← Cheapest meal plan optimizer
The cost of a protein target is not a straight line. The optimizer's "extra cost of each target" readout re-solves the plan with the minimum raised by a small step and reports the difference: the marginal price of protein at the point you are at. That number tells you whether a bigger target is nearly free or the expensive part of your budget.
Open the free cheapest meal plan optimizer
Everything below is computed by the same solver the free tool runs, on its twenty starter foods at example prices (2,000 to 2,300 calories, 45 to 80 g of fat, at least 28 g of fibre, no food above four servings a day, half servings). The figures are a shape, not a quote: edit the prices to what you pay.
| Protein minimum | Cheapest day | Extra for +10 g |
|---|---|---|
| 80 g | $1.79 | $0.07 |
| 100 g | $1.93 | $0.08 |
| 120 g | $2.18 | $0.18 |
| 140 g | $2.74 | $0.35 |
| 160 g | $3.52 | $0.36 |
| 180 g | $4.38 | $0.48 |
Raising a low target is nearly free because the cheapest foods already carry it. Past roughly 120 g the plan runs out of cheap protein inside the calorie cap and has to buy denser sources, so each extra 10 g costs several times as much. Doubling the target from 80 g to 160 g more than doubles the bill.
It knows only the nutrients you give it and the prices you typed: not vitamins, allergies, taste, pack sizes or sales. The marginal figure is for one small step from a given target and shifts as the plan changes. It is not medical or dietary advice and will not plan under 1,200 calories a day.
It depends where you start. On the starter foods at example prices, raising the minimum by 10 g adds about 7 cents a day at 80 g, 18 cents at 120 g and 48 cents at 180 g. Edit the prices to yours.
The cheapest protein per gram (lentils, oats, peanut butter) is used first. Once the calorie cap is reached, the plan must swap in denser, dearer sources such as whey, chicken and yogurt, so each extra gram costs more than the one before.
The extra cost of tightening one bound by a small step while re-solving for the cheapest plan. It is not the price of any one food: it is the price of moving the whole plan.
Related: how to eat high-protein on a budget, a cheap vegan high-protein meal plan and what protein a daily food budget buys.