"Just add beans, pulses and lentils"

[Hagrod]

I am sick of hearing this advice given when food poverty is being discussed!

"Just add beans, pulses and lentils to all your meals, they will give you the protein you need to spread expensive meat and fish further [ad infinitum]."

Like many other people, I do not have packets of beans, pulses and lentils nestled at the back of my cupboards just waiting for the day I am so starving I need to add them to a bowl of soup. I would have to go out and buy them, I assume they are not given away for free.

I just think it's such a cliched piece of advice that has been meted out to 'the peasants' for decades now and I wish they'd stop it.

The food bank don't usually take them as they need a lot of prep and fuel poverty means cheap options besides you can't just rock up to a food bank and ask for food you need to be referred

I think it's good as it and I tried it by adding green lentils to our usual cottage pie, kids didn't notice and it's healthier too.

I always have red lentils in the house as these are quick for a soup with some onions, carrots and seasoning.
Always have a can of chickpeas, kidney beans and baked beans in my kitchen.

@Isaidnoalready red lentils need very little prep and cook in 20 minutes

Lentils seriously don't need much prep. Tinned only need warming up.

It's kept my family alive during difficult times.

It is good advice if you can eat them. I have intestinal issues and need to really limit my gas causing foods - I certainly couldn’t eat them two meals in a row let alone two days in a row!

I recently made a bottom of the fridge soup and chucked in a tin of butter beans that were 2 years out of date. I hate butter beans but they bulked it out and it tasted brilliant.

I have lentils in the cupboard that I've never used that are almost certainly out of date too. I'm pretty sure they won't kill me...

Sheer coincidence but I added lentils to tonight's meat chilli. Tasted fab, no-one noticed and now I have loads more to freeze for another night. I'll be doing more experimenting me thinks!

Cannelloni beans or some of the other very small white beans would be nice in a bolognaise type dish.

Chick Peas I’d keep for Indian/middle eastern food.

I love them and use them a lot but yes it's often said a bit patronisingly. But in fact 'peasant' food is good sensible cheap food in lots of other countries (where peasant is not an insult) and it's a shame we've lost a lot of that tradition in the UK.

Lots of "wanky" food in restaurants and shops here is actually cheap food from other countries no one there raises eybrow at.
Hummus, quinoa, olives, fermented food, bulgur, lentils....
Carbonara was "poors" food because it was made with basics most people had.

What was actually traditional "poors" food in uk?

I grew up thinking lentil soup with potatoes was a treat.

I think I can see what you’re saying OP…it feels a bit like gaslighting…how about we lift people out of poverty rather than telling them to just eat beans, pulses and lentils?

Also, if you’ve experienced inter generational poverty, are stressed, living in survival mode and never cooked with these ingredients before it’s hard to know where to start. A memory of helping a woman unpack her food from the food bank is firmly etched in my mind when she admitted she was baffled by kidney beans and had a cupboard full of tins of them because she just had no clue what to do with them when she got them in food parcels. She was living in poverty, had no access to the internet, didn’t exactly have a shelf full of recipe books to consult and no one she had asked knew what to do with them either. She was too embarrassed to ask anyone at the food bank. Made me feel so sad for her.

Well yes anything needs to be bought but you can get a bag of lentils for very cheap from any supermarket or Indian corner shop. After that soups are basically free to make and everyone has google so can look up a recipe.

Today's fridge emptying mushroom & lentil 'mince' dinner:

1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 red pepper & 1 courgette whizzed in mini food processor to 'grated' texture.

Into big frying pan with a teaspoonful of oil & stirred about a bit, whilst a small punnet of mushrooms went into the mini FP, until they resembled 'mince' then were added to the pan.

After a few minutes, in goes a mug of red lentils, tin of tomatoes & a jar of tomato paste. Tin & jar rinsed into pan with veg stock because I'd just made some, but water & a cube would be fine.

Tea spoon of dried oregano.

Simmer for half an hour, gently.

Normally I'd add garlic, but discovered dd1 had used it all up yesterday making garlic naan, so I added some garlic salt from the back of the cupboard.

I then made a lasagne, as I also had milk to use up, but it's also good with spaghetti/random pasta.

Obviously very unfancy. But also dirt cheap (sub in any yellow sticker veg), reasonably healthy, & cooks in less than an hour with the majority of that being simmering - maybe 10 minutes actual veg prep?

Adapt for chilli (a fresh chilli in with the veg OR powder, plus a tin or two of beans) or 'keema' (curry powder in with the mushrooms, frozen peas for last 10 minutes).

The lentils work with the mushrooms to create both a 'mince' texture & complete protein.

We opt for having a few vegetable/bean/lentil based meals a week, & it does save a lot.

(Again - caveat that this is not much use if cooking facilities or fuel poverty are the main problem.).

I thought these would be staples in everyone’s cupboards, no? And they come in tins not packets. There’s an abundance of dishes you can make, they don’t just need to be used to bulk out other ingredients.

YABU ‘Don’t like’ won’t kill you, as I tell the kids- and there are some childish comments on here. It’s good advice, good food, cheap and healthy.

I do sort of see your point! In a way.

But they are a lot cheaper than meat as others have said.

I really like beans, pulses and lentils, but unfortunately my kids aren’t too keen - my son in particular wouldn’t eat them at all (but he does have some sensory food issues so can’t really do much about it).

We are extremely texture sensitive in this house,not one of us could tolerate beans at all.

I adore lentils,no one else does.

What was actually traditional "poors" food in uk?

Bread and dripping?
Liver and onions?

I would love to eat more pulses but for some reason I cannot tolerate them, none of them!!! Give me the worst cramping pain

In rural areas, vegetables. Most poor people couldn't afford meat.

And near the coast, it would be shellfish which could be foraged (e.g. mussels, cockles).

I’ve found that if you blend the pulses, beans, lentils to a paste then add it to whatever you’re cooking, no one notices - and it thickens whatever sauce you’re adding!
my husband likes to pick out the beans unless I do this 😂 and then he says how amazing it tastes 🙃

I understand it may sound cliched but to be fair beans, pulses and lentils are great. They’re tasty, filling, nutritious and versatile. As well as being cheaper than meat.

Thanks both. Interesting!