Does anyone hunt to save money on protein?

[JLE1990]

I do a lot of powerlifting(strength focused weightlifting for the less narcissistic) and I spend 30/week just on chicken(I do buy the cheapest breast in bulk and marinate it) to maintain proper protein intake levels. Does anyone go hunting or buy from hunters to save money on this?

[big_owl]

Protein shakes are pretty cheap.  I have a hard time imagining spending the time hunting/killing your own food, prepping it, storing it, and the energy used cooking it are going to be cheaper than a 50g protein shake (equivalent two chicken breasts) daily.  Eggs are cheap too.

[doneby35]

30/week just on chicken sounds excessive, how many grams of protein per lb of body weight are you consuming?

[Mikila]

Have you considered frozen, skinless, chicken thighs in lieu of breasts?  They are cheaper.  Eggs are even cheaper.

Secondly, are you sure you need so much protein?  I do believe exercise builds muscle, not excessive protein consumption, despite all the advertising to the contrary.

[doneby35]

Mikila is correct. Anything above 0.5g of protein per lb of body weight is unnecessary for building muscle and recovery. If you weigh 180 lbs = 90g of protein, which is more than enough. Anything more than that is just corporate marketing convincing people that they need more.

Also, make use of recipes that rely on lentils, beans, oats, etc... instead of meat. Much cheaper and healthier, with all the protein and fiber that your body needs, minus the dietary cholesterol and saturated fat found in meat and eggs.

[soccerluvof4]

I would think hunting would be the most expensive meat per pound you could buy but I guess that depends on if your sitting in your house shooting out the window or buying a big truck, guns , owning land to shoot 1 dear a year.

[YttriumNitrate]

The video from Jeff Foxworthy isn't that far off from the truth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJa8kxPfPoU

[MayDay]

I work with a ton of hunters and they spend $$$$$$ on all their gear plus hours doing it,and then hours processing it.

It isn't cheap and you won't have time to weight lifting during hunting season.

[slappy]

I thought this post was going to be about looking for deals on protein powder, and yes, I do that. I try to combine a store coupon with a increased cash back promotion from top cash back.  That shit is still expensive.

In my area $30 of chicken is over 15 pounds of chicken per week. That is a lot of chicken. My husband is into lifting as well, and he only eats about a pound of chicken of day, plus his protein powder.  It all seems like too much protein to me, but he says if he doesn't get enough then he is more sore than usual.

[doneby35]

I thought this post was going to be about looking for deals on protein powder, and yes, I do that. I try to combine a store coupon with a increased cash back promotion from top cash back.  That shit is still expensive.

In my area $30 of chicken is over 15 pounds of chicken per week. That is a lot of chicken. My husband is into lifting as well, and he only eats about a pound of chicken of day, plus his protein powder.  It all seems like too much protein to me, but he says if he doesn't get enough then he is more sore than usual.

More protein does not equal less sore. A pound of chicken a day plus protein powder is also excessive. He needs to do stretch before and after his workouts, eat more foods that contain antioxidants and less meat, because meat contains bacterial toxins (endotoxins) causing inflammation.

[wenchsenior]

Over the years, we have never found that hunting (or even raising our own rabbits/poultry) would ever be cost effective as a means of $/g protein.  It is much more a matter of getting healthier ('nongrain-fed') forms of meat, much better meat taste (store bought chicken is a pale shadow of delicious home raised), and a variety of meat that we love (grouse, dove, venison, duck, etc.)

If I needed extra protein, I'd stick with store bought poultry or powders.  But isn't that much protein awfully hard on the kidneys?

[ketchup]

I don't hunt, but I get a batch of free venison carcass leftovers each year for our dogs from hunters during gun season.  ~300lbs this year. 

[big_owl]

Mikila is correct. Anything above 0.5g of protein per lb of body weight is unnecessary for building muscle and recovery. If you weigh 180 lbs = 90g of protein, which is more than enough. Anything more than that is just corporate marketing convincing people that they need more.

Also, make use of recipes that rely on lentils, beans, oats, etc... instead of meat. Much cheaper and healthier, with all the protein and fiber that your body needs, minus the dietary cholesterol and saturated fat found in meat and eggs.

Survey says anywhere from 0.68g-0.91g/lb bodyweight for maximum hypertrophy in weightlifters.  Still less than most hardcore guys do.  I remember back in the day I was doing up to 2g/lb.  Even such, at 190lbs it is rather difficult for me to get 170g protein per day while working full time on regular food alone.  It gets tiring having to eat so much, so protein shakes make life easier.

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-9-54

[JoJo]

I would think hunting would be the most expensive meat per pound you could buy but I guess that depends on if your sitting in your house shooting out the window or buying a big truck, guns , owning land to shoot 1 dear a year.

Brother in law is totally into guns, NRA, etc.  We live in an area full of deer and they roam on a field owned by my dad.  Despite going out 10 times this year during gun & bow season, he got no kills.   He spends 1000s on guns, a hunting hide he built (wants to move it next year), planning a feeding plot to lure the deer.  Then the butchering and storage is even much more.  They had to buy an extra freezer to store it all and the electricity to run that.

