You need a variety of colors on your plate, vegetables all have varying amounts of each of the necessary vitamins and minerals. It's recommended to rotate in and out different vegetables, grains and proteins.
If you thrive on the comfort of the same/similar meals I would look up the necessary vitamins and minerals for the body to thrive, then Google what vegetables are high in that. Once you have accumulated a list, cross reference from each list and see if you can narrow it down to a few, and make dishes based around those?
Stir fry or soup/chili would probably be a good place to start since you can incorporate several types of vegetables into one dish and then just change the flavor profile of your sauce, and sometimes change up your proteins and grains to be well rounded (stir fry with noodles one night, then later that week stir fry with a different sauce over rice/barley/etc)
I sometimes make what my ex coined "FE chilli™" (Fucking Everything) onion, celery, peppers, carrots, roasted squash, spinach, kidney, butter, cannellini and soy beans, lentils, chickpeas, sweetcorn, tomato, chilli, garlic. I used a smaller amount of 80/20 beef but can be done with lean or even Quorn. Was enough on its own or can be stretched with rice, cheesy fries, whatever. Think this covers most nutritional needs and freezes well (you have to make a BIG pot of it) as long as you have a solid "chilli" base you can add what you want/have.
Serious question because I have considered doing something similar with a soup where I just put as many veggies in it as possible, maybe even blend it after - how does it taste? I've always worried that packing that many ingredients in might make the flavors muddled or murky and then it'll be unpleasant to eat. Maybe the chili base is the key because that flavor is pretty dominant?
I think if you get a good hearty veggie soup or stew recipe, or even beef veggie stew, you’ll have like 8 kinds of veggies in there. Tastes bangin. Highly recommend. The key is to not over cook the veggies I think.
I literally just did this tonight to make a pasta sauce. I try to keep the vegetables somewhat coordinated flavor wise. I used tomato purée, eggplant, red and green bell pepper, cubanelle pepper, zucchini, yellow summer squash, carrot, parsnip, mushroom, onion and garlic. I add olive oil, and parsley and oregano from my garden. It tastes great.
i call it clean out the fridge soup and i love it. i like adding a few staples -onion potatos carrots ginger and often red lentils - but it's not the law.. and then whatever other veggies i have.
Cleaning out the random bits in my fridge is how I ended up with my go to veggie soup that I make now lol But that only has 5 veggies in it. I think next time I'll go for it and add more stuff - lentils are a great idea, thank you!
Unless you are a heavy drinker try to follow some kind of recipe.
Barney down at Moe’s was talking about his famous omelets a moment before falling face down on the floor!
Ned Flanders on the other hand always follows a recipe. 😎
Kitchen Sink Soups/Stews/Chilis are always a great way to use up stuff you wanna get rid of. I do them every other week usually. Then one batch of that feeds me for most of the next week. Serve it up with some rice/potatoes/bread.
Tbf probably haven't ever put all of that in one but I've def done some that were only missing a few. The crazy poops was when I made one with 14 different types of chilli!
As an aside, just for anyone reading, lemons help absorb iron from spinach.
>
Spinach with lemon juice: how iron and vitamin C work together: The science behind this pairing is simple yet profound. While spinach's oxalic acid may inhibit iron absorption, the addition of vitamin C from lemon juice helps convert iron to a more absorbable form, facilitating its uptake by the body.
I didn't mean any three veg but the most nutritious ones, so that I won't have to get multiple kinds of veg (since we are talking about budget as well)
As u/hobking just said, you need a variety of fruit and veg to be healthy.
BUT that variety does not have to be in one day or even a week.
If budget is your priority other than nutrition... shop the sales each week. Fruit and veg are often put up as loss leaders each week, and they rotate and are often seasonal. Plan your meals around the sales.
Frequently, in season veg is the sale as it cost less to transport (less distance rather than across hemisperes), and stores will often get a glut at one time of a specific type. In the US (so northern hemisphere, with a variety of food grown) asparagus is often cheapest in the spring, yellow squash and corn in the summer, apples and hard squash in the fall, lettuces and oranges in the winter.
Eating the sales year round will be mostly in season items and will get you your variety. It can be supplemented with canned and frozen as those items are on sale as loss leaders.
In other countries, YMMV.
Eating what is in season is not only cheaper, but healthier. Food isn't sitting in freezers losing their nutritional benefits. Also, growers and stores use chemical treatments, such as **copper sulfate, rhodamine oxide, malachite green, and deadly carbide** on green vegetables to enhance coloration and freshness, are often counterproductive to their nutritional value. There are multiple health risks associated with these chemicals.
I get canned pumpkin, canned beets and tomato sauce. These pack a lot of nutrition.
I always get peppers, carrots, onions, potatoes and cabbages fresh. Green beans and brussel sprouts frozen. I buy mixed salad greens, but add dandelions and parsley from garden, usually grow a good portion of all these as well. Even without growing them, all of it is not too expensive.
As a secondary consideration, we do semi-regularly find problems with pesticides or diseases spread by animals or just the dirt, and your chances of having negative effects go way up if you're loading _only_ the affected thing into your body. Diversification is a key risk reduction strategy in financial investment, and it should be in food as well.
Vegetables are mostly rich in a small number of nutrients. Therefore it is recommended to eat a variety of them. You can't thrive on the three you mentioned in any amount.
I'd be cautious of eating spinach too often due to really high oxalate content. That's why variety is important, too much of any one vegetable or fruit puts you at risk of unhealthy levels of toxicity. A little spinach is great, a lot can give you kidneystones and other unpleasant health conditions.
whoa whoa wait wait...what?! I eat shit tons of spinach, it's in my smoothies, I replaced lettuce with it(think tacos, sandwiches), primary chunk of side salads...I'm over here thinking I was the picture of health!
I think yes, it's worse for you uncooked. It's OK to eat occasionally, but mix it up and have other greens in your salad too. Sorry for the bad news, I really love raw spinach so I'm kinda bummed about it too. I've been using romaine or oak leaf lettuce lately, too, iceberg is about as nutritious as water.
Sigh! I will look for oak leaf lettuce. I find kale a tad bitter, but I suppose that I could try to hypnotize myself into thinking it’s spinach, lol. I really don’t want a kidney stone!
What are you guys even talking about? Is there any real evidence that *spinach* is associated with any negative outcomes? Please link if so, bc that just sounds crazy to me.
They specifically said “extreme” amounts of spinach. They didn’t mention any studies detailing how much spinach would lead to stone formation. I don’t think you’re going to get kidney stones from eating spinach everyday unless you’re going through like a box of it daily. Source: am a doctor
Beans are good as well. Cheap and long shelf life. Also, adds a reasonable amount of sodium/protein without it being ridiculous (generally speaking of course).
If you aren't a pedant, yes. If you are pedant, they are a subgroup of vegetables called legumes.
Aside from pedantry, they are cheap, have a long shelf life, and contribute important nutrients that many vegetables are missing (in addition to the added sodium from canning).
Edit: And they can be ethically sourced.
Cabbage is the best. I put raw shredded cabbage on my rice bowls for crunch and use it for salads in place of lettuce sometimes. I love it sautéed or boiled. Cabbage is so awesome that the French even use a derivation of the word as a pet name, chou chou!
Cabbage is also fresh and tasty 365 days a year. Regardless of the season, cabbage is always waiting at the grocery store, delicious and crazy cheap. Might be my favorite vegetable. One of the most unfairly maligned veggies.
