The Student Room Group

Cheap Supplements?

Where do you guys buy your supplements from? I always look for the cheapest deals but there are so many sites retailing protein that its hard to find the cheapest. eBay seems to be a good shout along with Gumtree, however when buying stuff like whey powders there are various online retailers that offer 'the best deal'. I'm currently looking for Optimum's Casein but I find that the cheapest is around the £40 mark. Another thing I've noticed is that sites like Quidco and Topcashback offer deals for these websites, which is handy to note.
Reply 1
I buy from myprotein.com...no fancy ingredients, no fancy packaging or expensive ad campaigns. Just bulk powders for cheap prices.
Reply 2
Original post by rcummins1
I buy from myprotein.com...no fancy ingredients, no fancy packaging or expensive ad campaigns. Just bulk powders for cheap prices.


I can't stand MyProtein, probably the worst I've ever experienced. Very slow gains over a long period of time, and it tastes horrible :frown:
Reply 3
Original post by 140BPM
I can't stand MyProtein, probably the worst I've ever experienced.


Weird. I have had Optimum Nutrition once (just because there was a pricing glitch - otherwise there is no point in buying it) and it didn't taste or mix any better than bog standard MyProtein or BulkPowders gear.

Original post by 140BPM

Very slow gains over a long period of time, and it tastes horrible :frown:


Yeah, your slow gains were due to MyProtein :rolleyes:

Ever thought that whey and casein are very basic ingredients, pretty much every shake is the same (aside from how much filler they have in) and that with branded ones, you are just paying twice the price for a fancy tub, glitzy branding and proprietary added formulas that comprise mostly of filler material?

Just a thought.

Also, maybe your slow gains were down to your overall diet, your training (only about a zillion times more important than what kind of protein supplement you use) and the fact that muscle gains for natural trainees are slow (for a noob an average of 1.5lb lean gain per month is considered excellent for the first year)
Reply 4
I wouldn't recommend supplements. If it's working out and you really want it bad then do it all natural. Good diet and protein shakes. Then again if you want the best for yourself buy some good supplements. Nothing good comes cheap I can tell you that
Reply 5
The only thing I would say is that most supplements on the cheaper end of the spectrum would aren't anywhere as good in terms of protein content as those better established, big label brands like ON, as you mentioned. This is because many often use fillers so if the protein (of whey or any specific protein blend) is anything under 20g per scoop, it's a no-go, as fillers will probably have been used. Furthermore, I don't remember this too well, but I remember reading, a trusted article, that brands can mislabel the protein content per serving, for example in a 24g serving of protein only 19g may be used effectively for the repair of muscular tissue that you want, so I'd recommend staying away from the proteins that market themselves as being extraordinarily cheap and ones that have little to no reputation.

So what can you do?
If, for you, like me, budget is an issue then there are many ways in which you are able to attain protein sources cheaply. I'll convert the dosage, and how much of each item you would need to equate to a single scoop of whey or any general protein powder.

5 EGG WHITES - 25g of protein - highly inexpensive and protein from eggs has THE highest biological value of any protein, meaning it absorbs the best.

1 CAN of DRAINED TUNA - value branded tins are not expensive at all, a small can providing you with 24g of very high quality natural protein. Dave Draper, a monolithic 70's bodybuilder, highly advocated this as a protein source! Calorically they are very similar to a scoop of protein powder, 130kcal for a drained tin in brine, and 200-230kcal fir a drained can os tuna in sunflower oil (which I would recommend as the healthy fats offer a whole host of benefits for your joints and brain)

1 TUB COTTAGE CHEESE - These are literally 65p in Tesco (Value range) and for just 250-300 kcal can offer you a whopping 35g of protein per serving! fun fact WHEY (which is engineered to make high-end whey proteins) IS A BI-PRODUCT FROM THE PRODUCTION OF CHEESE, namely this one! But do add fruits because the taste gets a bit boring after a while!

