"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.

Doesn't the rice in rice cooker take about 20-30 min? The lentils would take the same time.

Of course depend on personal taste buds but lentils can be great as lentils with veg and herbs as a side or even main part with some egg, meat or fish even. I like them sour with klobasa. They can be like any other side a do quite well with strong herbs and spices

I use the microwave packs and then substitute them for mince and add to bolognaise or an extra to beans on toast, more substantial meal especially with eggs.

Yeah, that's why I caveated that I didn't know how much it costs to run.

But power costs aside, they aren't comparable 20 minutes. Rice cookers are designed to be set-and-forget. A pot of lentils won't passively cook itself, detect when done, and turn off safely.

Couple cubes of ice into the processor when you are adding the liquids -tahini and lemon juice. It somehow makes it smoother.

That said we can't be arsed to make it nowadays so buy either Kasih or Yarden (i think) with zaatar

It can because they can also be cooked in rice cooker. So it would be comparable

If you add a whole tin of kidney beans at £0.30p the meal will bulk out to serve an extra adult. That's not bad for 30 pence. It's healthy too, better for your gut and your heart.

Now I feel like an idiot, because that had not occured to me? Which setting do you use? I don't have a fancy one, I think mine has options for white, brown, sushi, gaba, and (oddly) cake.

I don't have rice cooker but when i was looking at them there were quite a lots of recipes for lentils, quinoa, barley etc. Apparently it can cook eggs and chicken and more. I was actually also surprised!
Then dh brought in air fryer. (Before they were actually cool) so no more space

They definitely are more versatile than you'd think from the name - they often have a basket at the top so you can steam veg or meat to accompany the rice in the steam from the rice.

The trouble I think you might have had though, is that, having originated in Japan, they're very much designed for a rice-forward style of cooking with small portions of meat. You just can't cook large quantities of meat in the relatively short amount of time the rice takes.

Obviously you’re supposed to buy them? They’re very cheap, healthy and filling. It’s great advice.

Given that I am in the USA, you'll need to convert to metric, but a 5 pound bag of dried beans costs about the same as 1 pound of ground beef. And it keeps forever in the panty. Unless they get wet, or they aren't in bug-proof containers, they will last almost literally forever. YES, they are a good "stretcher" for families with low budgets.

I think everyone obviously cooks differently! I bulk stuff out with veg
My colleague makes a meat pasta with sauce plus mince, pasta and cheese so uses way more meat than mine - I use celery, onion, carrot, mince, tinned tomatoes etc

Cold tuna pasta for lunch goes loads further if you add chopped up peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, spring onion, whatever you have rather than just tuna/pasta/mayo

I like black beans so add those to chilli
But a lot of the time with food I also think people are "I don't like it" as in.. "it's not my favourite food so I won't eat it"

If I only ate my fave foods I would be living off pizza and cake
Do I like veg? Not really. But it's good for me, pretty cheap and bulks out food so I eat it. Same with water, I would rather drink juice but again, I need to drink it

Those are basic store cupboard ingredients that are nutritious and cheap for anyone struggling too so YABU

If you don’t have them in your cupboard go and buy them!

Where did I say hummus is horrid? I said humus makes me gag. Statement of fact, no "I think" about it!

I said that most pulses are horrid which is true, horrid to the human digestive system whether one enjoys them or not.. There are many people who just can't tolerate them. They play havoc with the human digestive tract if eaten in the quantities required to obtain the same levels of protein we obtain from meat, fish and dairy.

Sure, some people will tolerate them and good for them and lucky if it is also their preferred diet, but most won't. Bowel cancer is now one of the top four cancers in the UK, pancreatic cancer one of the least treatable/curable. We mess with our evolved digestive system at our own peril.

Ifeelsuchafool You’ve definitely got it the wrong way round. Too much meat is one of the causes of bowel cancer. Lentils/pulses beans are far healthier.

i think the gut gets used to lentils.
initially there may be an issue but they are far healthier than meat.
adults do not need large slabs of protein in the form of meat.

I am now intrigued - a basic rice cooker with different settings??
mine has ‘on’ or ‘off’😂

Now I have read everything. What do pulses have to do with cancer? Baffled.

That sounds a bit too basic to be useful as a rice cooker... but yes, proper fancy ones do porridge and other grains. Mine just does rice (and cake). It has a chip inside that controls the soaking/cooking/steaming cycle, so the settings are to tell it what type of rice you put in it. And it plays a little tune when it's done.

One day I may actually try making cake in it 😂

I can't see what post you're referring to but pulses do reduce the risk of bowel cancer (and probably other cancers), also good for gut flora, reducing blood sugar etc.

Interestingly pulses are actually one of the foods to eat to keep your gut healthy, unless you have intolerance. They have high amount of dietary fibre.
While you are angry at pulses for apaprently being horrid to dogestive system, I eould actually suggest that many people would find them less "horrid" if they actually had good gut fauna. Except allergies and intolearnce of course.
But lots of people don't because they don't eat enough probiotic food then feed the microscopic bastards. If suddenly eat big portion of lentils, of course it will make you fart. But if someone brings them into diet slowly and regularly, this actually subsides.

I keep seeing more and more claims of what we can't digest and while some things are because it is simply sooooo processed, it's no longer easily digestible, with lots of things it's the gut health issue because many of us don't have diet to create or support the necessary gut fauna.

Sorry for typos

Yes, an epidemic of bowel cancer in the areas of the world that eat the most meat.

You know what's probably causing it? All the lentils that people mostly aren't eating in the west. Checks out.

Cancer research and the NHS have got their websites all the wrong way around. They tell you to increase pulses and limit meat to avoid bowel cancer. They should really read fool 's posts.