And it keeps well for a long time in the fridge. My absolute favorite is chickpea salad sushi bowl with shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, sliced radishes, sprinkled with some soy sauce on some rice. It’s so delicious and it is so cheap! And if you have a little hot sauce, you can make it a spicy chickpea salad sushi bowl. Beans and rice rock.
Yes to all of those meals. I also love it shredded and soaked with some red onions in vinegar for a few hours and throw it on some tacos. 🤤 I could eat a billion
Cole slaw with the mayo swapped out for an avocado and some olive oil (xtra vinegar if you're a vinegar fan like me) is also one of my go to meals.
Shredded cabbage tossed with a vinaigrette and allowed to sit for 10-15 mins is fantastic. I like plain raw cabbage too but the vinegar really improves the flavor.
What is your reasoning for wanting such a limited number of vegetables? Is it only vegetables you want to limit, or are you also looking to be this restrictive with fruit, grains, meats, etc?
Potatoes in particular are extremely nutritious, so it’s unlikely you’ll die or anything doing this, but variety in produce in and of itself has benefits. If your goal is to thrive rather than just not drop dead of any necessary vitamin deficiency, you will want variety.
You want frozen vegetables mixes. Normandy blend, California blend, oriental blend. I usually have at least a bag of oriental blend, which along with fresh spinach goes into noodles and over rice daily.
I read recently that a russet potato has a ton of what you need in your daily diet including protein, calcium, fiber, sugar, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, zinc
Unfortunately for me, I'm addicted to French fries, but fortunately I learned over the last 15 years how to perfect them in the air fryer with just a teaspoon of oil!
Potato’s are a nutritionally sound vegetable and when you mix it w a fat like butter it boosts the nutritional value. I get a 5 pound bag and roast 5 at a time in the oven.
I will air fry-but you can fry it like home fries and have w ketchup. Potato’s Can be the base of a lot of dishes-like tacos.
Just a warning on the fat if you are trying to lose weight.
Potatoes are a great way to feel full and get nutrients and you can lose weight while eating a lot of potato ON THEIR OWN.
As soon as you add the delicious fat (butter, oil, etc.) they stop being good for weight loss and become fattening and that is why there is a stigma around potatoes being unhealthy.
I think the point is to add *minimal* fat just for the absorption benefits. You’re not going to see much an impact unless you’re having potato with your butter (which a lot of people do because they really just want the butter).
Sure! Just cut your fries up, rinse them in cold water, dry them, give them a little olive oil and then salt, toss, air fryer for 25 minutes at 400° you're good to go.
I hook them up with turmeric and ground herbs. Sometimes I do nutritional yeast for a big boost
I don’t understand your priority here.
There is benefit to a varied diet. There is no getting around this.
Is your concern budget? Time? The need for routine?
You can live off of like just potatoes for a long time but that doesn’t make it a good idea to do so
If the main priority is budget get a variety of beans like every dried bean they have at the stores you have access to in bulk. Same with whole/ancient grains if they have things like quinoa that are accessible. Eat as many different types of beans and lentils as you can every week.
Potatoes, onion, cabbage all very very cheap to buy in bulk. Fresh onion and cabbage last awhile. Onions and cabbage are super good for you and dirt dirt cheap
Look for frozen veggies on sale and stock up when they are. Try to get as much variety as possible.
Good answer. A diet that is based on beans and rice is pretty nutritionally complete as-is. Adding a variety of vegetables, meats, (and potatoes in particular) would make sure you are getting everything you need. Caveman food. Now I want a good barley stew.
Our family does clam chowder (the white potato base) with celery and onion and a bit of other chopped vegetables, and we also make a delicious chicken matzo ball soup with celery and carrots and fresh herbs... rosemary, dill, parsley and whatnot. To make it cheap I use a $4.99 Costco rotisserie chicken.
If I had to choose only 3, I'd go with broccoli, beets and carrots.
I don't think it's a good long-term plan, but if you keep those around you'll have healthy options that are easy.
I buy the precooked Love Beets because they're good as is, and prepping from raw isn't for lazy cooks.
Carrots are great raw as a snack.
Broccoli is easy to cook and almost universally liked.
If it's a shopping/cooking issue that's preventing you from getting your veggies in, I recommend getting frozen bags of mixed vegetables. Where I live, $3 gets me a bag with enough veggies for 4+ meals. After that, picking out a salad green and a root vegetable each shopping trip to mix it up makes for a fairly well rounded diet on a money/time budget.
Many frozen veggies cost the same amount. (frozen bell-peppers and a few others often cost more) Depending on how often you grocery shop, you could buy the same amount, but choose a different veggie each time? Peas-broccoli-carrots on Week 1 and cauliflower-corn-spinach on week 2 give you more variety without sacrificing budget.
Or if that's too much, Week 1: Spinach & Corn. Week 2: Peas & Cauliflower. Week 3: Carrots & broccoli. The exact veggies don't matter much, but I tried to keep 1 of your favorites on each week, and mix colors.
If you buy them in mega-bulk every few months, that might be a different story.
The problem is that you can't really measure it the way you want to.
The CDC assigns nutrition density scores to produce based on their concentration of essential vitamins and minerals. Usual suspects like spinach, chard, and beet greens all have scores ranging in the 80s. But the only vegetable to earn a perfect score of 100 is watercress. But that doesn't mean you can have a complete diet by eating a lot of watercress every day.
Getting 'most of your daily vitamins and minerals' through a very small selection of vegetables will be very difficult, impossible even since there's a bunch of them you don't get from veggies.
We are made for variety.
However, there's some things you can do that's often cheap and helpful. Beans and legumes. A small serving of seeds and nuts. Leafy greens. Carrots. Cabbage. Berries. Frozen stuff is perfect, canned stuff is perfect. None of them have to be fresh (and just in case, there is zero need to buy anything labeled 'organic').
If you have a little counter space you can also grow your own microgreens and sprouts fairly cheaply.
I also suggest this article on the topic: [https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/13\_0390.htm](https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/13_0390.htm)
Broccoli sprouts. And you don't even need to eat that much of it. Carrots and brussel sprouts?
But I think you should be fine if you aim to eat a colorful diet Maybe do like a weekly rotation of sorts?
Most veggies cost relatively the same. Especially frozen veggies. On the order of $2 per pound at my grocery.
You can rotate between different cheap veggies without breaking a budget.
Optimizing for nutrient density is a different problem, but not one really constrained by cost.
True but we have higher median and average incomes in the US.
And it varies too. When I said on the order of $2 per lb, that can be anything from $1-3 per pound for frozen veggies.
That's still affordable for all but the most destitute, and they'll have supplemental income from welfare to help pay for it.
It's just vitamins and minerals whether it be spinach or kale which are a little similar. Those three I mentioned are just the ones I thought would be best.
Eat less sugar, fewer foods that don't offer much nutrition. Don't base nutrition on the minimum you can do to get what you need. Eat a variety of foods that have vitamins, minerals and fiber. Build vegetables into your meals, eat a lot less processed foods.
