Beaver [she/her]Cost by Protein Source
AshyrCurious where tofu would be at on this chart.
I suspect it would be at the bottom right blue cluster with the legumes
Pricing and product availability is regional and variable, but some napkin math using my local Walmarts pricing puts it at:
- 5.33g protein per 100g food
- $3.04 for 30g protein
C/theydidthemath?
Thanks so much, that’s very helpful and actually a little disappointing.
No problem! Turns out my Walmart only sells a single package type of tofu so take it with a grain of salt. It’s still a cheap and good protein source, but not as dense as an animal or legume protein source.
Yeah, I’ve got two packets of tofu at home and they list 12g and 15g of protein per 100g…
Take it with way more than a grain of salt — add some nutritional yeast and MSG, anything to give that tofu flavor!
Oh no, it’s much better than that.
Google suggests it’s 8g per 100g, which on paper doesn’t sound great but a package over here is around 2 bucks for 16oz, roughly 450g. Being conservative we could say 50 cents for 100g.
8, 16, 24, 32 puts us a little under 2 bucks.
That said, tofu is 5 servings of 70cal; the 100g isn’t all calories. I’m guessing water? In any case, that eats into your cost effectiveness, putting it closer to the center than near the legumes where it really should be.
Your mileage may vary though. Nuts are great, but peanuts only pull ahead because of how insanely cheap they can be. They’re much fattier. Tofus great, though, if you prepare it as intended and not as some meat substitute like many Americans tend to do.
the problem is there are a ton of varieties of tofu, and they’re all generally around the same price. it seems the silken tofu have around 5g of protein, but some of the extra firm varieties have over 15g protein per 100 tofu, putting it in a much more respectable spot in the bottom middle with the grains and such