sprinklefingers

i’ll admit i buy canned beans occasionally…especially when life gets busy and dinner needs to be made with no thought at all.

but - holy crap - does making a pot of beans make sense. they’re more delicious that way AND you will save tons of money. at least enough to buy some ice cream. or to pay for netflix for the month. or to put in your piggy bank to save for a rainy day.

in addition to the yum factor and the cash factor, cooking up a pot of beans is so super easy…and you can make a giant batch, use some and then freeze the rest for later…just like having a pantry stocked with cans of beans, only better!

super easy pot of beans

first up it’s important to mention that i don’t season my beans ahead. if buying canned beans i always buy the salt-free variety and i make my own beans salt-free, too. most of my beans go into soups or other dishes that get plenty of seasoning as it is…so i skip salt. but you can do what you’d like. these are your beans! your. beans!

you need:

• any variety dried beans. my favorite beans are cannellini (or white kidney) beans. they taste like butter. beany butter, yes. but like butter.
• water
• large soup/stock pot

to make your beans:

1. measure your desired amount of beans into the soup pot. i usually cook a batch starting with 4 cups of dried beans. this will yield a ton of cooked beans.
2. pour water over the beans to cover by a few good inches.
3. let the beans soak overnight.
4. drain the soaking liquid from the beans and add clean water to the pot - enough to cover the beans by a few good inches again.
5. set the pot over medium-high heat and put the lid on.
6. when the beans come to a boil, reduce the heat so that they don’t boil rapidly (but are still boiling) and set the lid a bit cock-eyed so that some steam will escape.
7. let the beans cook for 1 hour and then test one. you want them to be soft - like beans! - but not mushy. if they aren’t ready yet, let them cook a while longer. it usually takes my beans more like 1.5 hours to finish cooking. keep an eye on your liquid levels and add more water if it’s needed.
8. once your beans have finished cooking, drain them.
9. divide the beans into what you will use immediately and what you’ll be storing in your freezer.

i like to store my beans in the freezer in 3-cup containers. a very manageable size for most recipes plus 3-cup containers are easy to wedge in between other things in the freezer. all you have to do is pour the beans into the container, put the lid on and freeze. don’t add liquid or anything else. when you’re ready to use the beans simply remove from the freezer and thaw overnight in the fridge - OR just mix the frozen beans into whatever it is you’re making. they’ll thaw in no time flat.

beans! so easy!

[coming soon: a delicious soup using these beans!]