Onion. It's cheap, nutritious, acts as a low-key anti bacterial solution, can be served in a multitude of ways, or eaten raw.

Subscribe for more onion facts. 🧅

You already mentioned them, but I'm a huge fan of lentils. They go with so much stuff and you can combine them with a variety of spices. Give me any leftover ingredients and some lentils, and I'll cook up something delicious. I can and will eat lentil soup for days.

They are also a pretty solid crop, they can grow in a variety of climates, require little water and are good for the soil.

Well, something being delicious is subjective, but if we assume a "general acceptance" of most delicious foods, potatoes could fit easily. They can be cooked in all kinds of ways, are very nutritious and, again, pretty much everyone says they're delicious.

Chick pea curry.

https://youtu.be/iKMI1xkU_oo

So… Are you just unaware of fruits, vegetables, and legumes, haha? In my opinion there’s a huge amount of food that fits all three categories. One of the best example of cheap, delicious, healthy, and easy is beans and rice, spiced up however you like.

Ah yes, a food that you can eat for three days without pooping while you stay in a tent?

potato

in all honesty it's probably soy

I make a curry of: tofu, green lentils, pearl barley, pearl cous cous, pumpkin, potato, onions, and whatever else is in the vege drawer of the fridge. Then I cook it in a laksa paste with coconut milk. it's delicious and keeps in the fridge for at least a week with no meat.

egg

And then there is mc Donald's and similar chains. They managed to avoid all three of those things

Beans... on toast.

I have a feeling that the answer to this might be anything that you can grow from seeds. So, fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, etc. then, like tomatoes or snow peas or apples or wheatberries. The thing is that these all take time to transform from seed to fruit, so if you include time in your constraint space these don't work. But you didn't so here you go :D

Well, first we need to define what healthy means, because you could die of water intoxication, meaning there is a point where quantity matters.

Are cheese and butter healthy ? Not if it's your only diet, but there are tons of very healthy things in cheese and butter. And of course, the same goes for every thing. So we must have balance in mind when defining an healthy food.

The second is to define what is cheap. In most of European countries, fresh food is relatively cheap, but in other countries they can be super expensive. And there's nothing more healthy than fresh food. So you definitely need fresh food as a base for an healthy balanced meal.

The third is highly subjective.

As for my healthy delicious cheap meal:

Breakfast

One scrambled egg by Gordon Ramsay with a melted slice of cheddar on toast and A fruit salad of one orange, one kiwi and one small apple

Lunch

Spaghettis with fresh garlic, olive oil, fresh basil and tomato wedges

Dinner

Pan-fried chicken fillet with frozen peas and carrot rings

Snack

Any fruit really

Lentils.

Kebab plate with vegetables.

A coleague of mine was eating it when he was on a diet to lose weight. It's basically kebab/gyros meat and a vegetable salad with a dresing (usually tzaziki). You have basically no sugar in it, it's just protein and vitamins.

Back in the day it cost like 4-5 € where I live which was pretty cheap for a lunch. Now it'd more like 6-7 € but that's still decent

Eggs

Vegetable soup. I know it sounds boring but you’d be surprised at just how nice vegetables in water with salt can taste.

https://youtu.be/21ofoREnXbM

potatoes!

I heard that tacos are actually quite good for you, and I assume they could be if you get proper ones with lots of veg and natural ingredients rather than going to Taco Bell or some other fast food place and getting processed defrosted junk.

Source: Dr Karan on Youtube (yes, Youtube doctor, but he's British, so I trust him)

Scrambled eggs.

Cashews. Benefits: heart-healthy fats, antioxidants, essential minerals.

Tinned tuna. Inexpensive, high in protein and fish oils, low in fat and calories.

Probably not great in huge quantities because of iodine, but generally very healthy

Hi everyone, this post inspired me to make a community about this topic! https://lemmy.world/c/cheaphealthyfood

Eggs.

...Do we have a community yet for sharing cheap, healthy food recipes? I'd say cooking, but I don't want to get into all the back & forth over what counts as cooking/baking/frying/etc.

Maybe /c/cheaphealthymeals? Or maybe cheapgoodmeals would be better? 🤔

Whatever the case, I think it'd be a solid idea for a community for exchanging recipes and tips!

Eggs

Fried grasshoppers

I eat tofu like four days a week and it is the best thing ever.

Broccoli

Oatmeal with butter, brown sugar, and salt.

The above 3 primary ingredients will be cheap, healthy, and delicious when prepared properly. Adding milk and/or cinnamon to taste can improve the deliciocity.

But maybe don't eat it for every meal or you'll be shitting after every meal. Very clean colon though.