2y ago

Is there a food that is cheap, delicious and healthy at the same time?

I have a theory that there is a impossible trinity (like in economics), where a food cannot be delicious, cheap and healthy at the same time. At maximum 2 of the 3 can be achieved.

Is there any food that breaks this theory?

Edit: I was thinking more about dishes (or something you put in your mouth) than the raw substances

Some popular suggestions include

fruits (in season)
lentils, beans
rice
mushrooms

483 comments

Onion. It's cheap, nutritious, acts as a low-key anti bacterial solution, can be served in a multitude of ways, or eaten raw.
Subscribe for more onion facts. 🧅
- eaten raw
  You, sir, are a monster.
  
  Hmm time for a snack
  Takes a bite from a raw onion like an apple
  
  I loove raw onion... except when it burns. Which is always
- Subscribed.
- Great fashion accessory too
  
  As was the style at the time
- Followed. Don't let me down!
- Subscribe for more onion facts. 🧅
  Be careful what you offer, 'cause that's actually a thing on ActivityPub (nothing's stopping anyone from following you as a user, Mastodon-style).
  
  Might be pure spam garbage, but someone did register OnionFacts.com, and it goes somewhere..
- Stop
- I thought your facts would lean more towards the lemon lifestyle.

Well, something being delicious is subjective, but if we assume a "general acceptance" of most delicious foods, potatoes could fit easily. They can be cooked in all kinds of ways, are very nutritious and, again, pretty much everyone says they're delicious.
- That's a good point, but even within potatoes there is perhaps still a trade-off between "delicious" and "healthy". As in steamed potatoes without sauces or stuff is kind of meh, while french fries are not that healthy.
  
  Oven-baked potatoes is where it's at.
  
  I don't even like french fries that much. Steamed potates, or baked ones by the campfire, I'm all in.
- Completely agreed, though I'd also add that to get the most nutrition out of them you want to make sure that you are also eating the skins. (Personally I like the skins anyway, and not having to remove them makes them easier to cook!)

You already mentioned them, but I'm a huge fan of lentils. They go with so much stuff and you can combine them with a variety of spices. Give me any leftover ingredients and some lentils, and I'll cook up something delicious. I can and will eat lentil soup for days.
They are also a pretty solid crop, they can grow in a variety of climates, require little water and are good for the soil.

Chick pea curry.
https://youtu.be/iKMI1xkU_oo

Ah yes, a food that you can eat for three days without pooping while you stay in a tent?

So… Are you just unaware of fruits, vegetables, and legumes, haha? In my opinion there’s a huge amount of food that fits all three categories. One of the best example of cheap, delicious, healthy, and easy is beans and rice, spiced up however you like.
- Yup. Mexican, Indian, a lot of cuisine from poorer countries figured this out long ago. Beans or lentils over rice with the right spices, incredible. The restaurant version will add a lot of fat and heavy cream but if you make it yourself you can adjust that so it's not unhealthy.
  
  Yeah! Exactly! A huge amount of the best food (imo) comes from these cultures. Plus many of these dishes are also really easy to make in bulk, which is a big win too.
- My first thought was just just "Bananas?" Lol

potato

...Do we have a community yet for sharing cheap, healthy food recipes? I'd say cooking, but I don't want to get into all the back & forth over what counts as cooking/baking/frying/etc.
Maybe /c/cheaphealthymeals? Or maybe cheapgoodmeals would be better? 🤔
Whatever the case, I think it'd be a solid idea for a community for exchanging recipes and tips!
- I just made one! https://lemmy.world/c/cheaphealthyfood
  
  Can I kindly suggest maybe making a guideline post as to what constitutes "healthy"? It was really sad to see all of the people on the previous sub posting their supposedly "healthy" meals that weren't anywhere close to healthy. I get that there's a need to leave room for people who are starting at zero and still improving, but it also shapes people's perceptions in a very real and misguided way. If reliably sourced and well moderated that would make the space a lot better.