-I hope that helps and good luck, I'm sorry I couldn't offer you the answer that you were looking for, but if it's quality of protein that you want, and you haven't got a stupendous amount of money to spend on it, mother nature is a far better alternative to less well known companies, who may cut corners in the production to keep their prices competative! Remember, it's a business after all!

Good luck,
-Nigel
Reply 6
Original post by Nigeyy
The only thing I would say is that most supplements on the cheaper end of the spectrum would aren't anywhere as good in terms of protein content as those better established, big label brands like ON, as you mentioned. This is because many often use fillers so if the protein (of whey or any specific protein blend) is anything under 20g per scoop, it's a no-go, as fillers will probably have been used.


Lol. Optimum nutrition is about twice the price of the 82% bulkpowders gear and has less than a gram more protein per 30g scoop.

Original post by Nigeyy

Furthermore, I don't remember this too well, but I remember reading, a trusted article, that brands can mislabel the protein content per serving, for example in a 24g serving of protein only 19g may be used effectively for the repair of muscular tissue that you want, so I'd recommend staying away from the proteins that market themselves as being extraordinarily cheap and ones that have little to no reputation.


Even a lot of cheap ones have a breakdown available of AA profile and so on. At the end of the day though - if it is just plain whey then there is not going to be much variety. It is a fairly homogeneous product.
Reply 7
Original post by Mark85
Lol. Optimum nutrition is about twice the price of the 82% bulkpowders gear and has less than a gram more protein per 30g scoop.]

Yes, but that is because of nutritional partitioning and the macro-nutrient content per scoop. Each 30g scoop of whey consists of 24g protein, 4g (that is 3g of carbs + 1g of sugar) carbs and 1g of fat, which all contribute towards the 30g weightage of the scoop.

Looking at it calorically, as:
Carbs contain 4 kcal/ gram
Protein contains 4 kcal/ gram
Fat contains 9 kcal/ gram

Each 30g scoop is about 120kcal = (4 x 4) + (24 x 4) + (1 x 9)
It won't be exact as they breakdown their macro nutrients to decimal places on the nutritional label. But, ultimately, the numbers add up showing that despite not having the highest protein dosage, it's free from fillers. There are some seriously dodgy brands out there where the numbers don't even add up!

However, I agree that ON doesn't have the biggest protein number, and there are other ones with higher numbers on the market, who, would charge top dollar, for purely isolating protein. You have to remember, that whey has to be isolated, and cannot be done so perfectly without stupendous production costs!

BTW, I'm not a religious consumer of ON haha, I just used them as an example as they've been in the game for over 20 years!
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by Nigeyy


Yes, but that is because of nutritional partitioning and the macro-nutrient content per scoop. Each 30g scoop of whey consists of 24g protein, 4g (that is 3g of carbs + 1g of sugar) carbs and 1g of fat, which all contribute towards the 30g weightage of the scoop.

Looking at it calorically, as:
Carbs contain 4 kcal/ gram
Protein contains 4 kcal/ gram
Fat contains 9 kcal/ gram

Each 30g scoop is about 120kcal = (4 x 4) + (24 x 4) + (1 x 9)
It won't be exact as they breakdown their macro nutrients to decimal places on the nutritional label. But, ultimately, the numbers add up showing that despite not having the highest protein dosage, it's free from fillers. There are some seriously dodgy brands out there where the numbers don't even add up!

However, I agree that ON doesn't have the biggest protein number, and there are other ones with higher numbers on the market, who, would charge top dollar, for purely isolating protein. You have to remember, that whey has to be isolated, and cannot be done so perfectly without stupendous production costs!

BTW, I'm not a religious consumer of ON haha, I just used them as an example as they've been in the game for over 20 years!


