Baked beans. How often?

[ODFOx]

We go through 4 tins a week and yet they rarely feature in main evening meals. They just get used for quick lunches or brunches on the go, with toast or a jacket potato.
At our local food bank the emergency week of food for a family of 4 includes 4 tins of beans and I thought it wasn't enough if beans are to be a main protein source but some of the others thought 4 tins was loads and a family of 4 would be sick of beans.
How many tins a week does your household get through?

Inspired by this thread I’m having beans on toast for lunch. With grated cheese. Not with the little sausages @dolliemixture - husband likes them but they taste like sponge!

Just baked beans probably one tin a week as I'm the only one who uses them.........I do however use butter beans, kidney beans etc in a lot of recipes / stews / mixed bean chilli.

As an aside to food banks I really wish they'd put spices on the list. These are quite expensive but can really make a difference to meals. I often put them in the trolley along with things like stock cubes which again can make a pile of meh palatable.

2 small tins a month its just me that likes them .

Op, i was under the impression that supermarkets were the main contributors of food stuffs for food banks, schools providing care packages for vulnerable families and any one else in need in the local community?

If this is the case, why are they not supplying a broader range of beans and pulses and herbs as a prev poster has said. Tinned tomatoes and many tins, are also an essential in my opinion.

I have just re read your original post. Are you saying that 4 x tins of beans appears in food bank care packs, weekly, at the exspense and in the absence of , other beans and legumes?

I would like to think that care packages for families who need them , have varied contents and food stuffs that allow for healthy cooking , eating and a variation of meals.

If the supermarkets are the main contributors, with all their millions in profits each year, then 4x tins of beans per family is poor to say the least.

I eat beans on most days. I love them!

1 every couple of weeks

None, disgusting sauce. I do make dishes with beans but I buy dried and soak

I love them and so does my toddler! About once a week, would definitely be more but am cautious about the BPA in tinned foods as we are canned fish, and tomatoes if I I can't get them in cartons

Loads. Cheap easy and nutritious way to feed the family. Bean snobs get lost.

@Atalune

We have started getting fresh food because families really need it, mostly Asian area and they simply don't want cans other than chopped tomatoes and chickpeas because they won't eat them. They are amazing cooks mostly who can feed a family on a far lower budget than our other clients. We have onions, carrots, potatoes, cabbage and green beans currently. A local retailer also donated loose spices which has been a godsend. Most of the families have had their incomes disappear due to covid

@KatherineofTarragon

Op, i was under the impression that supermarkets were the main contributors of food stuffs for food banks, schools providing care packages for vulnerable families and any one else in need in the local community?

If this is the case, why are they not supplying a broader range of beans and pulses and herbs as a prev poster has said. Tinned tomatoes and many tins, are also an essential in my opinion.

I have just re read your original post. Are you saying that 4 x tins of beans appears in food bank care packs, weekly, at the exspense and in the absence of , other beans and legumes?

I would like to think that care packages for families who need them , have varied contents and food stuffs that allow for healthy cooking , eating and a variation of meals.

If the supermarkets are the main contributors, with all their millions in profits each year, then 4x tins of beans per family is poor to say the least.

A one week emergency pack for a family of 4 contains 4 baked beans, a kilo of pasta, 500g rice, 2 tins pulses, 4 tins veg, 2 tins fish and 2 of meat, 2 tinned toms, another tomato product, a couple of sauces plus other things for breakfast lunch and snacks, dairy, fruit, coffee or tea. Where possible we try to provide nutritionally adequate but mostly we use what we have been donated to give 3 meals a day which take as little Cooking as possible. Food banks are not aiming to support people long term: it is supposed to be for emergencies so there is little point providing oil and herbs for clever cooking if this adds to people's fuel bills. We get mothers who literally weep if we drop them a loaf of bread to bulk out the dried and tins. So no: people not just supermarkets do this and we will use baked beans ( a stand alone meal) as well as tins of pulses( which will need additions to be palatable) to make best use of what is donated.

@KatherineofTarragon why should the supermarkets be expected to be supporting families in need? It’s shocking that food banks are needed, but it’s not the supermarkets that are to blame.

OT, but I recently heard a fascinating story on NPR (our equivalent of BBC radio) about the history of baked beans. I had no idea that they were a Native American dish that was adopted by the colonists and then exported to the UK.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_beans

Just had them with omelette and toast for a quick meal. The omelette had tomatoes and mushrooms before anyone piles in with "where's your five a day?"

@ODFOx Ok. Thank you for the clarification.

As someone who donates it is good to know what is preferred.

In the US grocery manufacturers are the biggest donors to food banks, but distributors and retailers give as well. The government also buys up agricultural products to support prices and donates them.

I grew up eating baked beans. Here's they're done sweet, with molasses and brown sugar and served as a side dish with meat. I haven't had them in decades. Heinze sells them here too.

Maybe one a month? They're not very nice! Okay with baked potato and cheese.

DD1 doesn't like beans - the exception being with jacket potatoes so that's the only time we eat them. Some weeks that could be once a week so one can a week but currently we've not had it for over 2 months we probably get through about 12 cans a year. I'm sure if we were relying on food banks though we'd eat more. We don't eat much tinned or jarred stuff at all currently

They're a quick and easy lunch but I think I only make them once a week/fortnight. My children quite like them but not any more than eggs, another easy lunch.

Usually once a week when we fancy an ‘easy’ dinner.

Usually 3/4 tins a week for two of us.

I went thru a phase of eating a whole can (myself) every day.
but now I can't have so much at once ... too much fibre.

DH & adult DD sometimes eat a small amount for lunch. Nobody else in the house will touch ''em.

1 tin a week

Hardly ever.

I am not a fan of baked beans but I do like various different beans and legumes cooked in tomato based curries and tomato pasta sauces. I'll let you figure that one out.

I love beans.

Hot heavily buttered toast, hot beans, grated cheese and a soft poached ed on top.

Would happily have that for supper.
It's my comfort food.
One of my daughter's loves it too.

Glorified baby food!