosterone levels (despite the fact my husband says I have the biggest balls he's ever seen), you tend to be protein greedy.
And when gas is $3.66 a gallon and groceries are skyrocketing you tend to look for a deal on the muscle building food stuff.
I ended up at Amazon on Thursday because I was Entrecard dropping and stumbled on a site on bargains (sorry, I forget which site). Amazon is my biggest weakness anyway after Jerry and cheese. And I landed a huge deal on smoked salmon (an infrequent treat) thanks to this tip. I saved $46.00 on 2 pounds of gourmet smoked salmon! First the salmon was a brand I like and was marked down $13.46 per 1 pound unit over retail price, a not uncommon Amazon ploy. Then the items were on a discontinued products list with an additional $10 discount code if you bought two items. Then I got free shipping because my total was over $25. That was another $9 saved. My final total was $23 and change.
That’s about $1 an ounce and 21 grams of protein per 4 ounce serving of salmon at 100 calories. At roughly $3.85 per serving that's higher than the price of gas even after discounts. Well, gas is cheaper for now anyway.
Now to put that into perspective, I could have saved more money to get the same protein fix. And I did at WalMart yesterday. Even with WalMart's usually thrifty options food prices are on the rise. (What happened to their famous ‘Falling Prices’ huh?) And it takes a fairly decent bump in cost for me to notice. I eat a lot of cottage cheese because it’s tasty (doctored with herbs and spices) and packs a protein punch with 26 grams per 120 calories. And at around $2 for a 16 ounce package it’s been affordable. Yesterday it was up to $3.79 a package! Holy Pope-mobile!
That was nothing, the Greek version which is in a smaller container was over $5! At 22 grams of protein per serving the cost was roughly $2.75. Can anyone say highway robbery?
Milk, cheese, eggs, yogurt, meat, fish, fowl, and other sources of protein are up in price. Not to mention it’s cheaper to buy garden seeds and grow your own than to hit the produce aisle. But oddly enough, WalMart had a killer deal on protein powder. At $12.95 I got a big jar of vanilla flavored whey protein with 30 servings. That’s less than $1 per 25 grams of protein and a steal. Not to mention it tastes better than cottage cheese.
