Dried beans and lentils
Instead of tinned
~15 cents a serving against 60 to 90
The same pulse. The tin is that pulse already cooked, in water, shipped heavy.
Most of what a tin costs is the cooking, the water and the freight on both. A bag of dried beans runs a quarter of the price per serving, keeps for a year in a cupboard, and lets you salt the cooking water yourself, which is where most tinned beans lose. Lentils skip the soak entirely and cook in twenty-five minutes.
Beans need planning, either an overnight soak or a pressure cooker. On a weeknight with nothing soaked, the tin is the right answer and there is no virtue in pretending otherwise.
What to get
- Dried beans and lentilsWhatever the shop has, by the bag rather than the tinAmazon ~$3 a pound
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