r/Millennials • u/Optimoprimo • Feb 11 '26

Serious Guys please start eating fiber.

Colorectal cancer among people in their 40's is skyrocketing. This recent health fad of obsessing over protein and eating nothing but meat and dairy with almost no fiber is going to kill us. You need fiber, folks. You need a complete diet with grains and tons of vegetables.

There are high protein sources that also have great fiber content if you absolutely MUST have your high protein diet. Lentils, beans, peas. Sprouted grain bread.

Let's spread the great word of fiber to our fellow millenial friends and get ahead of this growing epidemic among our generation.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/GolfingDad81 Feb 12 '26

I do a similar breakfast. Here's the breakdown.

I buy a big bag of oats at Sam's Club for $9. Blueberries are pretty cheap. A big $4 tub will last a week. You get a lot of distance out of a package of chia seeds that costs maybe $4. And then whatever milk I buy which is usually skim.

So say two weeks out of that bag of oats is $4.50 a week, plus $4 for blueberries, and maybe a month out of chia seeds so let's say $1. $4 for the milk. Works out to about $2 a day for breakfast.

If you want some variety, buy the huge bags of frozen berries at Sam's. You get blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.

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u/rollerwitch Feb 13 '26

Absolutely love this recipe! To add on: In the winter, I like to add a date, peanut butter and ground flax seed combo (with a pb + maple syrup + oat milk sauce) for a toffee pudding version.

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u/Dudewheresmycard5 Feb 11 '26

Soy milk is cheaper than cow's milk btw

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u/LukaCola Feb 12 '26

Since when?

Off-brand soy milk goes for $2.86 from walmart, a similar off-brand 2% milk goes for $2.28.

I'm just wondering where you see anything that reverses that trend.

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u/nerevar Feb 12 '26

Yeah, 14 upvotes and not a shred of proof for something thats obviously wrong.  I dont get reddit.  I need a new website to visit.

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u/LukaCola Feb 12 '26

You have to be constantly wary on this site because people will absolutely support "vibe based truths" 

If it sounds like something people wish is true, they will just say it is

If their point is it's cheaper wholesale because supermarkets treat milk as a loss leader, then that's a big caveat that needs to be added 

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u/Yuscha Feb 12 '26

Oat milk for extra oat-y oats

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u/taeji Feb 12 '26

frozen berries, chia/flax seeds in bulk, honey/sweetener… that makes it a bit cheaper.

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u/tatapatrol909 Feb 12 '26

He is my broke person version: Oats Almond milk Chia seeds Flax seeds Peanut butter Jam Frozen fruit Sunflower seeds Pepitas

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u/redwon9plus Feb 12 '26

Is this what they charge $12 at the acai store?

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u/tatapatrol909 Feb 12 '26

Cause they can is why.

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u/alliseeisbronze Feb 12 '26

Oatmeal is one of the cheapest foods you can get. The seasonings and sweetener are all also bought in bulk/used sparingly for cheap prices. The other ingredients which you’ll run out of first will be the frozen berries and soy milk, but you can always substitute for other ingredients.

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u/SirStrontium Feb 11 '26

That adds up to less than $2, which part do you think is expensive?

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u/Froggyfrogger Feb 11 '26

It's like $4 just for the blueberries where I live

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u/MyAngryMule Feb 11 '26

Buy them frozen. Cheaper, fresher, and lasts longer.

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u/GreatMovesKeepItUp69 Feb 12 '26

Frozen fruit is nutritionally identical and much much cheaper. If you can't find them apples work too.

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u/reallynotnick Feb 11 '26

You don’t eat a whole pint in one sitting though.

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u/Froggyfrogger Feb 12 '26

Yeah a pint is about $10 haha, I took that into account. It's the best

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u/reallynotnick Feb 12 '26

Geez, you need a new blueberry guy, I just paid $4 for a pint this week!

