Kidney Beans
This is another post in the Frugal Eats series, as well as the How to series. Cooking beans is both cost-effective and so much more delicious!
At least once a month, the waft of cooking beans fills our home. There are a lot of cooking and baking smells that I love, but beans slowly simmering for a couple of hours is probably in my top ten, maybe even top five list of most favorite smells. It’s one of those smells that envelopes you, like a warm sweater on a cool day. It’s both comforting and nourishing, and I find myself smiling more as it drifts from the kitchen into every other room.
When we do break down and buy beans in a can a part of me feels like I am doing an injustice to not only my wallet (more on that in a bit), but to the beans and myself, too. When you cook your own beans you control the amount of salt and other ingredients, as well as the tenderness. Cooking gives you control, and allows you to experience a more flavorful meal.
Usually when I do one of these Frugal Eats posts, I do a financial breakdown of how much it costs. I will do it again this time, but I will use only one type of bean as an example because oftentimes different kinds of beans can cost varying amounts. I will use kidney beans as an example, and I am referring to online grocery store prices, so you may find that the cost varies from your own shopping experience. Also be aware that these are U.S. products and dollars.
| Product | Amount | Price | Cooked Yield | Price/Cooked Ounce |
| Goya Red Kidney Beans, dry (bag) | 16 ounces (about 2 cups) | $1.79 | About 40 ounces (5 cups) | $0.05/ounce |
| Goya Kidney Beans, Premium Red, cooked (can) | 15.5 ounces (about 2 cups) | $1.05 | 15.5 ounces | $0.07/ounce |
I bet I know what you’re thinking – you’re looking at that last column and wondering where the savings are because there is only a $0.02 difference. Well, if you were to purchase that bag of beans at the same price as the canned beans, it would be exactly a dollar more. Of course, if a dollar doesn’t matter to you, I am hopeful that taste (and smell!) does because it’s still so much better to keep that dollar to spend on some yummy ingredients and spices to throw into that pot of beans.
Of course, if your concern is that you have never made beans and think that making your own beans is hard, be happy in knowing that it’s not. It’s so easy, you can probably do it in your sleep (although I wouldn’t advise it!). Part of what makes it so easy is using a slow cooker, but even if you were to cook beans on the stove it would still be easy. That said, these instructions are for a slow cooker, so if you do not have one I recommend these posts on how to cook beans using a pressure cooker or cooking in a regular pot on the stove.
How to Cook Dry Beans in a Slow Cooker
- 1 pound dry beans (i.e. kidney, pinto, lima, navy, etc.)
- Water (I never measure, so bear with me)
The first thing you always need to get into the habit of doing is sorting your beans.
Sorting dry beans
When you put all of your beans out on a flat surface, just pull a few beans at a time out and examine to make sure that nothing suspect is in your beans. Sometimes you’ll have a pristine batch, but sometimes you’ll find unrelated beans or wheat (not good if you’re gluten-free), rocks, dirt and even bugs.
After you have sorted your beans, put them in a colander and rinse well, using your hands.
Rinsing dry beans
You can then put your beans into a large pot or bowl, cover with water and let them soak overnight. Or, if you want to make your beans the same day, use this faster method which I use all the time.
Put your beans into a large pot and cover with about an inch or two of water (see, I don’t measure). Put it on the stove and boil for a couple of minutes.
Boiling red kidney beans
After it has boiled for a couple of minutes, turn off the heat and let the beans sit for two hours. After they have sat for a couple of hours the water will be cloudy (in the case of the kidney beans, it’s a pinkish, mauve color).
Soaked kidney beans
Put the beans back into your strainer and thoroughly rinse them a second time.
Rinsing soaked kidney beans
Place your beans into your slow cooker, cover with about half an inch to an inch of water and cook on high for approximately one and a half to two hours. This time varies depending on what kinds of beans you are using, so you will need to check to be sure your beans are done before you remove them from your slow cooker.
Cooking dry beans in a slow cooker
(Notice that this is actually primarily a rice cooker, but I don’t even remember the last time we made rice in this thing! It’s perfect for making beans and steaming veggies.)
About half an hour or an hour before your beans are done cooking add in your spices and other ingredients. There are so many different ways that you can spice up your beans, so experiment. We really love spicing things up with onions and garlic, a little bit of cayenne pepper or tomatoes. It’s really up to you how flavorful you get. Stay tuned for a post on how I used these kidney beans!
Do you make your own beans? If so, do you use a slow cooker, pressure cooker or regular pot?
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This is a great post. I love crockpot cooking. I actually have a pot of rice and beans going right now. We threw 2 cups of dried pintos and a cup of brown rice in with some onion and spices. In about 3 hours, lunch will be ready. :)
I learned how to sort beans while volunteering at an orphanage in Kenya. Every day the staff, some of the older boys, and the volunteers would sit down and sort beans for lunch. I never perfected it though, there was always something that looked ok to me, then the boys would laugh and tell me it wasn’t! And rice and beans is one of the best dishes I’ve had in Cuba. It’s a staple there and my Cuban friends make it all the time.
So with all that, you’d think I make my own. *blushes* Not so much. I’ll consider your post a nudge in the right direction.
We love all kinds of dry beans. Mostly I use the pressure cooker and don’t bother to soak them.
Love to cook beans in my slow cooker, black, red, kidney, northern – they are all so good – the slow cooker is a real boon if you leave the house at 6:30 am and don’t get home until 6:00 pm! One suggestion – do not season them until they are done – if you salt them before they are cooked, they will remain hard forever (speaking from experience!)
another reader mentioned this already–you should weigh beans AFTER you cook them to get an accurate price comparison. Also, since dried beans keep so well they are an excellent item to buy in bulk–either from your local grocery warehouse like costco, or an online bulk foods site.
BTW, the weight of the canned beans is cooked ones. Have you weighed the dried ones after they are cooked?
I cooked fava beans at least a couple of times a week. I sort, rinse and bring to a boil in a pan then transfer to a crockpot. I start them out on high, then turn it to low and let them cook all night. The beans are peeled so I don’t soak them. When I get up, I put the salt in and stir well. Simple.
I’m so glad you posted this! Cooking dried beans is so easy I wish I remembered to do it more often. Even just cooking a large batch to have this staple on hand is so worth it.
I cook dried beans a couple times a week. Especially love the heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo – it’s a mail-order addiction for me. Plus, if the beans are pretty fresh, you generally don’t have to soak them at all. Just cook them a little longer.
I made red beans and rice yesterday, as a matter of fact. We don’t own a slow cooker; I’ve never used one. Not sure why I’d want to, as I’ve always been satisfied with cooking them in the pot.
We add a couple onions, green bell peppers, and celery to the pot, plus spices and herbs, including bay leaves. And we use red beans rather than the larger kidneys whenever we can find them.
I’m surprised the price difference isn’t greater, though. Still, the taste alone is worth it.