The Aldi high-protein week: a shop that feeds your training for around £40

High-protein eating has a reputation for being expensive, and it's earned dishonestly — by protein bars at £2.50 and delivery boxes at £60 a week. Done from an Aldi basket, it is one of the cheapest ways to eat. Here is the week.

Prices below are the rough shape at time of writing — treat them as proportions, not a receipt. The structure is the point.

• Chicken breast fillets, 1kg — the workhorse. (≈£6)
• Beef mince 5%, 750g — chilli and bolognese base. (≈£4.50)
• Eggs, 12–15 — breakfasts and emergencies. (≈£2.50)
• Greek-style yoghurt, 1kg — the highest-protein pound in the shop. (≈£2)
• Milk, 4 pints — shakes and cereal. (≈£1.50)
• Frozen fish fillets or salmon portions — two dinners. (≈£4.50)
• Cottage cheese, 2 tubs — snacks that count. (≈£2)
• Tinned tuna ×4, tinned beans ×4 — lunches and padding. (≈£4)
• Oats, rice, pasta, wraps — the fuel around the protein. (≈£4)
• Frozen veg ×3, bananas, apples, spinach — the rest of the plate. (≈£5)
• Seasonings you don't already own — fajita mix, stock, garlic. (≈£2)

Call it £38–£44 depending on the week — for one person, seven days, every meal.

• Breakfasts: yoghurt + oats + banana, or eggs on toast — 17–20g each.
• Lunches: tuna-bean bowls, chicken wraps, leftover chilli — 25–30g.
• Dinners: fajita chicken and rice, bolognese, fish + potatoes + veg, traybake thighs-style using breast — 30–40g.
• Snacks: cottage cheese, milk, boiled eggs — 10–20g apiece.

Totals land at 120–150g of protein a day — square in the target zone for almost anyone training, at roughly £1.90 per meal.

Cook the mince and half the chicken on day one. Forty minutes of batching is the difference between this plan and a Wednesday takeaway.

Buy the list, not the aisles. The shop fails in the middle aisles, not the protein fridge.

This article is one week, hand-built. [Motivaite](/) does it every week automatically — a meal plan around your goal and tastes, converted into a shopping list from the supermarket you actually use, Aldi included, quantities summed across the week. First month free; bring your own trolley.