I see that Seed Saver's Exchange has some of the beans I want to try as both regular seed packs, and listed as "cooking beans".

Regular vegetable seed beans: http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/bean/

Cooking beans: http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/cookingbeans/

From my experience, dry beans purchased in the grocery store will sprout and grow just as well as beans packaged specifically for gardeners. For example, a 1-lb bag of pinto beans from the dollar store worked wonderfully as a green manure planting this summer to revitalize the soil after I took out my beets, radishes and peas in late June.

The cooking beans are slightly cheaper than the vegetable bean seeds. What is the difference here? Why can't I just buy the cooking beans for planting and save myself a few dollars?

Thanks!