6 Lentil Recipes that are Easy, Healthy and Economical

I have a confession to make: I absolutely love Lentils. Red, Green, Brown.. I love them all. They are amazingly versatile, full of fiber and just too easy to incorporate into almost any meal.

If you are trying to save money, one of the best pantry staples to have are Lentils. Lentils are a nutritional powerhouse – they can be an amazing item to keep stocked in your pantry, not just for meals but for natural disasters, or during a crisis.

Lentils are a protein powerhouse – they are also big sources of fiber, too. For people who don’t eat a lot of meat, they are a wonderful source of iron, AND magnesium.  They are full of fiber – both soluble and insoluble.  Soluble fiber is needed to help diabetics regulate blood sugar in diabetics.  

Since they have so much fiber, they help push everything through your digestive system on out of your body.  ONE serving (1 C.) of Lentils meets 90% of your daily requirement for Folic Acid. They are also rich in Vitamin A, C and Zinc, too.

Not only can you use lentils in soup, you can eat them in salads, as a meat replacement (like Sloppy Joes…), even Spaghetti Sauce. For the price you pay for a box of Kids Cereal, you can buy a bag of Organic Lentils – and the lentils will last quite a bit longer than the box of cereal. Not to mention they are 1,001 times BETTER than the boxed cereal you have in your cabinet.

In our house, our kids love lentils just as much as we do – and when something is that good for you, I’ll take that anytime.

Here are 6 recipes to make that incorporate the love of lentils:

1. Lentil Soup with Wilted Greens
2. Lentil Soup (Instant Pot Recipe)
3. Chicken and Green Lentil Soup
4. Lentil Sweet Potato Kale Soup
5. Instant Pot Everyday Lentil & Spinach Dal
6. Meatless Sloppy Joes

The easiest place of course, to pick up  Lentils is the supermarket. But.. if you find going to the store more time consuming than mainstream folks do, then ordering them online is just as easy.

We pick up Organic Lentils in bulk at Vitacost (along with Flour, Cornmeal and Coconut Oil usually). You can also find them on Amazon, too.  If you can, try to pick up Organic Lentils to avoid the pesticides and chemicals used in the conventional types. They really aren’t much more in cost.