Dry vs tinned pulses - which is cheaper?

maman

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A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

I'm also not convinced about SCs because they use far more energy(electric) over long periods of time than cooking with gas. They are one of those things that people jump on the bandwagon without really looking into it with any detail.

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I could be wrong but I always thought SCs used similar amount of electric to a light bulb.

The only pulses I cook from scratch are butter beans as I find most of the others I use can be bought cheaply enough in cans. Although you do need to check as recently I got canned butter beans in an Asian shop cheaper than dry ones.

I cook a large batch of butter beans in the slow cooker and then freeze in portions rather than cook a few each time I need them.

A.Penny.Saved

The ones that I have looked at had an energy rating of around 250watts. Maybe it's not quite that high once it's heated but it was the power rating of a number that i looked at.

This site suggest they are not that energy efficient and cost just as much as a more conventional electric cooker. However I did not say electric! I said compared with gas which I believe is a far more efficient and cheaper method of cooking.

terra_ferma

Elliesmum wrote: »

I think it is cheaper to use dried. I did a comparison and the dried equivalent of a 400g non-drained tin of chickpeas is 22p.

This does not factor in the cooking time/cost, I have a pressure cooker which takes 30 minutes to cook soaked peas.

This is a max saving of 11p a tin in theory and of course if you batch cook and then freeze pulses, your energy costs are even cheaper and you have that almost instant tin convenience as you can defrost from the freezer in the microwave.

HTHs

EM x

That's interesting, considering that most of the pulses I have in my cupboard right now were 4 for £1 (although no longer that cheap now, 3 x £1 at my local store), they would probably work out cheaper, or the same price, once you take into account other costs.

valk_scot

How about cooking the dried ones in larger batches and freezing them in suitable quantities for later use? Would cut the cooking cost overall.