nutrition facts

So you’re a healthy eating convert
and you want to start making sure all your meals are perfectly balanced. If you’re on a limited budget
though
you might have a problem. There’s a reason why most people get too much carbohydrate and fat and too little protein: most kinds of protein are expensive. Meat and cheese
two of the best sources of protein
are also two of the priciest ingredients you can buy.

So
if you want to eat healthily on the cheap
what’s the answer? Well
it might surprise you. What you need is beans.

Beans are a cheap crop
readily available in large tins for not very much money at all
and yet they are an excellent source of protein
and taste good too. There’s no shortage of variety
either: you can get everything from baked beans to kidney beans to butter beans
all lined up there in the same section for you. If you’re not sure of what to do with them
find some vegetarian recipes
which tend to be very bean-heavy
and give them a try.

It can even be nice to mix together a few different kinds of beans and have a bean salad with a sauce – a simple side dish
but an easy way to add protein to your meal. Pasta with a dairy-based pasta sauce containing beans is an example of an ideally balanced meal
as long as you don’t overdo it with the pasta
as is rice with bean curry.

Of course
I’m not recommending that you stick to beans for your protein all the time
as you’re bound to get sick of them eventually. If you can replace meat or cheese with beans even occasionally
though
you’ll save a lot of money without affecting the balance of your meal.