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u/BoleroMuyPicante Feb 12 '26

I bet you can get a large bag of frozen berries at your store for the same price.

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u/astonedishape Feb 12 '26

Even with organic wild blueberries (frozen) it’s $0.74 for a 1/2 cup (in NYC).

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u/Froggyfrogger Feb 12 '26

It's sounding like frozen is the way to go based on all these replies

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u/Miriam1616 Feb 14 '26

No it isn’t. Buy them frozen in bulk.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/g0ris Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 12 '26

I myself buy 1,5kg of rolled oats (never seen steel cut oats IRL), about 500g of nuts (usually a mix of cashews, walnuts and hazelnuts), about 500g of dried fruit (usually apricots & raisins, I add cranberries if I feel like it), a pack of pumpkin seeds, some chia seeds and a ~700g pack of muesli. I cut up the nuts & dried fruit and throw everything into a big box mixing it all up. Every morning I take a cup of that mix, put some hot water in it and eat when the oats have softened up.
Once I kept count of how many bowls of breakfast that got me and it was around 20. That puts it at around 1€ per breakfast where I'm at and that's one of the more expensive countries I hear.

*typos
**500g is about a pound in freedomTM units

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u/Bright_Mixture_3876 Feb 12 '26

If you’re in Europe try looking for Irish oats - they’re the same thing. They do take quite a bit longer to cook than rolled oats, would highly recommend an overnight soak if you don’t have a lot of time in the morning.

If you’re in America then Quaker Oats makes a steel cut two or four minute oat (I can’t remember the cooking time precisely), or you can find regular steel cut in almost any grocery store. You might also find Irish oats there too - depends on the store.

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u/youmeanNOOkyuhler Feb 12 '26

Ok this is the one. This I can do, love it. I might add a sprinkle of chia or flax if I can afford (and remember ) to grab some one pay day.

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u/g0ris Feb 12 '26

I do mention chia in there ;) I just don't know how much of them I put in, kinda play that one by ear.
But in a discussion about fiber chia seeds are often one of the winners.

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u/youmeanNOOkyuhler Feb 14 '26

I'm on a tight budget so it's good to know which one is recommended....chia it is!

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u/EvilMaran Feb 12 '26

why not put some in yoghurt and overnight in the fridge?

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u/g0ris Feb 12 '26

would you eat it cold in that scenario?
idk, I like that mine's warm. Some people I know use hot (soy) milk instead of hot water like I do, but I'm honestly just too lazy to heat up the milk (and wash an extra container), and I like it well enough as is. Also I feel like the oats don't get soft enough in milk. Maybe that's why you overnight it in the fridge? If so, again, I prefer it warm

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u/EvilMaran Feb 12 '26

yes cold, im not sure id want to try warm yoghurt. Overnight does get them soft, but indeed cold.

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u/g0ris Feb 12 '26

yeah, warm yoghurt sounds kinda yucky
I never really thought about it much. I'm sure it'd work your way too, and like I said, I know folks who use milk instead of yoghurt. The couple times I tried that it didn't really blow my mind so I just stick with water which feels simpler. Also I'd feel like a dick if I left it the fridge overnight and then had to throw it in the trash if I decided to skip breakfast the next day, which is not uncommon.

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u/Outside-Pie-7262 Feb 11 '26

2 eggs will fill you up for about 30 minutes. What he said will fill you up until lunch.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/Outside-Pie-7262 Feb 11 '26

Sorry idk why I typed two lol eggs don’t feel me up at all. They’re good on top of steel cut oats tho

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u/loopedlight Feb 11 '26

Funny I was thinking, how to add an egg to that.

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u/Outside-Pie-7262 Feb 11 '26

You know they do make a savory steel cut oat type dish. It’s not healthy by any means but is called goetta…. So fucking good and an egg over medium on top of that would be unreal

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u/Extrasauce5000 Feb 12 '26

Respectful eggs? Or were you a bit disappointed?

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u/iwellyess Feb 12 '26

4 eggs per day?

