Lent: meals by day with recipes and a complete list of lean foods. What you can and cannot eat during Lent

There is no fish on this list - those observing the strict rules of Lent should not eat it. There are no seafood either: although there is no official ban on them, whether to eat sea reptiles or not is a matter of personal choice. In addition, we are not talking about delicious and rare products: the essence of Orthodox fasting is abstinence, in every sense.

1. Chickpeas and mung beans

Legumes come in handy during Lent. For example, it's time to master mung beans and chickpeas. You can make falafel, hummus and soup from chickpeas, and Indian dal from mung beans. Before cooking, chickpeas should be soaked for four hours, and then cooked for two hours. It’s the same with whole mung bean: it’s better to leave it in water for the whole night, and then cook for an hour and a half. But peeled mung bean does not need to be soaked before cooking - and it does not cook for long, only 20-30 minutes.

As for other legumes, you can experiment with unusual types of beans And lentils: They behave very differently in cooking. If you don’t want to learn something new, then Italian pasta with legumes is also very good.

Chickpeas and roasted bell peppers

2. Olive oil

You will use olive oil for salads and for dressing pasta, rice, and couscous. A simple breakfast, like the Greeks, would be good: pour olive oil into a bowl and dip a Lenten flatbread into it. You can pepper and season to taste.

Olive oil and olives

3. Couscous

One of the foundations of Maghreb cuisine. In fact, couscous is not a grain, but a type of pasta (by the way, there is an Italian analogue of couscous - “fregola sarda”). Couscous is made from semolina and water, without eggs. Modern industrially produced couscous is steamed and dried, making it very easy to prepare. Enough brew with boiling water for 5 minutes.

Couscous

4. Vegetables from the Chinese market

If there is a Chinese or Vietnamese market in your city (we know one in Moscow, near the Lyublino metro station), most likely you can find interesting vegetables there - hairy potatoes tarot, vegetable bananas - plane trees, sweet potatoes, yams and much more. All these are the simplest, most ordinary products, not delicacies at all, something like our potatoes. This is how you should treat them. Yes, and it’s worth cooking in the same way - peel, and then either boil, bake, or fry. There are some nuances: the peel of vegetable bananas must be cut off with a knife (it is not removed as easily as that of sweet bananas), and the finished taro must be kept in cold water before serving, otherwise excess starch will color the tubers a mysterious, but not very appetizing purple color .

Sweet potato

5. Nuts

Nuts, as well as beans, are very filling foods, and in this regard they successfully replace meat. Separately and as a mixture, they will be useful to you for salads and hot dishes. You can make satsivi with walnuts (for example), and with cashews.

Walnuts

6. Vegetable oil

In addition to olive, sunflower and some refined oil for frying, you can explore other options.

Dark pumpkin seed oil usually sold in green or brown glass bottles. Be careful: it spoils instantly in the light and in the open air, so open the bottle, season the salad, quickly close the oil and put it in a dark place. The best pumpkin oil comes from Austrian Styria: there it is made from the seeds of a certain type of pumpkin. In Russian stores you can often find pumpkin oil from Slovenia: it is a little cheaper because it is not so famous, but it is made using the same technology, from the same seeds and tastes no worse.

Very helpful grape seed oil. Don't be put off by the "refined" label on the bottle: it is always refined because in its raw form it has a very bitter taste. Accordingly, it has no smell, the taste is not strong, but very subtle and elegant. Therefore, if you want to truly appreciate the taste of this oil, you should try it simply with bread or with herbs of a more or less neutral taste.

For salads, flaxseed, sesame oil and walnut oil.

Very inexpensive (compared to all previous ones) oil from Sarepta — mustard And camelina. Their taste is as bright as sunflower; They are also quite suitable for seasoning hot dishes - for example, potatoes and buckwheat.

Sunflower oil

7. Chinese sesame oil

It’s exactly Chinese - you can buy it in an oriental food shop or at some Chinese market. Unlike European sesame, it is dark in color and very spicy in taste. You cannot use it to season dishes - you will not feel anything except the taste of overcooked sesame seeds. However, two or three drops of this oil, added together with soy sauce to a ready-made dish, will give it that same easily recognizable taste by which Chinese cuisine is unmistakably identified. This will allow you to greatly diversify your dishes from vegetables and legumes.

