Seven reasons to eat lentils: Lentils are a superfood. They contain 52% of our daily protein, 41% daily iron, 5% calcium, 7% vitamin C (vital in the ever present battle against student scurvy), 120% of our daily dietary fiber intake and no cholesterol. And they can be used in making just about any comfort food you can think of. For example:
Brinagh Hassett talks about the perks of lentils on a student budget.
In 2010 I was a first year student relocated from ‘out bush’ to the big smoke. It didn’t take long for my shopping budget to become an unsteady $10 a week. Woe betide if I ran out of toothpaste, toilet paper, dishwashing detergent or any of the other non-edible essentials. The $10 I had each week was strictly designated to buyingthe the only food I could cook: Mee Goreng. Student life is busy enough without worrying about healthy eating. There are a plethora of other money-draining necessities that always come first: the cost of school books (which continue to sky-rocket), your Myki and phone credit, gallons of coffee (a student’s unavoidable addiction), and of course, Mee Goreng. After a brief time living on ‘Up n Go’ and toast, I began to contemplate a single item in my cupboard: a 59c tin of lentils. Lentils are the vegetarian version of mincemeat, and have been a staple in the university student diet since the days of Raskolnikov…probably. When you think about it, lentils don’t really taste like anything so they can be made to taste like anything. And when you actually Google what’s in them, 59c sounds pretty good.
Curry: Fry an onion, add paprika, drain and add lentils, add a tin of crushed tomatoes and curry powder. When it’s thick, add a dash of milk or coconut cream and you’re done. Spag Bol: Fry an onion, add oregano, drain and add lentils, add a tin of tomatoes and simmer until thickened. Burgers: chop an onion and mix it in a bowl with drained lentils, a small knob of cheese, half a handful of breadcrumbs, half a grated carrot and an egg. Mix and roll up in a bit of flour to make patties and then fry them. Lentil Loaf (great for putting in a sandwich, or eating on its own with gravy): chop an onion and mix it in a bowl with drained lentils, a small knob of cheese, half a handful of breadcrumbs, half a grated carrot and the all-important egg. Put it in a baking dish and pat it down, bake for about 20 minutes and it’s ready to go. All these meals can be made with a single tin of lentils. And each of them last me at least two to three days worth of dinners. You can freeze them all on pay day and alternate throughout the week to shake things up. It’s not glamorous by any stretch of the imagination, but it makes a nice change from 3 years straight of Mee Goreng, ‘Up n Go’ and toast.
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25/02/14 12:02 AM
