Kidney beans, navy beans, adzuki beans, borlotti beans, fava beans, dried peas, flageolet beans, lima beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, pinto beans, soy beans, chickpeas, lentils, puy lentils, red lentils, peas, peanuts, cashews…Frugal Living means embracing beans. Any recipe with beans is a frugal recipe.
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Appropriately called the poor man’s meat, beans have been a staple meal for centuries in cultures throughout the world. Eating a combination of beans, whole grains, and a small amount of meat and high quality animal fat is an excellent meal – very nutritionally sound. In order for our bodies to digest all of the nutrition that beans have to offer, a few steps are required. One of the negative opinions of beans or legumes is that they cause gas. This can be attributed largely to incorrect cooking techniques.
Beans : The Cooking Technique:
Beans must all be soaked in warm water--and some varieties with a small amount of lemon juice—in a warm place for 12 to 24 hours. You can’t just chuck’em in a pot and boil the heck out of them. They will not be edible and those under-prepared beans that you can get down your gullet will make you remember them for hours and hours. Understood? So soak the beans.
Beans are a staple around the world, but so is this exotic meat.
After soaking, rinse the beans in cold water. Place beans in a pot, cover them with water, and bring them to a boil. Foam will rise to the top and this is to be removed with a ladle. Reduce the temperature to low and add the optional garlic and bay leaf and simmer with the lid on the pot for four to eight hours. Check occasionally and top up the water if needed. When tender, season to your taste with sea salt. This is the basic cooking technique for dried beans. You’re now ready to cook any dried bean.
Food for Thought:
Now, on the topic of thrift and money saving tips, which is the absolute foundation of thriftculturenow.com, there’s a very thrifty reason for mastering the cooking technique for beans. So, how can simmering something for eight hours be thrifty? In terms of power it’s not, but in terms of nutrient density for the price, beans are exceptional.
Fried Organic Eggs with Bacon and Toast and Baked Beans?
The term, nutrient dense, will be used throughout this guide because we’re focused on thrift – bang for your buck, your time, and your money. The more nutrient dense a food is the better it is for you and your wallet – simple. If the food is prepared properly, your body can do less in terms of digestion and get more in terms of nutrition.
Back to how to cook beans.
Dried beans are cheap and very good for you. In order to counter the long cooking time and it being hard on your power bills, cook a lot at one time. Cooked beans have a long shelf life in the fridge (10 days or more), if handled properly (no double dipping of spoons!). Cooked beans may be frozen in liquid with excellent results. Take that four to eight hour cooking time and do it on a Sunday, after you’ve soaked the beans overnight. The beans will be ready Sunday night for you to put into a ½ or 1 quart (2 c or 1 liter) Tupperware or old yogurt container, and to freeze for the next month. A side note: save your old yogurt and sour cream containers.
Which Fresh Herbs Go Best With Beans? Grow your own and try them all!
Now that you know how to cook your basic bean, you have the ability to cook an infinite number of bean-related dishes throughout the month. Let’s get into some of these dishes.
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