"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.

It's odd advice since many of them (red lentils excepted) need to boil for an hour to make them safe and edible. Which costs a fortune! I buy tinned beans and lentils most of the time for this reason.

This is my problem with all of them, I really can't digest them. The chickpea effect is just... chemical warfare.

But the point is that if you make a chilli con carne with say 1kg of mince, it will have cost you over a fiver for that mince, let's say £6. Lentils, gram for gram, are so much less dear (<£2 for 1kg).

So your chilli protein costs you £6 if you just use meat.

If you do half meat half lentils, it's cost you £4, because you can then use the other £4's worth of protein to make a spag bol the next day.

Having chicken curry bulked out with chickpeas tonight and shepherds pie bulked out with lentils on Friday. They do have a part to play, I don't find they ruin the meal, they are healthy and nutritious - what's not to like. Weird post OP unless you grow or forage for all your food.

It alters the taste (may be an improvement or not) but it would play havoc with my IBS to add beans very often. Overall though it's fair advice if someone wants to spend less on food but not much use for people who are really struggling and may only have a kettle and microwave.

Absolutely agree.
It is good advice for people who are managing but still want to save some money. It's advice my Mum gave me in the 1980s when I was a student taking my turn cooking for the rest of the flat and it was good advice in those circumstances. If you are relatively time rich and money poor and have reasonable cooking facilities it's an excellent idea.In fact it's sensible for a whole host of reasons even if you don't have money worries.
But people in food poverty frequently don't have reasonable cooking facilities and can't afford fuel either, so it's ridiculously over simplistic.
In fact any suggestion in those circumstances that involves the word "just" is probably unreasonable. There is no simple answer for a lot of people and anyone who thinks pulses can solve poverty is at best very naive.

Tins of beams, pulses and lentils make up most of my cupboard stock of food so. I always have 2-4 cans each of of lentils, chickpeas, black beans, black eyed beans, cannelli beans, and butter beans in the pantry . That means we have 12-15 cans of lentils and pulses in the pantry at any one time .When. I use the last one of a particular type, I buy 2-3 more .

I also always have a large sealed plastic container of dried red and green lentils in the pantry as well as dried chickpeas, black eyed beans and kidney beans . They last for years so are easy to keep. So for me, the suggestion to add pulses and beans to cooking needs no shopping whatever

We do eat bean and lentil based curries and chillies 2-3 times a week though

Instant pot will do them in 7 minutes and no soaking overnight

I bought mine 4 years ago on Black Friday for £60, there's a few on Marketplace for £20, and it pays for itself very quickly when you do things in there rather than the oven / hob. No heat is wasted.

I do think it’s good advice. Lots don’t know how to cook them or that they are protein. From a losing weight point of view I use them and share recipes and always get asked where do you buy them (not prominent in supermarkets), don’t they need soaking etc.
I use broth mix in veg soup as a matter of course and loads of people hadn’t heard of it.

There's no perfect advice that is always good for everybody's circumstances.

However, this advice is one of the better ones. Mainly because, until recently, pulses were very underrated and not people's obvious choice.

YANBU I have an IBS attack every time i read those posts!

They definitely can't solve food poverty but can perhaps help people trying to cut food bills.
I myself don't eat meat so I don't add them as bulkers. I eat them on their own in Asian, Mediterranean or Mexican food.

It's not lack of understanding. One piece of advice can't apply to everyone's situation. It's good advice because pulses are healthy and cheap.

I went too far with this when we were skint and we got uncomfortable wind and diarrhoea. Just what you need when you don't have much to eat in the first place.
They weren't new foods to us but we couldn't tolerate eating them consecutively which is what we had to do back then.

I think most of us have been brought up having meat/fish with every meal. It's totally unnecessary and pricey.

I've not eaten meat for 5 years. I always have beans, pulses, rice etc in my cupboard and can make a meal out of anything really. But that comes with experience and I probably find it easier than most because I'm not in the mindset of basing a meal around meat.

I don't think it's bad advice to suggest people bulk out their meals with cheaper ingredients. These things generally keep for years as well so there's less risk of having to throw out expired food.

It's good advice though the word pulses is really unnecessary so you're not wrong there.

Chickpeas are v good for cheap filling meals such as chickpea and potato curry, hommous etc and lentil dhal is delicious.... plus they are much better for the environment than meat.

@Hagrod I’m with you. As if beans, lentils and pulses are the panacea for everything. I hate the fucking things, they don’t agree with me and I’m not prepared to eat them for weeks in case one day I miraculously develop a tolerance for them. This kind of advice is simplistic, utterly unwanted and unhelpful.

Whilst you don't have packets of beans lying around, surely you don't have a freezer full of meat either? So instead of buying one pack of meat and ending up with chili con carne for 2, you can buy with one pack of meat, and one pack of kidney beans and make chili for 4. You still have to buy stuff so just buy cheaper stuff to combine it with. It's good advice.

YABVU
Firstly you can actually live quite a healthy, long life not eating fish and meat.

Secondly, do fish and meat make a magical appearance in your cupboards/fridge or do you go to a store and purchase them?
Have they ever been free? Have I missed out my whole life?

Yes. This

I'd happily live on them :)

I think YABU because even advice that is really widespread will be new to somebody.

(Off topic example - the fact that baby vests are cut so they can be taken off up over the head or down over the body - that is shared on every single newborn advice thread and somebody will always say 'oh my goodness I had no idea!' Anyway...)

I started switching red lentils for meat in all my mince based dishes, a small proportion at a time so the kids didn't complain. They're fine up to about 75% lentils/25% meat. That is a big cost saving over the course of a year, as well as being much better for the environment.

For you. For others it's very helpful
Like all advice really

Some people lack imagination and feel hard done by if a meal has less meat because of COL.

Take one look at it, turn their nose up and say, "that won't fill me up, there's not enough meat."

1. you haven't eaten it yet so you have no idea whether it'll fill you up or not.
2. with the extra lentils, cheese and veg I've added there actually more protein and fibre than your unimaginative "just meat" version, so it'll probably fill you up better.

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

What an odd thing to say @Hagrod

You don't know who has what in their cupboards.

I have a stash of black beans, flagelot beans, chick peas, (all tinned) red lentils and Puy lentils. I eat some of those weekly.

You have to buy food weekly, more or less, so why can't you add pulses to the list?

TBH you ought to be eating these every week as they are very healthy and do wonders for your gut health.

They are not just peasant food and your post shows you aren't exactly a creative cook. So there :)