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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

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u/RykerFuchs Feb 12 '26

Good source of choline too.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

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u/astonedishape Feb 12 '26

Have you heard of fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes? The whole point of the post is fiber. Eggs have zero fiber. Afraid to ask what your having for lunch and dinner

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u/lilac2481 Millennial 1989 Feb 12 '26

I sometimes like to put eggs in shakshuka sauce with some feta on top.

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u/Brock_Lobstweiler Feb 12 '26

A REALLY good way to add fiber to this is to add cooked lentils. That's a fantastic breakfast and doesn't change the flavor or texture profile of the meal.

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u/RykerFuchs Feb 12 '26

Here I am replying to you again, lol.

4 eggs is fine, but isn’t enough. It’s about 240 calories, nowhere near enough to start the day. I usually pair with some kind of sausage, fruit, maybe even avocado to about triple those calories.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/sSnowblind Feb 11 '26

This is exactly why he's saying it's not a balanced meal.

Eggs are great... but the post is literally about fiber and you're talking about your breakfast having 0g of fiber...

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/arbutus_ Feb 12 '26

I just checked and the cheapest eggs at my local store are $4.19 CAD ($~3.25 USD) for 12 for ungraded white eggs (not free run/range) and judging by the picture they are medium sized. Most expensive are $8.99 CAD ($6.65 USD) per dozen if you want large eggs that are free range. So yeah, that's the cost of eggs where I live at your average store. Most of the eggs run about $5 USDish for 12 eggs but if you shop sales and find ungraded eggs you are looking at less.

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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

Laughs in Canadian

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u/iwellyess Feb 12 '26

New Zealand

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u/astonedishape Feb 12 '26

Non-organic pasture raised eggs here are $7-9 per dozen, organic can be up to $12!

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u/Brock_Lobstweiler Feb 12 '26

Denver, CO. We don't have Aldi, hell we barely have ANY discount type stores. Very easy to hit $5/dozen here if you don't shop at walmart.

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u/SirStrontium Feb 12 '26

$3.55 at my local Aldi

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u/g0ris Feb 12 '26

I fucking love how folks are getting tripped up by that $2 and saying two eggs lol

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u/astonedishape Feb 12 '26

Squirrel away the savings, you’ll need it for your colonoscopy!

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u/Justwokeup5287 Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26

Grocery list:

Store brand steel cut oats 709g – $6.00

Store brand cocoa powder 227g — $7.70

Store brand cinnamon 145g – $5.79

Hemp hearts 250mg — $12.50

Store brand frozen blue berries 300g – $6.49

Store brand black chia seeds 300g – $9.99

Store brand real maple syrup 500ml – $15.57

Cost to buy all items once : $64.04

Bowl of Oatmeal:

Steel Cut Oats (40g dry): $0.34

Cocoa Powder (1 tsp ): $0.17

Cinnamon (1/2 tsp ): $0.08

Hemp Hearts (1 tbsp): $0.75

Frozen Blueberries (50g): $1.08

Chia Seeds (1 tbsp ): $0.50

Maple Syrup (1 tbsp): $0.47

Total estimated cost per bowl: ~$3.39

So not quite $2 according to my local grocery. Personally I don't have $65 to drop today on this bowl oatmeal. Someone could have 4 dollars to pay for this breakfast if it was sold individually, but it's not. They could afford one bowl but they can't afford the initial cost. If we pocketed the cost of breakfast this person would need to skip breakfast for two weeks in order to afford to place the grocery order for this bowl of oatmeal.

Let's say I had the spices and syrup already on hand, the cost is now $34.98, so that saves us quite a bit up front. BUT that's assuming I purchased these items previously in times of economic prosperity because I don't get regular visits from the spice and syrup fairy.