Sesame oil

8. Milk substitutes

Milk substitutes - coconut, soy, almond, oatmeal, rice - are useful for both coffee and smoothies. You can make oriental soup with coconut and almond milk, and vegetable puree or pasta sauce with soy milk.

Almond milk

9. Eggplant

The bright taste of eggplant on a Lenten table will come in handy. In many dishes, eggplant, by the way, successfully replaces meat: in pilaf, stuffed peppers, and satsivi.

Eggplants with vegetables

10. Sun-dried tomatoes

Sun-dried tomatoes are an essential ingredient in Mediterranean cooking. They are used to prepare main dishes and salads, and various sauces and gravies are made from them. In Italy and Greece, sun-dried tomatoes are added to the dough when baking white bread and to the filling for pies. Pre-made sun-dried tomatoes are relatively expensive, but they can be made in a regular oven.

Sun-dried tomatoes

11. Mushrooms

At this time of year, frozen mushrooms, pickled mushrooms, dried mushrooms, plus fresh champignons and oyster mushrooms will come in handy. With mushrooms you can cook pilaf and paella, Lenten pies and pickle, fried potatoes and buckwheat, cabbage rolls and zrazy. They are a good substitute for meat in many dishes.

Mushrooms in oil marinade

12. Soy products

Soy products become especially popular during fasting - they are an excellent source of easily digestible protein. The main thing is to choose those that contain less flavoring and monosodium glutamate.

Soy itself is practically tasteless, so it can be passed off as almost any product. Among the soy products there is the mentioned soy milk, kefir, cream, and sour cream; eat tofu, fresh or dry; there is miso paste (more about it below); soy sauce (available in varying degrees of saltiness, you can choose the appropriate option).

Soy cheese (curd) tofu

13. Rice paper

What is called “spring roll” in Europe and America, and “nem” in Vietnam, is prepared with rice paper. It is sold in the form of solid sheets. To make them soft, you need to lower these leaves one by one into water at room temperature for a few seconds. Then you can lay the sheet out on a flat surface, lay out the filling (mushrooms, vegetables, herbs) and roll it into a roll. These rolls can be served either cold or quickly fried.

Spring rolls

14. Sweet pepper

Without the bright taste of sweet (bell) pepper, like without eggplant, there is no way to Lent. Peppers are useful for stews and salads, as well as for various stuffed dishes - both as a shell and as a filling.

Stuffed bell peppers

15. Algae

We mean both seaweed and dried nori seaweed. You can make rolls with them; Less obvious (to us), but equally interesting, is using them to make soup or pasta.

Nori

16. Avocado

Delicate Mexican sauce is prepared from avocado guacamole- quite filling and nutritious, so we highly recommend it for Lent. There are quite a few - with onions, sweet peppers, tomatoes, herbs, garlic, olive oil. But they always have the same base - mashed avocado pulp with the addition of salt and lime or lemon juice. When choosing an avocado, you should first of all pay attention to its softness. The pulp of a good, not “oaky” avocado can be cut into the fruit and removed with a regular spoon.

Avocado smoothie

17. Hercules

Rolled oats can be used to make excellent oatmeal for breakfast. Pour boiling water over the flakes overnight, add salt in the morning, season with olive oil and herbs to taste.

Hercules (oatmeal)

18. Miso paste

Miso is a thick paste made from fermented soybeans with a little salt and water. Light miso is lighter and sweeter, not too salty, it is used to make salad dressings, sauces, and added to various vegetable dishes. Dark miso (such as red) is the base of miso soup. This soup is very good for Lent: essentially lean, but very high in calories and with a rich taste.

Miso paste

19. Grape leaves

Grape leaves are needed for cooking dolma— stuffed with rice and mushrooms or vegetables. Now you can buy either canned leaves(they began to produce them in Russia), or find homemade pickled leaves on the market.