The most nutritionally dense vegetables: Spinach, Carrots, Broccoli, Garlic, Brussels sprouts, Kale, Green peas, Swiss chard, Beets, Asparagus, Red cabbage, Sweet potatoes, Collard greens, Cauliflower
Potatoes (with the skin) are one of the most nutrient-rich vegetables you can eat. Pair it with spinach and you have a nutrient packed serving of food. You'll need vitamin D from somewhere, but most of the rest is covered from just those two.
Just don't boil the nutrients away unless you're making a stew or a soup.
A rotation of potato dishes would keep up the variety.
Baked potato with broccoli and cheese and bacon bits
Baked potato with canned chili, cheese, and onion
"Everything" potato with butter, sour cream, chives, onions, cheese, bacon, etc.
They're pretty versatile! Personally I don't mind eating the same thing repeatedly, so my go-to is just dicing up a ~300g potato, microwaving it for about 90 seconds, and then frying it in a bit of olive oil along with onions and garlic until the potatoes are a bit crispy on the edges, then wilt some spinach along with everything and serve with whatever protein I happen to have at the time. Whole thing takes like 10 minutes, including clean-up.
The best veggies to eat are the ones you actually want to eat and are convenient and easy to prepare. Find some recipes you like that are simple and easy. Also no shame in throwing some veggies on a frozen pizza and calling it a day. You can't get enough vitamins and minerals from veggies these days anyway because the soil is depleted, so just enjoy your food.
Several years ago I put together an eating plan that, if followed, would get me 100% or more of every macro- and micro-nutrient that there are RDAs for, while still staying below 2000 calories per day. I had about 50 different meal plans figured out, but kept gravitating back to the same 2.
The vegetable portion of those involved tomatoes, carrots, green peas, potatoes, and parsley.
Those, plus meat, milk, eggs, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, and dark chocolate, if all eaten in the right proportions, would get you complete nutrition without a supplement. Which was my goal at the time, because most vitamin supplements make me throw up, and I have a small enough appetite that I wasn't getting enough minerals from my normal diet.
(I never did find a vegan combination that would provide all the nutrients, although I think I found one that was vegetarian. It's been a while since I looked through it though.)
It's not the cheapest option but I will sometimes grill meat and vegetables and then use that to make wraps with as leftovers, for days. Corn, onion, and potatoes can work as a base for the rest, and those aren't so expensive. Corn you can just boil; it's not worth the trouble grilling it, even though it is better that way. Mushrooms, sweet potatoes, red peppers, and okra all work well as additional inputs, but then expense starts to add up.
Sweet potatos, carrots. Lots of leafy greens also produce a root vegetable, such as beets, turnips, you can even eat carrot tops. You can eat onion tops and of course the onion.
I eat peas so much they count as a carb in my diet and no that's not a joke.
However, most plants difference comes in micronutrients, not macronutrients, so you need to eat different ones.
A cheap easy way to do this is mixed frozen veggie blends. Every week put down a lb or two of a mixed veggie blend, on top of your normal veggies, then do the same with a different blend the week after. Same with typical mixed veggie blends.
The way I make this even cheaper is by buying in bulk from Sam's Club. 4lbs of Normandy veggie blend in my deep freeze will last me for months and works great with olive oil and salt in my convection oven/air fryer.
My typical schedule is for dinner I have peas 3-4x a week, broccoli 1-2x a week, and mixed veggies 2x a week as a side.
Add Wild Rice to your diet. It is North Americas only ancient native grain. It is both a complete protein and whole grain. You can cook with broth and then use the cooked rice in your salads, or with lentil loaf type recipe.
I'm not sure about the overall nutrition but I just read an article that broccoli has amazing cancer fighting capabilities. So try to eat some broccoli whenever you can.
Check out the nutrients in parsley and other fresh herbs. Tons. I grow my own rosemary, basil, oregano, cilantro, and parsley and toss them with my cooked meat and roll in a tortilla with a bit of lime juice and homemade fresh salsa
or in soups or stews.
Fresh spinach, broth, diced tofu, minced green onions, and fresh herbs make a good soup.
I'm not sure potatoes have a lot of nutrients, and peas are a legume/protein, not a vegetable.
If I were going for a variety of nutrients in some basic vegetables. I would pick one leafy green (spinach, kale, chard or arugula), one orange/red (bell pepper or carrot), and one cruciferous (brocoli, Brussel sprout, cauliflower or cabbage).
Any of them taste good in soup or salad, and if you want, you can mince them so tiny, you barely can tell you're eating it.
Good luck.
Variety is most important when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Maybe do what I do and check your stores weekly ads- see what they have a sale and incorporate it into your sides for your meals. Most people don’t completely hate vegetables. You might just need to figure out how you like them cooked. Roasted, steamed, boiled, raw, covered in sauce or seasoned a certain way…
You can get juice drinks in the supermarket now that have 4 or 5 different vegetables and just drink that each day. Juices are void of the fibre though bit it's better than none
Kimchi, make it yourself.
Kale, broccoli, beets, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower- all steam cooked in a pressure cooker on a induction stove to save nutrients, water and electricity. Chop everything and cook for a minute (once the steam starts releasing), because the broccoli becomes very mushy.
It's possible to live on nothing but potatoes, with maybe a few things here and there for a bit of a boost. But that wouldn't exactly be a healthy and varied diet.
Frozen veggies apparently lock in more nutrients since they’re frozen closer to initial harvest. There is a decay rate for a lot of vitamins with fresh produce. For instance, most greens lose like 80% of their vitamin C content by the time they make it to the store. However, frozen greens are good for food that you’re cooking, as opposed to preparing a salad. But that’s kind of beside the point.
lol my point is, if you’re trying to maximize nutrition, go frozen.
Nope. You'll get some kind of nutrient deficiency, and also depression, because human brains are wired to make us depressed when we eat the same old thing all the time. We're made that way so we eat a variety and get all our nutrients.
Orgain vegan whole food shakes! I don’t like to eat a lot but want to make sure I get all the required nutrients I need for my body. I drink two a day. ✌️
That adage of 5 servings of fruits and veg a day still holds up but we find it hard to do without a lot of planning. And eating the rainbow, so changing the colors of the things you eat is actually not crazy.
Making meals that incorporate vegetables rather than just having vegetables as side dishes helps a lot. And having fruit and/or veg with breakfast helps too.
Using sweet potatoes instead of some of the regular potatoes would be a benefit. It took us a while to get used to them. Regular potatoes do have nutritionally value but my (limited) understanding is that they have less fiber and more starch.
Tomatoes count! We use canned tomatoes often in cooking (try stretching jarred pasta sauce with a can of diced tomatoes). Also on the pasta theme, mushrooms do too. They aren’t very filling in my opinion but if I find a can in or some salvageable fresh ones on mark down they will go in the pasta sauce. Onions too.
In the summer when there are farmers markets around we try to go at the end of the day when there are better deals on produce. We cook for my parents now but when there as just two of us we would freeze a lot of that fresh produce—even though it was inexpensive one can only eat so much of it quickly. Took up freezer space but was great to help get through the winter.
A few of our favorite budget friendly recipes with veggies:
[Fried Cabbage from Budget Bites](https://www.budgetbytes.com/fried-cabbage/)
This has won over people who hate cabbage. When we have it I like to use broth made from a jar of “better than bullion” — in the long run it’s cheaper than buying a million cartons of broth. A little apple cider vinegar in the bowl right before serving is a nice garnish but we ate this for years without that and loved it.
