Chicken Breast, Thighs, Mince or Turkey? The UK Meat and Fish Aisle Ranked by Cost per Gram of Protein

TL;DR

• This guide is for UK shoppers: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl and M&S, with prices in pounds and packs in grams.
• Big packs of chicken breast are still the benchmark, at roughly 2.5p to 3p per gram of protein and about 22 g of protein per 100 kcal.
• Turkey breast mince and 5% beef mince cost a little more per gram but cook into far more meals, so they earn their place in Tier 2.
• The cheapest protein on the counter is usually chicken livers or a whole chicken, both around 2p per gram once you account for what you actually eat.
• The traps: sausages, 20% mince and pre-cooked deli slices. They either carry more fat than protein by calories, or cost three times as much per gram.

The meat aisle is where most of a weekly protein budget goes, and it is also where the gap between a good buy and a bad one is widest. A 1 kg bag of chicken breast and a 400 g pack of premium sausages can cost the same and differ by roughly 150 g of protein.

Our UK supermarket shopping list covers the whole shop, the dairy aisle guide covers quark and skyr, and the freezer aisle guide covers frozen fish and chicken. This one walks the fresh meat and fish fridges.

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 on the counter

The same two numbers we use in every shopping guide.

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 500 g pack of 5% beef mince at 21 g per 100 g holds about 105 g of protein; at £3.25 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 15 g is lean meat. Under 8 g means you are mostly buying fat.

A sensible scale for the meat aisle:

• Under 3p per gram: excellent.
• 3p to 5p: normal for lean own-brand cuts.
• Over 6p: premium, convenience or fish. Fine when you want it, not as the base of the week.

Read the raw numbers

Fresh meat labels give values for raw weight. Log raw where you can; our raw vs cooked weight guide explains the conversion.

Tier 1: the cheapest lean grams

Chicken breast fillets, in big packs

Raw chicken breast carries about 23 to 24 g of protein per 100 g at 105 to 110 kcal, so roughly 22 g per 100 kcal. The price is all in the pack size. The 1 kg bags at Aldi, Lidl and Tesco usually sit at £5.50 to £6.50, which holds around 235 g of protein: 2.5p to 3p per gram. The small 300 g packs of two fillets often cost £2.50 to £3.00, close to 4p per gram for identical meat.

Buy the big bag, portion it into freezer bags on the day, and you have the cheapest lean protein in the shop.

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Thigh fillets run about 18 to 20 g of protein per 100 g at 125 to 160 kcal, which works out at 12 to 15 g per 100 kcal. Less lean than breast, but they stay juicy in a slow cooker or an air fryer and they forgive overcooking. At £4.50 to £6.00 per kg they land between 2.3p and 3.2p per gram. If dry chicken breast is the reason you skip meals, thighs are the better buy on purpose, not by accident.

Whole chicken

A 1.4 to 1.6 kg whole chicken at roughly £3.50 to £5.00 gives you around 700 to 800 g of cooked meat once the bones are out. That is somewhere near 170 to 200 g of protein, or about 2p to 2.5p per gram. The catch is the skin: eat it and the ratio drops sharply. Roast it on Sunday, strip it, and log the meat by weight.

Chicken livers

The quiet champion of the counter. A 400 g tub at roughly £1.00 to £1.50 carries about 17 g of protein per 100 g at around 110 to 120 kcal. That is 2p per gram or less, and about 15 g per 100 kcal. Not everyone likes them, and they are rich in vitamin A, so think of them as a once-a-week meal rather than a daily staple.

Tier 2: worth the small markup

5% beef mince

Lean beef mince sits at about 20 to 22 g of protein per 100 g and 120 to 130 kcal, so roughly 17 g per 100 kcal. At £3.00 to £3.75 for 500 g it lands at 3p to 3.5p per gram. It earns its place because it turns into chilli, bolognese, burgers and cottage pie, which makes a week of chicken much easier to stick to.

Turkey breast mince

Usually labelled 2% or 3% fat, with 22 to 24 g of protein per 100 g at about 100 to 115 kcal. That is over 20 g per 100 kcal, as lean as chicken breast. At £3.50 to £4.25 for 500 g it costs roughly 3.5p per gram. Season it harder than beef; it tastes of very little.

Pork loin steaks and pork tenderloin

Trimmed pork loin carries about 21 to 23 g of protein per 100 g, and the calories depend almost entirely on the fat rim: roughly 120 kcal trimmed against 180 kcal or more with it. Tenderloin is leaner still. At £6 to £8 per kg, both sit around 3p to 4p per gram. Cut the fat off before you weigh it if you want the lean number.

White fish fillets

Fresh cod and haddock are among the leanest foods you can buy: around 17 to 19 g of protein per 100 g at 75 to 85 kcal, so 22 g or more per 100 kcal. The problem is price. Fresh fillets typically land at 7p to 9p per gram. The frozen versions in our freezer guide give you the same fish for roughly half.

Tier 3: the traps

Sausages

Even good butchers’ sausages usually carry 12 to 16 g of protein per 100 g against 200 to 260 kcal, so 5 to 7 g per 100 kcal. That is less protein per calorie than semi-skimmed milk. Reduced-fat versions improve it, but not to lean territory. Enjoy them; log them as the fat-heavy food they are.

20% beef mince

It looks cheaper per pack, often 60p to £1.00 less than 5% for 500 g. Per gram of protein it is barely cheaper, because it carries about 17 g of protein against 230 to 250 kcal. You save a few pence and add roughly 600 kcal per pack.

Cooked deli slices

Pre-sliced cooked chicken and turkey are lean and handy, around 20 to 25 g of protein per 100 g. They are also expensive: a 90 to 130 g pack at £1.50 to £2.25 works out at 6p to 9p per gram. Fine for a lunchbox; a poor way to buy your main protein.

A UK meat basket that works

For one person for a week, roughly £10 to £13 at Aldi or Lidl:

• 1 kg chicken breast fillets: about 235 g of protein
• 500 g 5% beef mince: about 105 g
• 500 g turkey breast mince: about 115 g
• 400 g chicken livers: about 68 g

That is just over 500 g of protein, around 75 g a day, for under £2 a day. Add the dairy basket from our dairy guide and eggs, and most people reach the 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg of body weight range without a single protein bar. If you are unsure what your own target is, the macro calculator gives you a starting point in a minute.

Logging meat without the faff

• Scan the pack, then split it. Chowdown’s barcode scanner pulls the exact product, including the own-brand numbers that differ between supermarkets. Divide by the portions you cut it into.
• Portion on delivery day. Weigh the 1 kg bag into four 250 g freezer bags and write the weight on each. Then each bag is one log entry, and meal prep gets much easier.
• Log raw, consistently. Pick raw or cooked and stick with it for each food, or the same breast will “have” 30 g of protein one day and 45 g the next.

The cheapest lean protein in a UK supermarket is a big bag of plain chicken, and almost everything else on the counter is a choice about how much you want to pay for variety.

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