Beets are among the very few veggies that I will eat canned, but I always wondered about something. Today, I happened to be wondering about it while at the supermarket, so I tried a little experiment.
I bought two 15-oz. cans of beets: one “whole” and one “sliced.” Both cans were the same brand at the same price. When I got home I drained all the liquid and weighed the beets from each can.
The whole beets weighed 9.9 oz.
The sliced beets weighed 7.5 oz.
So the “sliced” can yielded only 76% as much as the “whole” can, for the same price. The nutritional data on the cans was slightly higher for the whole beets, but not in direct proportion to the weight; I assume they’re including the liquid.
So what this means is that from now on, I only buy whole beets. They are small enough to eat without cutting anyway. And I’ll save the liquid and make borsht.
Thanks for the tip. I like beets but I like the whole ones a little better. Still, I quite often buy the sliced because I have always assumed they are a better deal. (In principle you ought to be able to fit a lot more flat slices into a can than roundish balls, surely.) However, if, as you say, that is not the case, I too will be sticking to the whole beets in future.
I’m not terribly surprised. You quite often pay for the convenience of not having to slice the vegetables yourself. For example, iceberg lettuce, already portioned out into salad form, is something like $3 for a pound at most at the local grocery. Same lettuce is 89 cents a pound whole. Coleslaw? Presliced cabbage we’re looking again at about $2.50-$3/pound. Whole? 49 cents a pound. Yesterday I found presliced onions at the Meijer for about $1.50 a half pound. In the bins, they were something like 69 cents a pound. You pay for the convenience.
Yes, but what does that have to do with vegetables?
The onions, though, are just plain wrong. Not only are they charging too much, but onions won’t stay fresh for more than a few hours after you slice them. So you’re paying more for an inferior product.
Are salad greens not considered culinary vegetables or am I missing something?
No argument from me here. It’s incredible to see the browning, pre-sliced cukes, onions, and the like selling for a 3-4x premium over their fresh counterparts.