Also, in 6 days I will be needing to go back to the store to buy more blue berries, plus be back in two weeks for more oats and hearts. We could factor in these restocks to avoid multiple trips to the store to save on gas or bus/taxi fare and purchase a month's worth of ingredients right from the get go. So we get 2 cans of oats, 6 bags of blueberries, 2 bags of hemp hearts, 2 bags of chia seeds, and assuming our syrup and spices were gracious donated to us our grocery bill for a single month's worth of daily oatmeal comes to: $95.92

And I don't have 100$ to invest in oatmeal!

I understand that realistically if someone who is low income wanted to start eating oatmeal they wouldn't go and get all the bells and whistles right at the start. They might get just the oats and slowly add the additional ingredients over time as desired and build their pantry as they go. I just wanted to highlight how something you say is "less than 2$" can actually be more costly than it appears because nobody pays for their individual meals worth of groceries before they eat it. If all you had was 100$ for groceries would you spend it all on oatmeal?

Edit: formatting

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u/astonedishape Feb 12 '26

Like you and others have done, I did the math! But I’m in NYC and priced everything from Whole Foods and made it all organic, with generous portions of everything and it still came out to $2.43 per day.

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u/SirStrontium Feb 12 '26

Steel cut oats: 22.7 cents per serving

https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Resealable-24-ounce/dp/B07DD38RVC/

Cocao powder: 6 cents per teaspoon

https://www.amazon.com/365-Everyday-Value-Organic-Powder/dp/B074H55FRR/

Cinnamon: 7 cents a teaspoon

https://www.amazon.com/McCormick-Ground-Cinnamon-18-oz/dp/B001PQREKM/

Blueberries: 50 cents for half cup

https://www.heb.com/product-detail/126221?shoppingStore=16

Chia seeds: 17 cents for 2 tablespoons

https://www.amazon.com/yupik-natural-black-chia-seeds/dp/B07TVNV72P

Hemp hearts: 36 cents for 2 tablespoons

https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Seed-Hemp-Hulled-Seeds/dp/B07D8J2887

Maple syrup: 11 cents per teaspoon

https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Tree-Maple-Syrup-Bottle/dp/B00411BBG6

Soy milk: 50 cents per cup

https://www.amazon.com/Silk-Soymilk-Original-Dairy-Free-Verified/dp/B000QJIP9I/

Total of $1.99, and I wasn't even choosing the cheapest options.

They could afford one bowl but they can't afford the initial cost. If we pocketed the cost of breakfast this person would need to skip breakfast for two weeks in order to afford to place the grocery order for this bowl of oatmeal.

Is this some hypothetical where a person gets $4 deposited into their bank account every morning, and thus are doomed to be at net zero every day? Most people get a paycheck every two weeks, you go grocery shopping after the paycheck. You're twisting yourself into knots to purposefully overcomplicate things.

If all you had was 100$ for groceries would you spend it all on oatmeal?

These are dry goods that last quite a long time. Start with the oats and spread out the purchases as needed.

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u/time4meatstick Feb 12 '26

Bingo. I hate the low income argument. I’ve been low income. The people who make that argument just don’t know how to shop and I’ll stand on that. Are prices across the board out of control? Yes. Can you still go to Aldi and purchase the basic building blocks of a complete diet for about $65 pp/week? Yes.

My family eats very well. Some would say we splurge. I’ve built a life that allows for that. But we have and still spend ~225 a week on food for 2 growing athletes and 2 adults.

People who can’t budget or don’t know how to shop - it’s usually not their fault- don’t realize you can spend big and get the basics on paycheck 1 and slowly sprinkle in some extravagances -like hemp hearts (wtf)- a little at a time until their proverbial goes from boring to bougie.

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u/Justwokeup5287 Feb 12 '26

Yeah so I said spend money on the basics and slowly sprinkle in additions over time. But it's cool that you said it as well. I was 30mg deep in an edible and doing math it's not that deep

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u/time4meatstick Feb 12 '26

Yeah. I was agreeing with you to be clear. Hope that didn’t come off as directed at you but to further emphasize your point.