Grape leaves

20. Pumpkin

And you can bake it; and stew with vegetables or mushrooms; and prepare various manti-dumplings with pumpkin filling; it is suitable for both, and.

Pumpkin soup

Fasting for a believer is a special time, a time of prayer and deep thoughts.

During this period, a person’s diet changes greatly, and serious restrictions are imposed on him. With improperly organized nutrition during fasting, a deterioration in the general condition and even exacerbation of certain diseases is possible. On the other hand, fasting is a time of cleansing, including physical cleansing. Therefore, from a medical point of view, fasting is a completely reasonable event, only with the caveat that you need to approach it thoughtfully.

Let me make a reservation right away that you can find out about the spiritual meaning of fasting by contacting your spiritual mentor. Here I want to look at the post from a nutritionist's point of view.

Basic principles of proper nutrition during fasting

1. The main rule is the exclusion of all animal foods: meat, fish, poultry, milk and dairy products, eggs. Respectively, The basis of the diet will be plant products– grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, mushrooms.
2. Try not to let your diet. Don't skip breakfast, don't forget about snacks.
3. In the absence of animal foods, which are rich in protein and promote a long-term feeling of fullness, frequent bouts of hunger are possible. During this period, there is a great temptation to overeat baked goods and sweets. However, there is no talk of any cleansing in this case. To avoid feeling hungry, eat regularly and include in your daily diet foods rich in complex carbohydrates and containing plant protein - whole grains and legumes.
4. Particular attention should be paid during the period of fasting soy products. There are a great variety of them now - soy milk, tofu cheese, all of this should be included in your diet.
5. Sometimes it's not so difficult to start a post correctly as to end it. It would seem that everything is over, the prohibitions have been lifted, you can eat forbidden foods. However, I want to warn you against overeating after fasting. Gradually begin to include animal foods in your diet after fasting. and be sure to combine it with plant foods - vegetables and grain products.

Lenten menu for the week

MONDAY

Nutritionist's comment: I would like to start the Lenten menu with a traditional breakfast in an unusual design. Oatmeal contains complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vegetable proteins and B vitamins. To maintain health, an adult should consume at least 400 g of vegetables daily (preferably more). Unfortunately, few people can boast of such a diet. One way to enrich your menu with vegetables is light vegetable salads. These salads are “light” both in execution and in terms of calorie content. In addition to vegetable protein, lentils contain folic acid and iron. In the recipe for green beans, butter must be replaced with olive oil.

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

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THURSDAY

Olga Grigoryan, Ph.D., leading researcher at the Medical Nutrition Clinic of the Research Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, expert at the National Association of Dietetics and Nutritionists:“As a rule, having eliminated meat, eggs and dairy products, fasting people switch to carbohydrates - pasta, potatoes and cereals. In essence, it turns out to be a carbohydrate diet, which is not beneficial for anyone to follow for such a long period. It is likely that you will not lose weight, and may even gain a few extra pounds. Many people forget or simply do not know that the diet should be balanced - you need the correct ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Therefore, if you decide to fast, I advise you to correctly plan your diet with the help of a nutritionist. And don’t forget that the main meaning of fasting is religious, it is a time of spiritual cleansing, and not a reason to lose extra pounds.”

Lenten products - myths and reality

Fresh vegetables and fruits

Vitamins, fiber, minimum calories - it seems that fresh fruits and vegetables are ideal for both diet and fasting. But, unfortunately, in the spring, greenhouse vegetables sold in stores often contain increased amounts of nitrates. And you, hoping to relieve your body, poison it. As for fruits, do not forget that these are, first of all, easily digestible carbohydrates - sugars that can add extra pounds to you.

Crispbread instead of bread

Crispbreads are really healthy: rich in vitamins, microelements and dietary fiber. They are in great demand among those who fast. Now attention! Regular bread is also a lean product: flour, water, yeast, sugar and salt, sometimes it also contains vegetable oil. There are no eggs or butter in regular bread.

