Quick Swap: Buying Dry
Have you seen our bean dip recipe? Check it out here!
Often I find myself snagging cans of beans from the grocery aisles without thinking about alternatives. Canned foods can be a wonderful way to get peak nutrition from foods year round, but so can dried goods, like lentils and beans, that have a much lower impact!
When thinking about our global food system, looking into ways to incorporate dried beans into your meal planning can be another way to make an impact, while also helping you wallet and the flavors of your food.
Here’s why:
Most of our food is grown in areas that are sun-rich, and water-poor, such as the central valley of California. We then ship produce grown in these areas around the globe for year-round abundance. As the produce travels, so does the water held in the plant tissue itself. Of course there are global weather patterns that work to distribute water, but with climate change causing unpredictable water around the globe, maintaining water resources is essential to local ecological function, as well as human health. By buying beans, lentils, and other nutritionally dense foods in dried form, you’re allowing water to maintain in the watershed where the plant was grown and reducing the transport of water out of already highly pressured ecosystems.
Shipping beans in cans is heavy and therefore fuel intensive. The amount of nutrition and goodness that can be shipped for the same amount of fuel is much higher with dried beans.
Dried pulses—any food in the legume family such as beans or lentils—are cheaper when bought in bulk. They are one of the most economical ways to bring large amounts of protein into your diet.
While many cans are recyclable, the production and recycling of the metal takes resources—if they’re ever even recycled at all! Dried beans and lentils can be purchased in bulk so you can reduce packaging waste at the household level.
Lastly, the process of soaking and cooking beans and lentils can be a wonderful opportunity to add more complexity of flavor and depth to your dishes. By soaking them with a variety of different spices, you’ll end up with flavors way more delicious than found in a can from the microwave!
Soaking your own dry beans is easy, but takes some time and meal planning. They can be done in batches and frozen for later use, or incorporated into a variety of different meals all in one week. Interested in giving your beans or lentils a good soak? Check out this thorough guide from the New York Times.
