Where's the Beef?

Meat panic buyer's shopping cart

Did you hear about the BC couple who cleaned out the meat section in a Kelowna Save-on-Foods?

Yep, they went into the store in mid-late March with two shopping carts, pushed themselves in front of other customers trying to decide between strip loin or sirloin and put every single package of meat into their own buggies. Then apparently laughed as they went through the checkout that they had "cleaned house" and not left anything for other shoppers. Charming.

Needless to say... after that little episode hit the airwaves around the world, Save-on-Foods immediately put a limit on how many items a customer could purchase from each department.

As for the meat hoarding couple, they are now rather scared because they are getting death threats. They admit that they were motivated by fears of Covid-19 and did some panic buying. They likely aren't the only ones... just the most extreme ones. Note to self: if you want to panic buy, don't be conspicuous and clean out the entire department...

A month later... and we're hearing that meat processing plants in BC, Alberta and the US are shutting down, or going on reduced schedules, because Covid-19 is doing a number on their staff. Which might explain why, when I was in Costco the other day, I saw not a few people who had stacks and stacks of meat packages in their shopping carts. Maybe they have a big family. Maybe they don't want to go shopping every week at Costco - I sure as heck don't!

We're constantly being told that the food supply chain is fine. There's nothing to worry about. And yet... walk into any grocery store and you'll still have trouble finding yeast, frozen berries and/or toilet paper.

On top of that, the head of Tyson Foods, one of the meat processing giants, warned that the "food supply chain is breaking". With reduced meat processing plant capacity, farmers have nowhere to send their market-ready animals. Which means that millions of cows, chickens, etc will be "depopulated". A rather interesting word which basically means - slaughtered and their lives wasted. Which will lead to a shortage of meat in grocery stores and higher prices, etc. etc.

Which is why some of the news articles are suggesting that Canadians start experimenting in their kitchens with beans, lentils, legumes and tofu... all of which are produced in Canada. Welcome to my world!

Six months ago... the only thing I really used pulses for was chili, burritos, hummus, pea soup and making my Mom's world-famous (OK... family-famous)... lentil soup. [N.B. I keep having to add items to this list because apparently we used more pulses in my meat-eating days than I thought...]

I wasn't really a big fan of pulses... legumes... call them what you will. But... having left the animal protein world behind us (meat, dairy, eggs)... and embraced a whole-food, plant-based eating plan... legumes are my new friends.

Ever had a bean burger? They are actually darn yummy! And this is a home-made bean burger... not one of those Beyond Beef Burgers that are stuffed with all sorts of weird things. It's all about finding the good recipes... and there a lot of them out there... it just takes some experimentation. We're still working on tofu though... it's a texture thing for us... ick.

All pulses are legumes... but not all legumes are pulses!

OK... I need a digression here. Is it legumes or is it pulses?? I came across this little chart and it helped me get the distinction...

So... legumes are soybeans, peanuts, fresh peas and fresh beans AND pulses... which are the dried versions of beans, peas, chickpeas and lentils. Got it... Basically all pulses are legumes but not all legumes are pulses! I'm gonna try and keep this straight and use the terminology correctly! But forgive me if I slip back into legume territory...

Now... despite the fact that Canada is one of the global leaders in producing legumes... err... pulses...

Another aside.... Did you know Canada is #1 for dried peas and lentils, #9 for chickpeas, #27 for dried beans? Apparently Canada (Saskatchewan mostly) produces 95% of the world's lentils... whaattt!! Did you know we produce 150 different varieties of legumes? Who knew there were that many?? I mean... I kinda always thought Saskatchewan was purely grain farming... it's not!

Anyhow... despite the fact that we are a primo pulses producer... there is a limit to how much stock is on hand. We're tapping into pulses grown last year... and once that stock is gone... well, it's gone. Pulses producers have seen a 500-1000% demand in pulses from grocery stores. Which is crazy. But... what's not to like about dried legumes? They are are cheap, don't take up a lot of space in the pantry and have a long shelf life. Canned legumes are more convenient by far but not as cheap, and they take up more space. On the other hand... neither dry nor canned legumes need to be kept in a freezer, like a stockpile of meat.

Oh, and if that weren't enough... legumes pack plenty of protein and fibre. It's a myth that you need to eat meat in order to meet [hah!] your daily recommended intake of protein. Most North Americans get more than enough protein... but most don't get enough fibre. Cause meat don't have fibre... only plants have fibre... and your gut biome loves fibre... So legumes really tick a bunch of boxes...

Superstore's regular dried legume section... cleaned out.

Now... confession time... back in January, when we went meat free... we still had some meat in our freezer. Some pork back ribs, a salmon, ground chicken chubs, chicken breasts, a few roasts and not a few packages of bacon. We were debating giving the meat to some friends when Covid-19 hit... and so the meat is still in our freezer. Kind of a back-up plan I guess... in case we ever need to trade a package of bacon for a package of toilet paper or something... here's hoping it won't come to that...

In the meantime, I buy a couple of packages and/or cans of pulses every week... when we can find them.

Superstore's regular legumes - 900 gram packages

Superstore is our usual stop for shopping and... the regular pulses section (in the Canned Vegetables aisle) is kind of hit or miss. One week they have nothing... the next week they might have dry kidney beans but nothing else.

 So I buy what I can find. But here's a little tip... around the corner, in the International aisle... go and look for this brand... Suraj...

Suraj brand legumes from
Superstore's International aisle
(1.8 kg package)

They come in 1.8 kg packages and are usually much cheaper than Superstore's regular stuff. And way cheaper if you can get them on sale (anything under $5/package).

A few years ago, this brand used to be super cheap... like $4/package (the same price as the regular, smaller, dried legume packages) but then... they figured out that this stuff was flying off the shelves and... the price went up. Still... you can sometimes find it on sale.

Superstore's International aisle - dried legumes

On top of that... last year Superstore rearranged their International aisle (I hate it when they do that!) and drastically reduced their selection of Suraj options. Nowadays you can maybe get 4 or 5 different types of pulses. Still... if you're looking for chickpeas, red lentils and sometimes split yellow peas... Suraj will be on the shelf, even if the regular pulses are cleaned out.

You can also try Bulk Barn... most of their stores are still open although it is a bit trickier. Ours only has online shopping since they have reduced staffing levels. Place an order online... get a phone call that it is ready to pick up, drive down, walk in and pay for it. Other Bulk Barns have escorted shopping trips - go in and a staff member will walk around the store with you and scoop your selections into bags. The prices aren't that far off either. For pulses, anything around $0.30/100 grams is a good deal.

Another option is an international food store... I've never tried any here in town but a friend in the UK says she found rice in a small international shop (Thai, I think) when the local Tesco was sold out... I imagine it would be the same for pulses since they are a staple of southeast Asian (particularly Indian) cooking.

Oh... and check the expiry date on your bag of pulses. While they do have a long shelf life, it isn't forever. We have first hand experience with using pulses beyond their expiry date. They are most definitely al dente and no amount of pre-soaking or cooking will soften them... Be warned.