Dried Beans Are Convenient
By Milehimama on May 19, 2009 in Home Cooking, Make It Yourself, works for me wednesday
Every frugal site worth its salt promotes dried beans as the ultimate in cheap, nutritious meal foundation.
Using dried beans takes planning.
You’ve got to soak overnight, cook carefully without adding salt or acidic ingredients, then pull it all together in a meal before the beans turn to mush.
This means you have to remember that you planned to eat beans several hours before the children are gnawing on your leg demanding dinner, a skill that is not my strong suit.
Canned beans are so much more convenient, especially if you need to stretch a meal or throw something together fast, but they come at a premium. Canned beans are cheap – but they still cost twice as much or more than dried, take up more room in the pantry, and create more trash. What’s a harried housewife (or a bon-bon eating housewife, for that matter) to do?
You can make dried beans just as convenient at the canned stuff. Just use your freezer!
1. Rinse and pick your beans. I do 2-4 pounds at a time, might as well minimize dirty pots!
2. Quick soak. Bring beans to a boil for 2 minutes, then let soak, covered, for 1 hour. Kidney beans need to boil for a minimum of 5
minutes, though, to kill the toxins. Use plenty of water and don’t add salt!
3. Drain beans.
4. Package in quart sized ziplocs. A 15 oz. can of beans contains *around* 2 c., give or take. Use that as a guideline.
5. Put your beans in the freezer. Try to lay them flat, so they’ll stack easily and also so they’ll break up easily when you want to get them out of the bag.
6. When it’s time for a meal – use the frozen beans just like canned beans (you’ll have to heat a little bit more.) Freezing causes the water inside to expand, tenderizing them.
An added frugal bonus – full freezers use less energy, and therefore cost less to run.
For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, check out We Are THAT Family!
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Hey that is what I do. I used to fill up both crock-pots and let them cook overnight. I would put different kinds of beans in each one. Then package and freeze them.
One of the crocks was dropped so I need to get another one.
christy | May 20, 2009 | Reply
Awesome! Thanks I never knew you could do this with beans!!
Susieqtpie | May 20, 2009 | Reply
You don’t finish cooking them? Just do the quick-soak?
By the way, I like your byline/subtitle.
Rachel R. | May 20, 2009 | Reply
That’s cool! I’m going to try that. Thanks for the info.
Barb Szyszkiewicz, sfo | May 20, 2009 | Reply
Good advice! We eat a LOT of dried beans.
Birdie | May 20, 2009 | Reply
What a great tip! I had no idea you could do this with dried beans. I’ve used the quicksoak method, but have never frozen them without cooking them the rest of the way. Thanks!
Erin @ Closing Time | May 20, 2009 | Reply
Thank you for this idea! As a vegetarian I eat lots of beans, but never knew about freezing them after the 2 hour quick soak. This will make life soooo much easier!
Cindy | May 20, 2009 | Reply
Just make sure you boil for a little bit longer and let it have a good, long soak and you should be fine!
Milehimama | May 20, 2009 | Reply
What a great idea! Thank you for sharing this! I’ll be doing this soon.
Grateful for Grace | May 20, 2009 | Reply
I love this tip. When I have more freezer space I plan on employing it. For now though, I like to use my pressure cooker to soak and cook beans. I can usually have them soaked and cooked within an hour (includes a little time to let the pressure come down off of the cooker) and it works really well!
mub | May 26, 2009 | Reply
I always cook them all the way and then freeze the extras. This is an interesting twist. I see you want to make HM tortillas – I experimented a lot this winter and finally found a great recipe for 100% whole grain tortillas that taste just like storebought and are so easy to roll out. There were a lot of frustrations along the way! Feel free to grab the recipe at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/recipes/
Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship | Jun 25, 2009 | Reply
Great Tip
http://blessednationranch.blogspot.com
Janelle | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply