I know many of you Budget Byters already cook your own beans but I wanted to make this post for all of the newbies out there. Beans are one of the most economical and nutritious foods available so I try to use them in recipes as often as possible. Canned beans are quick and convenient but with a little planning ahead, dry beans can be just as easy and HALF the cost of canned.
Many people (including myself) shy away from cooking dry beans because it seems like such a daunting chore with the overnight soaking and hours of cooking. What I’ve discovered is that cooking beans can be as easy as “setting it and forgetting it” and, thanks to Kalyn’s recent post, I now know that presoaking is not even necessary! If you cook a large batch, the beans can be divided up into two cup containers, frozen and then pulled out of the freezer as needed. Taking frozen beans out of the freezer is just as convenient as opening up a can!
Last night, I cooked up a batch of black beans for today’s soup. The final cost for one can equivalent of dry beans was $0.40 cents. Compare that to a store bought can which usually runs me about $0.79 and I’ve cut the cost in half. Plus, I’ve eliminated salt, preservatives and a lot of wasted packaging. Have I convinced you yet?
*NOTE* This method is not advised for kidney beans or beans in the kidney bean family (like white kidney beans or cannellini) because they contain a naturally occurring substance called Phytohaemagglutnin, which can be toxic to humans and cause severe GI distress. The beans must be cooked in a full boil for at least ten minutes to break down this substance, and most slow cookers do not achieve this level of heat.
How to Kick the Can (of beans)
Here is how it’s done:
STEP 1: Pour one pound (or two for an extra large batch) of beans out onto a baking sheet and sort through to remove any stones or debris. Transfer the beans to a colander to rinse off any dust.
STEP 2: Place the cleaned and sorted beans in a slow cooker and add 6 cups of water for every pound of beans. Put the lid on, set the cooker to HIGH and let her go. Beans that have not been presoaked will take 4-6 hours to cook on HIGH.
STEP 3: Once the beans are tender, pour them into a colander and give them a quick rinse. Divide the beans into containers (re-sealable or zip top freezer bags), label, date and freeze until ready to use! Easy as that.
One pound of dry beans will yield about 6 cups of cooked beans, equal to about 3 cans.
The hands-on time to make these beans was only about 15 minutes. Once they were cleaned and sorted, they go straight into the pot and then I didn’t have to do ANYTHING until I checked them four hours later. Then it’s just a quick drain, rinse and pack into containers.
You can cook beans on the stove top if you don’t have a slow cooker although it takes more attention and care. Just place them in a large pot with a lid (same water/bean ratio), bring it up to a boil then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer until tender. Do not let the beans boil heavily or else the delicate skins will disintegrate and you’ll be left with nothing but bean fragments.
If you have any tips, tricks or notable experiences cooking dry beans, share them in the comments section below!
…the black bean soup recipe should be posted later tonight ;)
Another bonus to cooking your own beans: the cooking water (not soaking water) can be kept and used as a tasty stock! I know this works for black beans, not sure for other kinds (will have to experiment with that!)
Probably a silly question… but will this process work for any bean or do different beans have different water/bean ratios? My local WF store sells garbanzo beans in bulk, which I would prefer over canned. I just want to make sure I prep them correctly.
It should be about the same bean/water ratio for all beans. The only bean I know of that you don’t want to use this method with is kidney beans. They need to be boiled heavily for at least 10 minutes to break down a naturally occurring chemical that can cause extreme gastric distress. The slow cooker doesn’t boil strong enough to accomplish that.
For years I made all my chili and bean soup recipes with kidney beans, but now I prefer “small red beans” instead and cook them from the dried state and I have found them canned also. Check the Hispanic aisle or stores. That is their generic name…..small red beans.
I love this recipe! I sauteed onions and garlic in vegetable oil and mixed it in the beans as they were cooking for more of a cuban styled meal ;)
I’ve heard there are health benefits to soaking foods(like beans) before cooking. How long should I cook the black beans in the crockpot if I pre-soak overnight? Do i still use the high heat setting? Of course this is assuming I actually plan far enough ahead- knowing I can just pour them in the morning of is awesome.
