You know you need more protein. You’ve probably read that you should be eating somewhere around 0.8 grams per pound of goal body weight… and then you stood in front of the fridge at 5pm with no idea what to make that would get you there. For most of us, our daily protein goal ends up higher than we’ve been eating. The most common response is, “but how do I eat that much?”

This is where my protein stacking method can come in handy. It’s an easy way to rethink protein needs at meal time. First, I look at a list of high protein foods, sorted the way you shop and cook: fridge, freezer, and pantry. Every food has a serving size and grams of protein, so you can see at a glance which foods do the heavy lifting and which ones are there to fill in the gaps.

If you’d rather have this on your fridge than on your phone, I made a printable version for you. The 50 foods below are the ones I reach for most… but they’re only about half the list. My free Protein Stacking Method has over 100 foods sorted by fridge, freezer, and pantry, with protein, carbs, fat, and fiber for each one. Budget picks and kid favorites are marked, plus four ready-made stacks that each clear 25 grams of protein. Print it, stick it on the fridge, and you’re done guessing.

Every food below falls into one of three groups. Think of them as roles on a team.

• High protein (20g or more per serving): your base. Build the meal around one of these.
• Medium protein (10 to 19g): solid on their own, or a second player next to a base.
• Boosters (under 10g): they won’t carry a meal, but two or three of them added together can bump you up 10 to 15 grams without changing what you’re eating.

One quick note on serving sizes. Meat and fish are listed cooked (3 ounces is about the size of a deck of cards… that equates to 4oz raw, if you’re measuring before cooking). Packaged foods follow the label serving. And brands vary more than you’d think, so if you buy a specific protein bar or pasta, the box is your best source.

One more thing about serving sizes… they’re a starting point, not a rule. If a stack gets you close but not quite there, have a little more of one of your boosters. One and a half servings of hemp hearts or an extra half cup of Greek yogurt is a perfectly good way to close a 3 or 4 gram gap (that’s exactly how my snack stack gets past 25 grams). The label tells you what’s in one serving. You get to decide how many servings make sense for you.

If you track macros, these numbers will line up closely with what you see in your app. If you don’t track (and some moms I talk to don’t want to… totally ok), you can use this list on its own… pick a base, add a booster or two, and you’re most likely there. New to tracking and want to give it a try? Start with my Beginner Guide to Tracking Macros.

The fridge is where most of your bases live. If you only stock one section well, make it this one.

High protein

• Chicken breast, 3 oz cooked: about 26g
• Chuck beef tender roast, 3 oz cooked: about 23g
• Lean ground beef (93%), 3 oz cooked: about 22g
• Lean ground turkey (93%), 3 oz cooked: about 22g
• Ground chicken, 3 oz cooked: about 20g
• Pork tenderloin, 3 oz cooked: about 22g
• Salmon, 3 oz cooked: about 22g
• Plain nonfat Greek yogurt, 1 cup: about 23g
• High-protein yogurt cups (like Ratio or Oikos Pro), 1 cup: 20 to 25g (check the label)

Chuck beef tender roast is a big one in my house. It goes in the slow cooker in the morning and feeds the whole family by dinner (it shows up in my cookbook more than once).

Medium protein

• Tempeh (like Lightlife), 3 oz: about 18g
• Seitan (like Upton’s Naturals), 2 oz: about 18g
• Firm tofu, 3 oz: about 15g
• Low-fat cottage cheese, 1/2 cup: about 14g
• Ultra-filtered skim milk (like Fairlife), 1 cup: 13g
• Liquid egg whites, 1/2 cup: about 13g
• Deli turkey, 2 oz: about 10g (varies by brand)

Ultra-filtered milk is my favorite sneaky swap. It has about 5 more grams of protein per cup than regular milk and tastes the same in cereal or coffee. Try it in my protein hot chocolate too.

Boosters

• Eggs, 1 large: 6g
• Regular milk, 1 cup: 8g
• String cheese, 1 stick: about 7g
• Light Swiss cheese, 1 slice: about 7g
• Shredded mozzarella, 1/4 cup: about 6g

The freezer is your backup plan. When the week falls apart (I’m looking at you, soccer season), these are the foods that keep you from defaulting to a bowl of cereal for dinner.

