I’m sad that this is worth mentioning. But if you are dealing with hunger amid threats to SNAP benefits, rice and beans are very cheap per meal and can be bought in bulk. Here’s some tricks I’ve learned:
If you get dried beans, make sure you follow the directions to pre-soak them. Canned beans are easier to prepare, just dump in near the end of cooking to heat them up. Dried lentils don’t need to be pre-soaked, but I prefer to cook them separately and drain the water they boil in.
Brown rice, barley, or other whole grains have much more protein than white rice and I find them more filling. Whole grains take longer to cook than white grains.
Frying diced onions in the pot before adding the grains and water is an easy way to kick the flavor up a notch. Use a generous amount of cooking oil (light olive oil is healthiest) for cost effective calories and help making the meal more filling.
Big carrots or celery in bulk are pretty cheap too. I like to dice carrots by partially cutting length wise into quarters, but leave the small end intact to keep the carrot together to make it easier to dice down the side. Add them to the same pot as the grains after the grains start to soften. Beets are also great; skin and cube then boil separately until soft. Change up your veggie to get a mix of vitamins
Get some bulk garlic powder, hot sauce, paprika, cumin, crushed red pepper, black pepper, etc. Season and salt the pot to taste.
You’ll only need 1-2 pots and a cutting knife/board for veggies.
I recommend Harvard’s Nutrition Source for science-based nutrition information and they have some recipes too
Edit: discussing big changes in diet with a primary care doctor or registered dietician is generally a good idea.
Probiotic supplements may help with gas.
As a bonus this sort of meal has a very small environmental footprint.
Imagine living in a country with 900+ billionaires, with growing tendency, where regular people are discussing about the best ways not to starve.
Not that it’s much better where I live, but damn, what the hell is wrong with this world?
The elite have always been vampires living on the blood of us peons… it feels new to us because we are living it now, but history shows its been this way a long time, and it was probably the same in prerecorded history too… we, as humans tend to suck…
part of it is that the working class, poor to people who incorrectly think they’re middle class included, basically everyone who is not ownership class (where owning things is the primary means of making them money), utterly fail to organize, and sometimes actively work against their own interests (like the “lets make a third party!” morons, the “I am morally superior for not voting” morons, and or course the actively malicious “I let the billionaires tell me that them fucking me was actually brown people’s fault” morons.
I hate the use of working class that excludes front line workers who very much still work for a living. Why call it working class if it’s just a fancy name for lower class instead of fully including all workers?
Skip the olive oil. If you’re buying it on a beans and rice budget, its gonna be fake olive oil anyway. Just use corn/canola/veg oil.
depending on where you live you might even be able to find cold-pressed canola (or other kinds i suppose) oil for a remarkably low cost (you just have to buy like 2l at a time), which is very flavourful and healthy.
The brand i buy is ~4€ per l, which isn’t even that much more expensive than the cheapest oil available
I just want to note that you should make sure to verify that rice is actually cheap where you live, before going with it.
This post seems aimed quite specifically at american audiences (without actually stating such), but up here in the frozen wasteland of scandinavia rice is actually not that cheap at all, quite expensive even unless you go with literally the absolute cheapest brands available.If you live in europe i’d wager potatoes are the actual ideal cheap carb, especially during harvest time when the market is flooded with such an absurd amount of potatoes that the price tanks and might even literally reach 0. Another option to look at is as you say, barley or other whole grains.
Frozen peas are also a nice alternative to beans (though obviously less appealing as the main protein), which can simply be tossed into the food while warm or a bowl of them can be put in a microwave oven at full blast for a minute to get fully thawed.
Beans aren’t cheap where I live either (southern Germany).
i’m a lot more okay with the blanket recommendation of beans, because it’s almost certainly the cheapest meat “substitute” and makes very good stew.
Home-made seitan is presumably the cheapest option basically no matter where you are, but that also takes a lot of work…
Lentils are another good legume. Look up a daal recipe for any lentil you find, and basmati rice
I’m anaphylactic to lentils and peanuts, and less allergic to other legumes too. If I ever became vegetarian or vegan I think I’d starve to death.
I’m not currently requiring budget protein (I’m still poor-ish but not as bad as some) but my bills are about to skyrocket soon (need to upsize apartment, looking at around ~$600 increase per month) so I might need to look at budget options soon.
Edit: TIL soy is a legume lol.
There are some good soy protein options too. Tofu can be cooked a bunch of different ways, and there’s tempeh which is similar but different. One of the lesser knowns is TVP or textured vegetable protein, which is soy, but comes in different forms like mince or chunks (like ground beef). Its pretty cheap (especially in bulk), shelf stable and has good protein.
