My guide to the best whey protein and protein sources that have worked for me

I see a lot of posts asking about the best whey protein so I'd like to contribute my 2 paisas here.

The cheapest option for protein has to be eggs. Where I live a 30 egg tray costs 180 rupees. That's 6 rs per egg, and each egg has approximately 6g of protein. So 1g protein for 1rs. Not bad.

Another good option is paneer. I can buy 250g paneer for 100rs. Google tells me 250g paneer has about 50g protein, which comes out to 1g protein for 2rs.

Amul has recently come out swinging with some protein products. See here. I've tried their Mango lassi (didn't love the taste, had a chemical aftertaste), buttermilk (initial batches were very thick, had to cut pack to get it out, newer batches are excellent). I've ordered their whey protein (yes amul has whey now 🤣), and blueberry shake (will update on quality when I get it).

What I liked best was the value I was getting. 15g protein for only 25rs, and that too in a portable container. Comes out to 1.7rs per 1g of protein. Pretty good vaue.

Over the years I've tried a bunch of different brands and I've found some of them to be really consistent in flavour and quality. I'm currently using Nakpro Isolate and MuscleNectar ( try the banana creme flavour, it's really good). Asitis and Zenith products have also been very consistent in their quality. Avvatar and Muscleblaze are good but their prices are a bit higher than their competitors.

Being very value conscious, I've compiled all the different offerings into a google doc file, and found the products that offer the best bang for your buck. Keep in mind, these prices are from Amazon, except MuscleNectar and Nutrabox (they sell exclusively through their website).

Flavoured Whey Protein Rankings

Unflavoured Whey Protein Rankings

Apologies for linking to imgur, and not uploading directly, I'm using old.reddit and reddit only allows adding direct images in their new design, which I loathe.

There are some youtubers I rely on and trust for their reviews. Trustified, Rise2Gether and InsaneFitness. I've been following their reviews for a while now and they seem pretty genuine people.

I hope this helps people on their fitness journey. We're all in it together and we're all going to make it.

May Brodin smile upon your gains!

UPDATE (30/10/2023): Got my Amul unflavoured whey and Protein blueberry shake a couple of days ago and I've got some thoughts to share. The shake is pretty tasty and easy to consume. It does get quite thick when refrigerated, and there's always some amount left behind coated to the walls which I'm unable to drink. This was a problem initially with their buttermilk products as well, the first few iterations were very thick and required the tetra-pak being cut open. They did end up fixing this issue so I'm hopeful that they'll do the same here eventually.

The whey powder comes in bunch of black sachets, making it easy to carry if you're traveling. The powder is quite fine and a bit chalky. It tastes a bit milky and gave me no gastric distress at all. I now consume a half sachet with half scoop flavoured whey and it's been pretty good. Some youtubers and fitness influencers did get lab testing done.

Health By Kilo Got 76.2% vs 78% claimed by Amul

Chirag Barjatya Got 61% vs 78% claimed by Amul.

Honestly don't know what to make of it, with both tests having such a big difference in protein content, but it's affordable and I do kind of trust Amul's quality standards so I'll be ordering again. If only they could fix their horrible supply chain. Right now, all of their protein offerings are out of stock so I don't know what's going on. They could be having manufucturing issues (they're new to whey), or weren't expecting so much demand and sold out instantly. Either way, we all benefit when we can get such affordable protein products.
 
@almosttothewater How good is the Whey quality from Amul? I know you are not the right person to ask but still wanted to know how much protein is actually in the satchet and how much heavy metal is being used.
 
@aquietvoice The whey I ordered is still in transit so have not tried it yet. They've stated 25g protein in a 32g sachet.
Their buttermilk and mango lassi were tested by reputed youtubers and found the protein content to be accurate. Amul is a pretty reputable brand so I assume they'd have quite rigorous processes for quality.
 
@aquietvoice Yes, they're making all the right moves entering the market. Honestly I'm surprised at their glacial pace. Amul processes like lakhs of liters of milk daily (i'm guessing here) so they should've cornered the market on whey by now but I guess bureaucracy and red tape held them back.

You're welcome 👍.
 
@almosttothewater That's a great resource you're putting together, it's so important to find the right protein supplement supportive to one's diet and fitness goals. As an addition to your list, I just wanted to mention Nutricost Whey Protein, which has become a personal favorite of mine. It boasts excellent mixability (no chalky textures), great taste without excessive sweetness, packed with essential amino acids that help with muscle recovery and growth, and above all it provides good value for money! Keep up the hard work 💪🏋️‍♂️ 🥤
 
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