How long it took to go through 5,000 lbs. of dried beans at the Guelph Food Bank

Dried beans donated to the Guelph Food Bank. (Spencer Turcotte/CTV News)

The Guelph Food Bank said it has taken more than eight months to go through a big bean donation from the University of Guelph.

The school donated 5,000 lbs. of dried legumes to the organization in October 2025.

Researchers at U of G have been working to develop high-yielding varieties that can resist disease and adapt to changing climates. Those included pinto beans, cranberry beans, black beans and navy beans.

All of them could have gone to waste. Instead, the school decided to donate them.

“They offered us about 1,000 lbs. of dried beans,” Carolyn McLeod-McCarthy, the managing director at the Guelph Food Bank, told CTV News on Oct. 29. “Our operations manager said, ‘Of course, sure, we’ll take those.’ Then I went to pick them up [Tuesday] with our volunteer driver and we have 5,520 lbs. of beans.”

She described them as a versatile protein with a great shelf life and, as a bonus, they were grown locally.

On July 16, McLeod-McCarthy shared an update.

She said the food bank’s main location, and its 16 satellite locations, had finally gone through the entire donation.

“A wonderful gift that kept on giving!” McLeod-McCarthy wrote in an email to CTV News. “To put that in perspective, 5,030 lbs. at roughly 11 servings per lb. cooked (according to nutrition guidelines of 3/4 cup of cooked beans per serving), that nets about 55,000 individual portions of plant-based proteins. What a great outcome for our families in need.”

With reporting from Spencer Turcotte