Mate, all I said was that ON is twice the price of Bulkpowders yet its protein content is pretty much the same.

i.e. 30g scoop of bulkpowders is about 23.2g protein + 6.8g carbs+fat vs. 24g protein + 6g (carbs+fat) in 30g of ON

in other words - the protein content in pricey brands doesn't justify the massive price differential... they are practically the same amount of protein for all intents and purposes.

What most people do with whey powders and food stuffs is simply look at the price per gram of protein. e.g.

bulkpowders pure whey 2.5kg = 1933g of protein and costs £31.39
ON Gold Standard 2.27kg = 1852g of protein and costs £56.64

Therefore bulkpowders is 1.62p/g protein and ON is 3.06p/g protein. Both have similar macro split and the big brand is nearly twice as expensive.

I was just pointing out that your statement about protein content of the cheaper end of the market not being as good as well known brands like ON was not only rubbish (they are equivalent) but you are also paying nearly twice the cost to get the latter and getting nothing but fancier packaging for your money.



To see what fillers stuff has, one simply consults the ingredients and checks the proportion of protein to the total content of the thing. You are just overcomplicating things and ultimately confusing yourself.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 9
Original post by Nigeyy

Yes, but that is because of nutritional partitioning and the macro-nutrient content per scoop. Each 30g scoop of whey consists of 24g protein, 4g (that is 3g of carbs + 1g of sugar) carbs and 1g of fat, which all contribute towards the 30g weightage of the scoop.

Looking at it calorically, as:
Carbs contain 4 kcal/ gram
Protein contains 4 kcal/ gram
Fat contains 9 kcal/ gram

Each 30g scoop is about 120kcal = (4 x 4) + (24 x 4) + (1 x 9)
It won't be exact as they breakdown their macro nutrients to decimal places on the nutritional label. But, ultimately, the numbers add up showing that despite not having the highest protein dosage, it's free from fillers. There are some seriously dodgy brands out there where the numbers don't even add up!

However, I agree that ON doesn't have the biggest protein number, and there are other ones with higher numbers on the market, who, would charge top dollar, for purely isolating protein. You have to remember, that whey has to be isolated, and cannot be done so perfectly without stupendous production costs!

BTW, I'm not a religious consumer of ON haha, I just used them as an example as they've been in the game for over 20 years!


Just because those fillers aren't calorific doesn't mean they're unkown? Surely they would be on the ingredients label.
Get some:
Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey
Controlled Labs Orange Triad Multi Vitamin
Controlled Labs Orange Triad Omega 3


Find the cheapest prices of them before you buy it.
A member on here runs muscle supermarket, which is a price comparison site for supplements. Works pretty well in terms of looking for deals on whatever product you may (or may not) be looking for a any given moment in time.
I buy all my protein from Discount Supplements. Optimum nutrition is the cheapest but the protein content is not the highest. Occassionally they do a 12% off sale, this with free delivery you can get 5kg of 90% protein for around £45.

For food, the cheapest forms of protein in my opinion are tins of sardines and pilchards. They've like 45p from Lidl and about 50-70p in other supermarkets. There's roughly 20g of protein in each tin, so it's great value. You might have to get used to the taste though!
Reply 13
Discount supplements have optimum health protein, of 2.25kg at £24.99 and if you spend over £50 then 12% off, making it super cheap, I can't stand cheap whey (taste wise) but find results to be pretty much similar if you just add a bit more, my favourite is phd pharma whey just because of its amazing taste, and as a vegetarian I use it daily so taste is important, I actually just brought a tub of ON whey with the phd pharma whey to get the 12% off discount and am hoping to see what all the hype about it is. Plus discount supplements is free delivery.
Reply 14
has anyone tried maxi raw a bulk subsidiary company of maximuscle ?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
i recently have been using a Chocolate Vanilla Whey Protein Concentrate from www.peaksupps.com

Relatively new company from the UK, they have some great prices on Creatine, BCAAs, Glutamine Etc.
Reply 16
Protein powder does not magically sprout muscles. That depends on your whole diet and lifting routine.

Just pick one based on taste and price

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