About this Event
Better with Beans – Big Flavour on a Budget 🫘
Monthly budget-friendly cooking classes focused on simple, healthy meals, big flavour and practical money-saving skills.
This November, we're putting budget-friendly beans centre stage!
Inspired by the nationwide campaign from The Food Foundation and Veg Power encouraging the UK to eat more beans, we'll explore why beans and pulses are brilliant ingredients for making affordable, filling and nutritious everyday meals.
Taking inspiration from feijoada, Brazil's famous black bean stew, we'll make our own hearty plant-based version using black beans, seasonal squash and soy chunks, packed with rich, smoky flavours.
We'll also be sharing practical time-saving kitchen tricks, including a much easier way to prepare those notoriously tough seasonal squashes!
In this session we'll be making:
🥘 A smoky Brazilian-inspired black bean, squash & soy chunk stew
Along the way we'll explore:
🫘 How inexpensive beans can form the basis of quick, filling meals
🌱 How to prepare and add flavour to dried soy chunks
🎃 An easy trick for preparing seasonal squash without struggling to chop it
⏱️ Simple shortcuts for getting healthy meals on the table more easily
💷 Ways to use affordable ingredients to make your food budget go further
💡 Ideas for getting more beans and pulses into everyday meals
Perfect for anyone wanting to:
✨ Discover new and tasty ways to cook with beans
✨ Make cheap, filling meals from simple ingredients
✨ Get more confident using dried and store-cupboard staples
✨ Try more plant-based proteins
✨ Pick up practical cooking shortcuts to use at home
📍 Allens Cross Community Association
Florence Pickering Hall
24 Tinkers Farm Rd, Birmingham B31 1RH
📅 Friday 13 November 2026
⏰ 1pm–2.30pm
☕ Optional refreshments and group activity until 3pm
📅 Future Cooking Club dates
Join us on the second Friday of every month:
🎄 Friday 11 December – Festive Leftovers
🌱 Friday 8 January – Veganuary Swaps
Each class has a different theme, so you're welcome to attend as many or as few as you like.
🎟️ Booking
This session is completely FREE, but booking is essential as spaces are limited.
Each monthly Cooking Club class is booked separately.
About Building Greener Communities
Allens Cross Cooking Club is part of Building Greener Communities, helping local people develop practical skills to save money, eat well and make environmentally friendly choices in everyday life.
🚗 Limited free parking available
🚌 Accessible via bus routes 61, 63, 18 and 27
♿ For allergies, dietary requirements or accessibility questions, please contact [email protected] at least one week before the session.
Funded by Building Greener Communities / The National Lottery Community Fund.
Read about The Food Foundation and Veg Power's nationwide beans campaign
We look forward to welcoming you! 🌿🍞
Event venue & nearby stays
Allens Cross Community Association, 24 Tinkers Farm Road, Birmingham, United Kingdom
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