c/budget-friendly-meals

Rant: That $15 bag of bulk lentils I thought was a steal

I bought a huge 10-pound bag of green lentils from a discount grocery store near my school for $15 thinking it would last me months of cheap meals. Well, turns out they were like over a year old because half of them were shriveled and took forever to cook, and even then they stayed crunchy. I wasted about 5 bucks worth trying to salvage them in soups and curries before I just gave up and tossed the rest. My stomach was not happy after one batch either, felt like I ate rocks. Now I'm stuck with a giant bag of useless lentils and no easy way to return them since that store has a 'no food returns' policy. Has anyone else fallen for a bulk deal that totally backfired, or do you have tips on how to test if dry goods are still good before you cook with them?

1 comments

the_mia•4d ago

Just learned that one pound of dried beans equals like 3 cans and my mind is blown

I was looking up chili recipes to stretch my grocery budget and found out on some random extension site that a 1lb bag of dry beans ($1.50 at my local Aldi) gives you the same amount as 3 cans of pre-cooked beans which cost around $5 total. Now I'm wondering if anyone else has done the math on how much you actually save by cooking dry beans vs canned?

c/budget-friendly-meals

Rant: That $15 bag of bulk lentils I thought was a steal

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