[JLE1990]

Yes it is a ton of chicken. I usually eat about 12-15lbs a week and 5 dozen eggs(3yolks/10whites per day), I'm 245lb though so this combined with miscellaneous protein still comes in around 1-1.5g per lb. It definitely gets old like big_owl said, but this is the optimal amount for strength building according to most surveys. Most active people do not get nearly enough protein. Also its not as though eating more protein will have negative side effects unless you are eating enough to damage the kidneys. Excess protein is burned as energy.

http://www.castironstrength.com/the-powerlifters-diet-protein/

Here's another article about it. It's a blog post so it has a few typos.

I'm trying to find a way to minimize the cost because it's all my food budget. I spent $209 on groceries this month and protein accounted for $140 of it.

Over the years, we have never found that hunting (or even raising our own rabbits/poultry) would ever be cost effective as a means of $/g protein.  It is much more a matter of getting healthier ('nongrain-fed') forms of meat, much better meat taste (store bought chicken is a pale shadow of delicious home raised), and a variety of meat that we love (grouse, dove, venison, duck, etc.)

If I needed extra protein, I'd stick with store bought poultry or powders.  But isn't that much protein awfully hard on the kidneys?

You have to go above 3g/lb at least for injury to kidneys. And lifters bodies adapt etc. Some professionals that shoot up eat 75-100g per meal(5+ meals a day). Yeah I remember growing up with food on the farm...soooo much better tasting. I have limited my buying to the cheapest boneless skinless chicken breast because it is the most efficient in terms of $/per g of protein but it's still so expensive. I'll try lowering it to .9g/lb but it would be nice to have alternatives as well. Since hunting is not as cost effective as I thought, anyone have something else that can get that kind of protein for cheaper?

Powder is crazy expensive and while I've looked at lentils/vegetarian as supplemental sources they are just not feasible to consume as a primary. E.g Lentils 9g/100g Chicken breast 31g/100g

[slappy]

Do you currently use a protein powder? I just looked up the stuff my husband uses. Not on sale/no cash back, it's $35  for 26 servings. That's $1.34 per serving, with 24 grams of protein per serving.  I usually get it with a coupon for 20% off and then I get cash from on online shopping portal of at least 12%. I'm sure it's more expensive that chicken, but at least it can provide some variety.

Are you saying your whole grocery budget was $209 for the month? That's pretty good!

[Bicycle_B]

Agreed that $209 is good!

Fwiw, beans offer a lot of protein per dollar.  Plain old pinto beans in little 2 lb packages at Wal Mart cost 75 cents/lb, and contain roughly 100 grams of protein per pound:

https://www.google.com/search?q=grams+of+protein+per+pound+of+beans&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS692US692&oq=grams+of+protein+per+pound+of+beans&aqs=chrome..69i57.8988j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

At 245 pounds and about 1.25 grams/lb, I guess you're looking for about 300 grams/day; beans could provide it for $2.25/day, $67.50/month - about half your chicken budget.

Obviously, the questions of total calories and complete protein have to be answered. I'm personally agnostic on the whole meat vs plants for strength deal, without enough strength experience to testify, but there are definitely weightlifters and bodybuilders doing well plant only, which implies that some beans and such can be used by strength athletes.  Examples (maybe they have some more detailed tips that turn out to be cheap):

http://theveganrevolution.net/contributor/chad-byers
(bronzed photos for inspiration)

http://www.austinfitmagazine.com/December-2017/Tim-Rawlings-Building-RaWW-Plant-Based-Strength/
(national powerlifting competitor, protein sources beans lentils and protein shakes; setting personal records)

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bio_robert
(includes some food tips)

https://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-eat/what-7-elite-vegan-athletes-eat-get-and-stay-ultra-jacked
(not all cheap, but includes detailed food examples from elite athletes not eating meat;
maybe you can adapt the cheap parts to save money.  dude #7 is freaking ripped)

[MoneyRx]

Hunting is quite expensive. For example, if you take a deer in to be processed, you end up paying a premium on the meat over the grocery store from what I have seen, which doesn't even include things like hunting permit, guns/ammo, bow/arrow, travel costs to get to the hunting area, and your time.

If you had your own land and had turkeys or deer walking around that *might* be a different story, but I have a feeling it still might not be cost-effective.

[nexus]

My husband is into lifting as well, and he only eats about a pound of chicken of day, plus his protein powder.  It all seems like too much protein to me, but he says if he doesn't get enough then he is more sore than usual.

-Drinking more water will help with soreness. That's why you see some guys carrying around gallon jugs of water in the gym

-Bodybuilding.com has plenty of quality, affordable protein powders. Optimum Nutrition is one great option. I use their Gold Standard Whey

--Myprotein.com also has incredibly good deals. $89.99 for an 11lb bag of protein powder, which is 200 servings at 22 grams each serving. Not sure where else you can get 4,400 grams of protein for $89.99. It's about $0.45 per serving/scoop. I recommend their Whey Isolate, as it digests quickly and isn't as thick.

[wenchsenior]

Hunting is quite expensive. For example, if you take a deer in to be processed, you end up paying a premium on the meat over the grocery store from what I have seen, which doesn't even include things like hunting permit, guns/ammo, bow/arrow, travel costs to get to the hunting area, and your time.

