Plant-based food could mean many things.
There are countless dietary choices that could be healthy, unhealthy, cheap, expensive, low-calorie, high-calorie, low-protein, high-protein, etc.
This page is about ways to eat well with at least 95% of protein/calories coming from plants.
Balanced diets
Despite a lot of misinformation out there,
It is possible to meet 100% of your nutritional needs with just plants(...)( meaning: without relying on animal products. These plant-based diets still do include low-cost supplements). It also doesn't have to be expensive.
To eat more healthy and more cheaply than most people do,
Use these principles as a guide:
Get most of your protein from dried peas, lentils, and beans.
Use these to make soups - eat soup with every meal.
Get most of your calories from basically anything you want.
Cheapest options include grains(...)( i.e. rice, pasta, oats, cornmeal etc ), potatoes, oils, any baked goods (even sweets). [Note about carbs]~ For most people, carbohydrate-rich foods should be okay as long as you exercise and include all the nutritious foods in these guidelines.
~ When in doubt, choose whole grains.
~ Not suited for people with diabetes.
Even junk food is also okay, surprisingly. The overall diet will still be healthy, if you eat the soups and take the multivitamin.
Other useful foods include sunflower seeds, peanut butter - these have both protein and calories.
Include root vegetables such as carrots, onions, beets and garlic - whichever are cheap. They can be added to the soups.
Buy fresh fruits occasionally, when they go on sale.
This diet doesn't rely on them for vitamins - but over-ripe fruits have a probiotic effect which can greatly improve digestion.
This is essential for any diet that doesn't include massive amounts of expensive fresh fruits & vegetables.
The human body needs over 30 different nutrients; most people are lacking in at least a few.
Vegan or not, most people could benefit from a cheap(...)( typically amounts to about 15 cents per day )multivitamin. You will likely feel a difference.
If this doesn't seem balanced on first glance, here are some examples to show it is:
Note: These examples may not be perfect, but they are far more balanced than a typical diet in most countries.
Note: You can also play around with the nutrition calculator to analyze your own options.
A balanced diet with beans, root vegetables, and other ordinary foods.
This analysis shows the raw ingredients. Cooking instructions / recipes will be added to this wiki soon. In general, when you boil any food, do not drain the water; keep it for the soup. You don't want to lose some of the minerals (nutrients) (...)( relevant info: Heat doesn't destroy minerals(...)( scientific reason: the minerals are elements (on the periodic table); the vitamins are molecules that can break down at high temperatures ), but it does destroy some vitamins. The multivitamin fully compensates for this: Most multivitamin tablets have 100% the recommended daily intake of all B vitamins and vitamin C, which are the ones that can be lost in cooking. ).
Calcium is supplemented (typically costs about 10 cents per day), because the cheap foods aren't naturally high in calcium.
Yes, it is possible to construct healthy diets with junkfood, in some cases.
Even if the cookies have small amounts of dairy etc., the vast majority of calories & protein are still coming from plants.
Calcium is supplemented (typically costs about 10 cents per day), because the cheap foods aren't naturally high in calcium.
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Not an example of the principles above. This tab is included for comparison.
This vegan diet is still nutritionally balanced but far more expensive.
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Not an example of the principles above. This tab is included for comparison.
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FAQ
I thought vegan diets were expensive! You're saying they're cheap?
There are cheap ways to be vegan, and there are expensive ways to be vegan. A healthy balanced diet is possible in both cases. See above for examples.
Don't vegans eat mostly salad and greens with little protein & calories?
Not necessarily. See examples above.
Does eating this many beans make you fart all the time?
Not if the beans are cooked well enough. Gas might also be a sign that your gut needs more variety of bacteria to digest the variety of plants you eat. Include more probiotic foods such as over-ripe fruits or saurkraut. It may help to eat them towards the end of the meal.
Aren't plant proteins less digestible?
Not if they're cooked/blended properly and you have good gut flora. [new page needed]