Andrey Mosov, head of the expert direction of NP Roskontrol, hygienist: “If we compare the composition of Lenten cookies and regular ones, we will see that they differ little. Today, almost none of the confectionery manufacturers use butter in their recipes: it is expensive and impractical - the product will have a shorter shelf life than a product with vegetable fat. But Lenten cookies do not contain egg powder, which is sometimes found in “regular” cookie recipes. As for Lenten cakes, egg products are also “removed” from them, but very often in both regular and Lenten cakes and pastries, the base of the cream is the same vegetable cream and confectionery fats, which can be a source of harmful trans-isomers of fatty acids.” .

Lent is coming soon, and for many people this is one of the opportunities to test themselves. After all, he is considered the most strict and important of all the others. Lenten food at this time should not include fish, meat, milk, or eggs.

Strict character

Also excluded, for example, are sweets and mayonnaise. The recipes contain ingredients only of plant origin: vegetables and fruits, cereals, mushrooms, nuts, pickles. Sometimes on holidays (Annunciation and Palm Sunday), as an exception, Lenten dishes containing fish are allowed. On many days, dry eating is practiced: bread, vegetables, fruits and water. On Tuesday and Thursday - dishes without oil. On other days, vegetable oil is recommended for cooking. You can easily find a detailed fasting schedule (what and when you can eat) in various Orthodox calendars - this is not secret information!

Vegetarianism and fasting

Lenten foods and vegetarian dishes are very different, so do not confuse them. The second does not exclude cow butter, cheese, eggs, but prohibits fish products. While lean food does not contain milk or eggs of any bird, fish, caviar and all kinds of seafood are allowed on certain days.

Make it delicious!

Many people tend to consider this kind of food as something tasteless and even joyless (as far as the process of cooking itself can bring joy and pleasure). However, if you take a closer look, excluding many animal proteins from the list, we leave in it a lot of necessary and healthy products, which certainly, if properly prepared, should make a delicious lean food. And sometimes these dishes can turn out to be tastier than regular ones, meat or dairy. We must not forget about the need for proper registration. After all, skillfully decorated food is more enjoyable to eat. You can use a variety of greens - they are usually consumed in unlimited quantities during Lent! Now let's move on to preparing the dishes.

Lenten food: recipes

Like a regular table, the Lenten table is divided into first and second courses, various snacks and salads, and drinks. Only ingredients permitted at this time are used everywhere. As already mentioned, we exclude meat, dairy products, animal fats, and eggs from the menu. Everything else can be cooked. So, let's start with the first courses.

Rassolnik

Ingredients: three medium-sized potatoes, one pickled cucumber, one carrot, onion, half a glass of pearl barley, a handful of shredded cabbage, seasonings (as you like).

Boil pearl barley in a small saucepan. When the cereal is not yet cooked, add the diced potatoes. Meanwhile, grate the carrots and cucumber. Finely chop the onion. We fry onions and carrots in vegetable oil. Add it to the pan, then throw in the cucumber and cabbage, prepared in advance. Stir and cook for ten minutes over low heat. Before cooking, add seasonings and salt to taste. An excellent alternative to pickle soup with meat broth is ready! Some may not even notice (judging from their own experience) that there is no meat in the soup; this makes for a delicious lean meal. Pickle recipes may vary. For example, you can chop a lot of greens - onions, parsley and dill - and add them to the soup before serving. You can use sour cabbage instead of fresh cabbage. In our opinion, it turns out even tastier.

Lenten soup with vegetables

Ingredients: cauliflower - 300 grams, a couple of potatoes, carrots, onions, green peas (fresh or canned) - 100 grams, olive oil, seasonings.

We separate the cauliflower into inflorescences. Throw cabbage and potatoes into boiling water (cut everything except cabbage into cubes). Sauté onions in olive oil with carrots. Then add to vegetable broth. Cook everything together for another fifteen minutes. Before serving, sprinkle the soup with chopped herbs and seasonings to taste.

Rice with vegetables

A good tasty lean meal for every day is rice cooked with vegetables.

Ingredients: half a kilogram of rice, soy sauce, one eggplant, one zucchini, two carrots, one pepper, one onion.

