I used to think canned beans were just as good as dried, then I did the math last month

For years I was all about canned beans because they were easy and I thought the price difference was minimal. But last month I actually sat down and compared costs at the WinCo in Phoenix. A one pound bag of dried pintos costs $1.50 and makes about 7 cups of cooked beans. A 15 ounce can of the same beans costs $1.20 and gives you maybe 1.5 cups. So for the same amount of beans, dried costs like 21 cents per cup and canned costs 80 cents. I was basically paying 4 times more for the convenience. Now I soak a big batch every Sunday and freeze portions in old yogurt containers. Has anyone else switched and noticed it saves a lot more than you'd think?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai83917h ago

Ha! Classic move. Soaking beans is basically a test of character and the number one reason people go back to cans. You either become a bean prep master or you end up calling for takeout while staring at a bag of crunchy betrayal. I respect the dedication to the system though, if you can remember to set that alarm, the savings are real. Just don't forget to actually LOOK at what the alarm is for when it goes off or you'll be eating takeout again wondering how a bag of rocks ended up in your sink.

faithpatel21h ago

My buddy Dave switched to dried beans after the same realization and he was so proud of himself. He bought a 5 pound bag of black beans at Costco for like $4 and bragged to me about it for weeks. Then he forgot to soak them before his big chili cookoff and had to emergency order takeout from a tex-mex place. He still uses dried beans now but he sets a phone alarm the night before.

kim_davis19h ago

@faithpatel that phone alarm trick is genius but what about people like me who always ignore alarms or set them then forget why? Does your friend have a backup plan for when the beans are hard as rocks and dinner is in 2 hours?