High protein

• Shrimp, 3 oz cooked: about 20g
• Tilapia, 3 oz cooked: about 22g
• Turkey or chicken burger patties, 1 patty: about 20g (check the box)
• Lightly breaded chicken strips (like Real Good), 4 oz: about 23g

Frozen shrimp thaws in a colander under cold water in about 10 minutes. That’s faster than most takeout.

Medium protein

• Shelled edamame, 1 cup: about 18g

Edamame is the most underrated food on this whole list. It’s a vegetable that eats like a protein, and kids tend to love popping them… at least mine do.

Boosters

• Broccoli, 1 cup cooked: about 5g
• Green peas, 1/2 cup: about 4g

None of these will carry a meal on their own. But toss a cup of broccoli and a handful of peas into a pasta dish and you’ve added close to 10 grams without anyone noticing.

The pantry holds a lot of boosters, plus a few bases that never go bad. These are also the foods that travel well, so they’re my first grab for camping trips and soccer nights.

High protein

• Canned tuna, 3 oz drained: about 22g
• Canned chicken, 3 oz drained: about 20g
• Protein powder, 1 scoop: 20 to 25g (varies by brand)
• Edamame pasta (like Explore Cuisine), 2 oz dry: about 24g
• Black bean pasta (like Explore Cuisine), 2 oz dry: about 25g

One thing to watch with powders: collagen is not the same as whey or plant protein. If yours is collagen-based, read does collagen count as protein before you count it toward your goal.

Medium protein

• Lentils, 1 cup cooked: about 18g
• Black beans, 1 cup: about 15g
• Whole grain bagel (like Dave’s Killer Bread Epic Everything), 1 bagel: 13g
• Chickpea pasta (like Banza), 2 oz dry: about 11 to 13g (varies by brand)
• Protein bars, 1 bar: 10 to 20g (varies by brand)
• Hemp hearts, 3 tbsp: about 10g
• Beef or chicken bone broth, 1 cup: about 10g (mostly collagen)
• Protein mac and cheese (like Goodles Cheddy Mac), 2.6 oz dry: about 14g (check the box)

Boosters

• Beef jerky, 1 oz: about 9g
• Pumpkin seeds, 1 oz: about 9g
• Quinoa, 1 cup cooked: about 8g
• Peanut butter, 2 tbsp: about 8g
• Thin-sliced whole grain bread (like Dave’s Killer Bread), 2 slices: 6g
• Almonds, 1 oz: about 6g
• Rolled oats, 1/2 cup dry: about 5g
• Chia seeds, 2 tbsp: about 4g
• Low-carb tortillas (like Mission Carb Balance), 1 soft taco size: about 6g, plus 17g fiber

Peanut butter is a booster on its own, but it doesn’t have to stay one. My protein peanut butter gets you 10 grams per serving with three ingredients. And if you’re packing for a trip, my travel protein hacks lean on a lot of these pantry staples.

Protein stacking is the same way I teach fiber: pick one base, then add boosters until you clear 25 grams.

Here’s what that looks like at dinner, using only foods from this list:

Nothing fancy there. It’s a regular pasta night with one or two small swaps. That’s the whole idea… no new way of eating, just a better-stocked kitchen.

The printable Protein Stacking Method has four ready-made stacks (breakfast, lunch, a snack, and dinner), the full macros for every food, and flags for the budget picks and the ones my kids will eat. So you’re not cooking two meals or guessing at the grocery store.

And if you’d rather skip the stacking math for dinner altogether, my cookbook A Month of Family Dinners has done it for you. Every recipe is high protein, family-tested, and planned out for the whole month (yes, the super easy, BBQ beef using that chuck roast is in there).

Eating all of these foods isn’t the goal. Pick three or four bases you already like, keep a handful of boosters on hand, and you’ve covered most of your week.

Start small. Swap your milk. Add edamame to lunch. Keep a can of tuna in the pantry for the nights nothing goes to plan. Those little changes add up faster than a complete overhaul ever will.