Using Dried Beans

Previously we have talked about using inexepensive cuts of meat. I also want to show you how I use inexpensive cuts of beef, but with my gallbladder problems, I can’t eat red meat at the moment, so we are going to skip that tutorial for a little bit and I will share with you my last trick for saving money on the protein portion of our meals.  We have a meatless meal at least every other week.

Our favorite way to cut out meat is to make a whole protein using rice and beans. We love burritos and we LOVE these Southwest Rice and Black Bean Burgers, and sometimes I can get my husband to eat plain rice and beans without too much complaining.

I save even more by using dried beans. I used to be intimidated by dried beans. You have to soak them and sort them and that just seemed like way too much work. But guess what? It is surprisingly easy once you know how to do it. I have learned how to do it the old fashioned way by soaking them, but a few months ago one of my friend’s posted a recipe using a Crock Pot. Genius!

First, place your beans into your Crock Pot. You want your Crock Pot to be LESS than halfway full. I put in 4 cups of Pinto Beans, this will make a LOT of beans. In general, 2 cups of dried beans will equal about 6 cups of cooked beans. Once your beans are in the Crock Pot, cover them with boiling water, you want twice as much water as beans.

Put the lid on and turn your Crock Pot onto low. I have seen recipes that recommend cooking for anywhere from 5-12 hours. Mine cooked in about 4 hours. It will depend on your Crock Pot and the size of bean you use. See how mine are starting to break apart just a bit. You want them to be very soft.

Your beans are all ready to use now. Salt them and use them just as you would canned in soups or on salads.

One way I like to use my beans is to make my own refried beans, they are so much better than canned and super cheap to make. Saute about 1/2 an onion, chopped and 3-4 cloves of minced garlic in about 2 Tbsp. of oil. Your house will smell heavenly.

Once the onion is starting to brown, turn the heat down to low and start spooning in your beans as well as some of the ” juice” (water from the beans). Start with maybe a cup of beans. Mash the beans as you put them in. If you have a potato masher use that. I don’t have one, so I just use the back of my spoon.

This is how they look a little mashed. Keep adding beans and juice. If you get too much liquid, don’t worry, the beans will thicken up as they cook.

I ended up using about 8 cups of beans. Now season then up. I like to use salt (quite a bit, maybe a little less than a teaspoon), cumin, chili powder and a little salsa. Yum!

I was left with 4 cups of beans. I divided them into two bags, labeled them and froze them. Then when I need a “can” of beans, I can just pull them out of the freezer.

I can buy pinto beans for $.60/lb. Two cups of dried beans is 1 lb. So for $1.20, I made the equivalent of almost 7 cans of beans. The best price I have seen on canned beans is about $.69 a can. I would much rather pay $.18 a can and know what is in the food my family is eating. Plus homemade refried beans are so much better than canned! After you have made homemade, you will not be able to eat canned refried beans.

Plus if you take into account that I can replace the protein portion of my meal by combining 4 cups of beans alolng with rice (which costs less than $.50), I can provide the protein portion of my family’s meal for about a dollar! That is huge savings!