Two vegetables, say spinach for breakfast and broccoli for dinner. Two proteins, could be eggs for breakfast and salmon, chicken, or steak for dinner. And two carbohydrates, fruit for breakfast of your choosing, and potato/ sweet potato for dinner. That’s what I would recommend as a dipshit with no degree or direction in life 🤝
It is difficult to specify the simplest diet, as a simple diet is different for everyone. Budget also depends on the are but I’ll try to make it a bit more specific.
Try to imagine each meal consisting of different nutrients. Each meal should contain protein, carbohydrates (and fibre) and fats, and some fruit or vegetables.
Carbohydrates - rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, but also quinoa, couscous, bulgur (the last three are usually more expensive). Try to eat at least half whole grain carbohydrate sources.
Protein - meat, dairy, eggs are the best sources. Legumes are also sources of protein and they are cheap but you shouldn’t depend on them as the only source of protein (yet having them in your diet at least once a week would be amazing). The cheapest option is to buy a whole chicken and carve it yourself. Use the thighs and breasts to make meals, use the bones and wings for stock, for example, and mix the rest of the meat from it with rice and vegetables. Sometimes they sell them with organs - you can use those too.
Fat - oils (rapeseed), nuts, seeds, full-fat dairy products, eggs, meat, fish…
Vegetables and fruit - the cheapest option to maintain variety in your diet is frozen vegetables - preferably a variety of mixes (watch out for added butter). Or vegetables that are just in season.
Try to keep this information in mind while looking at what’s on sale in your local supermarket and get at least two sources of each for your week. I believe it’s not that hard to follow healthy lifestyle even with tight budget.
Good luck!
Protein : Clams, farm raised, clean, healthy, cheap, sustainable
Chicken and eggs, ditto Ground Turkey, ditto, and subs for beef (tacos 🌮)!Legumes: Beans for the tacos! Super healthy, cheap, just buy dry and cook a pot, nutrients for days
Grains: Brown Rice and Quinoa, super cost effective just buy dry and cook with a dry stock
Veggies & Fruits: Carrots, Onions, Cabbage, Lettuce, Tomatoes, bananas are all fairly cost effective and full of nutrition, slice and dice
Frozen fruits Buy an instapot
Watch youtube
Mediterranean - put the bulk of your grocery bill toward high quality protein (high quality fish, grass fed and finished beef / chicken, pasture raised eggs etc.) If you’re vegetarian - stick to whole forms of plant based protein like tofu, lentils and beans.
And high quality olive oil.
You can go a little cheaper on fruit and veg by buying mostly frozen frozen and thawing / steaming as needed.
Supplement the rest of your plate with rice, pasta, beans, lentils etc. your plate should have a carb, a fat and a protein.
Only thing I will say - two meals a day is not sustainable and will have your body in starvation mode, unless you’re snacking in between.
Something like this
Meal 1:Eggs, frozen spinach, oats, apple and or raisins, nuts.
Meal 2:Meat (Decent) or Game meat (preferable) of choice (access to medium fat meat would work nice). A budget saver is buying a whole chicken or share a hunted animal like deer. Served with sweet potato, brown rice, bean or peas. Have a side of quality yogurt.
I’d also change up the second Meal with some fatty fish like salmon or small mackerel.
This is low inflammatory, hits all your nutrients pretty well, even the ones people are blind to like K2, D3, B1, etc.
You could even throw a snack in there too and you can easily modify this to be 30C/30F/40P or 50C/25F/25P or whatever ratio you want or need.
Animal nutrients and plant nutrients in balance. Make sure you buy good quality salt too.
If you stick to something like this, can’t really go wrong.
If overweight eat one meal a day with up to 70%proteinEat less chapati and rice, more fruit and veggies.You can add multivitamin capsules its cost less ( becosules Z) Drink more waterDont buy sugar. Buy shakkar cost less and its healthier. Eat salad buy every cheap veggies. And do fasting time to time. That way you can save some money to eat fastfood some times with friends.Eat more fat rich food before fasting it’ll help you to fast longer.For more tips DM
Cheese, milk or yogurt as calcium/protein and other minerals.
Carrots, spinach or some other veggie.
Eggs are cheap. Meat is expensive for quality.
Flour tortillas are generally better value than bread…tho rice is probably the cheapest starch. Pasta is great as well.
Probably meat/alternative + fish, vegetables (including potatoes if you like), fruit, and some legumes/rice/grains mixed in there. For cooking use virgin olive oil and butter/coconut oil
Edit: eggs/oats for breakfast and nuts for snacking
whole chicken over 7 meals.baby spinachbroccolipasta(Pea pasta for extra protein)garliconioncarrotsred pepperstomatoesquinoaoliveswild ricelentils (dry)olive oilthe look up recipes low carb, high protein vegetarian. cut up your chicken into leg quarters (2), breast (2) wings (2) boil the carcass and debone use those to make a soup with the wild rice. Add veggies.
Tight budget, so rice, beans, potatoes and eggs are a good extremely cheap core.
Then get some frozen mixed veges.
Peanut butter and a good bread (wholegrain) frozen for toasting are also very cheap.
Tinned tuna plus rice and beans is also a great easy meal. Throw in some greens and a bit of mayo and you have a very healthy meal.
Lots of answers are interpreting simple to mean only one ingredient, but when you mixed products in the supermarket it’s only one ingredient in terms of cooking, but several in terms of nutrition.
Frozen mixed vegetables, boiled or fried, add premixed sauce. Canned mixed beans, fried or boiled. Whatever meat is cheap. If none, buy extra beans. Must be an actual cut of meat, not hot dogs or patties. Mince is ok assuming it’s just mince. And fried means in a pan with a spoonful of oil, not deep fried. Cut it up and chuck it up. That’s dinners, make enough so you have leftovers for lunch, then have oats and frozen berries available for a snack or for breakfast. Easy as.
My current cutting diet is probably as simple as it gets
Breakfast - oats, eggs and fruit
Lunch - tuna, carrots and sweet potato
Dinner - chicken breast, rice and broccoli
Lean protein + complex carbohydrate + fruits and vegetables. That’s all you need.
Variety is important though.. so I would, at the very least, switch up the vegetables here and there to ensure a wide range of micronutrients.
When it comes to veges, the more colours of the rainbow you have the more nutritious it should be. Therefore I agree with who ever said frozen mixed veges.
As part of what you’re asking. Another idea is to join groups where you can swap or be gifted fresh fruits or veges from someone’s garden where they have too many.
Avoid buying processed food where ever you can.
Depends on microbiome and how well you care for it.
Eg. If you consume or use anything that kills bacteria. Eg. Toothpaste. Chlorinated water. Throat lozenges. Alcohol.
If you have a source for repairing biome. Eg. Do you eat things that are ‘dirty’ or ‘contaminated’, or breathe ‘dirty’ air, or do you get FMT etc.
Also, do you consume prebiotics?
Lots and lots of stir fries. I always use onions and peppers as a baseline then throw in a different nutrient rich vegetable like broccoli and cabbage. Make a simple sauce of soy honey and vinegar. Serve on quinoa or rice. For more protein put an egg on top.