And then there is mc Donald's and similar chains. They managed to avoid all three of those things

I make a curry of: tofu, green lentils, pearl barley, pearl cous cous, pumpkin, potato, onions, and whatever else is in the vege drawer of the fridge. Then I cook it in a laksa paste with coconut milk. it's delicious and keeps in the fridge for at least a week with no meat.

Are we talking about only the plain substance, not allowing for spices? Because I feel like every food isn't delicious unless you season it in some way, or at least use an oil in cooking. If we're just talking about baking everything then I'd say everything is "bland" Lol
For me it's all about how you prepare the food. I eat chicken, canned beans, and mushrooms pretty much all the time because I try to buy cheap as much as I can, but just those few main items can be made so many different delicious ways with other "smaller/lesser" ingredients.
- That's a good point. I guess I was thinking more along the line of dishes. But then there is still some food which is delicious without seasoning - like (good) sashimi, or fruits as others suggested.
  
  While it's uncooked, there's definitely a lot of effort in preparation. Also, people would usually eat it with soy sauce and wasabi, so not exactly unseasoned.

Kebab plate with vegetables.
A coleague of mine was eating it when he was on a diet to lose weight. It's basically kebab/gyros meat and a vegetable salad with a dresing (usually tzaziki). You have basically no sugar in it, it's just protein and vitamins.
Back in the day it cost like 4-5 € where I live which was pretty cheap for a lunch. Now it'd more like 6-7 € but that's still decent

Rice

Hi everyone, this post inspired me to make a community about this topic! https://lemmy.world/c/cheaphealthyfood

Lentils.
- Fuck. Yes.
  Put them in a curry. Salad. Veggie burger patties. Yes. Soup, stews, even pasta. Lentils everywhere.

Mushrooms!!
The thing with mushrooms is that they can get pretty expensive in stores, especially if you're looking for a specific kind of mushroom. They can also be very easy to forage though, which does make them free! This is different from growing them in a private garden (which is something you can do with most produce, and requires time and resources). DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY OH YEAH BABY!!
Fruit is definitely the best answer though.
Also, beans!
- My local LiDL often sells slightly-old 8 oz. containers of button mushrooms for $1 - much better than the $4 or $5 they cost in the higher-end grocery stores. Once they're fried up and nicely caramelized you can't tell the difference, and they keep for a week or more in the fridge that way.
  
  Aww I miss lidl.
- Groceries are also pretty cheap after the poisonous mushroom kills you. Know what you're doing.

Vegetable soup. I know it sounds boring but you’d be surprised at just how nice vegetables in water with salt can taste.
https://youtu.be/21ofoREnXbM

Cashews. Benefits: heart-healthy fats, antioxidants, essential minerals.

When I was in college, I had the rule of not buying anything that is >$1.50 per pound. This is what I was reduced to (prices may be different now due to inflation and geo area):
Apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries when they are on sale
Milk, yogurt
Pork shoulder, chicken quarters, thighs, drumsticks
ground pork, ground beef
Carrots, broccoli, potatoes, cabbage (you'll be surprised at how good thinly sliced cabbages taste in a sandwich)
- Cabbage sandwich? Is there some special prep to it? Seems like it would be super bland
  
  Spice it up with sriracha mayo on toasted bread. salt, pepper and a sprinkle of msg on tomato slices and add simple pickled pink onions. Slice the cabbage into very thin strips and assemble. It's my favourite sandwich.
  Pickled onions: Red onions, sliced thinly, Boil 50/50 water and vinegar, add salt to the solution and optionally a bay leaf or other aromatics to create the brine. Put sliced onions in a jar and fill the jar with the brine, put it in the fridge after cooling down and wait a night for the sharp oniony taste to disappear.
  
  See this Korean-style breakfast toast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCDPXisHsfA

in all honesty it's probably soy

Eggs.

Well chicken maybe as it is the most cheap meat. And it is subjective, but something like chicken soup (if cooked at home) can be relativly cheap and really delicious.
Also, just thought about it - fruits and berries also easily break this trinity
- While I also like chicken, the more delicious chicken tends to be pricy (as in the cheap chicken is often bland in taste - but I'll concede that's kind of splitting the hair.
  But you're probably right about fruits.
  
