Food creator Kathryn Bruton has shared when budget-friendly tinned beans are the smarter buy and when paying more for premium versions is worth it. In a TikTok clip filmed in a supermarket aisle, she said she mostly opts for the cheaper option and believes others should too.
Budget beans are 'mega store cupboard fillers'
Bruton, who has more than 17,000 followers on TikTok, pointed to affordable tinned beans priced around 45p, describing them as "absolutely delicious." She said they offer "the most amazing value for money" and can be used in many different types of meals.
For someone cooking for one, she noted a single tin can provide at least two meals, or one if particularly hungry. "These are mega store cupboard fillers for me," she said. "I always, always have them."
When premium jars are worth the cost
Bruton acknowledged that premium beans, sold in resealable glass jars rather than tins, come at a considerably higher price of £3.25 each, compared with between 45p and around £1.35 for tinned alternatives. She said the quality is "really good" and that the jar format takes the pressure off finishing the whole contents at once.
"I open the jar and I leave it in the fridge, and I just work away at it during the week when I'm cooking for myself," she explained.
Viewers share their own tips
Commenters offered their own suggestions. One recommended buying dried beans, saying they are "even cheaper and taste the same once hydrated." Another suggested reusing washed mayonnaise jars to store beans, raisins, and fruit. A third said they would not pay over £3 for a jar of beans, adding "45p tin will do the job."
Other comments noted that beans should only contain beans and water, with one user calling tinned pulses "most underrated food for health" and another saying they "live on tinned pulses" and add them to everything.
