Whole plant foods are the cheapest calories in the store

Original recipes indexed by cuisine. No added oil, no added sugar, no refined flour, little added salt.

Browse the Pantry See the Recipes

What costs money is protein, packaging, and someone else doing the cooking. This site skips all three. The cheapest diet is not automatically the healthiest: the best evidence puts the healthiest eating patterns about a dollar and a half a day above the least healthy, most of that gap in meat and protein (Rao et al., BMJ Open 2013, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004277). The narrower, defensible claim: pound for pound and calorie for calorie, whole plant staples are the least expensive food in the store.

Browse by cuisine

Linked cuisines have recipes now. The rest are on the way.

Recipes

• Black Beans with a Toasted Chile Sofrito Mexican · 110 min · $0.95/serving
• Chana Masala Indian · 40 min · $0.75/serving
• Kabocha Simmered in Kombu Dashi Japanese · 40 min
• Mapo Tofu with Mushrooms Chinese · 30 min
• Mujaddara Middle Eastern · 60 min
• Oven-Roasted Ratatouille French · 70 min
• Smoky Slow Baked Beans American · 150 min
• Tom Yum with Mushrooms and Tofu Thai · 30 min
• Tuscan White Bean and Kale Soup Italian · 55 min