  Take some cheap dark meat and make Chicken Adobo. You need vinegar, soy, garlic, sugar, black pepper, and bay leaves and eat it with white rice and steamed veggies. You can use pretty much any vinegar and soy, though there is a traditional Filipino brand.
  
  It requires more effort but buying chicken that is minimally processed is fairly cheap and far tastier. The bones can be saved for soups and stocks and at least breast are really easy to debone.
  
  For year-round availability, bananas seem the most likely fruit. Prices are pushed down because of a short shelf life. High in vitamins and fiber, high sweetness for deliciousness (warning: must like bananas to proceed)
- Meat is an expensive luxury product

The biggest problem with this is subjective metrics.
"Healthy" depends a lot on both what your needs are and the rest of your diet, there's no one-size-fits-all.
"Delicious" is even more subjective.
'Cheap' at least is fairly objective, but even so different qualities, different locations, or different seasons can change prices drastically, and that's before you get into the fact that what really matters is the more-subjective 'cheap to someone of your means.'

I have a feeling that the answer to this might be anything that you can grow from seeds. So, fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, etc. then, like tomatoes or snow peas or apples or wheatberries. The thing is that these all take time to transform from seed to fruit, so if you include time in your constraint space these don't work. But you didn't so here you go :D

potatoes!

I'd say sandwiches, depending on what you want to put in them. A loaf of healthy (low sugar) bread isn't going to be the cheapest option on the shelf, but if you're dividing the cost by the number of sandwiches you can make out of it, it still ends up amounting to a large number of really inexpensive meals. I normally just add some meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomato, and it's very nutritional and also delicious.
- That does sound delicious. Are you by any chance Dutch?
- If you make the bread yourself (i.e. with a breadmaker) it's dirt cheap. I buy flour and yeast in bulk and it costs bugger all per loaf.
  You could maybe argue bread isn't healthy because it's technically a processed food (flour, carbs, etc.), but as others have pointed out moderation is key.
  
  My reply to the the whole thread would be bread/sourdough. Healthy might be pushing it, but a whole grain, hard wheat (bread flour) at least has a bit more protein. Plus I usually add eithe a bit of olive oil to the dough (good fat) and brush the top with butter (extra taste).
  I’d put steel cut oats in this boat too, with a bit of honey to sweeten.

I eat tofu like four days a week and it is the best thing ever.
- What do you do with the tofu? I have tried a few time but it always taste kind of "bland"
  
  Basic recipe for nice tofu:
  freeze the tofu. This is important as it changes the structure (it becomes dryer and more "meaty"), this is a common technique in asia.
  after unfreezing it, dry it with paper towels or something like that, cut it into die sized cubes if you want, sprinkle it with potato starch and fry it in a wok or hot pan with some oil. It should get brown and crispy.
  sprinkle a few drops of Japanese soy sauce on it while it the pan and continue to fry it. The soy sauce adds taste and makes it caramelise.
  add cooked rice, vegetables or whatever you want.
  You can leave out some steps above. Without the freezing the texture won't be as firm, without the starch it won't be as crispy and without the soy sauce it won't taste as good. I'm just saying that because sometimes it has to go fast or you're missing ingredients, so you can compromise if needed. Doing all is of course best.
  
  The thing with tofu is that it's very good at absorbing flavor, plus you have many different ways in preparing it, from grilling to making scrambled tofu. You just gotta find a nice recipe that focuses on texture and flavor.
  
  What flavors do you like? It Marinates up well and doesn't take long to absorb the flavors, then fry, air fry or roast in the oven. I Love cooking it with a sauce/gravy to add flavor too. Also silken tofu chocolate pudding/pie filling. You cannot even tell it has tofu in it.
  
  Mapo tofu
  
  The trick that I discovered to tofu is to press it between a paper towel and a book. It makes it less watery and tastes crispier.
  Not necessary when cooking all tofu, but really took my tofu game to the next level.
  