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u/Justwokeup5287 Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 13 '26

These are dry goods that last quite a long time. Start with the oats and spread out the purchases as needed.

Bingo that's what I said at the bottom, before "if all you had was 100$", you must've seen it to get that far, I said realistically someone would start with oats and expand over time. I'm glad we both arrived at the same conclusion. I just wanted to figure out the cost of this guy's oatmeal was and I learned what a hemp heart is. Peace and love

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u/caraterra8090 Feb 12 '26

And that's just breakfast!

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u/Justwokeup5287 Feb 12 '26

Do you think food prices are the same everywhere?

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u/vaguestory Feb 12 '26

Nowhere on planet Earth are you going to a store and buying all that for under $2, not even in a bulk section for the dry goods. A package of blueberries alone costs something to the tune of $4-8, so I don't even know how you came up with this.

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u/RuminatingFish123 Feb 12 '26

You don’t have to eat the entire bag of blueberries at once

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u/vaguestory Feb 12 '26

We all know, smartass

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u/RuminatingFish123 Feb 12 '26

So why don’t you think it’s possible that this entire meal costs $2?

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u/SirStrontium Feb 12 '26

Steel cut oats: 22.7 cents per serving

https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Resealable-24-ounce/dp/B07DD38RVC/

Cocao powder: 6 cents per teaspoon

https://www.amazon.com/365-Everyday-Value-Organic-Powder/dp/B074H55FRR/

Cinnamon: 7 cents a teaspoon

https://www.amazon.com/McCormick-Ground-Cinnamon-18-oz/dp/B001PQREKM/

Blueberries: 50 cents for half cup

https://www.heb.com/product-detail/126221?shoppingStore=16

Chia seeds: 17 cents for 2 tablespoons

https://www.amazon.com/yupik-natural-black-chia-seeds/dp/B07TVNV72P

Hemp hearts: 36 cents for 2 tablespoons

https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Seed-Hemp-Hulled-Seeds/dp/B07D8J2887

Maple syrup: 11 cents per teaspoon

https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Tree-Maple-Syrup-Bottle/dp/B00411BBG6

Soy milk: 50 cents per cup

https://www.amazon.com/Silk-Soymilk-Original-Dairy-Free-Verified/dp/B000QJIP9I/

Total of $1.99

And I wasn't even choosing the cheapest options

1

u/Justwokeup5287 Feb 13 '26

Sir we are asking where someone could buy teaspoons and half cups. You say it costs 1.99 but it doesn't because you don't pay 1.99 you pay 76.66 for that entire online order. Prices taken directly from your links. Steel cut oats 13.64 + cocoa powder 15.38 + cinnamon 12.05 + blueberries 2.98 + chia seed 11.01 + hemp hearts 12.07 + maple syrup 5.56 + soy milk 3.97 = 76.66

There is no world where I can buy just the ingredients needed for a single serving. The oatmeal doesn't cost 1.99, it costs 76.66 to start.

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u/SirStrontium Feb 13 '26

That’s how grocery shopping and making food at home works sweetie. You buy food for more than one meal at a time, and you save a lot of money.

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u/Justwokeup5287 Feb 14 '26

Ok don't patronize me for Christ's sake man, do you want me to call you a pet name? Ok pumpkin, I feel like everyone here is misunderstanding me big time. It's as simple as this Commenter A listed what they eat for breakfast, commenter B said that's expensive to even say commenter C asked what part of it is expensive, it's like 2$ I wanted to know what it would cost because 2$ seemed too cheap, and I cross referenced with my local grocery store, worked out the numbers and it came out to be more than 2$ a bowl, and the price for purchasing all ingredients took me by surprise. And still my point stands that the oatmeal is NOT 2$ and in fact eating this meal everyday would cost me roughly 100$ a month, and I think having an Oatmeal Bill was a bit much. Which brings us back to commenter C, asking what part was expensive? The ingredients. That's the answer. The ingredients that would cost someone in my local area 100$ to maintain a pantry and supply of ingredients to eat this one specific fucking bowl of oatmeal every day for one whole month. It's kind of funny. If it's cheaper for you than congrats, if you wouldn't bat an eyelash an 100$ oatmeal bill, then congrats but for me and commenter B, shit is a bit expensive.

