A plate of beans
August 1, 2016 12:04 AM Subscribe
...all good fights have to be between blue and red, that’s how wars work. (Even bean wars.) Literal beans.
Please don't judge me for really enjoying this. I don't know why I love this kind of trivially frugal math, but it's almost like a hobby when I go grocery shopping. The greatest joy is when I realize that two of the smaller containers of something are equal in volume/weight to the larger one, but thanks to a sale or something you still end up spending less by buying them. Which is counterintuitive, right? Because you'd expect it to be the other way around.
Wait, this is like the saddest comment I have ever written. I am so definitely past my prime partying years.
posted by teponaztli at 12:47 AM on August 1, 2016 [37 favorites]
Wait, this is like the saddest comment I have ever written. I am so definitely past my prime partying years.
posted by teponaztli at 12:47 AM on August 1, 2016 [37 favorites]
In Norway a newspaper has been making a price index of common groceries for some years now. They've put together a list that's supposed to reflect a typical shopping list, and do comparisons between the major chains. Everyone knows what's in the list, and those particular products just happens to be cheaper in all the chains. One example that comes to mind is one brand of (*off to Google*) crème anglaise that is sold in both 1 l and 1/2 l cartons, where the bigger container actually costs less than the small one.
posted by Harald74 at 2:30 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Harald74 at 2:30 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
(And as an aside, the writer of TFA should procure a set of kitchen scales. Really.)
posted by Harald74 at 2:31 AM on August 1, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 2:31 AM on August 1, 2016 [6 favorites]
...common groceries... typical shopping list... crème anglaise ....
Apparently I need to move to Norway
posted by FirstMateKate at 5:17 AM on August 1, 2016 [10 favorites]
Apparently I need to move to Norway
posted by FirstMateKate at 5:17 AM on August 1, 2016 [10 favorites]
I posted this out of sheer amusement as the Platonic ideal of the metafilter plate of beans but then I had to open two cans of beans cooking tonights and ended up contemplating exactly how many beans each can had while draining them into bowls. Life imitates art.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:02 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:02 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
...common groceries... typical shopping list... crème anglaise ....
Apparently I need to move to Norway
I hope I didn't mess up the translation. It's vanilla flavoured custard, which Wikipedia led me to believe is called crème anglaise. In Norway we use it as a topping for jello/jelly, chocolate pudding, some types of cakes and fresh fruit. Most kid's birthdays feature jello/jelly drowned in the stuff. The supermarket variety is made without real vanilla, but does contain large quantities of cream and whole milk, and is delicious. Here's how it looks on strawberries.
posted by Harald74 at 6:17 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Apparently I need to move to Norway
I hope I didn't mess up the translation. It's vanilla flavoured custard, which Wikipedia led me to believe is called crème anglaise. In Norway we use it as a topping for jello/jelly, chocolate pudding, some types of cakes and fresh fruit. Most kid's birthdays feature jello/jelly drowned in the stuff. The supermarket variety is made without real vanilla, but does contain large quantities of cream and whole milk, and is delicious. Here's how it looks on strawberries.
posted by Harald74 at 6:17 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Technically, those were bowls of beans....
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:25 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:25 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
And yes, what kind of kitchen overthinking can you do without a kitchen scale?
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:26 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:26 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Literal beanplating on MetaFilter.
The Meta is too great.
posted by Fizz at 6:27 AM on August 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
The Meta is too great.
posted by Fizz at 6:27 AM on August 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
I'm delighted to find that your cans of black beans cost roughly the same as canned black beans in the UK.
Black beans are exotic beans here - nowhere sold them canned or served them, then the one Chipotle in London (when there was still only one) was the only place that served them, and now apparently even my local burrito place serves them and I can buy them in a can (though still from the "world foods" section, not the regular beans section). This is over the last ten years or so. When I first learnt of their deliciousness, you could only get them dry in a few places, and I am just not one of life's overnight bean-soakers.