The dish is very simple to prepare. Boil the rice until crumbly. The eggplant needs to be baked in the oven (by the way, you can also bake other vegetables - it will be tastier), cut into cubes. All other vegetables are finely chopped. Mix with rice, season with soy sauce to taste and simmer briefly in a large frying pan with a tight-fitting lid (10 minutes is enough). Serve sprinkled with sesame seeds and finely chopped green onions.

Sweet pilaf

As an option, a Lenten meal for every day is sweet pilaf with dried fruits.

Ingredients: rice - 300 grams, pitted raisins - 100 grams, dried apricots - 100 grams, pitted prunes - 100 grams, a little sugar and vegetable oil.

Boil the rice without salt. We wash all the dried fruits and fry them over low heat in vegetable oil, stirring constantly, otherwise they will burn immediately. Add cooked rice to the dish and simmer lightly, stirring (about five minutes). This dish is a worthy replacement for traditional meat pilaf. You can add sauteed onion and a head of garlic; barberry and curry are suitable seasoning options for pilaf. This is how we ended up with delicious Lenten food: you'll just lick your fingers!

Beans with vegetables in the oven

You need to take: half a kilo of large beans, a couple of sweet bell peppers, three cloves of garlic, three tomatoes, a little vegetable oil, seasonings to taste and salt.

Soak the beans in water overnight. In the morning, cook until softened. We chop all the other ingredients finely and lightly simmer in a frying pan in vegetable oil. Place the beans in a baking dish and pour the stewed vegetables on top (they have already turned into mush, having released the juices). Place in a well-heated oven for half an hour. When serving, garnish with fresh herbs and chopped green onions.

Lenten delicious food. Recipes with fish

On certain days, the consumption of fish dishes is allowed. There are a great many recipes - simple and complex - involving fish or seafood. Here are just a few of them, the most popular.

Lenten fish vinaigrette

Ingredients: fish fillet - 300 grams, three potatoes, one beet, one carrot, two pickles, onion, vegetable oil, seasonings to taste.

Boil the fillet and cool. Cut into fairly small pieces. Cook the vegetables separately, peel and cut into small cubes. Cut the cucumbers into cubes. Chop the onion. Mix everything together thoroughly and carefully. Season with olive oil. Before serving, decorate with fresh herbs.

Fish soup (ukha)

Ingredients: half a kilo of white fish, one carrot, one onion, two potatoes, vegetable oil, flour, herbs, seasonings. Some people add grains: pearl barley or millet.

We clean the fish from skin and bones (or you can immediately take ready-made fillets). Cook the fish for about thirty minutes over low heat. At the end of cooking, add seasonings to remove the smell. Coarsely grate the carrots. Sauté the onion, then add the carrots and fry some more with a little flour. Cut the potatoes into cubes. We catch the fish from the broth and strain it. We cut the fish into small pieces and send it back to the broth. We put all the other ingredients there. Cook for another fifteen minutes. If you decide to use grains, add them halfway through the soup, along with the potatoes. The soup is served garnished with herbs.

Results

In general, as you can see, there are a lot of recipes for Lenten dishes, and many of them are really tasty. So you can eat these dishes not only during fasting. And for those who don’t want or don’t know how to cook, but who like lean food, food delivery is carried out by food establishments directly to the client’s home!

Bon appetit to all fasting people!

Voluntary refusal of food and abstinence from any entertainment is called fasting. True Christians who want to reunite with, decide to fast. But what can you eat while fasting to maintain strength for everyday life?

The essence of fasting

Many Orthodox Christians who are just beginning their path to God believe that fasting means giving up eating altogether. But this is not entirely correct. First of all, you need to limit yourself from activities that bring idleness and pleasure:

• do not participate in pleasure festivities;
• stop watching entertainment programs;
• do not do bad things;
• not fulfill marital duties;
• do not use foul language or gossip.

Secondly, you need to stop eating fast food. Only lean foods are allowed.

