Whey 1.68 Cents/Gram Protein - Taste, drinkable, not great
Nonfat Milk 1.73 Cents/Gram Protein - Taste, very good
Tuna 1.81 Cents/Gram Protein - Taste, ok for a while
Powdered Milk 1.84 Cents/Gram Protein - Taste, blech!
Beef 1.92 Cents/Gram Protein - Taste, YUM!
Soy Protein 2.01 Cents/Gram Protein - Taste, awful
Chicken Breast 2.22 Cents/Gram Protein - Taste, very good
Egg Whites 2.70 Cents/Gram Protein - Taste, good
Fat Free Cheese 4.11 Cents/Gram Protein - Taste, good
Whey (Optimum Nutrition, 5lb jug, bought 4 at a time, www.netrition.com/www.midwestsupplements.com), $26 each, 70 servings, 22g protein/serving, 1.68 cents per gram protein, BV 100-159. Another good source of Whey is 'Vitamin World', when they have their 30% off days (the friday before the first tuesday of every month), which works out to be $12.60 for 2.2lbs, a great deal on smaller quantities.
Nonfat Milk, Quantity Discount for 2 gals at a time, $2.50/gal, 16 servings, 9g protein/serving, 1.73 cents per gram protein, BV 91
Tuna, Costco 10 pack, $.59/can, 32.5g protein/can, 1.81 cents per gram protein, BV 83
Powdered Milk, 10 quart box, $11.79 each, 80 servings, 8g protein/serving, 1.84 cents per gram protein, BV 91
Beef, Lean trimmed flank steak, $1.79 per pound, 5.85g protein/oz, 1.92 cents/gram, 3g fat per oz! (raw), BV 80
Soy Protein Powder, 2lb jug, $16.10/jug, 25g protein/oz, 2.01 cents/gram, BV 59?!?
Chicken Breast, 4lb package, $2.39 per pound, 104g protein/pound, 2.22 cents/gram, BV 79
Egg whites, 5 Dozen, $5.69 each, 60 eggs, 3.5g protein/serving, 2.7 cents/gram (more protein w/yolk, but not worth the fat/cholesterol), BV 88
Fat Free Cheese, $3.29 each, 16 slices, 5g protein/slice, 4.11 cents/gram, BV 91
From the numbers, it really looks like Whey Protein is cheapest by a bit. Milk is the closest, and I love nonfat milk, but it's got tons of empty calories. One gallon of nonfat milk has 1440 calories, over half of which are simple sugars , and you only get 144g protein. With whey, to get 144g protein it's 6.5 servings totalling 851 calories, and that's with the 'natural' version containing stevia, which has 5g carbs per serving. The same thing goes for the powdered milk, which to me is almost undrinkable (ever see the commercial where the grandma tries to pass off powdered milk to her rooom full of cats when she runs out of real milk? ROFL).
As for the 'biological value' of these, I'd love it if someone could point me to some studies that indicate that one protein is better than another, for me the issue is still up in the air, but my personal mass gains are much better when consuming 120g+ whey per day than when I was drinking about a gallon of milk per day. I don't know if Glutamine is a determining factor, but for every 1000 calories I consume of whey, I'm getting 31g glutamine, while with milk I only get 20g glutamine per 1000 calories. (Recently I've also been spiking my pre/post workout shakes with an extra 10g glutamine).
Well, I'm not trying to start a protein war here or anything, but that's the reasoning behind my mass consumption of whey. A shake in the morning, and a shake at night really helps to make sure I get the high-quality protein my body needs to build muscle. I also like to have a shake before and after every workout to get plenty of protein floating around ready to be absorbed. :] (The pre-workout shake REALLY helps energy levels). Shake cost is about $1 each, and contains 12oz milk, 44g whey protein, 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds, about 1/2 tbs Udo's choice, 5g creatine, and is usually taken with the morning and night time vitamins/minerals. I find it to be much quicker and easier than making up a 'normal' meal of egg whites, tuna, etc, and it really helps me stick with my diet goals because I've always got at least two 'perfect' meals per day. For me it's the best protein, carbs, fats/EFAs, fiber, and vitamins/minerals combo I can find, and much better than most of the MRPs out there, which are overpriced and don't contain the EFAs or fiber. (Yes, I know that's not the best way to take creatine, but it works great for me).
As an aside, some studies have shown whey protein to be absorbed TOO quickly, causing up to 40% of it to be converted to energy. That's just another reason for the addition of ground flaxseeds to the shake, it slows absorbtion by adding a good amount of complex carbs and fiber.