I’m sad that this is worth mentioning. But if you are dealing with hunger amid threats to SNAP benefits, rice and beans are very cheap per meal and can be bought in bulk. Here’s some tricks I’ve learned:

If you get dried beans, make sure you follow the directions to pre-soak them. Canned beans are easier to prepare, just dump in near the end of cooking to heat them up. Dried lentils don’t need to be pre-soaked, but I prefer to cook them separately and drain the water they boil in.

Brown rice, barley, or other whole grains have much more protein than white rice and I find them more filling. Whole grains take longer to cook than white grains.

Frying diced onions in the pot before adding the grains and water is an easy way to kick the flavor up a notch. Use a generous amount of cooking oil (light olive oil is healthiest) for cost effective calories and help making the meal more filling.

Big carrots or celery in bulk are pretty cheap too. I like to dice carrots by partially cutting length wise into quarters, but leave the small end intact to keep the carrot together to make it easier to dice down the side. Add them to the same pot as the grains after the grains start to soften. Beets are also great; skin and cube then boil separately until soft. Change up your veggie to get a mix of vitamins

Get some bulk garlic powder, hot sauce, paprika, cumin, crushed red pepper, black pepper, etc. Season and salt the pot to taste.

You’ll only need 1-2 pots and a cutting knife/board for veggies.

I recommend Harvard’s Nutrition Source for science-based nutrition information and they have some recipes too

Edit: discussing big changes in diet with a primary care doctor or registered dietician is generally a good idea.

Probiotic supplements may help with gas.

As a bonus this sort of meal has a very small environmental footprint.

  • Ohmmy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    Unlike my dumbass family back then I’m not afraid of spicing my rice and beans like people with melanin

    • Soup@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I can’t imagine spices were exactly cheap. When you’re at the point of making water pie I’m gunna guess that spices are an easy enough thing to let go of.

      • Ohmmy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        20 hours ago

        I’m not talking spices from around the globe or some shit. I’m talking jalapenos, serranos, chipotles…

        Ya know, cheap staple crops from my region of the world that grow like weeds and add flavor for cheap.

        • Soup@lemmy.world
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          19 hours ago

          Ok, with as little intended rudeness as possible: Spicing is a weird word, and usualy for clarity anything to do with heat would be “spicing” or “making spicy”.

          And yea those are definitely not too expensive at all. I really enjoy using spiciness as a way to add a a lot of depth basically for free. Everything is better with some red pepper flakes.

          • Ohmmy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            18 hours ago

            Frankly I disagree, chili powder and paprika are spices commonly sold as spices and are just dried then crushed chilies. It’s just a preservation method and in Asia chilies are preserved in chili oils so not technically a spice but is used for flavor like a spice.

            Really the only problem here is that the language we are using is so fucking bad at describing flavor and cooking.

            • Soup@lemmy.world
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              9 hours ago

              I mean, a little yes but if you’re specifically talking hot peppers, and you said that you were, then the bulk of what they bring to the table is heat. Flavour for sure a little, but I wouldn’t consider them spices.

              I can agree that the language is a little vague. Like at what point does ginger become a spice and not a normal ingredient? Only when it’s dried and powdered?

              • Ohmmy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                47 minutes ago

                I’m sorry but if you think chilies only add a little flavor there’s no point continuing this. Have a good one.