High Protein Grocery List: A Week for 84 g a Day

A high protein grocery list can come down to eight staples: eggs, chicken breast, canned tuna, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, tofu, dry lentils and canned chickpeas. Bought in the amounts below, they give 603 g of protein a week, or 86 g a day. That fits a 70 kg adult at the 1.2 g/kg low end of the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines, which is 84 g a day, or 588 g over seven days.

What goes on a high protein grocery list?

Foods that carry a lot of protein for their calories, bought in the state the pack is sold: raw, dry or drained. I built this list from USDA records for one adult who wants 84 g a day. Pack weights won’t match the plate after cooking.

Buy	Amount	Protein	Energy	Protein per 100 kcal
Large eggs	12 eggs	74.8 g	887 kcal	8.4 g
Chicken breast, raw, skinless	600 g	135.2 g	673 kcal	20.1 g
Light tuna in water, drained	3 cans (107 g drained each)	61.0 g	289 kcal	21.1 g
Nonfat Greek yogurt	7 containers (156 g each)	112.5 g	666 kcal	16.9 g
Lowfat cottage cheese, 2%	440 g (two 220 g cups)	48.4 g	370 kcal	13.1 g
Firm tofu	500 g	86.4 g	720 kcal	12.0 g
Lentils, dry	200 g	49.3 g	704 kcal	7.0 g
Chickpeas, canned, drained	2 cans (253 g drained each)	35.7 g	703 kcal	5.1 g
Total for the week		603 g	5,012 kcal

The list touches six of the groups the Dietary Guidelines name: eggs, poultry, seafood, beans and lentils, soy and dairy. Red meat and nuts are missing to keep it short, so add them if you eat them. Swap out anything you’re allergic to, but keep the weights as a guide, since a handful of nuts won’t stand in for a can of tuna. The last column is the useful sort. Tuna, raw chicken and yogurt give 17 to 21 g of protein per 100 kcal, while tofu and cottage cheese sit in the middle at 12 to 13 g. Eggs, dry lentils and chickpeas give 5 to 8 g, but they bring fiber and variety, which is why they stay on my list.

Most weeks these eight go into my cart. Nothing exotic. When I tire of the cottage cheese and yogurt plain, high protein Alfredo sauce turns them into a pasta sauce. If eight staples feel too few, high protein foods ranks a longer list.

How much should I buy for a week?

Multiply your daily protein target by seven, then fill that number from the list. That’s it. The target comes from the Dietary Guidelines range of 1.2–1.6 g/kg, which how much protein you should eat a day works through. The table above comes to 603 g against 588 g, a small cushion. The list also costs about 716 kcal a day, which leaves most of your day’s energy for rice, vegetables, fruit, oil and everything else you eat.

At other body weights the totals shift. At 55 kg the low end is 66 g a day, or 462 g a week. Drop the chickpeas and the cottage cheese and you still reach 519 g. At 90 kg it is 108 g a day, or 756 g a week, and the list falls 153 g short. Add 600 g more raw chicken breast and three more yogurts. The week then comes to about 787 g.

To raise the target by 10 g a day, add 70 g a week. Four more yogurts give 64 g, and 300 g more raw chicken breast gives 68 g. To lower it, drop a staple instead of trimming a few grams from each.

A plant-based list needs more food. Tofu at 1,500 g, dry lentils at 400 g and four cans of chickpeas give only 429 g, or 61 g a day. The Guidelines point out that vegan diets show shortfalls in several nutrients, protein among them. Add soy products and nuts. High protein beans ranks which beans carry the most per cup. Then check your grams for a few days.

This list is sized for a healthy adult. With kidney disease, during pregnancy or breastfeeding, or under 18, a doctor should set the weekly grams.

Why do the pack weight and the plate weight differ?

Cooking changes the water. So the record you pick has to match what is on your scale. Raw chicken breast has 22.5 g of protein per 100 g in its record, and the braised breast has 32.1 g. Dry lentils have 24.6 g per 100 g and the boiled lentils 9.0 g, so the same protein weighs 2.7 times as much once boiled.

Log cooked chicken against the raw record and you undercount protein by about 30%.

How do I read protein on a label?

Check which weight the number covers. It isn’t always the same one. In the US, every amount on the Nutrition Facts label refers to the serving listed at the top, and that serving is not a recommended amount. In Australia, the nutrition information panel shows both per serving and per 100 g. Compare brands on the same basis, or the pack with the bigger serving wins by default. Serving size is the trap.

Then divide: grams of protein by kilocalories, times 100. One container of nonfat Greek yogurt has 16.1 g of protein and 95 kcal, which is 16.9 g per 100 kcal. My rule of thumb is that a main protein item should give 10 g or more per 100 kcal. That cutoff is mine, since no standard sets it, and the table above shows the foods I keep for other reasons.

For your own daily grams, the protein calculator turns your weight into a target. Multiply by seven and shop.

Once the bags are home I scan each pack in Calsa, and if a barcode finds no match I photograph the nutrition label instead.