Soy is also a legume.
My go to rice recipe: spanish rice
Add some refried beans and a protein or cheese, kids will clean their plate.
Beans are protien
Taco seasoning goes great in beans too.
Taco seasoning and chili seasoning are very close to the same thing.
Cumin is the defining flavor of Chili.
Taco seasoning goes great in most things, just maybe a bit less of it so you don’t immediately associate it with tacos.
To reduce gas with beans:
- soak with baking soda (1tsp per cup of beans)
- before cooking boil some water and in a bowl cover the beans with the boiled water, after 5 minutes drain and wash them and throw them in to whatever you are cooking
- ferment the beans, best results but more work
Also remember that as your body gets used to it, the gas is reduced.
Some notes about gas: It’s primarily caused by a combination of fiber, and in the case of beans, by the oligosaccharides. The fiber can be handled by gradually increasing intake of high fiber foods. The more you get used to eating them, the less bloated you should feel, and it generally goes down to a normal level of gas that most people experience.
For the oligosaccharides, soaking and rinsing the dry beans does help remove a lot of it. Rinsing canned beans also helps. Taking Beano (or an equivalent) can help too. There are also claims of various spices being able to help as well.
It’s also important to note that different types of legumes can cause more bloating, or less. Experiment with different kinds to find what works for you.
If you’re willing/able to make the effort, sprouting and even fermenting will significantly help with bloating as well.
As a last resort or easy reprieve, opting for low fiber plant foods like white rice and tofu won’t hurt in the short term, though whole foods should generally be preferred because natural sources of fiber of hugely beneficial.
On an unrelated note, I have always hated soaking beans, which is why the Instant Pot has been one of the single greatest cooking inventions I have ever used. Supposedly the pressure cooking also breaks down the oligosaccharides and reduces bloating. I just love it because I can toss in a bunch of beans and oat groats, and have enough of that stuff cooked to easily and quickly prepare meals every day for a week with each batch.
it should also be noted that you need fibre for healthy digestion, so you really should just power through the flatulence as much as you can. Avoiding fibre because it makes you gassy is like avoiding water because you don’t like getting wet lips.
Dried lentils don’t need to be pre-soaked, but I prefer to cook them separately and drain the water they boil in.
Pre-soaking lentils (and pouring the water away) makes them easier to digest, in particular it makes them bloat you less.
https://farmhouseguide.com/benefits-of-soaking-lentils/
An exception are dehulled lentils, like red lentils. They don’t need pre-soaking and are quicker to cook, too. I often throw red lentils into the cooking water with my noodles or rice, just to add some protein into the meal.
You have to bring lentils to a rolling boil for 10 minutes to get rid of toxins.
Also a very underrated flavoring that’s unjustly stigmatized because of racism is MSG. You can get really big bags of them for super cheap, and it’s an easy way to make any meal taste savory.
Bean stew is one of the most delicious things you can cook whether you can afford more or not. Here’s my recipe. Everything but the beans, onions, carrots, paprika, oil and salt is optional and mainly improves the taste profile. Works with almost any kind of bean. Can be done with dried beans too but you gotta handle softening them up first.
Bean stew/soup v4.1
- 3x beans cans - 540ml
- 2x onion heads
- 2x carrots
- 2tbsp paprika, 1tbsp smoked paprika
- cooking oil
- 1/2 tsp salt (or less) and 1/2tsp of MSG
- 2x chicken or beef cubes
- marinara/tomato puree/diced tomatoes/vinegar/some other acid
- Add beans with some water in a pot. Use OG bean water too.
- Chop onions and carrots in small pieces.
- Fry onions and carrots in a pan with oil.
- Once fry is done, add all the paprika and stir for 10-20s then pour into the pot, let it boil once.
- Add the beef/chicken cubes.
- Add spearmint, lots.
- Add some more oil if needed. Olive is great.
- Add 3-4tbsp marinara, diced tomatoes or balsamic vinegar.
- Add 1/2 tsp salt (or less) and 1/2tsp of MSG.
- Test for salt, it might be good enough.
Eat it with some bread or by itself. It goes well with any type of hot pepper too.
Spearmint!?
leave it to lemmy users to disparage the primary staple of 3.5 billion people. “Pre-diabetic junk food” lmao sure ok
It truly is the way too many enthusiasts on any topic think.
Like they can’t fathom the idea that other people are focused on other things despite this being 100% the reason humans were able to create what we have.
If humans all focused on the exact same things, we’d have a very narrow scope and much less innovation.
