The $2 bag of lentils that beat my $45 grocery order last Tuesday

I grabbed a random bag of red lentils on a whim (I think it was like 2 bucks at the local Save Mart) because the beef mince was way over budget. Split it into three dinners, one soup, one kinda curry thing, and one weird but edible patty situation. The soup lasted two nights and honestly tasted better than half the takeout I get. I was shocked how full we stayed too, no protein crash like with pasta. My partner said, "wait, this is just beans?" and I had to explain lentils aren't beans but the point stuck. Learn something every week, and this week it's that I've been ignoring dried legumes for way too long. Anyone else got a cheap staple that secretly slaps harder than the fancy stuff?

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kim.zara15d ago

My buddy Jake did the same thing with chickpeas last month. He bought a 99 cent can on a dare and made this weird hummus mash thing with lemon and chili flakes, then threw the rest into a stew with whatever veggies were dying in his fridge. He texted me a photo of it with the caption "gourmet depression bowl" and I swear it looked better than the $18 pasta he ordered the night before. He's now bought three bags of dried chickpeas and keeps trying to convert our whole friend group into a "bean cult," as he calls it. The funny part is he still orders takeout twice a week, so the savings don't even matter, but the dinners do slap.