Non-fancy healthy food options (American living in a third-world country)

jgnatca

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-basic-tomato-sauce-with-fresh-tomatoes-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-193622

Maio44

Can you get bones from wherever you get your meat? You could make your own beef or chicken stock, and use it for soups or sauces. Just add water, onions, whatever spices you can get that you like, and simmer for ages. Strain. Cool, and scrape any fat off when it's cooled, unless you want to keep it for the extra flavour.
Definitely agree with OP...garlic is your friend with vege dishes!

Theo166

You may want to pick up some older classic cookbooks, like Joy of Cooking.

On internet recipes, you can just ignore "organic" etc and bookmark several sites for substitutes.
http://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/ingredient-substitutions

I'd suggest learning how to make your own yogurt, all you need is powdered milk, a bowl, and a whisk (and a cloth to cover)

777Gemma888

Third world country living oftentimes requires you to subsist (plant what you will eat). Foods aren't frozen, but is usually kept in a cool Creek for up to 3 days in the rural Pacific. If you ask the locals, am certain they might enlighten you as to how they've preserved their fruits/veggies options.

A cousin of mine did her Mormon mission in rural Mexico after living between Los Angeles and Hawaii most of her life. Apparently, they make fresh cheeses fairly often there too, you will need to enquire if that is your thing.


ETA:. Sometimes, some would barter their crops for your skill. Even teaching English to their children counts - minimum of reading, comprehension, composition and conversational. Many're German & French Doctoral students earned lodgings, car use and food & spending money through our family this way.

melaniedscott

Crazypotato982gtu wrote: »

I would like to improve my vegetable dishes, how to season them well and give them more flavor.

Garlic, oregano, onions, cilantro, cumin, coriander (which is cilantro seed). I love spicy, so I'd be in heaven there (minus the lack of indoor plumbing)...do you have access to other spices? Beans...lots you can do with beans. Mixing types of beans can change flavors, too.

You might be able to do a mild mole (pronounced mole-a)? Usually peanut butter (or lard), cocoa, red chilies and other seasonings with chicken (stew). Very delicious. Could probably do a veggie mole, but I don't know how that would work...I make veggie vindaloo and ethiopian watts (both very spicy, sorry), but can't imagine veggie mole. My imagination must be slipping.

gymzonian

Crazypotato982gtu wrote: »

Hi! So this is sometimes my dilemma: I often search for healthy recipes and meal plans online in English. However, the trend at least for American sites seems to be to use a lot of ingredients that are simply not available to me where I am living currently. Examples are: protein powder, flaxseed, anything with the word "organic," nitrate-free anything, coconut oil, almond butter, whole wheat pitas, nonfat Greek yogurt...and the list goes on. NONE of those items are sold within a 7-hour trip from where I live. The concept of low-calorie or sugar free is not understood by the general public.

Also, it is impossible to get canned or frozen vegetables here so recipes that rely on canned tomatoes, for instance, are tricky for me. There are no shortcuts like in the US (frozen, precooked veggies, chopped fresh fruit, seasoning packets, precooked boneless skinless chicken etc.).

That having been said, I live in an area where fresh fruit and veggies are readily available and cheap. Also, the meat and poultry is freshly butchered, and I can generally ask the butcher to give me a cut with as little fat as possible, or in the case of chicken, to remove the skin for me. The seafood available is not fresh, expensive and does not include very many options...and usually the ONLY canned seafood available is tuna, which I hate. No canned chicken.

So does anyone know of recipe sites that do not employ these fancy, difficult to obtain ingredients for a good meal? I am always on the lookout for new ideas.

Wow, you are lucky that you get fresh fruits, veggies, and ask a butcher for specific cut of meat. There is no need for protein powder (it's a supplement). If you get enough protein, there is no need for the supplement am I right? Now, flaxseed and all other fancy stuff are not needed at all. I think with all the available resources you have. It is plenty, and I'm quite jealous.

MelodyandBarbells

Crazypotato982gtu wrote: »

I would like to improve my vegetable dishes, how to season them well and give them more flavor.

Gotta admit this question left me scratching my head. But then I realized I made the same mistake for years. If I wanted to cook rice, potatoes, fish, meat etc I'd look up a recipe and choose to make something that seemed yummy. But when it came to vegetables, for whatever reason I just thought you needed to either eat them raw, steam or just roast them plain to eat them. So i just wanted to reiterate that every single link you've been provided can be used to look up vegetable recipes as well. (Sorry if this was obvious, like I said, once upon a time, it wasn't to me). The recipes are often complete with all kinds of seasoning, cooking methods and even reviews. Like you could read a review that says "ugh hate it, this wasn't spicy at all" and realize that's the exact recipe for you

amusedmonkey

Many fancy things are not available to me either, so I just adapt the recipes. Instead of tofu I use diced chicken breast (or Greek yogurt if it's soft silken tofu - Greek yogurt is not a fancy ingredient where I live), instead of canned and frozen vegetables I use fresh, instead of coconut oil I use olive oil or butter (depending on the function of coconut oil), instead of almond butter I use peanut butter, or just sprinkle random nuts and seeds if it's for the taste or use a cooked oats paste (cooked oats with a bit of butter - any tacky grain work, try rice) or tahini if it's for the texture (crushed apples or bananas also work for certain recipes), local spices can replace any of the fancy spices, spinach instead of kale, sweet peppers instead of celery...etc. Some ingredients can be skipped altogether.

For sugarless drinks you could do teas or infused teas, for lower sugar drinks but not completely sugar-free you could try Kompot using local fruits and berries (any fruit works) which has only 60 or fewer calories per cup, depending on how sweet you like it.

Labels like "organic" or "nitrate-free" have no bearing on your weight loss, so you don't need to seek them out. Labels like "sugar free" and "fat free" sometimes indicate lower calories, but you don't need them. You can shave off an equivalent amount of calories elsewhere if you really want to try something and using full fat or real sugar in the recipe gives you a higher calorie result.

Greek yogurt is just yogurt, strained using a cheesecloth to your desired consistency (keep in mind full fat Greek yogurt is about 120-220 calories per 100 grams with most hovering around 140). Almond butter is just almonds, processed in a blender with a touch of oil until they release their oils, whole wheat pitas are very simple to make if you really want them (but I don't see a point if you have access to tortillas or any other flatbread), red ripe fresh tomatoes can be substituted gram per gram for canned. Speaking of flatbread, the most basic kind is just flour, with enough water to form a relatively wet dough and a pinch of salt then bake on a stovetop skillet for a minute or two and you will have flatbread with less than 5 minutes of work involved, plus you can make just a single serving if you want.

You don't need to follow a meal plan, but if you are curious about a certain recipe you can definitely creatively substitute. MFP makes things near effortless because any substitutions can be accounted for in your tracking, and as long as you are within your calories you should be fine.

LKArgh

You have fresh fruit and vegetables and freshly butchered meat available and are wondering how to eat healthy because you do not have powdered, canned, frozen or otherwise processed things? Does not make sense