I wouldn’t know honestly. Don’t go in for these sorts of thing, though I’ve used the meal replacement shakes when too ill to eat solid food or after dental work. I know the soy protien is the cheapest, but the egg/whey protien is considered better (if you aren’t vegan) as @redesigned laid out.
But protein powder isn’t exactly the best comparison. Meal replacements are basically protein powder plus carbs and multi-vitamins, among other things. So its more of an apples and oranges thing. Protien powder alone wouldn’t be an adequate meal replacement, which is why you see people tossing it into smoothies. Looks like it runs around ~$7-$15/lb for the whey and less for soy. . In terms of calories? Looks like is 110cal per ounce regardless of source. so $.000397/cal - $.000852/cal for the whey. I’m sure it can be found cheaper by not going with bodybuilding websites that become the first hits on google’s “shopping” tab. Its surprisingly close to the cost of some of the meal replacements at the low end. Given that the protein is probably the most expensive bulk component, a meal replacement is effectively “cutting” the protein with lower cost ingredients. Bringing the price down. So you’d expect it to be higher, but that’s not much higher.
I chose to compare the pre-mixed liquids because its a nice clean comparison. You eliminate (or can) other variables by picking two products that are as identical as possible. Like package size, ship weight, packaging materials that can contribute to cost. If you could buy Ensure powder (just to stick with that brand) in lots of 7 15oz bags as a minimum purchase size, you’d probably see it being cheaper than the soylent. Given that comparisons of the closest two forms (14oz liquid to 8oz liquid in comparable total package size) shakes out that way. But that doesn’t exist. You get 14oz cans. Sometimes sold in 6 packs. And most other brands don’t seem to do powder at all. The added weight in shipping (from the factory, not to your house) means they’ll have a higher cost. Bottles and cans are more expensive than bags so that adds to cost. And of course water (and any needed stabilizers) cost money too.
ETA: Oh and from this:
It looks like protien is as calorie dense as Carbs. But IIRC high school science and that whole ATP cycle thing right. It’s not necessarily an adequate primary source of food energy. Because it requires you to burn more energy to break it down, so you net less actual energy in the end. Extra step in the cycle or some such. And you need a lot more water to do so, which is why you’re thirsty after eating a steak.
Could be remembering that wrong though.