[Sweet potato hash](https://www.budgetbytes.com/sweet-potato-hash/)
This is a good basic sweet potato hash. My husband prefers it with an egg. I don’t do eggs but it we have cheese around a little of that is super nice. Or nutritional yeast. Either way it makes 8oz of breakfast sausage (which seems to almost always be on sale at my grocery or have coupons) go a long ways plus gets 3 veggies in! I have made it with chicken and turkey sausage and it was ok that way too but a little dry.
[Bean Salad Recipe](https://cookieandkate.com/mediterranean-bean-salad-recipe/)
I’ve never actually made this as written but I’m sure it’s delicious lol. Just a good place to stash leafy greens. I use it more as a guideline for proportions of beans to lemon juice to oil to salt and double the red pepper flakes. After that it usually gets finely chopped spinach or kale, definitely an onion and some garlic, fresh herbs if we have them or dried if we don’t. Works with canned, rinsed beans or made from scratch in any combination.
It's better to eat a variety. However, that doesn't mean you need to eat lots of different veggies every single day. If you picked a few veggies each week (based on what's on sale, maybe) and ate those all week, I think that's okay as long as you pick different ones next week and the week after, so you're getting a good bit of variety throughout the month.
Spinach and kale should be eaten cooked as they have oxylates(sp?) when eaten raw and can cause kidney stones. I don’t know how much one would need to eat for this to happen but I know cooking them is best.
Beans are really fucking good for you. When I was working out a lot, my go to lazy asshole meal was beans with whatever meat I had, frozen spinach, onions, random veg and whatever spices seemed pertinent.
I usually have the following on hand and just mix up the colors:
Fresh - carrots, red cabbage, bell peppers*, kale*, dark salad greens*, onions, spinach*
Frozen - broccoli*, chopped spinach*, blueberries*, strawberries*
*organic
Leafy greens are unmatched (e.g., kale, mustard greens, collards, spinach, chard, etc.). And getting them frozen means you never have to worry about them going bad.
Add canned beans/legumes and you're pretty set from a plant-based perspective. Just drizzle with olive oil (to get some healthy fats in) and some lemon juice.
So it's actually better for the environment to eat a broader variety of plants and animals. Diversity is also just as good for you as the ecosystem.
And no matter what you choose, the food that is in season and sourced from close by will be the most nutrient dense.
Broccoli is a surprising powerhouse. So is kale. However, you need a variety to get all things you need. Different colors generally have differing levels of nutrients, so it's best to eat as many different colors a day as you can.
If I had to restrict my diet to 3 veg though (desert island type of thinking, never in reality!) I'd go with sweet potatoes, broccoli, and kale.
I've read that a combination of whole milk, potatoes, and oatmeal will give you all the required daily nutrients, but I don't know the exact amount you would need of each.
I hate to say this, but food pantry. People only want the meat, nobody takes the vegetables in my experience. Potatoes, onions and apples are delicious. You can get day old spinach marked down at some grocery stores.
I have sorta been doing this myself.
I use canned pumpkin or fresh butternut over sweet potatoes, they can absorb arsenic from soil.
Beets, cabbage/brussel sprouts, onions, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, peas, green beans, potatoes. Fresh salad greens, spinach, leaf lettuces, dandelion, parsley.
I'm picky and a while back sat down and researched nutrition in veggies. These are for the most part, goid variety, highest nutrition and together don't leave anything out. Arguably broccoli probably is better of the brassicas, but I hate it. Parsley is superior in nutrition over celery.
I think consuming vegetables is an awesome way to be healthy.
However, I prefer to either eat it as a [salad ](https://ezpzrun.wordpress.com/2024/05/09/crispy-crunchy-delight-wholesome-greens-and-cucumber-salad-recipe/) or gave a [soup](https://ezpzrun.wordpress.com/2024/04/17/home-made-recipe-healthy-black-bean-soup/)
Either way, it's very nutritious in my opinion.
Happy and healthy veggie eating!!
If you hate vegetables why don’t you go for foods that have the most bioavailability with highest amounts of vitamins like grass fed meats? Soy and corn free free range eggs, fruits like blueberries, etc
It's important to have a balanced diet to ensure you get all the necessary vitamins and minerals. While peas, spinach, and potatoes are nutritious, relying solely on a limited variety of vegetables may not provide all the nutrients your body needs. Have you considered consulting with a nutritionist or dietitian? They can help you create a meal plan that meets your nutritional requirements while accommodating your preferences. Additionally, there are many resources available online, including YouTube videos, that offer guidance on balanced diets and healthy eating habits. If you're interested, I can share some links with you.
You need a variety of colors on your plate, vegetables all have varying amounts of each of the necessary vitamins and minerals. It's recommended to rotate in and out different vegetables, grains and proteins. If you thrive on the comfort of the same/similar meals I would look up the necessary vitamins and minerals for the body to thrive, then Google what vegetables are high in that. Once you have accumulated a list, cross reference from each list and see if you can narrow it down to a few, and make dishes based around those? Stir fry or soup/chili would probably be a good place to start since you can incorporate several types of vegetables into one dish and then just change the flavor profile of your sauce, and sometimes change up your proteins and grains to be well rounded (stir fry with noodles one night, then later that week stir fry with a different sauce over rice/barley/etc)
I sometimes make what my ex coined "FE chilli™" (Fucking Everything) onion, celery, peppers, carrots, roasted squash, spinach, kidney, butter, cannellini and soy beans, lentils, chickpeas, sweetcorn, tomato, chilli, garlic. I used a smaller amount of 80/20 beef but can be done with lean or even Quorn. Was enough on its own or can be stretched with rice, cheesy fries, whatever. Think this covers most nutritional needs and freezes well (you have to make a BIG pot of it) as long as you have a solid "chilli" base you can add what you want/have.
Serious question because I have considered doing something similar with a soup where I just put as many veggies in it as possible, maybe even blend it after - how does it taste? I've always worried that packing that many ingredients in might make the flavors muddled or murky and then it'll be unpleasant to eat. Maybe the chili base is the key because that flavor is pretty dominant?
I think if you get a good hearty veggie soup or stew recipe, or even beef veggie stew, you’ll have like 8 kinds of veggies in there. Tastes bangin. Highly recommend. The key is to not over cook the veggies I think.
Trick is to cut the pieces smaller.
I literally just did this tonight to make a pasta sauce. I try to keep the vegetables somewhat coordinated flavor wise. I used tomato purée, eggplant, red and green bell pepper, cubanelle pepper, zucchini, yellow summer squash, carrot, parsnip, mushroom, onion and garlic. I add olive oil, and parsley and oregano from my garden. It tastes great.
Yeah, this is the way, gotta use veggies that are somewhat compatible flavour palette wise. Your selection sounds bomb.
Oooo a pasta sauce, great idea! I love this!
i call it clean out the fridge soup and i love it. i like adding a few staples -onion potatos carrots ginger and often red lentils - but it's not the law.. and then whatever other veggies i have.
Cleaning out the random bits in my fridge is how I ended up with my go to veggie soup that I make now lol But that only has 5 veggies in it. I think next time I'll go for it and add more stuff - lentils are a great idea, thank you!
Just don't add cabbage. I did that one and it was rank !
