"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.

I found a community herb garden down the road. It’s amazing, I’m never buying Rosemary again 🤣

Well they are a good way to cut your food bill, but not a solution to the energy crisis.

Cooking them takes time and fuel which doesn’t work for everyone.

But as advice on food bills go it’s pretty sensible

Well just buy some for future use then?! It's called thinking ahead.

Last time I made lentil soup I couldn't stop farting. Its a good job I live on my own.

Maybe not. But I add 50g of cooked barley to any mince dish I make. Spreads it a little further, and no body notices!

Your post seems very bitter. It's not advice meeted out to peasants it's what thousands of people do. It could be because they like them, they want to eat less meat, they are readily available, they keep for a long time or a combination.

Frankly if people are that short of money surely they will try anything.

I made channa masala yesterday. Fed 3 people and cost maybe a pound? With one can of chickpeas. Served with cucumber tomato raita and rice. Another pound?

Some people may not like to eat this but it's not really that outrageous. Most of the world eats this way.

But it is good advice? That's why people keep saying it. What advice would you rather hear?

That sounds lovely Tabbouleh do you have a recipe?

Honestly I cook from habit :) . But any Indian website or book will have these recipes.

It is absolutely fine advice for people who are basically okay but trying to save a bit of money. It is useless for people in harsh food poverty. They are not cooking bolognaise or meat curry. It shows a lack of understanding.

It's just advice, which you have no obligation to take. Crossing a busy road at a pelican crossing is also good advice, but again, you have no obligation to take it

I agree that "Just add" can be patronising, but as PP have said it's broadly good advice.

I mostly use tinned varieties as I am rarely organised enough to cook dried beans in advance.

Baked beans on toast isn't a bad quick snack.

Cuisines all over the world use lentils and pulses, they're not just for "peasants". Some people don't like them, but they are very adaptable, nutritious, and cheap compared to animal proteins.

You know, I work for a charity that helps vulnerable service users with poor finances. I'm not front line, I'm central office.

Four times in the past month alone, I've told front line advisors about cost saving measures that they had no idea. Things like the fact I'm only paying £2.50/month for my sim contract, or that I get everything through cashback sites etc. They're always really surprised you can get things so cheap, when it's their JOB to help people do the same.

To be honest, I'm sick of people policing the advice other people give. It's narky, wanky behaviour. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it won't help someone else.

Thing is they are not cheap. Cheaper than meat yes but still not cheap. In my local shop the yellow split peas are roughly £1 a kg and red lentils are £2 ish a kilo. Sure I often buy them to make a giant pan of ham/bacon and lentil soup but you need other ingredients to make them palatable. I boil a ham shank, then use the stock as a base and add some red lentils and yellow peas, celery carrots, Swede, onion, a stock pot, fish sauce, Bay leaves. It costs money to make them palatable. It costs money to cook them so they aren't a gross gritty mess.

I remember in the first lock down when the schools closed. Our school/council sent us these bizarre little baggies of sausages and pasta in some sort lentil gravy. Clearly they were trying to mate as much as possible with as little as they could but my daughter, my nephews wouldn't eat it. The school WhatsApp blew up with proper talking about the bizarreness of it. My dogs even turned their nose up at it. I had to wash the sausages beefier they would touch it.

I am a great cook but I can absolutely see why people with poor cooking skills and a tiny budget would rather buy a 66p frozen Asda pizza and a 33p garlic bread baguette than a bag of 99p split peas.

It's a very cheap and healthy way to bulk out food and full tummies.

It's how I was taught to cook by my working class grandmothers who lived through the Depression and WWII and who never experienced the luxury of disposable incomes.

It's good advice. Learn to cook the basics and ave money.

It's good advice; they are cheap, healthy and delicious.

The recipes on this site are incredible maunikagowardhan.co.uk/cook-in-a-curry/

But it is good advice. Back when I was in debt I made big batches of curried lentil soup, dhal and bean stews. They cost me very little to make and reduced my expenditure.

I wasn't lucky enough to come from a family where we were taught to cook. I was bought up on chicken nuggets and oven chips. We ate sugar or ketchup sandwiches when there wasn't much food left. Sometimes the obvious advice isnt that obvious to everyone.

I agree - not because it's bad advice, but because surely everybody knows it by now? I think my irritation is that whilst I like to think most people giving such advice are genuine in intention, saving a few pence per portion of food is just a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed for many to get through the cost of living crisis.

I think it's great to cut down on meat consumption for reasons of animal ethics, useful for plenty of people to cut down on red meat consumption for health reasons and yes, it would save a little bit of money too to bulk out meat with pulses.

As an aside, I cook lentils all the time (vegetarian since my mid-teens) and rarely soak them. They don't take long to cook at all and certainly don't need pre-soaking if they're going into any sort of stew or soup which will be cooking for 20+ mins.

Same!

Love them all, but not as 'bulkers'.

You might not have beans, pulses and lentils lurking in your cupboard but I assume you go out and buy groceries in general, like. meat and stuff, so if you wanted to follow this advice rather than looking down your nose at it you could.

They are inexpensive (unlike meat), keep a long time in the cupboard (very unlike meat) and can be used to make really nice meals.

I started eating more vegetarian and vegan food before prices began rising, mostly because I felt like challenging myself to cook some different dishes, and the savings were noticeable even then.

It's not useful advice when you're standing in front of the fridge at 6pm wondering what you're going to make for dinner, but it is when you're doing your food shop or meal planning. Bulking out a chilli with an extra tin of beans usually means we've got enough leftovers for a lunch. Lentils and barley make your soup go further. It's just cheap food that happens to go well with other food, it's not supposed to be a magic spell that fixes everyone's problems.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spicy-lentil-soup-curry-pinwheel-rolls this is similar to the very basic soup I make. But I wouldn't bother with the rolls they make.

It was brought up on Radio 4 a few minutes ago. I was confused - it was specifically in answer to a question about substituting milk, cheese, and other dairy which has got too expensive. I actually really like beans and pulses, but not as a substitute for cheese!