Well, I haven’t cooked them in the slow cooker with a presoak, so I can’t speak from experience. Here is the link to the site where I learned about cooking beans in the slow cooker. She did an experiment with soaking vs. not soaking. I’d assume you’ll need less liquid when you finally cook them, though, since they’ve already absorbed some.
If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can use a dutch oven (enameled cast iron is best) in the oven set at 200F. If your pot seals well, the timing should be the same as a slow cooker on High.
Thank you for this! I always used to cook my own beans but I started getting lazy and opting for canned. Organic canned beans with non-BPA liners are $2 plus tax at my grocery store (and that’s ON SALE) so this way is much cheaper. I find it really hard to plan ahead and with this method, I don’t have to :) Thanks again, you rock!
Thanks for all the tips! I’m just starting to get into eating beans and want to try out alot of your recipes, but I’m trying to stay away from canned foods. Also, I need to keep alot of pre-cooked pinto beans on hand for my pinto bean pie, which my pop frequently requests. This will keep me from having to do it the “long way”.
This is the sixth recipe that I’ve made from this budgetbytes.com. Just like all the others—it turned out marvelous! I hope to never buy a can of black beans again. Thanks a bunch for your awesome website.
Fantastic! I just made these last night. They only needed about 3.5 hours in my crock pot on high, but I think I’ll do them on low next time. I don’t have a scale, but I used 2 cups of dry beans and got 6 cups of cooked beans. Will definitely try again with chickpeas!
I bought a ~4 lb bag for about $4.50, which should give me the equivalent of 12 cans at $0.38/can. I buy the no-salt PC brand (I’m in Canada) which is $1.30/can or $1 on sale, so I’m cutting the cost to about a third! Woo!
I sort my beans and then leave them over night to soak in the Crockpot itself turned off. Then drain the water refill and cook.
I find these are the best! You can do so much with them. Add sausage to half and then puree the other for re-fried beans.
So I made these last weekend and got so busy that I totally forgot they were in the crock pot until about 9 hours later when I was over at my mom’s for dinner. (Uhh…oops?) Well, by the time I got home, it had been about 12 hours all together…in the crock pot…on high. But they were fine! A few on top looked a little dry and there wasn’t much water left but they were soft and cooked through lol! I just bagged them up with a little extra water to cover them and tossed them in the freezer. I’m still going to set a timer next time, though! Good to know they are literally fool proof. :)
Hi, i was just wondering if this was the same for chickpeas? we love making hummus in our house but can’t seem to remember to soak the beans, so we wind up buying the cans.
Yep, I’ve cooked chickpeas using this method before and they turned out great. :)
Thanks for the great idea. I am so new to cooking with beans I had been using canned beans. But I just bought some dry beans and now I know how to keep them even handier than canned beans.
A lot of people have asked about the price of water and electricity, but a quick google search can answer this:
Unless I’m mistaken, water costs something like $0.004/gallon unless you are buying overpriced bottled water and not filtering/using tap. This recipe calls for a lot less than a gallon, but lets just use that number. The local filter machine costs $0.54/gallon, and that’s also obscenely overpriced so $0.004 for tap isn’t unimaginable.
As for the electrical costs, a crock pot on low runs on something like 110w, which over 8 hours can be safely rounded up to 1KWH. US average for 1KWH is about 12 cents.
So, we’re talking a hidden cost of less than 12.4 cents. Definitely not the extra $0.40/can that’s being saved.
Hey NumbersGuy,
I was thinking the same thing myself (plus the cost of labor), so thanks for doing the research and answering the question for us. However, I might further clarify that since the 12.4 cents is being spread over what Beth says is the equivalent of 3 cans of beans, we ought to divide the 12.4 by 3 = 4.13 cents. This brings the final cost (not counting time/labor) to 40+4.13=44.13 cents per can.
I like to soak the beans, which usually reduces cook time to under 2 hours, so this would seem to bring electricity costs down to 3 cents, which when spread over the production of 3 cans of beans yields an added cost of about 1 cent per can. Rounding up might give us a cost of 42 cents per can if we soak the beans first.
I put a strip of kombu in the pressure cooker with mine (to cut down on gas). I spread them on a cookie sheet after cooked and put in freezer. Then you can use a wooden spoon to scrape them off and freeze them in bags–they’re not in a chunk that has to be completely thawed. Easy to grab a handful of chickpeas for a salad…