There is a basic list of lean foods that can be eaten:

1. Various types of cereals: semolina, barley, buckwheat, rice, oatmeal, pearl barley.
2. Any vegetables: potatoes, cabbage, onions, beets, carrots.
3. Fruits and berries.
4. Mushrooms.
5. Nuts: walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pine.
6. Bee products.
7. Canned vegetables, fruits and berries (compotes, jam, vegetable salads).
8. Seasonings, spices and herbs (dill, parsley, bay leaf, black and red pepper, cardamom, etc.)

You can eat during fasting, because this is a test, not a test of survival. In order for the body to function fully, it requires a sufficient amount of protein. Where can you get it if meat is strictly prohibited on fasting days? The answer is simple, you should replace meat products with those that contain vegetable protein. Legumes (beans, soybeans, chickpeas, peas) are especially enriched with such protein.

Try making lean soup using any type of legumes, vegetables and grains. Season with spices to taste, and you will understand that fasting can be delicious. But don't overeat. After all, excess food is a violation of fasting. You should eat everything in moderation, trying only to satisfy your hunger, and not to eat to satiety.

When can you eat fish during fasting?

Fish is a unique product that is prohibited on strict days. To answer the question “When can you eat fish during fasting?”, you should study the basic rules for its consumption.

Most often, fish can be included in your diet when fasting days coincide with major church holidays. For example, April 7 (Annunciation), the last Sunday before Easter (The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem), the Saturday of Lazarus.

During the Dormition Fast, fish is allowed on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Peter's Fast allows you to eat fish on the following days: Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.

During the Nativity fast, fish can be included in the menu on weekends: Saturday and Sunday.

Special rules apply to people with poor health. When talking with the priest, you can ask for relief, then you will be allowed to eat fish products at any time.

Meals on different days

During the week, you need to know on which days you should relax, and on which days, on the contrary, you should completely abstain from food.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the days of the strictest fasting. At this time, if possible, you should completely refuse food or you can allow yourself to eat very little raw, uncooked foods. In addition, during these 3 days you cannot add vegetable oils to your dishes. The main food is rye bread, vegetables, fruits and unsweetened jelly or compote.

Tuesday and Thursday. These days you are allowed to eat food that can be pre-cooked or fried. But again, adding sunflower oil is prohibited.

Saturday and Sunday. Days of relaxation. You can cook your own soup or prepare a vegetable stew with the addition of fish and vegetable oil.

This fast is the strictest and longest. Therefore, before you start committing it, you need to think about whether it will harm your health. Sick people and nursing mothers are allowed to eat even a little meat on fasting days.

You should refuse:

• from any type of meat, fish and even seafood;
• dairy and fermented milk products, eggs and even egg powder;
• baking, since prohibited products are added to the dough during cooking;
• mayonnaise and other sauces if they contain milk or eggs;
• alcoholic drinks, as they have cheerful properties.

It must be remembered that fasting people do not eat at all on the first day of Lent and every Friday.

In the first and last 7 days, you can only eat vegetables and fruits and drink only fresh water.

On other days, you are allowed to consume honey, sunflower oil, and sometimes fish.

Are sweets allowed?

Some sweet tooth lovers are interested in whether it is sometimes possible to drink tea with sugar or eat a bar of chocolate during Lent? The Church gives a positive answer.

During fasting, it is allowed to add sugar to food; in addition, you can eat dark chocolate in small quantities without adding dairy ingredients, dried berries, kozinaki, marmalade candies and honey.

Some Orthodox Christians believe that eating honey is undesirable. Old Believers and monks especially adhere to this opinion. But church officials are not against honey being present on the table of Orthodox Christians during Lent. They advise choosing buckwheat or linden varieties, as they contain many trace elements and vitamins.

Menu for one day of Lent

For people who have decided to start fasting for the first time, we can recommend the following approximate meal plan:

• Breakfast: a piece of black bread, 250 g of any porridge cooked in water.
• Lunch: lettuce salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, seasoned with lemon juice and salt.
• Afternoon snack: one apple or pear. A glass of berry compote.
• Dinner: stew of stewed vegetables: potatoes, cabbage and carrots.

According to the clergy, the most important thing is the purification of the soul. And the question “What can you eat during fasting” is not so important. The main thing is to sincerely believe that through spiritual and physical abstinence we...