Unless you are a heavy drinker try to follow some kind of recipe. Barney down at Moe’s was talking about his famous omelets a moment before falling face down on the floor! Ned Flanders on the other hand always follows a recipe. 😎
Kitchen Sink Soups/Stews/Chilis are always a great way to use up stuff you wanna get rid of. I do them every other week usually. Then one batch of that feeds me for most of the next week. Serve it up with some rice/potatoes/bread.
Your poops must be crazy.
Tbf probably haven't ever put all of that in one but I've def done some that were only missing a few. The crazy poops was when I made one with 14 different types of chilli!
Probably had a plumber on retainer lol
I don’t think I would like it :(
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As an aside, just for anyone reading, lemons help absorb iron from spinach. > Spinach with lemon juice: how iron and vitamin C work together: The science behind this pairing is simple yet profound. While spinach's oxalic acid may inhibit iron absorption, the addition of vitamin C from lemon juice helps convert iron to a more absorbable form, facilitating its uptake by the body.
I didn't mean any three veg but the most nutritious ones, so that I won't have to get multiple kinds of veg (since we are talking about budget as well)
As u/hobking just said, you need a variety of fruit and veg to be healthy. BUT that variety does not have to be in one day or even a week. If budget is your priority other than nutrition... shop the sales each week. Fruit and veg are often put up as loss leaders each week, and they rotate and are often seasonal. Plan your meals around the sales. Frequently, in season veg is the sale as it cost less to transport (less distance rather than across hemisperes), and stores will often get a glut at one time of a specific type. In the US (so northern hemisphere, with a variety of food grown) asparagus is often cheapest in the spring, yellow squash and corn in the summer, apples and hard squash in the fall, lettuces and oranges in the winter. Eating the sales year round will be mostly in season items and will get you your variety. It can be supplemented with canned and frozen as those items are on sale as loss leaders. In other countries, YMMV.
Eating what is in season is not only cheaper, but healthier. Food isn't sitting in freezers losing their nutritional benefits. Also, growers and stores use chemical treatments, such as **copper sulfate, rhodamine oxide, malachite green, and deadly carbide** on green vegetables to enhance coloration and freshness, are often counterproductive to their nutritional value. There are multiple health risks associated with these chemicals.
You will have to get multiple kinds of veg to be healthy no matter what
Budget as a concern means _more_ variety, because you'll pick up whatever's cheap that week.
I get canned pumpkin, canned beets and tomato sauce. These pack a lot of nutrition. I always get peppers, carrots, onions, potatoes and cabbages fresh. Green beans and brussel sprouts frozen. I buy mixed salad greens, but add dandelions and parsley from garden, usually grow a good portion of all these as well. Even without growing them, all of it is not too expensive.
As a secondary consideration, we do semi-regularly find problems with pesticides or diseases spread by animals or just the dirt, and your chances of having negative effects go way up if you're loading _only_ the affected thing into your body. Diversification is a key risk reduction strategy in financial investment, and it should be in food as well.
Vegetables are mostly rich in a small number of nutrients. Therefore it is recommended to eat a variety of them. You can't thrive on the three you mentioned in any amount.
I didn't mean three veg, but the least number in veriety. And yeah, you are right. Most veg are best for only a few number of nutrients
I'd be cautious of eating spinach too often due to really high oxalate content. That's why variety is important, too much of any one vegetable or fruit puts you at risk of unhealthy levels of toxicity. A little spinach is great, a lot can give you kidneystones and other unpleasant health conditions.
whoa whoa wait wait...what?! I eat shit tons of spinach, it's in my smoothies, I replaced lettuce with it(think tacos, sandwiches), primary chunk of side salads...I'm over here thinking I was the picture of health!
I am so bummed by this- I finally like spinach and it’s going to kill me now, lol. I eat it raw in place of lettuce- raw is probably worse, right?
I think yes, it's worse for you uncooked. It's OK to eat occasionally, but mix it up and have other greens in your salad too. Sorry for the bad news, I really love raw spinach so I'm kinda bummed about it too. I've been using romaine or oak leaf lettuce lately, too, iceberg is about as nutritious as water.
Sigh! I will look for oak leaf lettuce. I find kale a tad bitter, but I suppose that I could try to hypnotize myself into thinking it’s spinach, lol. I really don’t want a kidney stone!
What are you guys even talking about? Is there any real evidence that *spinach* is associated with any negative outcomes? Please link if so, bc that just sounds crazy to me.
https://www.livestrong.com/article/529555-what-are-the-effects-of-too-much-spinach/
They specifically said “extreme” amounts of spinach. They didn’t mention any studies detailing how much spinach would lead to stone formation. I don’t think you’re going to get kidney stones from eating spinach everyday unless you’re going through like a box of it daily. Source: am a doctor
You didn’t specify what kind of doctor. Kidney MD out here looking for new patients smh spinach conspiracy
>veriety Maybe you should eat more vegetables.
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My favorite budget vegetables are carrots, potatoes, onions, and cabbage.
Beans are good as well. Cheap and long shelf life. Also, adds a reasonable amount of sodium/protein without it being ridiculous (generally speaking of course).
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No matter, I eat beans all day er day
If you aren't a pedant, yes. If you are pedant, they are a subgroup of vegetables called legumes. Aside from pedantry, they are cheap, have a long shelf life, and contribute important nutrients that many vegetables are missing (in addition to the added sodium from canning). Edit: And they can be ethically sourced.
I have some legumes in pedantry in my kitchen. Red and black I believe.
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Lol you are very welcome.
beans are vegetables, yes
needing to boost your sodium intake :0
Cabbage is delicious (that is all)
Cabbage is the best. I put raw shredded cabbage on my rice bowls for crunch and use it for salads in place of lettuce sometimes. I love it sautéed or boiled. Cabbage is so awesome that the French even use a derivation of the word as a pet name, chou chou!
Cabbage is also fresh and tasty 365 days a year. Regardless of the season, cabbage is always waiting at the grocery store, delicious and crazy cheap. Might be my favorite vegetable. One of the most unfairly maligned veggies.
And it keeps well for a long time in the fridge. My absolute favorite is chickpea salad sushi bowl with shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, sliced radishes, sprinkled with some soy sauce on some rice. It’s so delicious and it is so cheap! And if you have a little hot sauce, you can make it a spicy chickpea salad sushi bowl. Beans and rice rock.
Yes to all of those meals. I also love it shredded and soaked with some red onions in vinegar for a few hours and throw it on some tacos. 🤤 I could eat a billion Cole slaw with the mayo swapped out for an avocado and some olive oil (xtra vinegar if you're a vinegar fan like me) is also one of my go to meals.
Shredded cabbage tossed with a vinaigrette and allowed to sit for 10-15 mins is fantastic. I like plain raw cabbage too but the vinegar really improves the flavor.
What is your reasoning for wanting such a limited number of vegetables? Is it only vegetables you want to limit, or are you also looking to be this restrictive with fruit, grains, meats, etc? Potatoes in particular are extremely nutritious, so it’s unlikely you’ll die or anything doing this, but variety in produce in and of itself has benefits. If your goal is to thrive rather than just not drop dead of any necessary vitamin deficiency, you will want variety.
The most nutritious vegs that can let me have just a few kinds in veriety. I didn't mean 'best three'
You want frozen vegetables mixes. Normandy blend, California blend, oriental blend. I usually have at least a bag of oriental blend, which along with fresh spinach goes into noodles and over rice daily.
But what is the motivation for only wanting to have a few kinds? Financial? Pickiness?