It’s why its so hard to find good advice.
You go to a cooking subreddit, and they’d have you thinking that unless you knew every artisinal craftsman shop in your area (your local butcher, your local baker etc etc), you must not know food, and that you need 400 dollar pans to get utility out of your cookware when literally just a common stainless steel set would do you just fine, and even if you had to replace it 20 times, it still wouldnt be the cost of the more expensive one.
People live in their own bubbles and expect that everyone else not only could but should meet them where they are in their bubble, rather than realizing that guess what, food is just to eat for most people, not some passion they want to dedicate multiple hours a day to.
I understand your point because often in a lot of hobbies, when you are a newbie, people can be very condescending to you. But I still think that it’s abnormal the number of people that know nothing about cooking, since, contrary to most hobbies, it is essential for us to eat.
However I think that the real problem is that most people are so overworked and we have so much responsabilities, that it is almost a luxury to take the time to cook in our society. I am pretty sure there would be wayyy more people enjoying cooking if they could take their time doing it.
But I still think that it’s not normal the number of people that now nothing about cooking, since, contrary to most hobbies, it is essential for us to eat.
It is not essential to become a cooking enthusiast to eat.
You can be perfectly healthy eating nothing be pre prepared meals and frozen vegetables.
You can be perfectly healthy with a few family staples in a 3 set cookware set.
You can be perfectly ok drinking soylent your whole life.
People on these forums are often enthusiasts as described. They go overboard assuming everyone else must be like them, and this is often an excuse they use for their condescension as if there aren’t vastly different levels between eating because you need to for continued living and whatever the fuck they’re at.
However I think that the real problem is that most people are so overworked and we have so much responsabilities, that it is almost a luxury to take the time to cook in our society.
Nah. I think plenty of people simply do not enjoy cooking and thats perfectly fine. If I had less obligations and more time, I wouldn’t waste it learning to cook to the level they have. I have very little interest in cooking. Maybe occasionally Ill try a fancier recipe but I’m never going to season a pan, learn how to make Croquembouche or add beef wellington as a staple in the things that I eat.
If I had more time, Id be putting that into my hobbies. Id be making more things, going more places, not wasting my time slaving over a kitchen counter.
I fully respect that this is a completely subjective perspective. Obviously for some, they might read “waste” and feel incensed and that language, but that language is simply accurate for me. I don’t expect it to be accurate for everyone.
I have lazily been buying the same bag of high fiber mixed vegetables for monthes because it has the mixture of things I need dietarily and I mix that with frozen meals that have reasonable mixes, and through in some simple cooked meals as well (I mean simple too, like scrambled eggs on toast or vegetable soup or meat with gravy on rice).
To me the time would absolutely be a luxury, but cooking is not what I’d like to spend it on. To me, given we still have limited life spans, it would still be a waste of that span.
As a vegan, this has been my main meal because I’m pretty lazy (usually wrapped in a tortilla with guacamole, but I also eat it plain)
The gas issues are only a problem for a few days / weeks until your gut biome adjusts !
Yes, I think it’s a sign that your diet lacks fiber and your gut is now adjusting to the heightened fiber-intake.
It’s the bean water that comes in the cans.
If you don’t use it - you don’t have the gas.
No idea what they put in it.
That is part of it, but not the complete story. I talked about the same things in a comment elsewhere here, but in a nutshell it’s the combination of fiber and the oligosaccharides in beans. The latter is what leeches out into the bean juice, which is why rinsing beans can go a long way toward reducing gas.
But for the fiber there is no getting around the need to just eat it everyday to get the microbiome adjusted to it. Where people go wrong is eating a ton of high fiber foods all at once and getting miserable with a ton of gas. It’s better to add those foods more gradually to get used to them.
honestly if eating a bunch of fibre all of a sudden only causes gas, consider yourself lucky…
I recently started adding chia seeds to my food (turns out it can be a perfectly affordable all-natural fibre supplement, lots of protein too actually) and it basically delayed my bowel movements by a day or two…
Not so fun during, but very… cleansing…
Frozen peas are great for that too. Goes with a lot of different dishes. just throw in a handful, or make a side-dish.
Rice is way cheaper.
it entirely depends where you live, here in sweden freshly harvested potatoes are almost literally free in the summer (i think they were sold for 1 SEK per kg last year) whereas the cheapest rice costs as much as normal pasta.
I read on the news recently that some eastern european country had such an absurd potato harvest just now that the potatoes were literally worthless, to the point that farmers were basically weeping at the prospect of finding someone to take the potatoes from them.
Not where I live.
