Cooking Beans in Your Crockpot!

I love making my own cooked beans to have on hand for dishes! They're so easy to make, and the crockpot makes it a "fix it and forget it" task! Cooking your own beans is alot cheaper than buying them canned. A can of beans costs upwards of 99c around here, while a single bag of uncooked beans costs 99c, and I can get 3 cans worth out of a bag. So thats only 33c!

Don't be afraid of cooking your own beans, the crockpot makes it a snap!

First, pull out all of the split, wrinkled and misshapen beans....

Then, place in a large bowl and cover with 2-3 inches of water. Cover and let soak overnight. If you live in a warm climate or if your furnace is on, let them sit in the refrigerator overnight while they soak. This will prevent bacteria from forming!

On a side note, I have heard that this step can be omitted, it doesn't do much for the softening of beans, it is just a way to release the gasses that come along with beans. So this step is up to you!

Then, strain and again look through for misshapen, wrinkled and split beans. Place in the crockpot. Cook in the crockpot on low for 8 hours. As with the bowl, fill the crock with enough water so that there is two to three inches covering the beans.

Once done, measure out 1 1/3 cups of the cooked beans (1 1/3 cup cooked = 1 can storebought). Place in a Ziploc bag or plastic container. Freeze until ready for use.

I love cooking beans this way, mostly because using the crockpot only costs pennies per hour to run versus the stove! So not only is it frugal to cook your own beans, but it is also frugal on your energy bill too!

For more great kitchen tips, check out Kitchen Tip Tuesday over at Tammy's Recipes!