We have a secret weapon that can add more veg and fibre to a meal, helping fill bellies and make dinners healthier (not to mention help the planet!), all while saving money!! That secret weapon: adding beans, pulses and veg to your family’s meals.
Next time you are making a stew, curry, spag bol, chilli or any sauce-based meal, simply replacing some of the more expensive meat, fish or processed veggie alternative with beans, pulses or veg will make minimal change to the taste and texture of your dish, while saving you money and making the dinner healthier.
And even better news: you don’t have to make it big changes so your family will still love these favourite meals.
Nutritionist Zoe Griffiths RNtr explains how to make the most of beans, pulses and veg to make meals go further without overly changing the meals your family love. And check out our small steps guide to slowly improving your favourite meals over time.
Why you should…
Save money:
Replacing some of the meat or processed veggie alternatives in your meals with beans, pulses or vegetables can make it more affordable! Meat can be pricey, while beans, pulses and vegetables tend to be cheaper, so slowly replacing some of the meat for these can actually bring down the cost of your favourite meals. A tin of kidney beans can be ⅕ of the cost of the equivalent weight of beef mince, so makes a much cheaper chilli while still providing protein, fibre and slow-release energy.
Fills hungry tummies:
Beans, pulses and vegetables are full of fibre, and they can even be high in protein. So even if you’ve reduced the meat content and replaced with beans, you are still making a filling, energy-giving meal for the family.
Healthier meals:
Slowly working your way towards half-and-half beans/pulses/veg-and-meat not only lowers the cost, but it brings the added benefit of being better for you! Being fibre-rich means better digestion and less constipation as well as filling you up. On top of which, they even count towards your 5-a-day target (just remember that no matter how many beans/pulses you eat, they only count as 1 of your 5-a-day.
Better for the planet:
We all know that trying to eat a little less meat is a great aim for the planet, and replacing some meat in your meals with beans or pulses (or vegetables) is a win-win-win in this sense, as it means you are not only saving yourself money and making healthier meals, but you are also helping the planet by eating a little less meat, too!
Let's get started
Start small:
Try replacing just a little of the meat with beans or pulses in sauce-rich meals where it will be least noticeable. For example, try making your favourite spaghetti Bolognese with less meat and add a tin of green or brown cooked lentils into the sauce.
Build slowly:
Try aiming for eventually having 50/50 meat or processed veggie alternative and beans or pulses. Don’t worry if you don’t get there, it’s not a magic number, but it is a good goal to work slowly towards over time. For example, try using half meat/veggie mince and half tinned lentils (or red lentils cooked into the sauce) for a lasagne.
Try our step-by-step guide to making small changes without friction or waste.
Get ideas for the best fits
Sauce-based meals, stews or casseroles and curries are all relatively simple to use less meat and more pulses/beans or veggies in as the sauce and strong flavours tend to mask this quite easily. If you aren’t sure whether a tin of chickpeas or one of kidney beans is the best fit for a curry, or a tin of butter beans works better in stir fry or mash, though, why not find your family’s favourite meals in our collection and take a look at the veg tips and suggestions for those recipe to know what works best with them.
Zoe Griffiths RNutr
Zoe is a Registered Nutritionist with 30 years experience working in public health specialising in projects to increase fruit and veg consumption in children and adults. Zoe runs her own business, ZG Nutrition, where she is a recipe developer, nutrition writer, conducts research and runs nutrition courses.
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