Oil mixing with protein powder

Might be a stupid question, but since olive oil doesn’t need to be refrigerated or anything, could you add it to some dry protein powder, carry it around all day, and then just add water and shake it up at a later time? Or, would the oil sitting on the powder denature the powder in some way, or vice versa? What about if the oil sat with the powder for a couple of days before water was added?

After opening a bottle of olive oil, it must be refridgerated right after, as it goes rancid if you don’t. Carrying olive oil around all day after pouring from a sealed bottle wouldn’t be wise. If you could carry the olive oil chilled, like in small ice chest-like lunch container, sure. Or just leave the olive oil in the fridge where you’re going to add it to the water and powder (such as work).

Go ahead and do it, I don’t see any harm coming to it. There is no way oil could denature the protein or vice versa. Why do you ask this question, just curious?

I dunno about protein powders, but if you add water to olive oil it will split, it wont mix.

The only problem I see with this is that the olive oil and protein will probably turn into a lumpy mass and won’t mix up very easy and you will end up with a very lumpy protein shake. If you don’t mind the lumps, it’ll be fine.

I have read over and over that olive oil does not need to be refrigerated as long as it is kept in a cool, dark place (64-68 degrees farenheit is perfect from what I’ve read), and is tightly sealed. The air, more than the temp., is what makes it go rancid from what I understand. I’m not saying you’re wrong, RedKarate, but does anyone else have any insight on this?

Thanks for the replies everyone. Brad, the reason I ask is that I travel a lot for sports, and being on a college team where the coaches know shit about nutrition (and therefore only give us 2 maybe 3 meals a day when we travel) I have to pack protein and fat meals that I can conveniently and quickly eat between baseball games, or even during them. There is always a water cooler in our dugout, so I figured some protein powder with oil in it would work nicely. If you guys have any other good suggestions for P+F meals I could take on a road trip that don’t need refrigeration (beef jerky and almonds is another travel staple of mine) suggestions are always appreciated…Heb, I know you are the food on the go guru, so throw me a few suggestions if you can!

Olive oil doesn’t need to be refrigerated - in fact it shouldn’t be refrigerated as it will partially solidify. Olive oil should be stored at room temp in a dark location as sun light will oxidize it but not room heat. Flax oil as an omega-3 polyunsaturate, is much more heat unstable and needs to be refrigerated to prevent heat oxidation and rancidity. It’s the difference in stability between omega-3 polyunsaturated vs monounsaturated olive oil. Your olive oil will be fine at room temp but keep your flax oil chilled.

I’d go with protein powder in a shaker and add water later for protein source. For P+F, I’d add a big handful of walnuts and almonds or any mixed nuts as long as the nuts are raw as from the bulk section or baking section of supermarket and not the deep fat fried party nuts sold in snack section. Another way to add fat to protein shake thats not as messy as flax or olive oil, is to buy whole flax seed at health or natural foods store and grind it into flax meal powder with blender. The blender works really well to grind the flax and then just add flax meal to protein powder. Once the flax is ground, it needs to be stored in fridge or freezer just like the oil. I use flax seed meal all the time. Another good fat choice is avocados. Eat an avocado with your protein shake. Or for a little bigger P+F meal, add the flax meal to shake and eat both nuts and avocado. For fat source, you could also use cheese - cut the cheese into bite size chunks and freeze in a ziplock and it will stay cold and fresh all day. For P+C meals, eat fruit (apples, pears, oranges, plums, etc) with your protein shake. Another source of quality, easily transportable protein is tuna that comes in the new foil packets. Doesn’t need to be chilled and is easy to open, just pack a plastic fork. Tuna also comes in standard cans now with flip open tops. If you pack a small pocket can opener, with a plastic fork, you can basically eat anything that comes in a can such as veggies, beans, etc. Some food manufacturers now have a line of canned 99% fat free chili that I have packed for quick meals. I just eat it cold out of the can. It works.

I did the same thing with Flax oil and had no problems with the oil going rancid. Just keep your powder/oil mixture in a semi-airtight container and you shouldn’t have any problems. Still, I used non-airtight shakers and still had no problem.

I never went longer than a day or so without mixing the powder/oil combo. I’ll have to refer to someone else regarding the issue of the protein denaturing.

If you wanted to keep them apart and mix later, I’ve found those 1oz plastic film canisters to be perfect for holding powders (like glutamine) and oils.

How about adding some lecithin granules (NOT liquid lecithin) with the dry powder and oil? Lecithin is an emulsifier and will help the oil mix when the water is added. Lecithin does not have the genisteins that regular soy does, so estrogen is not an issue.

I always add a TBS of lecithin granules to my protein/flax meal shakes. Lecithin is a great source of choline and one of the few sources that will cross the blood brain barrier. (precusor to the neuto-transmitter acetylcholine)

I have mixed various oils with my protein in the past, and it has always seemed to work fine. The only time I would see there being a problem would be if you let it sit for awhile, then it would separate. Mix the pro and water first, then add the oil and shake and it, should work like a charm. I never add water until right before I consume the Pro drink, then add a tablespoon or so of oil. Ive never had a ppoblem with Olive oil going rancid, it should be fine unrefrigerated.