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.

  • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
    0·
    9 days ago

    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.