  Everyone is going to like different things, but tofu is a bit like wonderbread. It also tastes bland, but you get addicted to it anyway. I can't explain why, but at this point I just put thick slices of tofu into the air fryer for 5 minutes and eat it as-is. You're right, it doesn't taste like much, but nevertheless it's hard to stop eating it after you're hooked.
  Some things you can try:
  Try smoked, extra firm tofu. You can eat it as a snack straight out of the pack, and the taste is somewhat stronger. It's brown and kind of leathery.
  GRILL your tofu. Get some good char on there. It tastes absolutely heavenly and smoky.
  Put soft tofu into your smoothie. It thickens it a bit but won't change the taste.
  Tofu tastes good in a lot of salty, carby dishes. For example, one of my 5-minute meals is chow mein noodles and canned mixed vegetables (beans sprouts, corn, and carrot) sauteed with sesame oil. It sucks some of the moisture out of the tofu, allows it to absorb flavor, and offers a firm, meaty contrast to the other components of the dish.
  You can put tofu into any "soup" - chili, curry, etc. and this is another pretty standard use.
  There are troves of marinades and dry rubs out there. A good way to start is to go to a restaurant and try bowls with tofu to get an idea of what you like, and then to use that as a template.
  
  I love Vietnamese tofu with tomato sauce and rice. Easy to make and I can eat it over and over again.

Scrambed eggs.

Whole grain pasta.

Honestly, I think most food can be found pretty cheap, except for proteins. The best bet I think is chicken drumsticks, but even those will add up. Beans are a cheap protein, but it's about just as carby as it is proteiny.

Another one is curry, which is actually real easy to make. I bought a bag of curry powder for a few bucks years ago and it's still just fine. You can get cans of paste too but honestly I can go either way, both are great, and I love that the curry powder is so absurdly cheap per serving.
I just julienne an onion and red pepper, saute for a bit, add a few teaspoons of curry powder, throw in some garlic and ginger, then add a can of chicken broth, and a few drops of fish sauce. I simmer for a while to let it reduce, then add a can of sweetened coconut milk at the end. Also at the end I add a ton of basil. Maybe some other stuff in there too that I'm forgetting, you really can't go wrong with this either.
For protein you can obviously do chicken or something, but if you want to go ultra cheap and healthy, just throw in a cup of lentils to that curry you got going.
There's an asian grocery store near me with all these ingredients for super cheap so I can make that curry sauce for literally like $5-10. It's delicious, cheap, super easy, and healthy, if not a bit calorie dense from the coconut milk.

Sweet potatoes. Very nutritious, very cheap, and taste sweet. Easy to prepare to, you can just boil or bake them for a little while without adding anything and they're great just like that.
- are we allowed to add ingredients? A little soy sauce on that and you’ve basically got yourself a meal
  
  I didn't even know that you can add soy sauce to sweet potatoes!
  
  How come I've never tried that ? I love both so much.
- classic
- You can cut them in half and microwave them, then eat them with a spoon like an ice cream with its own cone.

Most fruit that’s in season would cover all three.
- Berries are the tastiest fruit, strawberries are unrivaled. Maybe a sweet mandarine could come close.
  
  Strawberries are good but blueberries are amazing imo
- (Almost) All fruit is disgusting to me. Can't do it.

Eggs

Most things are unhealthy because we eat too much of it. For example (fresh) bread is delicious, cheap, and healthy, provided you eat it in moderation. Now if you ate nothing but bread all day you would gain a lot of weight.
Same goes for salt, fat, and sugar. To be fair, part of the reason we tend to eat so much of it is because normally this stuff is rare in nature and we are evolved to seek it, but we've made it so accessible and cheap, that we easily let our natural instincts take over. So that aspect explains your trinity. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can have all three with a bit of self control.
- Moderation is key indeed. Maybe that's a hint I should finish the ice cream deep in my freezer, hmmmm

lentils
- Came here to say the same, although my favorites, Beluga can be quite expensive.
- Legumes in general. Money's tight and I've been eating a lot of lentil stews and black bean soups. Cheap, healthy, super filling, and pretty tasty.

Beans... on toast.

