Budget-Friendly Low Glycemic Foods

Though I won’t be going on some wild post-holiday detox, I’m getting back to the basics this week and eating vegetarian low glycemic foods to come down slowly from all that December sugar. The cool thing with this list is that these foods are triple threats. They’re healthy, inexpensive, and they are also pretty shelf stable, so food waste isn’t a concern. Better on the budget, too.

Add these 5 foods to your weekly grocery list. And consider trying some of the many recipes we have on this site. Back in the day, I posted recipes multiple times a week. More recently, those posts get around half the views of the other stuff I share -- but I think 2015 is the comeback of recipe blogging regardless. I love cooking and baking, and I can’t let pageviews always dictate my content.

Enjoy!

Oats

Oats -- in a variety of forms -- are my breakfast go-to. We have both rolled oats and steel-cut on hand, which we purchased at Aldi on the cheap. Oats contain a special sort of fiber that lowers bad cholesterol levels known as beta-glucan. Plus, they taste great and fill you up so you can get through your day.

• Easy Microwave Muffin
• Homemade Breakfast Muesli
• Chocolate Energy Chunk Cookies
• Half Dozen GF Chocolate Chippers

Lentils

Quick-cooking lentils are great in a pinch because they contain potassium, calcium, zinc, niacin, and vitamin K. And they're particularly rich in dietary fiber, lean protein, folate, and iron. Surprisingly, I don’t have a lot of recipes featuring lentils on this site -- so I’d like to change that! Usually we just toss them into soups.

• Lentil + Quinoa Burgers with baby kale pesto
• Stephen’s Healthy Lentil Bowl
• Split Pea Miso Soup (use lentils in place of split peas)
• Tarka Dhal (with lentils + sweet potatoes)

Chickpeas

There are tons of health benefits you gain from eating chickpeas. They’re high in both fiber and folate. They’re an excellent source of vegetarian protein. They taste delicious prepared in a variety of ways. Heck -- you can even use garbanzos in desserts! No, really. Check out that blondie recipe and tell me what you think.

• Garbanzo Bean Salad
• Stephen’s Garden Hummus
• Healthy Chickpea Blondies
• Chickpea Veggie Burgers
• Curried Chickpea Mash

Beans

Similarly, there’s a wide array of other beans that a packed full of goodness. In fact, each cup of beans contains 15 grams of both protein and fiber. A few months back, I gave you guys an entire week’s worth of dinner ideas that contain beans as their bulk. (Oh, yeah. You can also make some awesome black bean brownies to curb that sweet tooth!)

• Freezable Veggie Burgers
• Improved Pumpkin Chili 
• Black Bean Peanut Butter Brownies
• Black Bean Breakfast Smoothie

*** To cook beans, follow these detailed instructions.

Basically, you soak overnight, drain and rinse, then cook atop your stove for a few hours on low heat until you reach your desired texture. You save money on buying cans, as well as consume less sodium and harmful BPA from cans.

Sweet Potatoes

Despite their taste, sweet potatoes are actually lower on the glycemic index than regular potatoes. When I was working my desk job, I’d often bring a scrubbed sweet potato in for lunch. I’d pierce the skin with the tines of a fork and then place it on a microwave safe dish. Cook on high for 5-6 minutes and then top however you like.

• Baked Sweet Potato Fries
• Roasted Sweet Potato Stew
• Sweet Potato Stuffed Peppers
• Broccoli + Sweet Potato Soup
• Sweet Potato Ravioli with Tofu Ricotta

What types of recipes would you like to see this year?

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