The Stack
Three products covering daily protein, overnight recovery, and on-the-go snacks. Total monthly cost: well under $100.
30g of whey protein per scoop at around 50 cents per serving. Body Fortress's 5 lb tub gives you 50 servings: nearly two months of one shake per day at the lowest cost-per-gram in the value tier.
See live price →24g of slow-release micellar casein per scoop. MyProtein's 5.5 lb tub holds 83 servings for under $40.
See live price →20g protein per bar in a 12-pack box. One bar a day for two weeks of grab-and-go protein.
See live price →Why This Combo
Three products cover three different protein jobs without overlapping.
- Whey for the post-workout and breakfast window. Fast-absorbing, high in leucine, and cheap per gram of protein in a value tub.
- Casein for bedtime. Slow-release amino acids during the 8-hour sleep fast. Sleep is the longest stretch most people go without protein, and casein closes the gap.
- Bars for the in-between. When you're at the office, in a car, or on a hike, you don't have a blender bottle. Bars do.
Total Monthly Cost
Math: 30 whey + 25 casein + 12 bars per month:
| Daily whey: Super Advanced Whey Protein (30 servings/mo) | $14.98/mo |
| Bedtime casein: Slow-Release Casein (25 servings/mo) | $12.05/mo |
| Value bars (12-pack box): Protein Bar (12-Pack) (12 servings/mo) | $17.48/mo |
| Total monthly cost | $44.51 |
That's about $45/month for three products that deliver around 1,700g of supplemented protein. Per gram, that's roughly 3 cents.
How to Use Each
Body Fortress Super Advanced Whey (post-workout / breakfast)
One scoop in 8 oz water, milk, or oats. Use post-workout or as a breakfast shake. 30g of protein per scoop hits most lifters' per-meal target in one shake.
MyProtein Slow-Release Casein (bedtime)
One scoop in 8 oz milk or oat milk, 30 to 60 minutes before sleep. Casein takes longer to digest than whey, so don't drink it 5 minutes before lying flat.
Pure Protein Bars (on-the-go)
Keep one in your bag for the days you skip lunch or train far from a blender bottle. 21g of protein per bar covers a meal's worth of supplemented protein in 200 calories.
Cheaper Alternatives
- Drop the bars and add eggs. A dozen eggs at Walmart is $3.50 and delivers 72g of protein. Eggs are around 3 cents per gram of protein, cheaper than bars at 7 cents.
- Swap Body Fortress for Six Star Whey Plus 2 lb at $19.98. Smaller tub but lowest per-scoop entry price.
- Swap MyProtein Casein for Nutricost Casein 5 lb at $41.79. Same micellar form, different brand.
Upgrade Path
Spend more for noticeably better quality.
- Upgrade whey to Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard at $54.99/5 lb. Better taste, smoother mixing, the benchmark whey blend.
- Upgrade casein to ON Gold Standard Casein at $49.99/4 lb. Better flavor profile, similar amino acid release curve.
- Upgrade bars to Barebells at $26.97/12-pack. Candy-bar texture, no added sugar.
See every value protein in our catalog
Browse our full best-value protein ranking.
See best-value protein →Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, especially when paired with whole food protein. This stack delivers around 1,700g of supplemented protein per month, which is roughly 55g per day. A 180 lb lifter eating 0.9g/lb (162g/day) gets a third of their protein from this stack and the rest from food.
Yes. Casein is the easiest to drop if you have a high-protein dinner near bedtime. Bars are the easiest to drop if you work from home and can use whole food snacks. Whey is the last to go.
Most users hit one whey shake (post-workout or breakfast) and one casein shake (bedtime). The bar slots in mid-afternoon or on the road. That's around 75g of supplemented protein per day from three products.
Per-gram cost drops by 20 to 30% when you upsize. A 5 lb Body Fortress tub at $24.97 is 50 cents per scoop, vs 70 cents for the 2 lb Six Star tub. Larger tubs almost always win on cost per gram, with the only downside being upfront cash.
Yes, and it's cheap. 5g of micronized creatine monohydrate per day costs around $10/month from a bulk powder source. Take with your post-workout whey shake. It doesn't change this stack's cost meaningfully and adds the most-evidenced supplement in sports nutrition.
Body Fortress 5 lb: 50 servings, around 6 to 8 weeks at typical use. MyProtein Casein 5.5 lb: 83 servings, around 12 weeks at daily bedtime use. Pure Protein 12-pack: 12 bars, around 2 weeks at one a day.