Living the Dream, One Bag of Beans at a Time

Joe eats beans every day. Black beans, white beans, garbanzo beans, and pinto beans are his usual choice, with pintos topping the list. Beans are a solid source of healthy carbs and fiber, and two of his three meals most days include some type of bean.

Back when we lived near the Costco in Woodland, California, we could buy 20-pound bags of pinto beans, and Joe would make big batches of refried beans. Whatever we couldn’t eat in a couple of days got portioned out and frozen. Last year for Christmas, his son sent him a variety pack of heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo, and Joe loved cooking his way through all of them. And of course, any time we saw beans on sale, a few extra bags would end up in our pantry “just in case.”

Lately we’ve been on the hunt for a place to buy beans in bulk since our local Costco stores don’t carry them. We learned that some Walmart locations sell large bags, so today we headed to the Maple Grove Walmart. Joe scored a 20-pound bag of pinto beans for $14.00 and a 2-pound bag of black beans for $2.00. We felt like we’d hit the jackpot.

If you’re curious about the health benefits of beans, here’s a great link with more information:

https://www.ranchogordo.com/pages/beans-and-health

While we were already out grocery shopping, we decided to stop into an Aldi. We know plenty of people who swear by their prices and products. We had visited one during our travels last year and didn’t find what we needed, so we wanted to see if the local store was any different. As it turns out, the items we regularly buy weren’t cheaper than what we find at Costco, Cub, or Coborn’s.

When I was planning my retirement, I never pictured myself spending a day hunting for bulk beans and comparing grocery store prices for fun. But here we are. Who knew?