I don't know why I assumed that much more accessible also translated to much cheaper, but it's gratifying to know that I'm not paying through the nose for the fancy beans.
posted by terretu at 7:08 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Black beans are exotic beans here - nowhere sold them canned or served them, then the one Chipotle in London (when there was still only one) was the only place that served them, and now apparently even my local burrito place serves them and I can buy them in a can (though still from the "world foods" section, not the regular beans section). This is over the last ten years or so. When I first learnt of their deliciousness, you could only get them dry in a few places, and I am just not one of life's overnight bean-soakers.
I don't know why I assumed that much more accessible also translated to much cheaper, but it's gratifying to know that I'm not paying through the nose for the fancy beans.
posted by terretu at 7:08 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
The greatest joy is when I realize that two of the smaller containers of something are equal in volume/weight to the larger one, but thanks to a sale or something you still end up spending less by buying them. Which is counterintuitive, right? Because you'd expect it to be the other way around.
Wait, this is like the saddest comment I have ever written. I am so definitely past my prime partying years.
I'll one-up your sadness, because whenever I discover a bargain like this, after the initial thrill of triumph, I spend about 45 seconds flagellating myself over the environmental impact of the increased packaging in two small units vs. one large one.
posted by BrashTech at 7:21 AM on August 1, 2016 [11 favorites]
Wait, this is like the saddest comment I have ever written. I am so definitely past my prime partying years.
I'll one-up your sadness, because whenever I discover a bargain like this, after the initial thrill of triumph, I spend about 45 seconds flagellating myself over the environmental impact of the increased packaging in two small units vs. one large one.
posted by BrashTech at 7:21 AM on August 1, 2016 [11 favorites]
here in chile (in my particular part of santiago) you occasionally find things (moreso maybe 10 years ago) in small packets are less per item / weight than larger packets. i have always suspected that is / was because the shops are effectively catering to two different social groups: the relatively wealthy people who live in my neighbourhood, and the people who work in the shops here (or as maids, or gardeners). the more wealthy people pretty much reflexively buy the larger packets, expecting them to be better value, while the less well off look carefully at the price of the smaller packets. so there is more pressure on prices at the smaller packet level.
but of course it's difficult to be objective about this - that kind of analysis may be nothing more than a reflection of my distorted outsider view of this society.
(also, it kind-of doesn't surprise me that the author doesn't own scales if they are usian. all your recipes seem to be in weird volume measures anyway.)
posted by andrewcooke at 7:41 AM on August 1, 2016
but of course it's difficult to be objective about this - that kind of analysis may be nothing more than a reflection of my distorted outsider view of this society.
(also, it kind-of doesn't surprise me that the author doesn't own scales if they are usian. all your recipes seem to be in weird volume measures anyway.)
posted by andrewcooke at 7:41 AM on August 1, 2016
Oh god, I think about that too. And then it's all about weighing my financial situation vs. environmental concerns and trying to decide what the cutoff should be. Like, how much can savings justify the greater environmental burden? Do they ever? Has capitalism turned me into an environmental monster? Is it fair to blame capitalism or am I just making bad decisions? And so on...
posted by teponaztli at 7:42 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by teponaztli at 7:42 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
GenjiandProust: "Technically, those were bowls of beans...."
You're overthinking this.
posted by caution live frogs at 8:02 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
You're overthinking this.
posted by caution live frogs at 8:02 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
not one of life's overnight bean-soakers
Anyone need a username?
With small varieties like black beans, you don't really need to soak them overnight — they just require longer simmering. If you don't mind an extra half hour, you can be impulsive and still enjoy the superior taste and texture of dried beans! (Of course, opinions vary on this matter.)
posted by mubba at 8:11 AM on August 1, 2016
Anyone need a username?
With small varieties like black beans, you don't really need to soak them overnight — they just require longer simmering. If you don't mind an extra half hour, you can be impulsive and still enjoy the superior taste and texture of dried beans! (Of course, opinions vary on this matter.)
posted by mubba at 8:11 AM on August 1, 2016
I hope I didn't mess up the translation. It's vanilla flavoured custard
Americans are oddly resistant to custards and eat them rarely, so we tend to associate them with ambitious desserts. In the U.S., you'd probably just pour cream over the strawberries, and use whipped cream on cakes, etc.
