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

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Crazypotato982gtu
Crazypotato982gtu Posts: 14 Member
in Food and Nutrition
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.
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  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    lizery wrote: »
    Meat. Fresh veggies. Fruit. Rice. Whatever spices the locals use.

    Can you get any local recipes that use what you have available rather than western recipes calling for a bunch of hipster foodie ingredients?

    Great ideas! :+1:
  • PartyPerson
    PartyPerson Posts: 116 Member
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    You don't say where you are so working out what ingredients you have available is a little tricky - have a look at Fattoush recipes - they're yummy, healthy and all fresh ingredients from the middle east with lots of variation available. It sounds as if the food that you can buy is very healthy so adaptation shouldn't be too hard.

    With no fish available it is about making the most flavour from a small amount of meat or pulses so local herbs and spices will help, ask for advice from locals that you know!

    Tagines are also very tasty (a sort of middle eastern slow cooked stew) and quite simple to put together - many of our recipes use substitution for ingredients which we can't get here but taste better with the originals.
  • DannyYMi54321
    DannyYMi54321 Posts: 77 Member
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    All of that stuff is convenient here and people are into that. I would love to have the time to cook every meal from scratch with extreme basics, fresh meats, vegetables, brown rice, beans, lentils etc, whatever nuts and oils are available. Yogurt is easy to make if you have access to milk and can buy just one starter tub or a powdered starter culture. Greek yogurt is just regular yogurt concentrated by allowing part of the whey to drain off.
  • genevalil
    genevalil Posts: 7 Member
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    Definitely try yummly.com - once you have signed up for an account, just enter the ingredients you actually have and it will give you tons of recipes with those specific ingredients. You can also filter by calorie limit and even the foods you don't like.

    PS. I have spent years living in developing countries so can relate to your experience well. I used to load up my suitcase with things that I couldn't get locally during every R&R break. (Tip - if you do that, buy multiples and stock-pile!)
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    You don't have to eat a specific list of foods to eat healthy. Look for things that meet your nutritional needs using local ingredients. There are many recipes that use fresh ingredients or you can adapt a recipe to use fresh instead of frozen or canned.
    Beans or lentils are also a staple food in many areas of the world that may be available to you. You may look for recipes using those.

    http://www.supercook.com
    http://www.pinterest.com
    http://www.budgetbytes.com
    http://www.skinnytaste.com

  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    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.

    The only thing I eat on this list is Greek yogurt - because I need something I personally find a bit awful tasting that is guaranteed to still be left over at the end of the week before I go grocery shopping :tongue:

    It sounds like you have access to whole fresh foods. Why do you need the gimmicky / trendy stuff?

    I use Allrecipes.com for my recipes - I just ignore any recipes with way too many ingredients or stuff I either already do not have or don't want to bother with getting. Still lots of recipes available to me that way. You could use any resource for your recipes and only cook the stuff you can. No worries.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    What kind of foods do you have near you? (You never said where you were)

    Look at the local population and what they eat...you don't need fancy food to be healthy or loose weight
  • annacole94
    annacole94 Posts: 997 Member
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    Portion control. Eat less of what you usually eat. Or if the local population is generally a healthy weight, eat like them. Mind you, that only works if you burn calories like them, too.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited April 2017
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    Read recipes for ideas, don't follow them exactly. I rarely cook from recipes, and also most recipes I see don't use things like protein powder or frozen veg -- frozen veg can usually be substituted, but obviously so can fresh. Rather obviously you can sub non organic for organic.

    Good basic recipe sites: 101cookbooks, epicurious, I like foodandwine for ideas.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    This is a great opportunity to practice foundational cooking techniques. Like roasting, stews, soups and so on. Start with the ingredients readily available to you.

    http://dish.allrecipes.com/common-ingredient-substitutions/

    Make a roast on Sunday.
    Slow cook the bones with onions and herbs for a stock.
    Add leftover meat and more veggies for a stew.
    Cook up a starch like rice or noodles, whatever the locals use for a staple, and add more leftover meat and veggies for a casserole.

