Slow Cooked Black Beans with Garlic, Onion and Spices $0.60/Serve

187g (1 cup) Dried Black Beans ($1.10, half of 375g packet)
1 Large Onion, Diced (60c)
3 Cloves Garlic, minced with fork (30c)
1 Red chilli, sliced (birds eye if you like it spicy) (30c)
At least 3 cups of water, adding as needed
1 teaspoon ground cumin (5c)
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds (5c)
Black Pepper, cracked
Salt
Total Price: $2.40 ($0.60c per serve)

Method:

1. Rinse dried unsoaked black beans under cool running water to clean, then place in medium saucepan
2. Add diced onion, minced garlic, sliced chilli and a few cracks of black pepper to saucepan (DO NOT ADD SALT YET! This will prevent beans from cooking)
3. Add 3 cups of water to saucepan and bring it all to the boil
4. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and simmer for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally, adding water as necessary. (you don't want it to completely soak up all the water until it's ready, so add half a cup if it starts getting dry and then simmer until thick around the 3 hour mark)
5. Add salt to your liking and a bit more pepper if necessary, you can also add more cumin and coriander seeds if you feel it needs a bit more flavour.

Serve either straight, as part of a mexican feast with guacamole and corn chips or on boiled or baked potatoes with sour cream.

This super easy, super cheap, super healthy meal recipe was given to me by a Spanish friend. It only costs a total of $2.40 to make, but could be made even cheaper if you bought the base ingredients in bulk. Still, only 60 cents per serve and you will get 12grams of protein, 20grams carbs and less than 2 grams of fat, nearly all from the black beans, the rest calorie-less flavour!

I've been experimenting a bit with beans and trying to increase my vegetable and fruit intake, while keeping my costs low, and I'm finding that even super healthy meals are rich in flavour and low in cost.

I've discovered that in terms of price of protein (necessary if you like to exercise) can be ranked, in terms of lowest price for roughly 20g of protein, as:

• Milk 50c (2 cups at $1/L)
• Beans, Whey Protein Concentrate: roughly 65c
• Eggs 75c (3 eggs)

 From there, you have the cheaper meats, like chicken breast, which is up at about $1.20 for 20g of protein, so beans are surprisingly cheap, especially since they are the same price as completely natural, unflavoured whey protein concentrate!

So give this recipe a try and see if you like it, it's a good way to add healthy legumes to your diet. It's a great side to accompany your meal.