Quark, Skyr, Cottage Cheese or Protein Yoghurt? The UK Dairy Aisle Ranked by Protein per Pound

TL;DR

• This guide is for UK shoppers: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl and M&S, with prices in pounds and packs in grams.
• The cheapest dairy protein in the country is boring: semi-skimmed or skimmed milk at roughly 2p per gram of protein, then own-brand fat-free quark at around 3p.
• On protein per calorie, quark, skyr and 0% Greek yoghurt all sit at 15 to 18 g of protein per 100 kcal. That is leaner than chicken thighs.
• Branded “protein” pots and shakes cost two to three times more per gram than own-brand quark. You are paying for the flavour and the convenience, so pay it on purpose.
• The trap: “Greek-style” yoghurt. It is usually not strained, carries about half the protein of real Greek yoghurt, and often double the fat.

Our UK supermarket shopping list covers the whole shop, the store cupboard guide covers tins and jars, and the freezer aisle guide covers frozen proteins and veg. The chilled dairy aisle deserves its own walk-through, because it is where the most protein-dense cheap food in the store sits right next to the most overpriced.

Prices below are typical 2026 ranges. They move with Clubcard and Nectar offers and vary by store, so check the shelf tag. The method holds even when the numbers drift.

How to judge anything in the fridge

Two numbers do all the work.

Pence per gram of protein. Multiply protein per 100 g by the pack weight in hundreds of grams, then divide the price by that. A 450 g tub of skyr at 10.5 g per 100 g holds about 47 g of protein; at £1.45 that is roughly 3p per gram.

Protein per 100 kcal. Divide protein per 100 g by calories per 100 g, then multiply by 100. Above 12 g is lean. Under 6 g means the food is mostly fat or sugar with some protein attached.

A sensible scale for the dairy aisle:

• Under 3p per gram: excellent.
• 3p to 5p: normal for own-brand strained products.
• Over 6p: branded or convenience pricing. Fine if it is the thing that gets you to your target.

Tier 1: the cheapest grams in the aisle

Milk

Semi-skimmed carries about 3.5 g of protein per 100 ml. A 4-pint (2.27 litre) bottle at roughly £1.45 to £1.65 holds around 80 g of protein, which is about 2p per gram. Skimmed has nearly identical protein with fewer calories, landing at around 10 g of protein per 100 kcal against 7 to 8 g for semi-skimmed.

Milk is easy to under-log because it goes in tea and coffee. Five milky teas a day can be 150 to 200 ml you never wrote down.

Fat-free quark

The quiet champion. Own-brand quark at Aldi, Lidl, Tesco and Sainsbury’s typically carries 11 to 13 g of protein per 100 g at only 65 to 75 kcal. A 250 g tub at roughly 75p to 95p holds 30 g of protein, so 2.5p to 3p per gram, at about 17 g of protein per 100 kcal.

It is thick and a little sour on its own. Stir in a spoon of jam, cocoa powder and sweetener, or use it in place of cream cheese in savoury dishes.

Own-brand skyr

Aldi and Lidl skyr usually comes in 450 g tubs at roughly £1.30 to £1.60, with 10 to 11 g of protein per 100 g and around 60 to 65 kcal. That puts it at about 3p per gram and 16 to 17 g per 100 kcal. Smoother than quark, closer to a normal yoghurt, and the easiest one to eat every day.

Cottage cheese

Own-brand reduced-fat cottage cheese runs about 10 to 12 g of protein per 100 g, at 75 to 90 kcal. A 300 g tub at £1.00 to £1.40 works out at roughly 3p to 4p per gram. The full-fat versions are not dramatically worse; check the label, because the gap is often only 20 to 30 kcal per 100 g.

Tier 2: worth the small markup

0% Greek yoghurt (the real thing)

Strained Greek yoghurt, such as Fage Total 0% or the own-brand “Greek yoghurt” that does not say “style”, carries about 10 g of protein per 100 g at roughly 55 to 60 kcal. That is 17 to 18 g per 100 kcal, as lean as quark. The cost is the issue: branded 0% at £2.50 to £3.00 for 450 to 500 g lands near 5p to 6p per gram. Own-brand strained versions sit closer to 4p.

Big tubs of plain skyr from the brands

Arla Skyr and similar branded tubs usually cost £0.50 to £1.00 more than the Aldi or Lidl equivalent for nearly identical numbers. If your nearest shop is a Tesco Express, it is still a decent buy at 4p to 5p per gram.

Lighter cheeses

Mozzarella light, reduced-fat feta and halloumi light all improve the ratio over their full-fat versions, but none of them are lean foods. Reduced-fat mature cheddar sits around 8 to 9 g of protein per 100 kcal, against roughly 6 g for regular cheddar. Useful for flavour, including in a decent high-protein ready meal, but not as a protein source on its own.

Tier 3: the traps

”Greek-style” yoghurt

The “style” usually means thickened rather than strained. Typical numbers: 4 to 6 g of protein per 100 g, 9 to 10 g of fat, around 120 to 130 kcal. That is 4 g of protein per 100 kcal, a quarter of the ratio of quark. It is a lovely food. It is not a protein food.

Single-serve “high protein” pots and puddings

Branded protein yoghurts and puddings typically deliver 15 to 20 g of protein in a 150 to 200 g pot, which is genuinely good per calorie. The price is the catch: at £1.20 to £1.60 a pot, you pay 6p to 9p per gram. Buy a 450 g tub of skyr and a jar of honey and you get the same protein for half the money.

Ready-to-drink protein shakes

Chilled protein milks and shakes with 20 to 30 g per bottle usually cost £1.75 to £2.50. That is 7p to 10p per gram, roughly four times the price of the milk they are made from. Worth it on a commute or straight after the gym, when the alternative is nothing at all. Not worth it as a daily habit if budget matters.

Fruit corners, flavoured skyr and kids’ yoghurts

Flavoured versions often carry 10 to 15 g of added sugar per pot and lose a third of the protein to the fruit layer. Buy plain and add your own fruit, so you know what you logged.

A UK dairy basket that works

For one person for a week, roughly £7 to £9 at Aldi or Lidl:

• 4 pints of skimmed or semi-skimmed milk: about 80 g of protein
• 3 tubs of fat-free quark (250 g): about 90 g
• 2 tubs of own-brand skyr (450 g): about 95 g
• 1 tub of reduced-fat cottage cheese (300 g): about 33 g

That is close to 300 g of protein, or 40 to 45 g a day from dairy alone, for under £1.30 a day. Pair it with the chicken, eggs and tins from our main shopping list and most people can hit the 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg of body weight range without a single branded “protein” product.

Logging dairy without the faff

• Scan the barcode. Own-brand quark and skyr labels vary more than you would expect between supermarkets; a 2 g per 100 g difference adds up over a week. Chowdown’s barcode scanner pulls the exact product.
• Weigh the tub once, then estimate by fraction. Half a 450 g tub of skyr is 225 g. You do not need the scale every time.
• Log the milk in drinks. Set up a “tea with milk” entry once and reuse it.
• Watch the toppings. A tablespoon of honey is about 60 kcal and granola can add 150 to 200 kcal per handful. The yoghurt is rarely the problem.

The dairy aisle is the cheapest place in a UK supermarket to buy lean protein, as long as you shop the plain tubs and skip the marketing on the single pots.