🥑
I think a ripe avocado can be a good meal by itself, it has healthy fat, vitamins & fiber.
One avocado as a meal is cheaper than alot of other options.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/avocados/
- Terrible for the environment though
  
  Why?
- It's so awesome with a bit of kala namak on it. Mjam!
- Slice up, throw a little lime juice and salts on it, or some takin, and you’ve got a fantastic lunch.
  I used to get made fun of as a kid (a very long time ago, I’m old) for having avocado sandwiches for lunch at school.

Well, first we need to define what healthy means, because you could die of water intoxication, meaning there is a point where quantity matters.
Are cheese and butter healthy ? Not if it's your only diet, but there are tons of very healthy things in cheese and butter. And of course, the same goes for every thing. So we must have balance in mind when defining an healthy food.
The second is to define what is cheap. In most of European countries, fresh food is relatively cheap, but in other countries they can be super expensive. And there's nothing more healthy than fresh food. So you definitely need fresh food as a base for an healthy balanced meal.
The third is highly subjective.
As for my healthy delicious cheap meal:
Breakfast
One scrambled egg by Gordon Ramsay with a melted slice of cheddar on toast and A fruit salad of one orange, one kiwi and one small apple
Lunch
Spaghettis with fresh garlic, olive oil, fresh basil and tomato wedges
Dinner
Pan-fried chicken fillet with frozen peas and carrot rings
Snack
Any fruit really

Rice and beans, just be a little creative with preparation. Also you can make lots of soups that are cheap and healthy and its super easy to make too.
- My vote too.
  If you expand the format to rice + dried bean/legume/grain (e.g. lentils, quinoa), you can really expand your possibilities without breaking the bank.
- This.
  My rice and beans recipe is inspired by my mom's, but updated a bit. It's fast, healthy, and delicious. I add veggies to it, but whatever is around, so it's a great way to use up something at risk of spoiling.

Banana.

humus
- Only truly cheap if you make it yourself. That's why I commented below on the missing item of "effort".
  
  granted

I heard that tacos are actually quite good for you, and I assume they could be if you get proper ones with lots of veg and natural ingredients rather than going to Taco Bell or some other fast food place and getting processed defrosted junk.
Source: Dr Karan on Youtube (yes, Youtube doctor, but he's British, so I trust him)

It depends where you live (I'm in Bangkok, so grocery choices are quite limited).
I love Oats. I got massively back into them again this year... now I buy around 3kg every month (instant oats).
It's only this year, really, that I discovered that oats are still really good and creamy when not made with milk... and it's really easy to boil a single cup of water to dump on a cup of oats for a perfect breakfast (left standing for a minute - done... no need to 'microwave' oats).
Also, cheap staples include: carrots, potato, broccoli, spinach...
Frozen strawberries are dirt cheap here too.
Breakfast 1:
Instant Oats (1 cup, 1/4 tsp salt, 3tsp sugar, 3 tsp creamer)
pulsed to powder in the blender with a cup of boiling water poured over.
Blend 100ml milk with 3 strawberries and mix that in. The beauty of this is (as my son does NOT like stodgy/thick porridge) I can add an extra 100ml of milk to his breakfast, and it becomes a liquid smoothie.
Breakfast 2:
Weetbix are not too cheap, but ONE biscuit mixed with ONE cup of oats is a massive breakfast - and tastes of Weetbix... and is ridiculously cheap in comparison.
Breakfast 3
Oats work great with eggs...
1 cup oats, some salt, some cumin (maybe a teaspoon)
2/3 cup boiling water (soak a minute)
2 duck eggs mixed in
butter up the frying pan and dump it in there, cover and cook gently for 3 minutes, flip and give them another 3 minutes.
DIsgusting poopy one
2 teaspoons of cocoa powder mixed with 4 teaspoons of non-dairy creamer + 1 cup oats
pulse to powder, add a cup of hot water.
That's choccie heaven right there.

I have a related one - I'm kinda continously on the lookout for a refreshing (evening) drink especially during hot weather.
So far, I haven't found one that doesn't contain at least one of:
(added) sugar
caffeine
alcohol
Or a combination of those.
On the other end of that scale, I do quite like White Russians. The Dude says hi.
- Carbonated mineral water. Yeah there are environmental concerns with bottled water but this stuff breaks up the monotony of just drinking water pretty good without any caffeine, alcohol, or sugar.
  