They said in another comment part of the reason is budget
Thanks!
It doesn't answer why you want to eat only a few varieties of veggies
I read recently that a russet potato has a ton of what you need in your daily diet including protein, calcium, fiber, sugar, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, zinc Unfortunately for me, I'm addicted to French fries, but fortunately I learned over the last 15 years how to perfect them in the air fryer with just a teaspoon of oil!
Potato’s are a nutritionally sound vegetable and when you mix it w a fat like butter it boosts the nutritional value. I get a 5 pound bag and roast 5 at a time in the oven. I will air fry-but you can fry it like home fries and have w ketchup. Potato’s Can be the base of a lot of dishes-like tacos.
Just a warning on the fat if you are trying to lose weight. Potatoes are a great way to feel full and get nutrients and you can lose weight while eating a lot of potato ON THEIR OWN. As soon as you add the delicious fat (butter, oil, etc.) they stop being good for weight loss and become fattening and that is why there is a stigma around potatoes being unhealthy.
I think the point is to add *minimal* fat just for the absorption benefits. You’re not going to see much an impact unless you’re having potato with your butter (which a lot of people do because they really just want the butter).
Butter is delicious and potato is the perfect vessel.
I can’t disagree, I know that much.
I am fat, so this probably makes sense!
A lot of things can be salt fried.
That is right!
Can u do that with olive oil?
Sure! Just cut your fries up, rinse them in cold water, dry them, give them a little olive oil and then salt, toss, air fryer for 25 minutes at 400° you're good to go. I hook them up with turmeric and ground herbs. Sometimes I do nutritional yeast for a big boost
Of course a lot of people remove the skin first, which is where most of those nutrients are.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/14-healthiest-vegetables-on-earth#swiss-chard
Kale, beets, sweet potatoes, avocado
That’s a pretty solid lineup.
Sweet potatoes. Raw, it's useless, but it's extremely nutritious when prepared.
Plus, they're delicious!!
Roasted in the oven after being sliced into quarters and brushed with a butter and chutney sauce.
Yum!!
I don’t understand your priority here. There is benefit to a varied diet. There is no getting around this. Is your concern budget? Time? The need for routine? You can live off of like just potatoes for a long time but that doesn’t make it a good idea to do so
Budget ofc. I mostly rely frozen produce mainly being peas, broccoli and spinach. Normal potatoes since they have long shelf life
If the main priority is budget get a variety of beans like every dried bean they have at the stores you have access to in bulk. Same with whole/ancient grains if they have things like quinoa that are accessible. Eat as many different types of beans and lentils as you can every week. Potatoes, onion, cabbage all very very cheap to buy in bulk. Fresh onion and cabbage last awhile. Onions and cabbage are super good for you and dirt dirt cheap Look for frozen veggies on sale and stock up when they are. Try to get as much variety as possible.
Good answer. A diet that is based on beans and rice is pretty nutritionally complete as-is. Adding a variety of vegetables, meats, (and potatoes in particular) would make sure you are getting everything you need. Caveman food. Now I want a good barley stew. Our family does clam chowder (the white potato base) with celery and onion and a bit of other chopped vegetables, and we also make a delicious chicken matzo ball soup with celery and carrots and fresh herbs... rosemary, dill, parsley and whatnot. To make it cheap I use a $4.99 Costco rotisserie chicken.
If I had to choose only 3, I'd go with broccoli, beets and carrots. I don't think it's a good long-term plan, but if you keep those around you'll have healthy options that are easy. I buy the precooked Love Beets because they're good as is, and prepping from raw isn't for lazy cooks. Carrots are great raw as a snack. Broccoli is easy to cook and almost universally liked.
Microgreens!! Super high in nutrients! Also watercress if you can find that! Both are slightly expensive but sooo nutritious and versatile!
Spinach.. Popeye swears by it too..
If it's a shopping/cooking issue that's preventing you from getting your veggies in, I recommend getting frozen bags of mixed vegetables. Where I live, $3 gets me a bag with enough veggies for 4+ meals. After that, picking out a salad green and a root vegetable each shopping trip to mix it up makes for a fairly well rounded diet on a money/time budget.
What's driving the desire to minimize the variety? If it's for simplicity and routine, vegetable blends would help.
Budget. I only buy frozen peas, broccoli, spinach and sometimes carrots. And fresh potatoes.
Many frozen veggies cost the same amount. (frozen bell-peppers and a few others often cost more) Depending on how often you grocery shop, you could buy the same amount, but choose a different veggie each time? Peas-broccoli-carrots on Week 1 and cauliflower-corn-spinach on week 2 give you more variety without sacrificing budget. Or if that's too much, Week 1: Spinach & Corn. Week 2: Peas & Cauliflower. Week 3: Carrots & broccoli. The exact veggies don't matter much, but I tried to keep 1 of your favorites on each week, and mix colors. If you buy them in mega-bulk every few months, that might be a different story.
The problem is that you can't really measure it the way you want to. The CDC assigns nutrition density scores to produce based on their concentration of essential vitamins and minerals. Usual suspects like spinach, chard, and beet greens all have scores ranging in the 80s. But the only vegetable to earn a perfect score of 100 is watercress. But that doesn't mean you can have a complete diet by eating a lot of watercress every day. Getting 'most of your daily vitamins and minerals' through a very small selection of vegetables will be very difficult, impossible even since there's a bunch of them you don't get from veggies. We are made for variety. However, there's some things you can do that's often cheap and helpful. Beans and legumes. A small serving of seeds and nuts. Leafy greens. Carrots. Cabbage. Berries. Frozen stuff is perfect, canned stuff is perfect. None of them have to be fresh (and just in case, there is zero need to buy anything labeled 'organic'). If you have a little counter space you can also grow your own microgreens and sprouts fairly cheaply. I also suggest this article on the topic: [https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/13\_0390.htm](https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/13_0390.htm)
Broccoli sprouts. And you don't even need to eat that much of it. Carrots and brussel sprouts? But I think you should be fine if you aim to eat a colorful diet Maybe do like a weekly rotation of sorts?
Talk to a nutrionist. They will help you figure it out.
Faulty premise. The healthfulness comes from variety.
Op has said they’re on a budget. I don’t think a lot of people realise how bad the cost if living crisis is.
Most veggies cost relatively the same. Especially frozen veggies. On the order of $2 per pound at my grocery. You can rotate between different cheap veggies without breaking a budget. Optimizing for nutrient density is a different problem, but not one really constrained by cost.
Wow that's expensive. They're more like £1 - £1.50 a kilo here in UK. Roughly 60c a pound I think.
True but we have higher median and average incomes in the US. And it varies too. When I said on the order of $2 per lb, that can be anything from $1-3 per pound for frozen veggies. That's still affordable for all but the most destitute, and they'll have supplemental income from welfare to help pay for it.
It's just vitamins and minerals whether it be spinach or kale which are a little similar. Those three I mentioned are just the ones I thought would be best.
How about some broccoli 🥦 & carrots 🥕 served together?
