You definitely want whole foods like beef, chicken, rice and eggs for whole food protein. I use a whey shake post workout to start the recovery process ASAP!
I would try to have 1 shake a day preworkout at the least. Depending on your goals a shake before bed before bulking with cottage cheese is nice.
Sometimes i slam a whey shake first thing in the AM to prevent catabolism, workout, then cook up my oats/eggs for breakfast
Hope this helps