I love this kind of analysis, even if in the end it doesn't change the choice. Too many years staring gloomily at the bottom shelves of supermarkets!
posted by praemunire at 8:17 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Americans are oddly resistant to custards and eat them rarely, so we tend to associate them with ambitious desserts. In the U.S., you'd probably just pour cream over the strawberries, and use whipped cream on cakes, etc.
I love this kind of analysis, even if in the end it doesn't change the choice. Too many years staring gloomily at the bottom shelves of supermarkets!
posted by praemunire at 8:17 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
I loved this. I love doing this kind of a/b with common consumer goods: it's literally the only kind of math I enjoy.
posted by eclectist at 9:16 AM on August 1, 2016
posted by eclectist at 9:16 AM on August 1, 2016
In an article dedicated to carefully measuring the differences between two tins of beans, ostensibly for the purpose of finding out "how many more beans" one can offered, SHE DID NOT COUNT THE BEANS.
/throws down laptop in disdain, yells for butler
posted by lucidium at 9:29 AM on August 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
/throws down laptop in disdain, yells for butler
posted by lucidium at 9:29 AM on August 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
If you have a pressure cooker, you can go from dry to cooked in 11-13 minutes, depending on how fresh your beans are.
posted by rockindata at 10:04 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rockindata at 10:04 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
lucidium: In an article dedicated to carefully measuring the differences between two tins of beans, ostensibly for the purpose of finding out "how many more beans" one can offered, SHE DID NOT COUNT THE BEANS.
Well, beans are not a uniform thing. Sure, they're pretty close in size, but with sufficient bulk, different bean sizes could start to matter. It's not like hair scrunchies, where each is a singular object to be utilized on its own.
On that note, I knew someone who did count the hairbands in a container of 500 or something. When she found there were less than 500 as stated on the container, she wrote the company a letter stating her concern about the quantity she found. In reply, she got a ton of hairbands sent to her. This was in the mid 1990s, so she couldn't exactly tweet or blog about it and get any attention to this corner-cutting.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on August 1, 2016
Well, beans are not a uniform thing. Sure, they're pretty close in size, but with sufficient bulk, different bean sizes could start to matter. It's not like hair scrunchies, where each is a singular object to be utilized on its own.
On that note, I knew someone who did count the hairbands in a container of 500 or something. When she found there were less than 500 as stated on the container, she wrote the company a letter stating her concern about the quantity she found. In reply, she got a ton of hairbands sent to her. This was in the mid 1990s, so she couldn't exactly tweet or blog about it and get any attention to this corner-cutting.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on August 1, 2016
Well, beans are not a uniform thing. Sure, they're pretty close in size, but with sufficient bulk, different bean sizes could start to matter.
And this is why one would need to use a statistically significant number of each type of can in order to assess the differences between the two types. IT CAN BE DONE!
posted by blurker at 10:51 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
And this is why one would need to use a statistically significant number of each type of can in order to assess the differences between the two types. IT CAN BE DONE!
posted by blurker at 10:51 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Here's hoping that fiestaware is made after 1972.
posted by poe at 11:50 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by poe at 11:50 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
In reply, she got a ton of hairbands sent to her.
Even more reason to count the beans!
-No, wait, the can doesn't say how many beans. I must be under-thinking this.
posted by MtDewd at 2:03 PM on August 1, 2016
Even more reason to count the beans!
-No, wait, the can doesn't say how many beans. I must be under-thinking this.
posted by MtDewd at 2:03 PM on August 1, 2016
According to a consumer magazine article I read once, the food companies are acting deliberately when they price smaller containers cheaper per unit than large ones. They know that most people value things comparatively, not absolutely, so they mark products down temporarily to get you to compare the current price against the previous price. They can't do this indefinitely with a single product size, though, so they cycle the "sale" among the different sizes so that on average their revenue is mostly constant.
