- cross-posted to:
- food@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- food@lemmy.world
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
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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
Tony abbott is that you?
Listen for some of us that’s a delicacy.
I loove raw onion… except when it burns. Which is always
Subscribed.
Followed. Don’t let me down!
Stop
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…
True communists only eat spam https://youtu.be/anwy2MPT5RE
Great fashion accessory too
As was the style at the time
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.
Or boil it in chunks and serve it with fried onions and mushrooms.
I don’t even like french fries that much. Steamed potates, or baked ones by the campfire, I’m all in.
Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew…
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.
potato
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
Chick pea curry.
Ah yes, a food that you can eat for three days without pooping while you stay in a tent?
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”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mapo tofu
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:
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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.
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GRILL your tofu. Get some good char on there. It tastes absolutely heavenly and smoky.
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Put soft tofu into your smoothie. It thickens it a bit but won’t change the taste.
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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.
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You can put tofu into any “soup” - chili, curry, etc. and this is another pretty standard use.
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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.
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And then there is mc Donald’s and similar chains. They managed to avoid all three of those things
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If it’s all the same to you a higher ratio of quinoa is preferable.
Ramen is NOT healthy though my dude. Ramen with an egg on top is empty carbs in a bath of salt water and cholesterol, with very little nutritional integrity to speak of.
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.
(Almost) All fruit is disgusting to me. Can’t do it.
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.
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
…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
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.