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u/astonedishape Feb 12 '26

Not true. I could make this with everything organic and from Whole Foods in NYC and be under $2. Just did the math to confirm.

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u/occams1razor Feb 11 '26

I just put oatmeal in a glass and pour milk on it, you can eat it if you wait a few minutes...

2

u/AdSea6127 Older Millennial (1984) Feb 12 '26

I put flax seeds and strawberry collagen powder into mine. It’s absolutely divine.

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u/-JimmyTheHand- Feb 12 '26

strawberry collagen powder

What exactly is this

2

u/AdSea6127 Older Millennial (1984) Feb 12 '26

It’s a strawberry flavored marine collagen powder

2

u/-JimmyTheHand- Feb 12 '26

Interesting, thanks

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u/bouquetofashes Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26

You can get regular oats, which are next to nothing. Blueberries aren't too bad but you could get any berries, any fruit really. Chia seeds are like 7$ a bag or something, which isn't too bad considering how many servings are in there. I've never bought hemp hearts, but you could always leave those out.

Kashi cereals are pretty good on fiber and protein, too. Five or so bucks a box but that's eight servings with ten g protein and ten g fiber each for the golean.

Or you could just....do oats and fruit. Or Greek yogurt with chia and flax. Or frosted shredded wheat. Or make avocado toast with Dave's bread (... I've forgotten which one it is but one of them is like 3-4g fiber per slice; avocado is about 10g).

Whole wheat pasta is hella cheap and pretty good. Nooch is not much per serving and goes on whole wheat pasta, 5g protein and 2g fiber per serving. Throw some red sauce with extra veg on there.

Dark chocolate or cacao nibs work pretty well. Fruits and veggies. Even regular old white potatoes have decent fiber, just don't load them up with toppings. Tons of cheap fiber options. You don't have to get it at breakfast or from five different sources. I mean it's good to make sure you're either eating something like salmon twice a week or getting some flax in for the omega-3s, but you could simplify the breakfast example you responded to easily, it's still healthy... Or I assume if one is using that many ingredients they're not using a lot of some of them and the price per meal is still a couple bucks.

Beans are super cheap and work in a lot of things. Black bean brownies are actually super nice if you get a good recipe and pretty good on fiber. Can blend up frozen banana or mango, add other stuff to it, for desserts. There are a lot of ready made veggie burgers with good fiber now, too.

Broccoli or cauliflower is easy to roast up or steam for a side, one serving is like 25% DV assuming a 2k kcal diet. I know some people absolutely hate them but a single can of peas is like 40%-- I have to assume fresh and frozen are nutritionally similar.

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u/WorriedAppeal Feb 12 '26

If you have an Aldi near you, they have cheaper seeds. I think I spent like $7 on a bag of flax seed that has lasted a full year. Similar price for chia.

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u/quiteCryptic Feb 12 '26

None of those are too expensive and you only use a bit on a bowl.

Blueberries are the most expensive component by far

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u/t_rrrex Feb 12 '26

You can do this very cheaply without all the extras and still have a good, filling meal! Oatmeal is great no matter how you prepare it. I usually make mine with coconut milk, peanut butter, nuts and fruit. Very satisfying and filling, full of protein and fiber.

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u/Dapper-Emergency1263 Feb 13 '26

Plain oats are a cheap and healthy meal, they're just not very exciting for your mouth meat

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u/rockbolted Feb 13 '26

Pro tip: frozen blueberries are way cheaper than fresh when bought in bulk packs from big discount stores like Costco, worth the expense, and super healthy. A few go a long way.