Lentils vs canned beans, my $1.32 experiment for meal prep

Last Sunday I stared at the grocery shelf trying to decide between a bag of dry lentils for $1.32 or three cans of black beans for $2.50. I picked the lentils because I have more time than money right now, plus they cook in like 25 minutes flat. Made a big pot with onions, garlic, and some cheap broth, then portioned it into 5 containers for the week. They actually held up better than beans in my rice bowls, no weird can taste or mushy texture. Got 4 lunches and a dinner out of it, which is about 3 meals more than the cans would have given me. Anyone else switch from canned to dry stuff and notice a big difference in how far it stretches?

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ryan_shah383d ago

The "no weird can taste" part hit home. My buddy tried the exact same thing last winter, got a big bag of red lentils for like a buck, and he swore his chili came out way better than the canned version. He even brought some to game night and everyone asked what he changed, he just grinned and said "patience and a dry bag." The only catch was he forgot to rinse them once and the texture got a little gritty, but that's on him, not the lentils.