Boost Your Health and Wallet: Discover How Beans Make Meals Cheaper and Healthier!

Advocating Increased Bean Consumption

According to several renowned chefs, beans are a win-win food choice. They’re sustainable, abundant, nutritious, and much cheaper than meat options like steak or chicken.

Chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are leading a campaign aimed at doubling the consumption of various types of beans such as black, borlotti, and cannellini in the UK by 2028. This initiative, named the Bang in Some Beans campaign, also enjoys support from major UK supermarkets committed to boosting legume sales over the next few years.

Chef and author Ali Honour, who recently published a cookbook titled “Beans,” states that beans are versatile enough to star in main dishes or desserts, offering substantial financial savings compared to meat purchases.

“As meat prices skyrocket, the modest bean remains an unsung hero in the culinary world: affordable, satisfying, nutritious, and a savior for both your dinner plans and your wallet,” she explains.

“If steak is the ostentatious guest at the dinner party, beans are the quiet genius in the corner solving everyone’s problems—unassumingly excellent, severely underrated, and definitely the ally you want on your team,” she adds.

Honour notes that substituting beans for meat in just one or two meals per week can reduce your grocery bills, lessen your carbon footprint, and enhance your culinary skills. “Beans show that exceptional food doesn’t have to be pricey; it needs to be thoughtful,” she remarks.

Rebecca Tobi, who leads food business transformation at the Food Foundation, comments on the increasing cost of meat driving families to reconsider their budgets while trying to maintain nutritious meals.

“While baked beans on toast is a staple in Britain, there’s a lack of familiarity with other bean uses. However, looking globally, beans feature in a vast array of delicious dishes from enchiladas in Mexico to dals in Asian cuisines,” she points out.

“Beans are nutritional powerhouses, cholesterol-free, low in fat, and loaded with fiber, a topic that needs more attention in our diet discussions,” she emphasizes.

Incorporating Beans into Meals

The campaign encourages adding beans to traditional recipes to reduce meat consumption and extend food budgets.

Tobi explains that beans can mimic the texture of meat and can be easily mixed into well-loved family dishes.

“For instance, you can add beans to spaghetti bolognese, shepherd’s pie, or chilli con carne,” she suggests.

As meat prices continue to climb, substituting beans for some of the meat in recipes is a simple way for families to save money while keeping the meals they enjoy.

A typical chilli con carne for a family of four might include a 400g can of kidney or black beans added to 400g of beef, pork, or chicken.

For families with picky eaters, the non-profit organization Veg Power recommends gradually increasing the amount of beans in dishes they already like. Soft beans such as butter, cannellini, and haricot are ideal in creamy dishes like mac ‘n’ cheese. Firmer beans like kidney, chickpeas, and black beans take on flavors well and are great in stews, curries, and rice dishes.

Cost Savings by Substituting Beans

Data from the Food Foundation indicates that a 400g can of red kidney beans, costing 49p at Tesco, can provide 36% of the recommended daily protein intake for a woman and a quarter of the necessary fiber. In contrast, a 100g chicken breast, which costs 72p, offers 48% of the required protein but contains no fiber.

Honour points out that a 150g sirloin steak, priced between £6 and £8, provides 25g of protein, whereas 200g of butter beans offers 14g of protein for about 50p.

“A pot of home-cooked beans costs between 8p to 12p per high-protein serving, which is cheaper than a single chicken nugget,” she notes.

Opting for Bulk Purchases

The method of purchasing beans can significantly affect their cost. Tinned and jarred beans are pre-cooked and ready to use, making them convenient. On the other hand, dried beans are much cheaper and are available in larger quantities but require more preparation time.

According to Tobi, jarred beans, despite being the priciest option, are often more tender due to their processing method.

Honour suggests that for convenience and consistency, precooked beans in jars or cans are excellent. However, for those selecting tinned varieties, opting for brands without added salt is preferable. Tinned beans are ideal for varieties like butter beans, chickpeas, black beans, cannellinis, and red kidney beans.

Dried beans, which need cooking, provide better flavor and texture and are more economical. They also expand during cooking, with about 100g to 125g dry equaling a 400g tin of cooked beans.

Honour illustrates the cost difference, noting that a tin of beans costs around £1.50 per kilogram, whereas cooked dried beans cost between 70p and 90p per kilogram.

She recommends cooking a large batch once a week and freezing the cooked beans in 250g portions. Freezing them in their cooking liquid helps keep them moist, she advises.

Tobi adds that beans can also be frozen when part of a saucy dish, such as a stew or dal, making leftovers easy to store and reheat.

Dried beans should be kept in airtight containers to extend their shelf life.

“Buying beans in bulk isn’t just economical; it’s a safeguard against inflation,” says Honour, highlighting their long shelf life.

Discovering New Bean Recipes

Meals can be very affordable, with Honour mentioning that dishes like “butter bean smash,” which involves cooking two tins of butter beans with garlic, rosemary, and thyme, are delicious served with crusty bread. Bean burgers made from carlin peas, which are cultivated in the UK, offer a great introduction to meat alternatives.

Veg Power highlights several innovative recipes, such as Prue Leith’s twist on beans on toast, which includes mixing cannellini beans with chorizo. Chef Tom Aikens offers a recipe for beans with a parsley crumb using flageolet beans, while fitness trainer Joe Wicks has developed a curried cottage pie that incorporates green lentils. These recipes are accessible on Veg Power’s website.

Honour also suggests using beans in desserts, such as including black beans in brownies or chickpeas in blondies. A chocolate bean spread she created uses creamy beans like cannellini or butter beans and avoids the refined sugars and palm oil often found in commercial spreads.