100 g of protein from tuna costs 26.60 zł. From lentils, 3.84 zł

Canned tuna passes for a cheap way to get protein. Per 100 g of pure protein, it costs 26.60 zł. Lentils give you the same for 3.84 zł, almost seven times less.

The maths is simple: package price divided by the grams of protein inside. While building Snugmeal, we calculated it for Biedronka products, from labels and prices as of July 2026:

• Plony natury red lentils 500 g: 3.84 zł per 100 g of protein
• Vitanella mountain oat flakes 1 kg: 3.84 zł
• Nasza spiżarnia canned red beans 400 g: 8.30 zł
• Krakus canned ham 455 g: 20.16 zł
• Graal tuna in brine 3x140 g: 26.60 zł

One caveat: legume protein runs low on methionine, cereal protein on lysine, so pair them on the plate. Lentils with pasta or beans with rice complete the amino acid set. World cuisines have done it for centuries.

That's the theory. Below is a ready plan you can cook this week.

The plan: three dinners, 100 g of protein, 10.41 zł

Prices and macros per single serving, calculated from Biedronka prices. Cooking for two, double the amounts.

Chicken leg stew with carrot and pearl barley. 4.13 zł, 36.3 g protein, 504 kcal, 35 min

Brown 150 g of skinless chicken leg meat with onion on a teaspoon of oil until golden. Add a carrot and a spoon of tomato paste, add a splash of water and simmer covered for about 20 minutes, until the meat is tender. Serve with 60 g of barley groats cooked in salted water (about 18 minutes, started alongside the stew).

Stewed pork shoulder with pearl barley. 3.09 zł, 32.1 g protein, 651 kcal, 45 min

Sauté the onion and carrot in oil, add 140 g of diced pork shoulder and brown it on all sides. Add a splash of water and simmer covered for about 35 minutes, topping up the water as needed, until the meat is tender. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with 70 g of pearl barley cooked in salted water (about 25 minutes, while the meat simmers).

Lentil bolognese with pasta. 3.19 zł, 31.9 g protein, 705 kcal, 30 min

Sauté half an onion with 2 cloves of garlic, add 80 g of red lentils and 200 g of passata, cook for about 20 minutes until the lentils are soft. Season and mix with 70 g of pasta cooked al dente per the package time, usually about 10 minutes.

One shopping list for all of it

• skinless chicken leg 150 g
• pork shoulder 140 g
• red lentils 80 g
• barley groats 60 g
• pearl barley 70 g
• pasta 70 g
• carrots, 2
• onions, 2
• garlic, 2 cloves
• tomato passata 200 g
• tomato paste (a spoon), rapeseed oil (2 spoons for everything)

The amounts are what the recipes use, not package sizes. Meat comes in bigger cuts (pork shoulder usually starts at half a kilo, chicken legs come in trays), so you'll spend more at the till in one go, and the surplus goes into the next dinners or the freezer. The plan's cost counts what actually lands in the pot.

Three dinners, each with over 30 g of protein, 10.41 zł per person in total. 100 g of protein from tuna alone costs 26.60 zł, before you cook anything.

The whole-week version

We put this three-dinner plan together by hand. Snugmeal builds one automatically for the whole week: breakfasts, dinners and suppers around your budget, your macros and real prices from Polish stores, with a single shopping list.

We launch this autumn. Signing up in the form below this post gets you a one-time 20% discount code for your first subscription at launch.

Data: zakupy.biedronka.pl and product labels, July 2026; recipes from Snugmeal's 500-recipe base, per-serving costs recalculated on those prices (fresh meat per Biedronka's online store). The ranking covers shelf-stable products; fresh meat, eggs and dairy from the counter will join in the next data round. Our own calculations.