If you had your own land and had turkeys or deer walking around that *might* be a different story, but I have a feeling it still might not be cost-effective.

Yes, this is probably cost effective. I grew up on about 10 acres in the Great Lakes area, and most years my dad got a (big) deer or two right on our property, or on nearby family property (and this was before baiting was legal...it's even easier now that baiting is allowed).  He butchered himself, which is a full day's work per deer, but definitely not super expensive.

However, we now live in a place where deer hunting opportunities are very limited, and require driving several hours' minimum with less chance of success.  I suspect that in years that DH gets a couple deer on his first hunt, it is close to but not quite 'break even'.  But if he has to go on multiple hunts for the little teeny white-tails around here, then it's not.  That's just worth it for getting the venison. 

[FINate]

In many states buying or selling wild game meat is illegal...check your fish and game regs.

I hunt (and fish) because I enjoy the challenge, and for philosophical reasons. I eat meat, which doesn't magically show up in manageable portions in the supermarket fridge. I want to source at least some of it on my own, to be involved end-to-end in the process. Butchering a carcass yourself isn't rocket science (no need to pay a butcher). Processing an animal isn't pleasant, it's messy and smelly, requires a lot of work. But that's the point, I don't want a completely sanitized view of my food. I have a new appreciation for meat now, and as a result consume less of it.

I also love being in the outdoors, and hunting is a good excuse to do more of something I love but in a very different context. Backpacking and hiking are great fun (also do these a lot), but hiking on a trail is more of an 'outsider' perspective...you are moving along a highly trafficked man made path, usually with some destination in mind. Hunting is different, fairly normal to hike 5 miles into wilderness off trail, traverse ridgelines at 10,000 ft, navigate open country, and go days without seeing another person or signs of humans. You become more like a part of the ecosystem. Often find cool little terrain features that don't show up on maps. This may be weird, but I enjoy waking up before first light and watching a mountainside for 10-12 hours. The landscape reveals itself in different ways as the light and shadows change. And you see a ton of wildlife. I've seen: bears, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, badgers, elk, deer, and many different birds. Sometimes I'll just sit and watch an animal for hours, or figure out what plants they're eating, follow tracks and other sign (you never see poop in the same way after you hunt), or try to figure out the daily patterns of behavior.

However, to the point of this thread, it's generally not cost effective. You don't need a truck, nor do you need expensive guns or other gear (many hunters go apeshit crazy on gear), but even if you go cheap, the cost of gas, licence, and tags will usually make it more expensive than factory meat. 

[Rural]

The only way hunting is at all cost effective for us is that we don't need a license to hunt our own land legally unless we take the animal to a processor. So the only cost is ammo, and while I'm a decent shot, my husband is one shot, one kill and hunts deer with a .22 effectively (head shot and down, every time). But we are (or at least I am) getting too old to do the butchering, so our venison days are probably coming to an end.

[wenchsenior]

In many states buying or selling wild game meat is illegal...check your fish and game regs.

I hunt (and fish) because I enjoy the challenge, and for philosophical reasons. I eat meat, which doesn't magically show up in manageable portions in the supermarket fridge. I want to source at least some of it on my own, to be involved end-to-end in the process. Butchering a carcass yourself isn't rocket science (no need to pay a butcher). Processing an animal isn't pleasant, it's messy and smelly, requires a lot of work. But that's the point, I don't want a completely sanitized view of my food. I have a new appreciation for meat now, and as a result consume less of it.

I also love being in the outdoors, and hunting is a good excuse to do more of something I love but in a very different context. Backpacking and hiking are great fun (also do these a lot), but hiking on a trail is more of an 'outsider' perspective...you are moving along a highly trafficked man made path, usually with some destination in mind. Hunting is different, fairly normal to hike 5 miles into wilderness off trail, traverse ridgelines at 10,000 ft, navigate open country, and go days without seeing another person or signs of humans. You become more like a part of the ecosystem. Often find cool little terrain features that don't show up on maps. This may be weird, but I enjoy waking up before first light and watching a mountainside for 10-12 hours. The landscape reveals itself in different ways as the light and shadows change. And you see a ton of wildlife. I've seen: bears, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, badgers, elk, deer, and many different birds. Sometimes I'll just sit and watch an animal for hours, or figure out what plants they're eating, follow tracks and other sign (you never see poop in the same way after you hunt), or try to figure out the daily patterns of behavior.

However, to the point of this thread, it's generally not cost effective. You don't need a truck, nor do you need expensive guns or other gear (many hunters go apeshit crazy on gear), but even if you go cheap, the cost of gas, licence, and tags will usually make it more expensive than factory meat.

Love this post.

[Thegoblinchief]

Hunting rarely saves money unless you can hunt on your own land without traveling. Like gardening, it can be a fun hobby, but don’t go into it trying to save money if you don’t enjoy the activity itself.

If you’re fine eating meat from the grocery store, that’s the cheapest protein you can possibly get by a factor of 2-3. You can’t even raise it yourself at a small scale for what grocery store chicken and pork frequently go on sale for.