Best Store Bought Protein

The body uses protein for energy, to keep us up and running every single day.  That makes protein real important y’all.  I was feeling down with super low energy at the beginning of the Summer because of a diet change and that resulted in low protein.  I started to skim the labels on my food and realized I was only getting 20% of my daily needed intake of protein. It was time for me to take a trip to the grocery store and walk the aisles to figure out what protein was right for me.  

The best sources of protein are meat products (beef, chicken, fish), dairy products (cheese, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese), eggs, tofu, lentils and beans and soy.   Did you know that after water protein is the most plentiful substance in the body?  Our muscles, organs, and immune systems are made up of mostly protein.    Even more important is if you’re a vegetarian you need to pair your meals wisely and eat protein filled snacks to get your daily intake.

So let’s walk into my kitchen and look at some of my favorite store bought food items, filled with protein. These are my go to breakfast and afternoon snack foods to keep my energy going for the day.

Kashi
Kashi is one of my favorite brands that help me fill up with protein throughout the day.  Their Go Lean cereals are filled with anywhere from 9-12G g protein which is about 15% of your protein intake.  They come in a large variety of flavors.  My favorites are Cinnamon Crumble and Toasted Berry Crumble.

Matthew and I pretty much wrestle over the last of the Cinnamon Crumble.  I sometimes even pack a little bag of it for a afternoon snack.

Also in the Kashi family are their chewy granola bars.  We are granola bar fanatics so I try them all.  I have a strong love for salty chocolate so their Chocolate Almond & Sea Salt bars (6G protein) are my favorite.    Also a favorite are the Dark Chocolate Coconut, but pick your favorite because there is so many to choose from. 

Doesn’t this Chocolate Sea Salt bar look like the perfect afternoon snack?

A new favorite of mine is Kashi’s Overnight Muesli. You soak it with milk (almond milk is my preference) overnight and by morning you’ll have a creamy, filling and nutritious breakfast.  This Cacao Nib Almond and Coconut flavor has 100 percent whole grains and 8G of protein.  They have 2 more flavors too.   Another breakfast solution is Bear Naked’s granola that has 10G of protein.   I love the honey almond and the chocolate (when don’t I love chocolate).
 

1 cup of almonds equals about 20G of protein which means they’re a favorite snack of mine.  I eat them for a afternoon snack, or before dinner while I’m cooking so I don’t pig out on shredded cheese (hey, it happens).  Blue Diamond is my brand of choice and I’ve had a few flavor obessesions over the years. Most recently the Wasabi has become my love to the point of I got 2 giant bags in my Christmas stocking last year (thanks Santa!).
Toasted Coconut, Wasabi and Soy Sauce and Honey Roasted are my favorites, but in 2nd come the BOLD flavors.  I got Matthew hooked on those Habanero BBQ almonds.  The Wasabi and Soy Sauce almonds has 6G of protein in 28 nuts (serving size).

Also my favorite are the Smokehouse flavor.  Ok, I have alot of favorites.

Ok, I lied. They have CHOCOLATE ALMONDS.  (Sings angels in the heavens!). Oven Roasted Dark Chocoate Almonds come to me!  These babies have 5G of protein and are delicous. I eat these in bed while reading because I live dangerously. 

Oh, QUEST how I love you. Seriously, I love them.  I have a QUEST protein bar every single day.  I love their bars.  Whenever I run out of  Peanut Butter Supreme bars I jump on Amazon and immediately stock up on them.   Their protein bars PACKED full of protein (20G of protein!) and come in amazing flavors.  Mint Chocolate Chunk? Delicous.  S’mores? Yes! Cookies & Cream?  Absolutely.  Cinnamon Roll? Hello beautiful.  

Don’t skip on the Peanut Butter Supreme bars… you need to try them.  

Their Cookies & Cream bars taste like cookies.  Cookies anytime of the day is A-Ok with me.

I found out that QUEST also had Protein Chips so I rushed to find them in stores.  The BBQ chips were gone in minutes of me getting them home.  Each bag is one serving and has 21G of protein in them.  Also they’re only 120 calories.

Sour Cream & Onion are my favorites.

Last by QUEST are their protein powders which can be used for shakes or baking with. One serving for a Chocolate Milkshake has 23G of protein and satisfies my sweet tooth.  Check out the recipes on their site for cakes, crepes and cupcakes using the powder.

Last but not least is LUNA which makes some delicious protein bars.  Last Fall I was crazy over the Chocolate Coconut Almond bars and had one every single day for a few weeks straight as a afternoon snack.  Their bars have 12-13G of protein in them, and is also gluten free.

So that’s it – that’s my favorite protein bars, shakes, breakfast foods and more!

Do you have a favorite?  Share with me in the comments!