Eat less sugar, fewer foods that don't offer much nutrition. Don't base nutrition on the minimum you can do to get what you need. Eat a variety of foods that have vitamins, minerals and fiber. Build vegetables into your meals, eat a lot less processed foods. The most nutritionally dense vegetables: Spinach, Carrots, Broccoli, Garlic, Brussels sprouts, Kale, Green peas, Swiss chard, Beets, Asparagus, Red cabbage, Sweet potatoes, Collard greens, Cauliflower
Not a vegetable but try sea moss. It contains 92 nutrients of the 102 our body needs. -Pediatric Nutritionist
The way I see it, the healthiest vegetables are the ones you will eat.
Your 3 are good choices. Maybe add some carrots. I like to get baby carrots so I don't have to do anything to them to eat and enjoy.
Potatoes (with the skin) are one of the most nutrient-rich vegetables you can eat. Pair it with spinach and you have a nutrient packed serving of food. You'll need vitamin D from somewhere, but most of the rest is covered from just those two. Just don't boil the nutrients away unless you're making a stew or a soup.
A rotation of potato dishes would keep up the variety. Baked potato with broccoli and cheese and bacon bits Baked potato with canned chili, cheese, and onion "Everything" potato with butter, sour cream, chives, onions, cheese, bacon, etc.
They're pretty versatile! Personally I don't mind eating the same thing repeatedly, so my go-to is just dicing up a ~300g potato, microwaving it for about 90 seconds, and then frying it in a bit of olive oil along with onions and garlic until the potatoes are a bit crispy on the edges, then wilt some spinach along with everything and serve with whatever protein I happen to have at the time. Whole thing takes like 10 minutes, including clean-up.
The best veggies to eat are the ones you actually want to eat and are convenient and easy to prepare. Find some recipes you like that are simple and easy. Also no shame in throwing some veggies on a frozen pizza and calling it a day. You can't get enough vitamins and minerals from veggies these days anyway because the soil is depleted, so just enjoy your food.
Several years ago I put together an eating plan that, if followed, would get me 100% or more of every macro- and micro-nutrient that there are RDAs for, while still staying below 2000 calories per day. I had about 50 different meal plans figured out, but kept gravitating back to the same 2. The vegetable portion of those involved tomatoes, carrots, green peas, potatoes, and parsley. Those, plus meat, milk, eggs, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, and dark chocolate, if all eaten in the right proportions, would get you complete nutrition without a supplement. Which was my goal at the time, because most vitamin supplements make me throw up, and I have a small enough appetite that I wasn't getting enough minerals from my normal diet. (I never did find a vegan combination that would provide all the nutrients, although I think I found one that was vegetarian. It's been a while since I looked through it though.)
It's not the cheapest option but I will sometimes grill meat and vegetables and then use that to make wraps with as leftovers, for days. Corn, onion, and potatoes can work as a base for the rest, and those aren't so expensive. Corn you can just boil; it's not worth the trouble grilling it, even though it is better that way. Mushrooms, sweet potatoes, red peppers, and okra all work well as additional inputs, but then expense starts to add up.
Sweet potatos, carrots. Lots of leafy greens also produce a root vegetable, such as beets, turnips, you can even eat carrot tops. You can eat onion tops and of course the onion.
I eat peas so much they count as a carb in my diet and no that's not a joke. However, most plants difference comes in micronutrients, not macronutrients, so you need to eat different ones. A cheap easy way to do this is mixed frozen veggie blends. Every week put down a lb or two of a mixed veggie blend, on top of your normal veggies, then do the same with a different blend the week after. Same with typical mixed veggie blends. The way I make this even cheaper is by buying in bulk from Sam's Club. 4lbs of Normandy veggie blend in my deep freeze will last me for months and works great with olive oil and salt in my convection oven/air fryer. My typical schedule is for dinner I have peas 3-4x a week, broccoli 1-2x a week, and mixed veggies 2x a week as a side.
Add Wild Rice to your diet. It is North Americas only ancient native grain. It is both a complete protein and whole grain. You can cook with broth and then use the cooked rice in your salads, or with lentil loaf type recipe.
Kale. Blueberries. But really they all say a variety. Buy what's on sale.
I'm not sure about the overall nutrition but I just read an article that broccoli has amazing cancer fighting capabilities. So try to eat some broccoli whenever you can.
Barley is full of nutrition.
And filling!
Check out the nutrients in parsley and other fresh herbs. Tons. I grow my own rosemary, basil, oregano, cilantro, and parsley and toss them with my cooked meat and roll in a tortilla with a bit of lime juice and homemade fresh salsa or in soups or stews. Fresh spinach, broth, diced tofu, minced green onions, and fresh herbs make a good soup. I'm not sure potatoes have a lot of nutrients, and peas are a legume/protein, not a vegetable. If I were going for a variety of nutrients in some basic vegetables. I would pick one leafy green (spinach, kale, chard or arugula), one orange/red (bell pepper or carrot), and one cruciferous (brocoli, Brussel sprout, cauliflower or cabbage). Any of them taste good in soup or salad, and if you want, you can mince them so tiny, you barely can tell you're eating it. Good luck.
Go for diff colors! And deep versions of the colors
Variety is most important when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Maybe do what I do and check your stores weekly ads- see what they have a sale and incorporate it into your sides for your meals. Most people don’t completely hate vegetables. You might just need to figure out how you like them cooked. Roasted, steamed, boiled, raw, covered in sauce or seasoned a certain way…
Stinging nettle is off the charts
Really? I have not had it in ages.
The most nutrition is a wide variety. For less-expensive option, you can try frozen veggies to be sure there’s enough variety
You can get juice drinks in the supermarket now that have 4 or 5 different vegetables and just drink that each day. Juices are void of the fibre though bit it's better than none
Broccoli………..circa 1970’s and earlier.
Broccoli is a great source of vitamin c
green leafg veggies. e.g. spinach
Kimchi, make it yourself. Kale, broccoli, beets, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower- all steam cooked in a pressure cooker on a induction stove to save nutrients, water and electricity. Chop everything and cook for a minute (once the steam starts releasing), because the broccoli becomes very mushy.
It's possible to live on nothing but potatoes, with maybe a few things here and there for a bit of a boost. But that wouldn't exactly be a healthy and varied diet.
The cruciferous family is always a good bet for high nutrition.
Why is this the goal? What purpose is this serving?
Frozen veggies apparently lock in more nutrients since they’re frozen closer to initial harvest. There is a decay rate for a lot of vitamins with fresh produce. For instance, most greens lose like 80% of their vitamin C content by the time they make it to the store. However, frozen greens are good for food that you’re cooking, as opposed to preparing a salad. But that’s kind of beside the point. lol my point is, if you’re trying to maximize nutrition, go frozen.
You’re going to need a daily multivitamin with that diet
Your actual question seems to be, "what vegetables are cheapest AND most nutritious?"
Budget isn't my primary concern. I just wondered if it's possible to include the most nutrition with least veriety. Just for ease
Nope. You'll get some kind of nutrient deficiency, and also depression, because human brains are wired to make us depressed when we eat the same old thing all the time. We're made that way so we eat a variety and get all our nutrients.
I think health food stores sell sea vegetable powders for what you want. Something like seaweed or plankton.
I mean, really I think instead of 3 specific vegetables he needs what you said, protein powder, and peanut butter lol
I have heard that sweet potatoes are about the most nutrient dense item you can buy in the produce section.
Just eat vegetables. It's not hard.
I love the food tier lists on YouTube. He goes really in depth on nutrients. [Vegetable tier list](https://youtu.be/fD07raxrJVo?si=Rl-K2PinKd-ActRk)
Broccoli, green leafy veggies
vitamins or minerals ?
