6 tips to get you loving legumes
First things first, what are legumes?
Legumes include lentils, peas, chickpeas and beans like kidney beans, black beans, fava beans, edamame and baked beans. They are a nutrient powerhouse packed with fibre, vitamins and minerals. They are a great source of protein to keep you feeling full and satisfied and also count towards your vegetable intake helping you reduce your risk of cancer. But wait, there’s more – not only are they highly nutritious but they are also cheap, widely available and easily stored in the pantry.
Did you know?
We should all be having 5 serves of vegies each day and legumes can help us reach this target. Just ½ a cup of cooked legumes is one serve of vegetables?
Even though they are packed full of goodness only 35% of Australians are eating enough legumes with the main reason being people just don’t think to add them to their diets. But don’t worry – we are here to help turn this around and get you and your family loving legumes.
6 easy tips to get legumes into your diet
Legumes are perfect in soups, salads, snacks and meals – check out our top tips to make it easy to get more legumes into your diet
- Keep some canned beans and chickpeas and dried lentils in the pantry for a quick and easy source of protein.
- Have baked beans on toast for breakfast
- Choose snacks based on legumes such as crackers with hummus, lentil and vegie cups or baked bean mini muffins or roasted chickpeas
- Reduce the amount of meat in dishes and bulk them up with lentils or beans. Try these ideas:
- In bolognaise, reduce the amount of beef mince and bulk up with red lentils
- In Mexican dishes, reduce the amount of meat and bulk up with kidney beans. Or why not try something different with our Mexican meat balls
- In curries, reduce the amount of meat and bulk up with chickpeas – give our lamb tagine a try
- Add legumes to salads to increase the protein and make them more filling. Try our:
- Have some meals based on legumes like our:
