Beans: Another approach to protein

When we think healthy eating we think about making balanced meals.

Preferably you will have a mix of protein, carbs and vegetables on your plate. If you’re on a limited budget, though, you might have a problem. There’s a reason why some people get too much carbohydrates and fat and too little protein: most kinds of protein are expensive. Meat and cheese, two of the most known sources of protein, are also two of the priciest ingredients you can buy.

And truth is, at the moment, with the increasing price of gas and electricity, there is no perspective of it getting any cheaper!

So, if you want to eat healthily and still be on a budget, what’s the answer?

Well, it might surprise you. What you need is beans.

Beans are a cheap crop, readily available, dry or already in large tins for not very much money at all, and yet they are an excellent source of protein, and taste good too.

There’s no shortage of variety, either: you can get everything from baked beans to kidney beans to butter beans, all lined up there in the same section for you. If you’re not sure of what to do with them, look for some vegetarian or vegan recipes, which tend to be very bean-rich, tasteful and of course include a variety of vegetables too.

It can even be nice to mix together a few different kinds of beans and have a bean salad with a sauce – a simple side dish, but an easy way to add protein to your meal. Pasta with a dairy-based pasta sauce containing beans is an example of an ideally balanced meal, as long as you don’t overdo it with the pasta, as is rice with bean curry. Now with the colder weather approaching beans soup can also be very comforting.

Of course, I’m not recommending that you stick to beans for your protein all the time, as you’re bound to get sick of them eventually. If you can replace meat or cheese with beans even occasionally, though, you’ll save a lot of money without affecting the balance of your meal, and furthermore, you are being nicer to the planet too, so a win-win situation.

Let me know which are your favorite bean rich recipes!