Beans, beans, the more you eat, the more your meals are healthier and cheaper

"Ali Honour, a chef and the author of a new recipe book, Beans, says they are flexible enough to be used as a main course or in desserts, and offer significant savings over buying meat. While meat prices float into the stratosphere, humble beans remain the quiet overachievers of the food world: cheap, filling, nutritious, and ready to save your dinner and your bank account, she says."

"If steak is the loud showoff at the dinner table, beans are the kid in the corner doing everyone's homework quietly brilliant, wildly underrated, and ultimately the one you want on your side. With planning, Honour says that swapping one or two meals a week will cut your food bill, as well as reduce your carbon footprint and improve your cooking. Beans prove that great food doesn't need to be expensive; it just needs to be thoughtful, she says."

"Rebecca Tobi, the head of food business transformation at the Food Foundation, says the rising price of meat means many households are looking at how to stretch their budget while also providing balanced meals. We've got baked beans on toast, which is a British classic. Beyond that, people often aren't that familiar with using beans. But when you look to other cultures and countries, beans are in a huge array of really tasty dishes."

Beans are sustainable, plentiful, nutritious, and far cheaper than meats, and a campaign aims to double consumption of several bean varieties in the UK by 2028. Major supermarkets have pledged to increase legume sales over three years. Chefs and cookbook authors promote beans as versatile for mains and desserts, offering significant savings and environmental benefits. Swapping one or two meals a week for bean-based dishes can cut food bills, reduce carbon footprints, and improve cooking skills. Cultural cuisines offer many bean-based recipes beyond baked beans on toast, such as Mexican enchiladas, expanding household familiarity and meal variety.

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