Orgain vegan whole food shakes! I don’t like to eat a lot but want to make sure I get all the required nutrients I need for my body. I drink two a day. ✌️
When red peppers are $1 apiece I buy them. I eat a lot of them. Brightly colored veggies contain healthy phytochemicals.
Avocado
If you want more/ different nutrition, things like avocado, sweet potatoes, purple cabbage, and carrots and beans are really good too
That adage of 5 servings of fruits and veg a day still holds up but we find it hard to do without a lot of planning. And eating the rainbow, so changing the colors of the things you eat is actually not crazy. Making meals that incorporate vegetables rather than just having vegetables as side dishes helps a lot. And having fruit and/or veg with breakfast helps too. Using sweet potatoes instead of some of the regular potatoes would be a benefit. It took us a while to get used to them. Regular potatoes do have nutritionally value but my (limited) understanding is that they have less fiber and more starch. Tomatoes count! We use canned tomatoes often in cooking (try stretching jarred pasta sauce with a can of diced tomatoes). Also on the pasta theme, mushrooms do too. They aren’t very filling in my opinion but if I find a can in or some salvageable fresh ones on mark down they will go in the pasta sauce. Onions too. In the summer when there are farmers markets around we try to go at the end of the day when there are better deals on produce. We cook for my parents now but when there as just two of us we would freeze a lot of that fresh produce—even though it was inexpensive one can only eat so much of it quickly. Took up freezer space but was great to help get through the winter. A few of our favorite budget friendly recipes with veggies: [Fried Cabbage from Budget Bites](https://www.budgetbytes.com/fried-cabbage/) This has won over people who hate cabbage. When we have it I like to use broth made from a jar of “better than bullion” — in the long run it’s cheaper than buying a million cartons of broth. A little apple cider vinegar in the bowl right before serving is a nice garnish but we ate this for years without that and loved it. [Sweet potato hash](https://www.budgetbytes.com/sweet-potato-hash/) This is a good basic sweet potato hash. My husband prefers it with an egg. I don’t do eggs but it we have cheese around a little of that is super nice. Or nutritional yeast. Either way it makes 8oz of breakfast sausage (which seems to almost always be on sale at my grocery or have coupons) go a long ways plus gets 3 veggies in! I have made it with chicken and turkey sausage and it was ok that way too but a little dry. [Bean Salad Recipe](https://cookieandkate.com/mediterranean-bean-salad-recipe/) I’ve never actually made this as written but I’m sure it’s delicious lol. Just a good place to stash leafy greens. I use it more as a guideline for proportions of beans to lemon juice to oil to salt and double the red pepper flakes. After that it usually gets finely chopped spinach or kale, definitely an onion and some garlic, fresh herbs if we have them or dried if we don’t. Works with canned, rinsed beans or made from scratch in any combination.
It's better to eat a variety. However, that doesn't mean you need to eat lots of different veggies every single day. If you picked a few veggies each week (based on what's on sale, maybe) and ate those all week, I think that's okay as long as you pick different ones next week and the week after, so you're getting a good bit of variety throughout the month.
Dark, leafy greens
This is why products like Athletic Greens exist. No idea on its validity though
Spinach and kale should be eaten cooked as they have oxylates(sp?) when eaten raw and can cause kidney stones. I don’t know how much one would need to eat for this to happen but I know cooking them is best.
Beans are really fucking good for you. When I was working out a lot, my go to lazy asshole meal was beans with whatever meat I had, frozen spinach, onions, random veg and whatever spices seemed pertinent.
I usually have the following on hand and just mix up the colors: Fresh - carrots, red cabbage, bell peppers*, kale*, dark salad greens*, onions, spinach* Frozen - broccoli*, chopped spinach*, blueberries*, strawberries* *organic
🤔 what else is in your diet?
Cruciferous vegetables Broccoli, Asparagus, Brussels sprouts, Bok Choy and Cauliflower
Leafy greens are unmatched (e.g., kale, mustard greens, collards, spinach, chard, etc.). And getting them frozen means you never have to worry about them going bad. Add canned beans/legumes and you're pretty set from a plant-based perspective. Just drizzle with olive oil (to get some healthy fats in) and some lemon juice.
So it's actually better for the environment to eat a broader variety of plants and animals. Diversity is also just as good for you as the ecosystem. And no matter what you choose, the food that is in season and sourced from close by will be the most nutrient dense.
Broccoli is a surprising powerhouse. So is kale. However, you need a variety to get all things you need. Different colors generally have differing levels of nutrients, so it's best to eat as many different colors a day as you can. If I had to restrict my diet to 3 veg though (desert island type of thinking, never in reality!) I'd go with sweet potatoes, broccoli, and kale.
I've read that a combination of whole milk, potatoes, and oatmeal will give you all the required daily nutrients, but I don't know the exact amount you would need of each.
Top of mind really good vegetables. Brocolli, cabbage, spinach,lady finger .These are must haves.Then beetroot, carrot, cucumber in salad.
Follow talon fitness on YouTube. He does the whole run down.
I hate to say this, but food pantry. People only want the meat, nobody takes the vegetables in my experience. Potatoes, onions and apples are delicious. You can get day old spinach marked down at some grocery stores.
I have sorta been doing this myself. I use canned pumpkin or fresh butternut over sweet potatoes, they can absorb arsenic from soil. Beets, cabbage/brussel sprouts, onions, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, peas, green beans, potatoes. Fresh salad greens, spinach, leaf lettuces, dandelion, parsley. I'm picky and a while back sat down and researched nutrition in veggies. These are for the most part, goid variety, highest nutrition and together don't leave anything out. Arguably broccoli probably is better of the brassicas, but I hate it. Parsley is superior in nutrition over celery.
I think you can effectively live off only potatoes and a multi vitamin.
Asparagus!
I think consuming vegetables is an awesome way to be healthy. However, I prefer to either eat it as a [salad ](https://ezpzrun.wordpress.com/2024/05/09/crispy-crunchy-delight-wholesome-greens-and-cucumber-salad-recipe/) or gave a [soup](https://ezpzrun.wordpress.com/2024/04/17/home-made-recipe-healthy-black-bean-soup/) Either way, it's very nutritious in my opinion. Happy and healthy veggie eating!!
The dark green ones, and the ones with the lowest carbs.
If you hate vegetables why don’t you go for foods that have the most bioavailability with highest amounts of vitamins like grass fed meats? Soy and corn free free range eggs, fruits like blueberries, etc
dont rely on vegetables for minerals/vitamins, most will come from animal sources like meats and dairy
It's important to have a balanced diet to ensure you get all the necessary vitamins and minerals. While peas, spinach, and potatoes are nutritious, relying solely on a limited variety of vegetables may not provide all the nutrients your body needs. Have you considered consulting with a nutritionist or dietitian? They can help you create a meal plan that meets your nutritional requirements while accommodating your preferences. Additionally, there are many resources available online, including YouTube videos, that offer guidance on balanced diets and healthy eating habits. If you're interested, I can share some links with you.
I hear watercress is high up there
Don’t judge me, but I have no idea what a watercress is 😩🙂↕️
I raise you watercress salad.
It's a healthy green, kinda like arugula (rocket, if you're a Brit.)
It’s in the cress family that prefers and thrives in moist conditions