Which is cheaper for protein, lentils (cooked) or oats (dry)?

Oats (dry), at $0.009 per gram of protein against $0.022 for lentils (cooked) (July 2026 US grocery prices). A 30 g protein serving costs $0.27 vs $0.67.

Which has more protein per calorie, lentils (cooked) or oats (dry)?

Lentils (cooked), with 7.8 g protein per 100 kcal against 4.3 g for oats (dry), 1.8x leaner. That matters when you are cutting and calories are the binding constraint.

Which should I buy, lentils (cooked) or oats (dry)?

Depends on your constraint. On a tight budget with room in your calories, oats (dry) is cheaper per gram of protein. On a calorie-capped cut, lentils (cooked) gives you 1.8x more protein per calorie and is usually worth its $0.022/g price.

Protein head-to-heads · July 2026

Lentils (cooked) vs Oats (dry): which protein is cheaper?

USDA macros joined to current US grocery prices, reduced to the two numbers that decide it: dollars per gram of protein, and protein per calorie.

Oats (dry) is 2.5x cheaper per gram of protein ($0.009/g vs $0.022/g), while Lentils (cooked) is the leaner choice at 7.8 g protein per 100 kcal against 4.3 g. Budget favours one, a calorie cap favours the other.

Food	$/g protein	30 g protein costs	You need	kcal that come with it	Protein/100 kcal
Lentils (cooked)	$0.022	$0.67	333 g	387 kcal	7.8 g
Oats (dry)	$0.009	$0.27	178 g	691 kcal	4.3 g

Full macros, per serving

Food (per serving)	Price	kcal	Protein	Carbs	Fat
Lentils (cooked) (100 g)	$0.20	116	9 g	20 g	0.4 g
Oats (dry) (100 g)	$0.15	389	16.9 g	66 g	6.9 g

A week of protein from each

Hitting a common 100 g/day protein target from oats (dry) alone costs $6.21 a week; from lentils (cooked) alone, $15.56. That is a gap of $9.34 every week for the same protein. In practice you mix sources: the planner computes the cheapest mix for your exact target and calorie cap, live from the same dataset.

Budget says one, calories say the other

Oats (dry) costs $0.009 per gram of protein against $0.022, so it saves $9.34 a week at a 100 g/day target. Lentils (cooked) answers a different question: 7.8 g of protein per 100 kcal against 4.3 g, which is what matters once calories, not dollars, are the thing you run out of first.

The amount you actually have to eat

Thirty grams of protein means 333 g of lentils (cooked), against 178 g for oats (dry). That is a real constraint, not a footnote: a price per gram only counts if the serving is one a person will finish. Treat lentils (cooked) as the base of a meal that other protein is added to, not as the protein itself.

What the calories cost you

Getting 30 g of protein from oats (dry) brings 691 kcal with it. On a 2,000 kcal day, three servings would be most of your budget before anything else goes on the plate. That is fine when you are eating at maintenance or building, and it is the reason this food falls apart on a cut no matter how good the price per gram looks.

Two budget staples, so the tiebreak is elsewhere

Both of these sit in the cheapest third of everything we track (#8 and #1 of 25), and the difference between them is $0.40 per 30 g of protein. That is small enough that shelf life, prep time and whether you will actually eat it should decide this, not the price column.

Compare against other foods

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper for protein, lentils (cooked) or oats (dry)?: Oats (dry), at $0.009 per gram of protein against $0.022 for lentils (cooked) (July 2026 US grocery prices). A 30 g protein serving costs $0.27 vs $0.67.
Which has more protein per calorie, lentils (cooked) or oats (dry)?: Lentils (cooked), with 7.8 g protein per 100 kcal against 4.3 g for oats (dry), 1.8x leaner. That matters when you are cutting and calories are the binding constraint.
Which should I buy, lentils (cooked) or oats (dry)?: Depends on your constraint. On a tight budget with room in your calories, oats (dry) is cheaper per gram of protein. On a calorie-capped cut, lentils (cooked) gives you 1.8x more protein per calorie and is usually worth its $0.022/g price.

Prices are representative US grocery prices as of July 2026; your store will differ. Educational content, not medical or dietary advice. Dataset: free download, CC-BY.