I want to chime in and say that while my meal prep won't win any blue ribbons, rice plus TVP is my MVP. It's cheap because it's a diversion of defatted soy flour, which is otherwise used as animal feed (so demand won't drive prices up long term, the price actually goes down if it gets more popular). TVP is 50% protein by weight, and its digestibility is remarkably similar to beef.
I use it in a ~1:2 ratio with rice by dry weight. Actually here's my recipe:
- 2.5c (460g) white rice, dry
- 3c (280g) TVP, dry
- 2 cans of any kind of bean, preferably low sodium
- 2.5 tsp beef base, again preferably low sodium
- 2 packets of taco seasoning (you guessed it, preferably low sodium)
- 1.3L of water total
- Start the rice
- Rehydrate TVP by mixing 1:1 with boiling water, beef base, and taco seasoning in heatproof bowl. Stir thoroughly and let it sit until the rice is done.
- Combine with drained beans
- Portion and freeze for up to 90 days.
- Reheat from frozen in a microwave for 3min or on auto with a little water.
- Mix in 1 tbsp of butter or oil. if you do not do this it will taste like shit, this is the only fat in the entire recipe
Buying in bulk at Winco, the total cost per batch is $6.29 here in the PNW. Divvy it up into 9 portions and that's $0.70/serving.