"Is brand A better, or does brand B meet my needs, or maybe brand C is cheaper, or heck, should I just go for brand D instead!" You get my point.
Nowadays, there are so many supplement manufacturers on the market, each making all types of supplements, and sometimes, even within their own line of products, they will have several different choices of the same supplement. Choices, choices, choices! It's not a bad thing, really... But when there's too many to choose from, how do you know what's a good deal and what's not? How do you make a choice on deciding which supplement to buy and which not to buy? How do you choose from one brand, size to another?
   
BodybuildingForYou.com Product Buying Guides
Like you, I'm faced with these types of decisions all the time, whenever I need to make a purchase to restock my stash of supplements. I'm faced with the same decision making process you are when it comes to buying different products. Which is the main reason for writing these product buying guides. I use these guides as a quick reference when I need to buy something.
We have two other product buying guides here:
Of course, we don't have product guides for every single product line out there, I just don't have time for that. But we do have product buying guide for some of the most fundamental products, and besides these, we have product reviews for hundreds of different supplements on the market to help you make a better, more informed buying decision.
BB4U Meal Replacement Buying Guide - 21 Meal Replacement Powders Compared
If you've read our whey protein and protein bar buying guides (links above), you'll know that we use two key metrics to compare the different brands of supplements:
1. CPS (Cost Per Serving) - The comparison charts are sorted by CPS, going from the lowest cost per serving product down to the highest cost per serving. This is figured out by dividing the total cost of the product by the number of servings it has.
2. CPGP (Cost Per Gram of Protein) - although CPS is a good measure to use to compare the overall cost of various products, CPGP sometimes gives a better, more accurate base unit measure of cost. Different products will contain different amounts of protein per serving, sometimes, you will find that product A with lower CPS will actually end up having a high CPGP than another product B, simply because product B will have higher protein content per serving.
with all things considered, protein is probably one of the most important nutrients that you would consider when buying a nutritional supplement. (This is not to say that other nutrients like carbs, fat content, vitamins and minerals aren't important.)
In the following series of Meal Replacement shake buying guides, we pooled together 21 of the best meal replacement products on the market separated in to 3 main categories:
- High protein meal replacements
- Lite meal replacements
- Low carbohydrate meal replacement powders
There are 12 meal replacement powders compared in the first group categorized as the "High Protein Meal Replacements". These MRPs contain the highest amounts of protein content ranging from 37g per serving up to 53g of protein per serving. These meal replacements are catered to individuals who seek a high protein content in their meal replacements
The next group consist of 5 meal replacement shakes that are considered "Lite Meal Replacement Powders". Generally, meal replacements in this category contain less protein, less carbohydrates, and less fat content. Each serving of meal replacement in this category typically contains less than 200 calories - about 100 calories less compared to the High Protein Meal Replacements. This category is suited for individuals who seek MRP's with less calories, yet still provide a balanced nutrition content.
Finally, the third category consists of the "Low Carb Meal Replacement Shakes". There are 4 meal replacements compared here. The protein content in these MRPs range anywhere from 20g up to 42g per serving; however, the key selling point of these meal replacements is their low carb content - these typically range anywhere from 0g carbs to a little over 10g of carbohydrates per serving. Meal replacements in this category are best suited for individuals carefully watching their daily carb intake, or is on a low carb diet.
Below are 3 comparison charts of the categories mentioned above. We will get into some details about each in the up coming articles.
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