Flavor does not matter, presentation does not matter but the food shouldn’t make you sick, and should ideally have enough calories per day for the average person to survive (2000 kcal min).
Edit: I am not in any danger of starving or malnutrition, nor am I insolvent. I’m mainly asking this question out of curiosity on how people would approach a solution :)
Beans and rice has been the poor man’s nutritional meal for millennia. Throw in a plantain or chicken or tofu occasionally for supplemental nutrients / protein. Add hot sauce for heat. Don’t forget to add salt to taste.
It’s cheap, nutritional and has the added benefit of being tasty.
Chili is another option - tomato, beans a can of pumpkin as filler, maybe a sweet potato. Pepper and onions for taste and some TVP or Beyond Meat crumbles for some chewiness…or ground Turkey if you eat meat. It’s simple and can sustain you for a week. Spice it up with chili powder and cumin, maybe some garlic salt and a lime. I made a crockpot full the other day. There’s a reason cowboys out in the prairie ate this stuff.
The other dude is correct about proteins: legumes and cereals both have them, the issue is that they each have only some of the essential amino acids, while the body needs a certain proportion of them. But legumes and cereals combined have all those acids, so they supply the protein. That’s the whole idea of the legumes+cereals diet.
This is also false. All plants have all essential amino acids. You are citing debunked and dated research.
I found a reasonably recent (2019) source that splits the difference here, acknowledging that all the amino acids are present in each plant BUT the quantities of some amino acids in any given plant are not high enough to meet human dietary needs.
Dietary Protein and Amino Acids in Vegetarian Diets - A Review
I’d be happy to not cite ‘debunked and dated’ research, except I can’t cite debunking and updated research for the lack of it in my life.
I have a cookbook that suggests bulgur wheat for that chewiness. The author writes that her (vegetarian) daughters thought it was a ground beef recipe at first!
My mom does bulgur wheat and it does a pretty good job at the texture. I prefer to do canned chickpeas run through a food processor just until roughly chopped, or use a potato masher. Readd the drained liquid after. Both work great, but I’d rather have more beans than wheat in my diet.
Every time I make chili it’s a toss up for what recipe I use. Meat or no meat, chili powder or dried chilis. There are a lot of great ways to make it and it’s hard to stay put.
If you like that chewiness, try farro.
I have never heard of someone putting pumpkin and sweet potatoes into chili
Pumpkin is one of my favorite things to add to chili. It serves as a thickener and makes the flavor richer, more bodied.
Chopped Sweet potato is a vegetarian chili addition. I’m personally mixed on it, but it compliments the beans well.
There is no need to supplement protein. If you are getting enough calories from beans or rice (either individually) you are automatically getting enough protein. Protein deficiency is not a real thing. The cultural obsession with protein is harmful. Chicken mainly contributes obesogens and antinutrients, you’re better off without it. To say nothing for the chicken.
Had to upvote because you’re entirely correct. Protein deficiency isn’t really a thing in the developed world, except for those who are eating exceptionally poorly. There is one amino acid that is absent or very low in most legumes, but it can be found in most grains or nuts, so the slightest effort can remove the risk of deficiency.
Most nutritional diseases in the developed world are due to excess, not deficiency.
I’m sure the downvotes were due to acknowledging the intolerable suffering forced on vulnerable individuals.