Yes, all other things being equal they make less profit from the smaller containers when it's their turn to be on sale, but remember that the small containers are usually only cheaper relative to the larger containers' "normal" price. They're almost always more expensive than the discounted price, so the increased cost of packaging and transport has actually been taken into account. By putting small containers on sale they can satisfy their regular customers and also attract some new ones. Overall, it's a win for them.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:26 PM on August 1, 2016
Yes, all other things being equal they make less profit from the smaller containers when it's their turn to be on sale, but remember that the small containers are usually only cheaper relative to the larger containers' "normal" price. They're almost always more expensive than the discounted price, so the increased cost of packaging and transport has actually been taken into account. By putting small containers on sale they can satisfy their regular customers and also attract some new ones. Overall, it's a win for them.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:26 PM on August 1, 2016
Never mind counting them, mash 'em and tell me the volumes. It's clear that the cheap beans are bigger on average. This means they possibly don't pack together as closely. So the more expensive brand may be giving even more bean for the buck than TFA suggests. Enough to overcome the 79c/93c per cup gap? Maybe not. We can't tell! <throws TFA across room>
posted by Autumn Leaf at 8:22 PM on August 1, 2016
posted by Autumn Leaf at 8:22 PM on August 1, 2016
Forget volumes, just use a scale as suggested above.
Counting would not work even with repeated trials as one type of bean might be consistently bigger or smaller than the other kind.
posted by peacheater at 3:57 AM on August 2, 2016
Counting would not work even with repeated trials as one type of bean might be consistently bigger or smaller than the other kind.
posted by peacheater at 3:57 AM on August 2, 2016
I think the nutrient list gives a good indication of the contents. Signature Kitchens has 20g of carbohydrates, including 8g of fiber and 2g of sugars. S&W has 22g of carbohydrates, including 9g of fiber and 1g of sugars. These measurements imply that "carbohydrates neither fiber nor sugar" measure 10g for Signature Kitchens and 12g for S&W. So S&W very likely has 10-20% more beans, depending on which component you use as a metric.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:06 AM on August 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:06 AM on August 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
As soon as she said that she couldn't confirm that both cans contained 15 oz of product because she didn't have a scale, I came straight here to register my outrage. Those are volumetric ounces! Yes it's idiotic that we use ounces for both weight and volume, but if you're gonna do an experiment you gotta understand your units. Even if they are stupid ones.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 10:50 AM on August 3, 2016
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 10:50 AM on August 3, 2016
As soon as she said that she couldn't confirm that both cans contained 15 oz of product because she didn't have a scale, I came straight here to register my outrage. Those are volumetric ounces!
The label says "NET WT 15 OZ". That's not volume, that's weight.
Yes it's idiotic that we use ounces for both weight and volume, but if you're gonna do an experiment you gotta understand your units. Even if they are stupid ones.
Agreed, understanding which unit is appropriate is essential. And apparently trickier than it appears.
posted by Lexica at 2:52 PM on August 3, 2016
The label says "NET WT 15 OZ". That's not volume, that's weight.
Yes it's idiotic that we use ounces for both weight and volume, but if you're gonna do an experiment you gotta understand your units. Even if they are stupid ones.
Agreed, understanding which unit is appropriate is essential. And apparently trickier than it appears.
posted by Lexica at 2:52 PM on August 3, 2016
Volumetric ounces? Oh lord.
Huh, Wikipedia tells me that the US actually uses a binary system of measurement:
1 US fluid ounce = 1⁄128 US gallon
= 1⁄32 US quart
= 1⁄16 US pint
= 1⁄8 US cup
= 1⁄4 US gill
= 2 US tablespoons
= 6 US teaspoons
= 8 US fluid drams
That's ... not as unreasonable as I thought it would be. Except for the US teaspoons, fsck them.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:06 PM on August 3, 2016
Huh, Wikipedia tells me that the US actually uses a binary system of measurement:
1 US fluid ounce = 1⁄128 US gallon
= 1⁄32 US quart
= 1⁄16 US pint
= 1⁄8 US cup
= 1⁄4 US gill
= 2 US tablespoons
= 6 US teaspoons
= 8 US fluid drams
That's ... not as unreasonable as I thought it would be. Except for the US teaspoons, fsck them.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:06 PM on August 3, 2016
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posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 12:23 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]