Eight budget-friendly ways to eat high protein on the cheap
These lean on the least expensive ingredients in the Tuna collection — canned tuna, eggs, beans, rice — and skip the pricier additions like feta, olives or fresh sashimi-grade fish that show up elsewhere on the site.
Tuna Salad Without Mayo — tuna, Greek yogurt and pantry staples, nothing specialty.
Tuna Egg Salad — eggs are one of the cheapest proteins available, paired with tuna for a deviled-egg twist.
Tuna and Eggs High Protein Meal — tuna and eggs again, this time as a hot skillet meal.
Tuna Pasta Salad — pasta, canned tuna, peas and eggs, the classic potluck combination.
Tuna and Rice Bowl — canned tuna and rice, about as simple and inexpensive as this collection gets.
Low Calorie Tuna Salad — tuna and basic vegetables, no specialty ingredients at all.
Tuna Salad with Cottage Cheese — cottage cheese is one of the more affordable dairy proteins per gram.
Tuna Lunch Meal Prep — chickpeas and tuna, built to stretch across a week of lunches from a handful of pantry cans.
Tuna and chickpeas layered for the week — one of the most budget-friendly recipes in this roundup.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a tuna recipe “cheap” here?
Canned tuna, eggs, beans and rice are the least expensive proteins in this collection — recipes built mainly around those, without pricier additions like feta, olives or fresh sashimi-grade fish, make this list.
Which recipes should I avoid if I’m on a tight budget?
The Niçoise-style Mediterranean Tuna Salad and the fresh-tuna Tuna Rice Bowl both use pricier ingredients — olives and sashimi-grade fish respectively.
Can I stretch these further across a week?
Yes — Tuna Lunch Meal Prep is built specifically for that, using chickpeas alongside tuna to make a batch last several days.
Is canned tuna itself expensive?
No — it’s one of the cheapest sources of complete protein per gram available in a typical American grocery store, which is part of why it anchors this entire recipe collection.
More From the Tuna Collection
For the fastest options, see Fast Tuna Recipes. For meal-prep-specific recipes, see the Tuna Meal Prep guide.
