Cheapest Protein Per Dollar at NTUC (The Supermarket Haul)
Most protein advice assumes you've got money to burn. Salmon, ribeye, imported Greek yoghurt, $80 tubs. Walao. Meanwhile you're standing in NTUC on a Tuesday wondering what actually gets you to 130g without killing your wallet.
Good news: the cheapest proteins in the supermarket are usually the boring ones sitting in the corner. Let me show you how to spot them.
The only maths you need
Forget "is this healthy" for one second. Ask one question:
How many dollars for 20g of protein?
That's it. 20g is roughly one decent serving. Take the price, take the grams of protein in the pack, and divide.
Worked example — a tray of 10 eggs. One large egg has about 6g of protein, so 10 eggs is about 60g, or three servings of 20g. If the tray is $4.50, that's $1.50 per 20g. Now you've got a number you can compare against anything else in the shop.
Do this five times and you'll never look at the shelf the same way again. Some things that feel cheap (a loaf of bread, a bag of instant noodles) turn out terrible. Some things that feel expensive are quietly the best deal in the aisle.
The rough rankings
Prices move constantly and every shop is different, so treat these as ballpark at time of writing — the method above is the real takeaway. Recalculate with whatever the shelf actually says.
Tier 1: Sibei cheap (under ~$1.50 per 20g)
| Buy | Protein | Why it wins |
|---|---|---|
| Eggs | ~6g each | The undisputed king. Cheap, complete, keeps for weeks |
| Dried soybeans / lentils (dhal) | ~24–36g per 100g dry | Dirt cheap dry weight, but you must cook them |
| Tau kwa / firm tofu | ~12g per 100g | Two blocks = a real serving. Fries in 5 minutes |
| Ikan bilis | ~40g+ per 100g | Ridiculously protein-dense. Use as a topping, it's salty |
| Chicken thigh / whole chicken | ~18–20g per 100g raw | Cheaper than breast, more forgiving to cook |
| Milk powder | ~25g per 100g | Cheaper per gram than fresh milk, keeps forever |
Tier 2: Solid value
- Canned sardines (~20g per 100g) — protein plus omega-3s, and the tomato ones need zero cooking. Criminally underrated.
- Canned tuna (~25g per 100g drained) — one 185g can is a full serving on its own.
- Tempeh (~19g per 100g) — cheap in most wet markets and supermarkets here, and more protein than tofu.
- Minced pork or chicken (~18–20g per 100g) — stretches into porridge, mapo tofu, meatballs.
- Fresh milk (~3.4g per 100ml) — a litre is about 34g of protein you can just drink.
- Peanut butter (~25g per 100g) — but it's calorie-dense, so it's a top-up, not a base.
Tier 3: Fine, but you're paying for convenience
- Chicken breast — good protein, but usually pricier per kg than thigh for maybe 3g more per 100g.
- Greek yoghurt (~9–10g per 100g) — genuinely good stuff, just not the cheapest route to 20g.
- Whey powder (~24g per 30g scoop) — usually mid-tier per gram, but you're buying speed and zero prep. That's a fair trade on a busy day. Which type to buy is a whole other conversation.
- Frozen dory / basa fillets — convenient, but lower protein than you'd think (~13g per 100g). Frozen white fish varies a lot, so check the pack.
Tier 4: The traps
- Baked beans — feels like a protein food, is about 5g per 100g. Mostly sauce and sugar.
- Bread — a slice has 3–4g. It adds up, but you'll never get there on toast alone.
- "High protein" biscuits and bars — often 8–10g of protein at four times the price of eggs. Marketing lah. Check the label.
- Chicken essence — a beloved gift, but barely any protein per bottle. Nice gesture, not a protein source.
A $30 week that hits your numbers
Rough basket, one person, roughly 100g of protein a day:
- 2 trays of eggs (30 eggs, ~180g protein)
- 1kg chicken thigh (~190g protein)
- 4 blocks tau kwa (~150g protein)
- 4 cans sardines or tuna (~90g protein)
- 2L fresh milk (~68g protein)
- 1 bag dried lentils (~200g+ protein, dry)
That's comfortably 800g+ of protein across the week for the price of about two restaurant mains. Add rice, vegetables and whatever's on offer, and you're done.
Three habits that do the heavy lifting
- Boil a batch of eggs on Sunday. Six to eight in the fridge means a 6g top-up is always within arm's reach. This one habit fixes more protein gaps than any supplement.
- Buy the chicken whole or by the thigh, not the tray of trimmed breast. Same protein, less money, better texture.
- Keep two cans of sardines in the cupboard permanently. They are your "cannot be bothered to cook" insurance policy.
The honest summary
You don't have a protein problem. You have a shopping-list problem. Eggs, tau kwa, chicken thigh, canned fish and a bag of dhal will get almost anyone to their target for pocket change — and none of it requires a single scoop of powder.
Powder is convenience, and convenience is worth paying for on a busy day. Just don't mistake it for the cheapest way there.
Don't know your target yet? Run the numbers, then take this list to the shop.
Prices are indicative and change often — use the price-per-20g method on whatever's actually on the shelf. Educational only, not medical advice.
Kaypoh already? Good.
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