This is the second installment of eco versus frugal. Last time I looked at body soap (hopefully a common hygiene item), this time I will look at black beans, one of the staples of my diet.

I find that both black bean purchase and preparation need to be considered in the eco versus frugal comparison. On the purchasing side, loose/raw black beans are generally cheaper than their canned counterparts, whether it be organic or conventional. However, I find that it can take significantly longer to cook raw black beans, so I would count energy costs in the equation. Of course considerations have to be made for the initial cooking costs of canned beans, as well as the packaging, and the potential for cans to be discarded instead of recycled. Additionally there are a number of ways to cook raw beans, blanching is certainly more energy efficient than using a crockpot.

I’ve tried cooking raw black beans, both organic and conventional, as well as a variety of different canned beans, again both organic and conventional, and this is what I’ve found: I like conventional canned beans the best. I know that might sound weird, but I think that my laziness has something to do with it. I’m very bad about paying attention to how much time raw beans should soak. Because of this, it seems like the beans end up either horribly oversoaked (we’re talking days here) or undersoaked (spend too much time cooking in the pot). As such, I find that canned beans are the way for me to go. I’ve tried some canned organic beans from my local co-op, but I didn’t care much for the flavor. Since this is the only brand of organic beans in my area (that I’ve seen), there’s not much I can do about that.

While conventional canned beans may not be the cheapest option (blanched raw conventional may be less expensive), at 59 cents a can, I’m definitely on the lower end; score one for the frugal team.

This makes the current score: eco: 1, frugal: 1