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) and vegetables
  • lentils, beans, rice
  • mushrooms
  • chicken
  • just eat in moderation

Edit 2: Thanks for the various answers. Now there are a lot of (mostly bean-based) recipes for everyone to try out!

Also someone made a community for cheap healthy food after seeing this topic!

  • GTac@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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.

  • LoafyLemon@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    1 year ago

    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. 🧅

  • eduardm@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • nijntjefan@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.

    • lemonadebunny@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Thank you so much for the share! I love chickpeas so I’ll definitely be adding this to my recipes :)

  • Chobbes@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • foggenbooty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • Chobbes@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

  • Beegzoidberg@lemmy.one
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Roasted broccoli from the freezer

    Herb Chicken on the stovetop

    Lemon vinaigrette with garlic (pour it on the chicken and toss the broccoli in it)

    Herbed rice, or rice steamed with coriander

    Granita (frozen fruit juice and sugar, stirred occasionally for a icy creamy texture, or do coffee and sugar)

    All of these work independently, or together they are wonderful.

  • joneskind@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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 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

    • Linuto@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is a really good writeup. At a glance, I’m guessing these three meals don’t collectively exceed 1,000 calories, which is important to note since OP will probably be very hungry.

      • joneskind@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        This is a really good writeup

        Thanks

        At a glance, I’m guessing these three meals don’t collectively exceed 1,000 calories

        Except for the breakfast, I didn’t specify the quantities. So I guess some could adapt those “recipes” to their needs.

  • iriyan@lemmygrad.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Carters’ peanuts :)

    Nutritious is very relative to industrialized food production. The most nutritious natural products are perceived as wild and are not objects of agriculture. Basically the objects of agriculture were selected on the ease of reproduction, not their nutritious value, or their cost. It just so happened that those that were easy to plant and grow were the leanest in quantity and complexity of nutrients. Many of the most nutritious seeds, fruits, and vegetables are becoming extinct with the elimination of natural forests. Planted forests would take thousands of years to stabilize as ecosystems (if ever) and be concidered sustainable food sources.

    Cheap means the industry hasn’t been able to monopolize, but labor is very exploitable (see bannana republics, tea and coffee plantations). It also means the quantities produced have saturated the markets and the product is in abundance (wheat, corn, soy,…).

    Delicious … only N.Europeans (and their N.Am. Oceania descendants) would consider eating a single element alone and judge it by taste. The rest of the world eat what they can get, spice it up, mix it, and make taste a final product of a mixture of things with a labor intensive process of preparing it. The dairy industry (waste of nutritients and exponentially waste of land use) and the sugar industry (it should have been banned under substance abuse addictive product that is a health hazzard as well) have blurred what “delicious” really means. Take as an example banana split ice cream, there is little nutritious value, if not harmful as a whole, made of three industrial products that maximize labor exploitation. If it wasn’t for capitalism nobody in their right mind would have come up with this one. It only exists because of capitalism.

    Nutrition has been a dead end disaster since its early days of being industrialized.

  • PM_ME_FEET_PICS@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Oatmeal with bananas, cinnamon, soy milk(unsweetened), flaxseed and sugar + extra fruits according to preference.

    I eat it everyday for breakfast and I never get tired of the flavor. Sometimes I even get a bit greedy and eat it more than once. It’s very filling, healthy, and cheap.

  • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Oatmeal with butter, brown sugar, and salt.

    The above 3 primary ingredients will be cheap, healthy, and delicious when prepared properly. Adding milk and/or cinnamon to taste can improve the deliciocity.

    But maybe don’t eat it for every meal or you’ll be shitting after every meal. Very clean colon though.

  • andrei_chiffa@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Yes - generally beans are both healthy (33% protein, 33% fiber, 33% carbs), cheap (dried or in cans), and can be pretty tasty, even out of cans, but if not with eggs, as part of a soup (tomatoes + grain + spices + veggies).

    • taj@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Agreed. Beans can easily be dressed up and made delicious with just a few spices for very cheap, and are very healthy.

      • morhp@lemmy.wtf
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        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.

      • pineapplefriedrice@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.