  It doesn't have to be bottled. You can buy your own carbonation machine for less than 100€. Use nice cold water and add some ginger or lime to it, and it makes for a great summer drink.
  
  To take it one step further, a drink that is quite popular where I like - carbonated water mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Very refreshing in summer and I drink it all the time.

Cucumbers

The one thing missing from the trinity is "effort". For instance, you could make any Dal, which would fit the trinity, but takes a lot of time. There are books with hundreds of Dal recipes that all taste different and work, too. And this is just one example. Less than a dollar a meal if made in bulk with rice.
- so something like this?
  
  You just made a food pyramid that isn't stupid.
- I would consider Effort (time/energy) as a part of 'Cost'.
  I work a government job and a side-hustle. I earn a large amount per hour in my private business. If I cancel a client so I can cook a time intensive meal, then the food is getting more expensive.
  Also, if I'm exhausted from working 1.5 jobs, an effort heavy meal isn't cheap for me.
- Lots of bean/lentil dishes are pretty magic for that.
  There's also an element of skill/experience in that category too. I can't find the exact quote but David Chang said something to the effect of "anyone can cook a filet mignon well, but cooking with scraps takes skill".
  As i've gotten more competent in the kitchen i've absolutely gone from buying fancy cuts of meat to stew meat and will buy mutton any time i ever see it. I've also got much better at observing what fits well together, if there's some left over potatoes in the fridge then I know that I can mash them, roll them into gnocchi and make a quick pesto with some wilty kale from the back of the fridge and basil from the garden. I'd totally have planned and made the same dish ten years ago, but i'd have started by going to the store and buying the ingredients. Being able to work with what I have and balance it is key.
  
  Imo, natto fits all three, also a bean dish.
- I cook Jamie Oliver's "basic tarka dhal" all the time. It doesn't take that much time in my experience, and being a basic recipe it lends itself to lots of variations. Highly recommend.
  https://www.jamieoliver.com/features/lentils-and-basic-tarka-dhal-recipe/
- With a multicooker dal is a pretty easy one pot meal, or at least basicish dal is

This will be controversial. I'm going with Costco rotisserie chicken. $5. They taste good fresh but bad reheated. I don't eat the skin
- I can here to say this.
  Chicken is all of these things. I food prep chicken dishes because I need the right amount of protein. It's delicious and it's one of the cheapest types of meat.
- When there's a half inch layer of fat, I think healthy has booked it out the door.
  
  I'm not sure what to mean. Who eats chicken fat?
  
  Google schmaltz.
  
  Fat is not necessarily unhealthy. The "healthy" qualifier is too subjective here, as everyone has different needs and nutritional goals.
  
  Fat is not necessarily bad though.

I was looking at similar requirements for my daily lunch during the workday. I live in London so you're paying between £5 and £10 per day even for just a sandwich-based lunch. I needed a packed lunch that was cheap, tasty, healthy and additionally: filling, easy/quick to prepare and low carb. So that's a big ask.
I settled on a kind of custom Greek salad. One cucumber, some red onion, pickled beetroot all diced up, olive oil (or cold-pressed rapeseed oil) and some feta cheese. Sometimes I add chickpeas and coriander.
It's perfect, I've been eating it for years now.
- That sounds great. I wish I could do something like this, but I get sick of eating the same thing over and over so quickly.
  
  Yeah. Getting sick of it is definitely a thing. Not eating it on the weekend helps, as does changing the type of oil. There are other bits you can change. I've definitely had to take breaks from it from time to time!
- Hermetized mackerel in tomato sauce on whole grain bread. Tastes really great, healthy, but your colleagues will hate you.

parsley in the form of tabbouleh salad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabbouleh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsley
check out the vitamins and minerals in parsley, it's one of the super foods.

483 comments

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snack

Breakfast 1:

Breakfast 2:

Breakfast 3

DIsgusting poopy one