Healthy Cheap Easy Beans&Greens Soup (Plant Based Hack)

The following is my ultimate Plant Based Hack: Simple Beans&Greens Soup. The outcome of 10 years of mistakes. I had to gain a lot of experience to end up with something very simple and easy.

Beans&Greens Soup make healthy plant based living low effort. I always have this in the fridge, and it’s part of my daily routine.

!WARNING!

Eating mostly whole plants is one of the best choices you can make to minimize the harm you do to our fellow animals, your body and the wildlife on this tiny dying planet. But you need to plan carefully and supplement.

You need to eat a wide variety of Whole Grains, Legumes (Beans, Lentils), Dark Leafy Greens, Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts&Seeds, Herbs&Spices.

You need to supplement. I take a multivitamin that includes Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Vitamin A, Zinc, Selenium, Iodine... and an algea sourced Omega 3 DHA and EPA supplement.

Check out veganhealth.org and subscribe to their newsletter to get plant based nutrition advice from actual qualified professionals.

SHORT VERSION:

Use a stainless steel pot and stainless steel or wooden utensils.

Just throw all the ingredients in the pot and add water. Boil it for about one to two hours on the lowest heat that keeps it bubbling. Then blend it with a stick mixer. Let it cool down and put it in the fridge.

I learned from experience to keep it very basic: a minimum of ingredients. One Vegetable, one Spice or Herb... A simple thing, done right.

Ingredients:

1. A Pack Of Dry Raw Legumes (Legumes are Beans&Lentils. Dry Raw Legumes need to be soaked in a lot of water for a minimum of 12 hours, then rinsed, and boiled for a minimum of 60 minutes. Otherwise you will experience discomfort.)

2. A Dark Leafy Green: Kale (Boerenkool), Microgreens (The Sprouts Of Herbs and Vegetables), Collard Greens (Galicische Kool), Spinach, Cabbage (Kool), Beet Greens, Watercress, Romaine Lettuce, Swiss Chard (Snijbiet, Warmoes), Arugula (Rucola), Endive, Bok Choy, Turnip Greens (Bladgroen Van Raap).

3. A Vegetable. Resist the instinct to mix different vegetables.

4. About 1.5 Vegetable Stock Cubes per litre of volume (contains salt).

5. Pepper (White Pepper, Black Pepper, Chilli/Cayenne Pepper,...).

6. A few table spoons of Vinegar (White, Balsamico, Apple Cider,...).

7. About 6 table spoons of Vegetable Oil (Olive, Canola, Sunflower,... all very healthy, contrairy to what influencers say! Avoid Palm Oil and Coconut Oil though).

8. A tablespoon of Garlic Powder.

9. A Spice or Herb.

10. Water.

11. Toasted Whole Grain (Volkoren) Bread straight from the freezer.

MORE WORDS:

This Soup is just a few minutes of work. It's an Easy, Cheap and Healthy meal that helps me avoid junkfood and animal products.

This Soup costs me about €15 and represents 3 to 5 big meals. €15 is what I earn in an hour.

Use a stainless steel pot! Aluminium or Copper leach toxic metals into your food. Anti stick pans also leech into your food and need to be replaced every few years. Cast Iron can rust.

A pot with a thick bottom is less likely to warp from temperature shocks.

Raw Legumes are toxic! But properly prepared Legumes are a superfood connected to longevity. The toxin they contain is Phytoheamagglutinin, a type of Lectin.

To remove the toxin, Raw Legumes need to be soaked for a minimum of 12 hours, rinsed, and boiled for a minimum of 60 minutes.

And even though it often doesn't say so on the packaging, Lentils also need to be soaked. As I learned the hard way.

Eat some Whole Grain Bread with the Soup, to add Whole Grains for an even more complete meal. I keep sliced Whole Grain Bread in the freezer and just pop it straight into the toaster to defrost.

Buy Herbs&Spices in bulk from the internet. Much cheaper.

If you are not used to eating lots of Fiber, introduce them into your diet slowly, to give your microbiome time to adjust.

You may be alergic or intolerant to certain Plants. Experiment with eliminating certain Plants to see their effect.

This soup is great for Plant Protein, Fiber, Calcium and Iron. And a ton of other powerful nutrients.

Plant Protein is as good at building muscle as Animal Protein. However, you need to eat a greater volume.

Beans and Dark Leafy Greens are some of the healthiest foods that you should try to include in your daily routine.

The Legume in this Beans&Greens Soup make it a complete meal with a Protein source, but as a bonus legumes are also a source of Iron. Dry Raw Legumes are cheaper, and keep for years. You can buy all sorts of Beans and Lentils from the internet. More different options and flavours than meat.

You achieve better Iron absorption if you combine an Iron source with a Vitamin C source.

Plant Based sources of Iron are safer than animal sources or supplements. Plant based sources are harder for the body to take up, but the body can also reject the plant Iron when it has had too much. The body can't reject Iron from animal products (Heme Iron) or supplements (Elemental Iron) and Iron also stays in the body for a long time. Basically you can't OD on plant sourced Iron, unlike animal Iron or supplements.

If you cook the Soup for about 2 hours, you break the strong plant cell walls, and release the nutrients inside. The vegetables turn into a liquid. No, cooking does not destroy all the nutrients. I've read that we only break plant cell walls if we chew or if we cook the plants.

Start off on a high fire untill it cooks. Then turn it down to the minimum that keeps it simmering to prevent the Soup from burning.

For optimal Iron absorption, don't drink Coffee or Thee while you are digesting a meal, because Coffee and Thee inhibit Iron absorption.

Powdered Garlic is not only a time hack, it also has health benefits that Raw Garlic hasn't.

You can look up Soup recipes for combinations of flavors, and add a Legume and a Dark Leafy Green.

Frozen vegetables can be more nutritious than fresh ones, because they are usually frozen right after harvesting.

You can look up which Spice or Herb goes with your Vegetables. For Dutch or German speakers, type your vegetable into the search box of the following website to find your ideal Spice or Herb: https://www.vanbeekumspecerijen.nl/nl/

CLICK HERE for a list of which Herbs and Spices go with which Vegetable. Stolen from the internet.

I fill the whole pot with Plants. This leads to a thick Soup. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I like to max my nutrients.