Economical bulk protein supplier.

davemata · Feb 18, 2015

If there was ever a single community that could have ideas, it would either be preppers or bodybuilders.

I've recently taken to making my own version of soylent, and I plan to make about about 30# or so to store as a 30 day food source for 1 person. (Recipe)

Right now, cost is sitting at $7 a day for full Macro/Micro, but it requires the addition of oil, so I'm experimenting to remove that. However, the single biggest item cost right now is whey protein.

Any suggestions on vendors for whey protein? Best deal I've found so far for decent quality stuff is right about $9 a pound, and I've seen some rotgut stuff at $7 a pound, or $5.50 on sale. Not surprisingly, the decent quality stuff was on bodybuilding.com and the rotgut on myprotein.com. Any suggestions of other places to check? I've already exhausted places like Winco and Costco, both are in the $10-$10.50 range for what they offer.

Certaindeaf · Feb 19, 2015

I had been thinking of your post a few times throughout the day and don't know if I can contribute regarding your specific questions etc.
However, for a while, I've known about Plumpy'nut.. a packaged bar given out to starving souls in time of need. They thrive on it and get fat.. they love it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumpy'nut
To my knowledge, it's not available to consumers in the US. Were it available, I'd buy some as it's very inexpensive and will certainly keep you alive.
Some people do make their own rendering of it (probably just add powdered milk) but then you have to package it and then probably cross your fingers hoping it'll keep a while.
While digging into some of my perfectly delicious many years old stash of peanut butter today, I got to thinking.. why bother? Just get already packaged high quality peanut butter in the container size of your choice.
A pound of peanut butter has around 2700 calories of goodness, keeps probably for a decade or more and who doesn't like peanut butter? Oh, and it's quite inexpensive.. I think around $5/3lb for a 3lb container.

davemata · Feb 19, 2015

That is a good point, I like the soylent though as it can be built as a full food, cover all your macro and micronutrient needs.

I lift weights, I thrive on peanut butter.

That's also why I'm looking for whey protein specifically, even though soy is cheaper. Soy screws with my body, where whey is good to go.

I've never heard of those bars though, that's cool. I wonder just how difficult it would be to make something like that. I could bounce back and forth between it and pemmican I make.

I appreciate your thoughts. I've been hunting up bulk sources.