Slow Food, Turbo Style: Freezer Beans

I am always looking for easier ways to put good food on our table.  I want to keep things as healthy and wholesome as possible, but I also live a real life.  I don't spend my entire life hovering in the kitchen.  What I do needs to be pretty fast, most of the time, with occasional bursts of slow.  Not the other way around.  Freezer Beans are an occasional investment of slow that yields a whole lot of fast later on.

If you are wondering why I don't keep it fast all the time by popping open a can of beans when I need one, I will explain.  When I look at the back of a can of beans, it pretty much never just says "pinto beans" or "black beans".  There is always something else in there.  It's usually something I can't pronounce.  I try to avoid things I can't pronounce, because not only do I not know what it is or what it does in our bodies, but I also look stupid trying to say things I can't pronounce.  Besides, a bag of beans is a lot cheaper than the equivalent number of cans.  So even if it didn't appeal to my healthy side, it appeals to my frugal side.

It really isn't hard, either.  It just takes a little forethought.  This is what I do:

*Decide what kind of beans you want and how many (perhaps the hardest part.  I keep some of everything on hand.  Some good ones to try:  Pinto Beans, Black Beans, Garbanzo Beans, Northern Beans, Kidney Beans...)  I did 2 bags of dry Pinto Beans this time.  It yielded 13 2-cup freezer bags of cooked beans.  That replaces 13 cans of beans, folks.  I think I paid less than $2.50 for the dry beans.

*Get the biggest pot(s) or bowl(s) you own.  If you are doing a lot, you will probably need to split things up.  The beans will swell a great deal. 

*Rinse your beans and put them in your pot(s) or bowl(s).  Cover with filtered water.  Actually, if my dry beans take up about 1/3 of my pot, I still fill with water to the top.  The beans will begin swelling and absorbing water until they nearly fill the pot.

*Let sit overnight.  (Hard work, I know.  But somebody's got to do it...)

*The next day, when you're ready to cook your beans, drain them and rinse well.  This will help keep them from being quite so, you know... musical.  I've heard that throwing a raw potato in when you cook them also helps, but I don't have any scientific evidence.  I'm trying it this time, though, because it couldn't hurt.  (You throw away the potato afterward, btw.)

*Put your beans back in the pot(s) and fill with water.  Bring to a boil and then back it off to a good simmer.  Don't season.  If you salt your beans when you cook them, they never will get tender.  You can add salt once they are cooked if you like.  I don't bother.  I add the salt when I use them in recipes later.

*Simmer for about 2 hours or until tender.  

*Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

* When they are cool, measure them out into freezer bags.  I use 2 cups per bag.  That is kind of close to a can, and always works out well for my recipes.  Feel free to double bag for leakage insurance.

*Label with the date, contents and amount.  Freeze.

*When you need a can of beans, just pull a bag out of the freezer and thaw.  If you are in a hurry, you can defrost it in the microwave (purists everywhere are panicking after reading that.  Sorry...).  Or you can run hot water over the bag until it thaws.  It doesn't take much to thaw 2 cups of beans, especially if you thought to flatten the bag out before you froze it.

There, now that wasn't so hard, was it?  And now you have a freezer stocked with a cheap, quick, healthy protein.  Life is good.

Have a great day!

Angela