I put lentils in my vegetarian chili. Do chilli however you like - I prefer a bean blend over straight kidney beans- and just boil a pot of lentils and use them in place of the ground beef if your doing a quick chili. I would think you wouldn’t want them pre cooked if you’re doing a slow cook chili.
This recipe is so good. I’m a vegetarian, not vegan, but I’m always looking for really good no meat options and this is just delicious, basically it’s beef stew flavored.
Also you can replace the meat in tacos and gyros with lentils using the same seasoning, also delicious. Just use whatever recipe you normally like for those.
You should look into chickpeas. Personally I find that lentils work great where you might use red meat and chickpeas work great where you might use white meat/chicken so you don’t even need specific recipes because you can just omit the meat and add the legumes instead.
Thanks, that recipe looks delicious. I want to give lentils in pasta sauce but I’m afraid I won’t like it. I’ve tried chickpeas and I just can’t seem to like them.
I found this one on an old man’s Instagram account. It was really nice! I subbed some of the stock for a can of IPA.
Lentil Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 chopped onion
4 cloves of chopped garlic
3 medium carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/8 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, or more to taste
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon of salt
6 cups of chicken stock
1 cup of red lentils, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup of yellow lentils, rinsed and drained
Instructions:
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add onions and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent, about five minutes.
Stir in the carrots and celery and cook until the vegetables are tender, about eight more minutes.
Stir in your tomato paste, crushed red pepper, cayenne pepper (if you decide to use), salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, and chili powder.
Mix in your lentils and chicken stock.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer until the lentils are soft, about 40 minutes.
I shop at Aldi, buy only basic ingredients (as little prepared foods as possible), and eat less. Snacks are basically out, though I may get peanuts from time to time.
Decent cost of living wage increase, then switched jobs to higher pay on top of that. But I was never struggling to pay for food. Housing is the big one in my budget. But I have a fixed rate mortgage so inflation has not affected that.
Seems like prices have stopped increasing much lately too so I haven’t given it as much thought as a year ago.
I am lucky that my income to expenses is a good ratio so I can buy what I want without undue hardship but I cringe because I used to feed myself for about half the money.
I do buy items in bulk when the bulk unit price is significantly lower if it will keep and I will use it eventually. I will also try to get these items while they are on sale. This is a one time high expenditure that pays off in the long run and unfortunately the people who need to do this most are the ones who can’t afford the extra expense at one time of buying bulk. I do this with things like rice, beans (I’m vegetarian so I’m not eating beans because I can’t afford anything else, it’s a big part of my diet). Also things like flour, salt, pepper, anything that doesn’t easily spoil and will get used eventually.
I also allow the store to track the fuck out of me on their app by clipping store coupons. Unfortunately this is a necessary evil because it usually saves me $10 to $15 per week.
With fruits and vegetables, buying what’s in season during the growing months saves a lot and buying frozen vegetables instead of fresh has the same or better nutritional profile but can be much cheaper.
I’ve been slipping over to Aldi or Costco for produce. Sure I have to buy more at Costco, but the price is there are still lower per pound than they were at my grocery store before inflation.
I make a lot of stuff from scratch I don’t rely on a lot of mixes. The price of bulk flour and the price of bulk rice hasn’t gone up nearly as much as Purdue chicken breast.
Some things can be grown at home with relative ease and not much space. A lot depends on where you are, how much space you have, your soil, if you can invest money, what spare time you can give. So either research or experimentation is key.
I live in Florida (I’m sorry I’m voting as hard as I can) and have had success with these from seeds or cut-offs from store bought items: Kiwis, passion fruit, pineapple, tomatoes, garlic, turmeric, onion, ginger. These I have bought the plant or seeds from nurseries (or Korean supermarket): Brocoli, any peppers, any dark leafy greens.
There is so much information on youtube. I found the initial time to set up a small garden is about 10- 20 hours in the first 2 weeks, then about 10-20 mins every 2 to 3 days.
I haven’t starved yet. I know from experience that if I get calorically restricted for too long, I will do anything to fill my stomach. So fortunately, it hasn’t got to the point where my morality starts to degrade yet.
Spending a few hundred a week for the two of us to eat a basic equivalent diet to that available in Europe. I brought back all my shampoo, body wash, moisturizers, etc in a 50 lb suitcase which I loaded up at carrefour on my last trip to France.
i shop bulk as much as i can, eat oatmeal for breakfast daily, and after i had my gall bladder removed i got in the habit of eating 2-3oz portions of animal protein no more than 5 times a week. i spend a bunch of time in the kitchen every week but it definitely softens the blow. it also helps that i have a couple of cheap staple meals i can make for less than $5 per serving.
i also shop around for value. i live near 4 different grocery stores so i dont spend a lot of time doing it, but i do make a run to grocery outlet every month in order to get discounts on bigger items but it can be hit or miss.
Add comment