4 Ways to Make Protein More Convenient
Of the three macronutrients, protein is unique from carbohydrates & fats because:
High-protein foods tend to be more expensive than high-carb or high-fat foods
High-protein foods tend to require more work to prepare
If you’ve worked with me or have read any of my previous work, you know that I am a shill for eating enough protein each day.
If you struggle to eat enough protein each day, the easiest fix is to reduce the friction: adopt the strategies that allow you to eat more protein with less effort.
In this article, I aim to outline some of the easiest strategies to make eating high-quality protein more convenient for you.
#1: Keep ready-to-eat protein foods readily available
It’s highly worth your time to make the protein-source of one of your meals something you can eat within 1 minute of grabbing it.
Or, if you’re a bit peckish and want a snack, having a high-protein option can make your snacking much more productive to your goals.
Some of my favorites include, but are not limited to:
Ratio high-protein yogurt cups
These come with 25 grams of protein per cup, about 1.5x your standard cup of yogurt. They make for an excellent breakfast option or as a means to satisfy a sweet tooth.
These come in two variations: one with 26 grams of protein & the other with 42 grams of protein. One might be more appropriate for you than the other. Nevertheless, they’re both easy options to quickly put down a good amount of high-quality protein.
Hardboiled eggs
Eggs are one of the highest quality sources of protein available to you. Not only that, but they’re incredibly cost-effective as well; even with their recent increases in price. Eggs are great cooked, but way more convenient hardboiled. Lastly, they’re easier than ever to make with this device from amazon.
Beef jerky, turkey jurkey or beef sticks
These make more of a snack than a meal, but are a timeless option. With them essentially being pure protein, they make a much smarter snack than your standard potato chip.
#2: Choose higher-protein alternatives to common foods
These days, there’s a high-protein alternative to almost any common food group.
Some common ones include:
Banza is the most common brand in this category. Compared to regular store-bought pastas, Banza has about double the protein per serving. I wouldn’t look at this as a good source of protein on its own, but it does make an easy way to increase the protein content of any pasta-containing meal.
Kodiak is a brand that makes high protein alternatives to many foods including muffins, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, etc. If any of these make regular appearances in your pantry, then Kodiak is a brand worth considering.
Super coffee makes a ready-to-drink coffee beverage containing 200 mg of caffeine from coffee, 10 grams of protein, and 80 calories. Plus, unlike other protein-coffee brands, their’s actually tastes like good coffee.
#3: Prep proteins at the beginning of the week
Meal prepping is a great habit that can save you a ton of time, however many people roll their eyes at the idea of prepping whole meals.
The good news is: you don’t have to prepare entire meals.
You could just batch-bake your meats on a Sunday and have them ready to grab + warm up throughout the week.
For instance, say one of your meals involved chicken breast, a fruit, and nuts. If the chicken breast was pre-prepared, then this meal has zero prep time when it comes time to eat it.
#4: Protein powder
To avoid being cliche, I saved the most obvious tip for last.
I always recommend people view protein powders more as a food than a supplement, because really that’s what they are: an isolated macronutrient.
Most protein powders contain ~20-30 grams of protein per serving. Throwing down 1-2 servings per day could potentially cover 25-50% of your daily protein needs.
At this point, you can be decently mindless about the rest of your diet and still likely hit your daily protein needs.
I wrote an article here, about how to identify good protein powders; if you’d be interested.
