ottawa foodies

Where's the least expensive place in and around the east end to get dried beans like black beans, black-eyed peas etc?

Farm Boy? Mid-East Food Centre?

If no one knows, I'm going to shop around and find the best price for quality beans and post back.

Goin' on a bean hunt!

Hmmmmm...I imagine a Bulk Barn would have oodles of dried beans - not sure on thier locations accross the city, I'm sur there's one in the east end- thier prices are usually pretty good.

I live west, so I can only think of west-end places: As far as quality, I would try the Herb and Spice on Bank, which is probably more pricey but would carry the "organic" varietes. The healthfood store (Sun-something?) in the Westgate Mall (corner of Merivale and Carling) has an awesome bulk selection - a little pricey though since it's all got the "health" seal of approval. Bonus Tip: They carry sugar-free candy/chocolate (sugar-free Turtles and Peanut Butter Cups - YUM!)in thier bulk bins for you diabetics out there).

Of course! I'm going there (bulk barn) for the TV snacks too. Excellent.

Ditto on the Bulk Barn on Ogilvie and Blair for the dried beans! They have quite a few kinds to choose from and the prices are super reasonable!

Yes. Bulk Barn has a variety of dried beans. But don't know if they are organic. I heard that Rainbow's soy beans (yellow beans) are organic and the soy milk made from those soy beans taste much better.

Beware of the side effect from eating beans. Don't fart too much! LOL.

Do you REALLY love beans? Grace Ottawa (219 Bank Street) www.ottawafoodies.com has 10kg (!) bags of dried beans (black, romano, white, lima), black-eyed and split peas, red and brown lentils - I'm missing a few types, no doubt - ranging in price from 9.99 to 12.99. Try and beat that. Brands are: NuPak and Mr. Goudas. These bags are BIG. Think: the bags they drop out of planes in famine-struck areas. Heave-ho!
I am a BIG fan of red lentils. They can be prepared incredibly quick from dried. I cook them with garam masala then, when done, firmly press to cover the bottom of a lightly oiled pan and fry. It gives you an excellent crispy delicious crust for other goodies to be piled on.
Other things, among many, at Grace that make it worth the trip: their selection of spices; lime leaves; the packages of flat flexible sheets of dried mini-bananas (smeared thin with PB and rolled like a Piroulline cookie - very good); and their large tubs of tofu (12 blocks/tub for 2.99), great for miso soup.

And for comic relief: the refrigerated beverage section. Example: Mrs. French's Vanilla Corn Drink. (shudder)
But this was about beans: Grace is my pick.
p.s. they do have smaller bags (~400grams) of all the above as well (also cheap)

AMR, I hope you don't mind -- I cloned your posting over to the Grace vendor entry (under the new food, "Pulses"): Grace Ottawa

And I just added a new food "Beans" and connected the two :-)

Now I should post my ma's bean recipe ... hmmmm ... time to go digging.

Ladies and gentleman,

I usually go to Herb and Spice on Bank Street for my beans and last time this was the result.........

White "giant" beans in earthenware pan!!

Beans: poetry for the palate ;)

beans are poetry at the other end in their own way, too ;-)

Check out any of the many mid-east food stores in Ottawa. Al Balad, near where I live on Richmond, has a lot of dried peas and beans prepacked at good prices. I second Grace Foods and Bulk Barn.

Everything you ever wanted to know about beans...

www.ranchogordo.com

make sure you check out the recipe section.