We are obsessed about getting protein these days. And with our eating on the go lifestyle, portable protein is positively pleasing.
So in theory, Oscar Mayer's P3 would be an ideal solution for people to get protein on the go.
P3 — Portable Protein Pack — promises at least 13 grams of protein from a combination of meat, cheese, and nuts. Think Kraft cheese, Oscar Mayer meat, and Planters nuts, all corporately owned under the same umbrella.
The meat is turkey, ham, or chicken; reduced fat cheddar cheese are in 3 of the 4 options; and all the nuts are dry roasted.
As grab-and-go solutions go, you could do a lot worse. With a little creativity, you could do a lot better for less money.
Nuts
Buying nuts in bulk is a lot cheaper and you can proportion the amount of nuts to suit your needs. You might like the meat and cheese option but the wrong nuts could be in the pre-packaged container. You pick the nuts; you could even do a combo of walnuts and almonds or almonds and peanuts.
Cheese
If you subscribe to eating full-fat cheese as part of your protein plan, you are better off selecting your own cheese. Raw milk cheese, blue cheese, asiago cheese … think the "Cheese Shop" Monty Python sketch.
If you don't eat meat but do eat cheese, you could double up on the cheese and nuts.
Meat
Jerky would be the ideal choice for portable protein since you don't have to worry about refrigeration. The drawback to the meat in the P3 is that you should eat that pretty quickly if you are out.
The disadvantage to jerky and processed meat (and the cheese) is the sodium level, so hopefully you are bringing plenty of water.
Processed meat is usually lacking in flavor — hence the bread and condiments — so snacking on plain processed meat doesn't sound appetizing.
Alternatives
Peanut butter, eggs, tuna, lentils, beans, even oatmeal: great protein ideas, but kind of messy when shooting for portable protein. Seeds are good to enter into the mix: eating ½ cup of roasted pumpkin seeds gets you 14g of protein.
Kraft, for its part, began selling a product called P3, which combines nuts, meat and cheese, earlier this year.
photo credit: Kraft/Oscar Mayer
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