The Protein Powder That Costs More Per Gram Than Silver

I am a Mark Sisson disciple. Primal Blueprint. Primal Kitchen. If Mark Sisson sold Primal Toilet Paper I'd probably buy it. So naturally I bought Primal Kitchen Collagen Fuel as my protein powder.

It's $44 for 14 servings. That's $3.14 per shake. For context, I can get a whole rotisserie chicken at Costco for $4.99. Each shake gives you 10 grams of protein. Ten. I need to drink four of these to get what one chicken breast provides. At $3.14 each, that's $12.56 for one chicken breast worth of protein from a powder.

Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard is $63 for 73 servings. That's $0.86 per shake. Each shake has 24 grams of protein. It has 112,000 reviews. One hundred and twelve thousand people are telling you this is the answer. It mixes in water without clumping. It tastes good.

Now, the Primal Kitchen stuff has collagen peptides, which are genuinely good for joints. I'm a kiteboarder — my joints take a beating. But you can buy collagen peptides separately for $20 and add them to your Optimum Nutrition shake. Total cost: still less than the Primal Kitchen premium.

Mark Sisson built an empire by selling the Primal brand. I respect the hustle. But he sold Primal Kitchen to Kraft Heinz for $200 million. He's not worried about the cost per serving. I should be.