A protein bar costs nearly ten times more per gram of protein than lentils

A Vitanella protein bar weighs 49 grams, costs 4.99 zł and says 27% protein on the label. Worked out, that's 37.72 zł per 100 grams of pure protein. The same 100 grams from red lentils costs 3.84 zł. Nearly ten times less for exactly the same thing, protein.

This isn't an attack on the bar. A bar is handy after training. It's the bill for one word on the packaging. The word protein doesn't tell you what you pay per gram of protein. You have to work it out yourself, and it's one division: price divided by the grams of protein on the label.

Count złoty per protein, don't trust the label

You take the package price and divide by the grams of protein the label states:

• Vitanella bar 49 g, 4.99 zł, 27% protein: 13.23 grams of protein (49 g × 27%), so 37.72 zł per 100 grams.
• Red lentils 500 g, 4.99 zł, 26 g protein per 100 g: 130 grams of protein, so 3.84 zł per 100 grams.
• Rolled oats 1 kg, 4.99 zł, 13 g protein per 100 g: also 3.84 zł per 100 grams.

That was our earlier protein ranking, where lentils and oats came out cheapest. It isn't the same food and it isn't the same convenience. It's the same ten grams of protein at a completely different price.

When the word protein holds up

The word protein doesn't always mean a markup. We checked two versions of the same Alpro soy drink live:

• Alpro plant protein chocolate flavor, 1 l, 12.59 zł, 5 g protein per 100 ml: 2.52 zł per 10 grams of protein.
• Alpro soy drink no sugar, 1 l, 9.49 zł, 3.2 g protein per 100 ml: 2.97 zł per 10 grams of protein.

The version labeled protein is dearer per litre but cheaper per gram of protein, because it has more of it. So the rule isn't "avoid the word protein." It's "count before you believe it." Sometimes the label tells the truth, sometimes it charges for the word alone.

What it adds up to in a year

Say a bar after training three times a week. That's 4.99 zł a serving. The same 13.23 grams of protein from lentils or oats is around 0.51 zł. A difference of 4.48 zł a serving, at three sessions a week around 699 zł a year. For protein wrapped in foil.

It doesn't mean you should eat only lentils after the gym. It means it helps to know how much of the bar's price is protein, and how much is convenience and the word.

Why we count this

Snugmeal counts złoty per protein for you and builds a whole week of meals from it, around your budget and real prices from Polish stores, with a total that matches at the till.

It launches this autumn. Leave your address in the form just below this post, and at launch you'll get a one-time 20% discount code for your first subscription.

Data: zakupy.biedronka.pl, prices checked live in July 2026. The bar is figured from the label's stated 27% protein, Alpro protein content from product data. Lentil and oat prices from our earlier protein ranking, checked live. Our own calculations.