Standard protein powder isn't really great as a meal replacement, because it doesn't have fat/carbs/fiber/vitamins/etc that most real meals and meal replacement powders have. But if you want just the extra protein without all that, to cut calories, or whatever, then you've got a couple options. Unless you have stomach issues with one protein or the other, I wouldn't worry about whey isolate vs concentrate. I typically just do calculations on price per gram of protein and buy whatever is cheapest at the time, so long as it's a reputable brand.
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% whey has been pretty popular since pretty much forever. It's a good protein powder, good quality, etc. Comes on sale pretty often.
Dymatize brand is also good stuff and good quality. I think it's from Texas too.
Myprotein is a british company, althought they recently opened a factory in the US. They've got good stuff as well. And all pretty cheap, lots of flavors.
And there are tons of other brands out there. I'd watch out for things like MuscleMilk, as it tends to be chock full of sugar and junk to make it taste good. I think even SixStar and Body Fortress protein at Walmart has a good ranking on labdoor.com.
A couple options for buying.
-Check slickdeals.net daily for a week or two (there's usually a good protein deal posted every few days).
-And/or go to
labdoor.com and look at their protein rankings based off quality/price from their supposedly independent tests.
-Check out either bodybuilding.com or amazon.com for good deals. GNC will price match them, I believe
-If you want to go with myprotein, if you use
this link when you purchase you'll get 30% off and I'll get a couple bucks credit -
http://bit.ly/texagsmyprotein (sorry if I'm not supposed to post referral links, mods)
Edit: I forgot to mention the VitaminShoppe BodyTech Pro whey protein. It's basically a clone of ON Gold standard 100% whey. They may even be made at the same facility is what I've heard. But it is cheaper. Tastes pretty good as well.
