Balela

We used to be frequent buyers of products in the refrigerated, prepared foods section at Costco. Before we did a lot of cooking from scratch, back when I had no idea what time I'd be coming home from work or what days I'd be eating dinner at the office, we bought a lot of prepared foods, like ravioli, tabouli, and more. These days we don't buy as much of that stuff, but we recently made an exception for this balela salad.

We were at my parents' house a few weeks back and for whatever reason, I was really hungry when we got there. I was looking around in their fridge and found this big tub of balela. Might as well give it a try! Balela is a Mediterranean salad usually made with chickpeas, black beans, onions, tomatoes, lots of parsley, olive oil, and vinegar. This one, made by Pita Pal, was pretty good in the small amount I had, and I started to wonder whether it would actually be more cost-effective to buy a big tub like this for lunches instead of making it on my own.

At our local Costco, this tub is usually $8, but the day we went was the last day of the sale so it was knocked down to $6. For $6, only a little more than what I estimated it would cost to make on our own, it seemed worth it to get one, so we bought a tub. Overall, it was good, although I would caution that if you don't particularly like or can't eat a lot of vinegar, you might want to try it before you buy it. It is a bit on the sour side due to the vinegar and the sun-dried tomatoes, but we liked it. That said, would we get it again? It depends. It's the type of salad I'd probably try making on my own first, but if it's on sale for a good price again, then maybe. Always looking for more healthy, quick, and tasty bean salads to add into our rotation!