High-protein lunch

How much protein do you need at lunch?

A 2018 review¹ recommends 0.4–0.55 g of protein per kilo of body weight per meal, spread over at least four meals. For someone weighing 80 kg, that is 32–44 g per meal.

Four slices with cheese give 35 g. The protein calculator works out how much you need a day.

Five lunches, worked out

Protein, kcal and price from the nutrition label and regular price at Oda, seen 14 October 2026: wholemeal bread², cheese³, chicken salad⁴ and ready meal⁵. Cottage cheese and protein milk from Oda, seen 1 October 2026⁶. P60 calculated from the recipe⁷, chocolate and hazelnut, at list price. A slice of bread is 40 g. Cheese is 20 g per slice of bread, the portion in the Norwegian Food Composition Table⁸. Butter is not included.

Cheapest: the packed lunch

The packed lunch is the cheapest: 35 g of protein for about NOK 22. Swap the cheese for 250 g of low-fat cottage cheese and eat two slices of bread, and you get 39 g for about NOK 23.

Bought lunch

The ready meal gives 40 g of protein for NOK 69, but it needs heating. The ready-made chicken salad gives 28 g for NOK 129: NOK 45.4 per 10 g of protein, the most expensive in the table.

When you have no time

P60 with 330 ml of protein milk gives 81 g of protein for about NOK 68, the most in the table. You do not need a microwave. It is also the biggest: 760 kcal.

P60 is not the cheapest lunch. The packed lunch and cottage cheese give cheaper protein. P60 is for the days you want a lot of protein without making anything.

Questions