    Making your own tortilla.

    http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/homemade-tortillas
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    edited April 2017
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    all recipe sites will have recipes that use fresh ingredients...you just search for what you want the main ingredients to be. I use foodnetwork, allrecipes, epicurious, and a wide range of others.

    I would advise you to avoid the sites that focus on very specialized diets like vegan...they are more likely to try to substitute things like flaxseed for a more common ingredient they avoid.
  • nevadavis1
    nevadavis1 Posts: 331 Member
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    Not totally sure, but often when recipes call for canned or frozen veggies I just use fresh instead. Fresh tomatoes will have more liquid obviously, so you might sautee them first and then add them. A lot of times I just cook down a stew or soup with fresh veggies a little longer to reduce liquid, but then again, I'm not adding meat, so I'm not sure how that would affect it.

    You could make your own bread maybe? Just flour, water, yeast, a tiny bit of sugar to get the yeast going, oil if you like or not? But I know for some people bread gets tricky. I grew up making it, so I'm too good at it. I'm not baking again until I lose weight--fresh bread is too tempting to me.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Crazypotato982gtu wrote: »
    I am in a remote area of Mexico...I did not say where because most people do not think of it as a third-world country but in the southern mountain villages, it's very primitive still, like no indoor plumbing for instance. I didn't think anyone would believe it.

    Thanks for all the ideas. I never meant to imply that I needed the trendy health foods. I only meant that I like to try new recipes so I don't get bored with eating the same thing all the time...which, incidentally is what people do here. Recipes are not used, and the locals in this area cook very, very spicy which I cannot handle. That is why I am not always able to use their tips or techniques because my irritable bowel and colitis does not allow all those chili peppers. I get very tired of corn tortillas, which locals eat at every single meal, even with soup. There is also a tendency to fry a lot of things in lard...even bread here is made with lard...and every single drink you are offered except regular water is filled with sugar.

    Some of these recipe sites sound good and much more practical than say, for instance, following Jillian Michaels diet plan that goes with the Shredded in 30 DVD or some other clean eating books I have read. I will try them out.

    I am not complaining about what is available here, especially since the fresh produce and meat options are a major plus. I want only to keep on finding good ways to keep my diet as healthy as I can while enjoying what I am eating. It helps with homesickness to prepare often food that reminds me of home rather than always eating only what are local cuisines all the time, even without the chili peppers. You all helped very much!

    I didn't move to another country but did move to a rural area where simple things like pita bread were unavailable at the local store and tacos were exotic foreign food. I learned to make a lot of things we liked from scratch.

    What foods would you like to eat?
  • Crazypotato982gtu
    Crazypotato982gtu Posts: 14 Member
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    I would like to improve my vegetable dishes, how to season them well and give them more flavor.
  • Maio44
    Maio44 Posts: 15 Member
    edited April 2017
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    When living in Africa for 7 years we had plenty of local fruits and veges, virtually zero meat, maybe once a month, and no cheese but a ton of dried legumes. I made my own yoghurt, cream cheese, cottage cheeses. Unleavened breads and flatbreads, samosas etc. this is when I learned to make my own pasta as well. With fresh, local ingredients you can increase your cooking repertoire and learn a lot. It is very hard though, and despite having mangoes, pineapples, bananas, avocados etc in abundance, I got homesick for oranges and apples! And would have killed for decent cheese. I hope you're enjoying your experience. Can you get your friends and family to send things to you...like maybe a sauce mix, or spice mix you like? My parents used to send me little sachets of things, and a jar of marmite etc.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Garlic and pepper for your veggies. Just a pinch of salt is needed.

    Try making your own tomato sauce as a base for a variety of dishes. Onions are heavenly when slow roasted in a little oil or lard (!)

    When I was a child living in the West Indies mom would make our own bread, raising it by leaving it out on the warm porch. Great memories.

    The local cuisine could be just fine if they toned down the chillies and the lard. Good luck convincing a local cook to change their habits!

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