Walmart High-Protein Shopping List: Great Value Staples Ranked by Cost per Gram (US Guide)

TL;DR

• This is for US shoppers. Walmart is a US chain, and every pack size below is in ounces and pounds.
• Walmart’s Great Value own brand is where the cheap protein lives. The best staples land around 1 to 4 cents per gram of protein.
• The cheapest grams in the store: dried beans and lentils, gallon milk, frozen chicken breast and family packs of fresh chicken.
• Worth the small markup: canned tuna and chicken, cottage cheese, plain Greek yoghurt and the rotisserie chicken, roughly 4 to 6 cents per gram.
• The traps: protein-branded cereal, bars and chips. Often 15 to 30 cents per gram, and rarely more filling than the plain version.

Our US supermarket shopping list covers the market in general, our Costco guide covers bulk buying and our Trader Joe’s guide covers convenience. Walmart is the one most Americans actually shop at, and it rewards a narrow list bought on repeat.

Prices below are typical 2026 ranges and vary a lot by region, by store and between the shelf and the app. Treat them as a guide to relative value, not a quote. The method holds even when the numbers drift.

How to judge anything on the shelf

Two numbers do all the work.

Cost per gram of protein. Price divided by total protein in the pack. Protein per serving, times servings per container, then divide the price by that. At Walmart, a sensible scale is:

• Under 3 cents per gram: excellent. Build your week on these.
• 3 to 6 cents: normal and good, especially for anything ready to eat.
• Over 10 cents: you are paying for flavour, packaging or convenience. Fine on purpose, not by accident.

Protein per 100 kcal. Above 10 g is a lean protein food. Between 5 and 10 g is a mixed food. Under 5 g and it is a carb or fat food that happens to contain some protein, whatever the front of the pack says.

Tier 1: the cheapest grams in the store

Dried beans and lentils

A 2 lb bag of Great Value pinto beans, black beans or lentils costs a few dollars and holds roughly 180 to 200 g of protein. That works out near 1 to 2 cents per gram, the cheapest protein in the building. The catch is protein per 100 kcal: about 6 to 7 g, so they are a mixed food. Use them to stretch meat, not replace it entirely.

Gallon of milk

A gallon of Great Value skim or 1% carries around 125 to 130 g of protein. At typical prices that is about 2.5 to 3.5 cents per gram, and skim gives roughly 10 g of protein per 100 kcal. Hard to beat for a protein shake base or overnight oats.

Frozen chicken breast

The 3 lb bags of frozen boneless skinless breast are one of the best deals in the store, often around 3 to 4 cents per gram. Check the label: some bags are “enhanced” with a salt solution, which lowers protein per pound and raises sodium. The ingredient list will say so.

Fresh chicken in family packs

Family packs of boneless skinless breast or thighs usually beat the smaller trays per pound. Raw breast is about 23 g of protein per 100 g, roughly 104 g per pound. Log it raw, not cooked; our raw vs cooked guide explains why.

Eggs

Egg prices have been volatile, so check before assuming. An 18-count holds about 108 g of protein. At normal prices that is around 3 to 5 cents per gram, and eggs are about 9 g of protein per 100 kcal for the whole egg. Liquid egg whites in a carton are leaner, around 20 g per 100 kcal, though usually a little dearer per gram.

Tier 2: worth the small markup

Canned tuna and chicken

A 5 oz can of Great Value chunk light tuna in water gives roughly 20 to 25 g of protein, often for about a dollar. Around 4 to 5 cents per gram, no cooking, and a shelf life measured in years. Canned chicken costs a little more and is just as easy to log.

Cottage cheese and Greek yoghurt

A 24 oz tub of low-fat cottage cheese carries around 75 g of protein. A 32 oz tub of plain nonfat Greek yoghurt carries around 80 to 90 g. Both usually land at 4 to 6 cents per gram and sit near 15 g of protein per 100 kcal. Buy plain and add your own fruit; the flavoured cups add sugar and cost more per gram.

Rotisserie chicken

Usually somewhere around $5 to $7. A bird yields roughly 400 to 500 g of meat once you strip it, so about 110 to 130 g of protein. That puts it near 5 cents per gram, which is remarkable for something already cooked. The skin adds a lot of fat, so log the meat you actually eat, and weigh it once if you can.

Ground turkey and lean ground beef

A pound of 93/7 ground turkey or 93/7 beef holds around 85 to 90 g of protein. Expect 5 to 7 cents per gram. The 80/20 beef is cheaper per pound but noticeably worse on protein per 100 kcal; fine for burgers, not a protein strategy.

Tier 3: the traps

Protein cereal, chips and cookies

Protein-branded snacks often sit at 15 to 30 cents per gram. A box of protein cereal can cost more than a pound of chicken breast and deliver a third of the protein. Some are genuinely useful when you are short on time; none of them are a budget move.

Protein bars

Useful in a bag for emergencies. At 20 to 40 cents per gram, they are the most expensive way to hit your target in the store. A tub of whey works out far cheaper per serving if you want something portable.

Peanut butter

Often sold as a protein food. It is a fat food: about 4 g of protein per 100 kcal. Good food, wrong category. Log it carefully, because the spoon is never level.

A Walmart protein basket that works

For one person, a week covering most of a 130 to 160 g daily target might look like this:

• 3 lb bag frozen chicken breast
• 18 eggs
• 1 gallon skim or 1% milk
• 32 oz tub plain nonfat Greek yoghurt
• 24 oz tub low-fat cottage cheese
• 4 cans tuna in water
• 2 lb bag dried black beans or lentils
• 1 rotisserie chicken for the two busiest nights

At typical prices that comes in somewhere around $40 to $55, depending on region and egg prices, and gives roughly 1,000 g of protein before you add anything else. That is about 4 to 5 cents per gram across the whole basket.

Logging it without the faff

Great Value products are well represented in nutrition databases, but the same product can have several entries with different numbers. The barcode is the fastest and most reliable route: scan the pack once in Chowdown, check it against the label, and save it. After that, your Tuesday chicken is a one-tap entry.

For loose items like rotisserie chicken, weigh what is on your plate once, save it as a custom portion and reuse it. Ten seconds the first time saves you guessing every time after.