To be frugal and healthy, we eat a lot of dried beans and legumes. Each week, I cook up a batch of one of the many different varieties available. The only problem is, beans can take 2-3 hours to cook. In the wintertime, this isn't so much of a problem, as the extra heat from cooking can warm the house and fill it with delicious smells. When we lived in the Northeast, I could let a pot simmer on the woodstove and kill two birds with one stone. Now I find myself in the desert Southwest and in the middle of the summer. I have tried cooking beans in a crock pot outside or in the garage, and that is one solution, also for a while I used a pressure cooker (until my husband broke it by fiddling with it too much!) I believe I have developed a new method which surpasses both of these. It's the cooler method.
First, soak the beans during the day. Before bed, drain them and then put them in the freezer. When the beans freeze, they expand and rupture the proteins that take so much cooking to soften and break down. The next day, thaw them and bring them to a boil on the stove. This only takes about fifteen minutes of having your burner on high. Have a cooler ready that is big enough to hold your pot and have some extra air space around it. I keep my cooler in the garage for this, since it is about 100F in there! Put a trivet in the bottom of the cooler and place the (covered of course) pot of beans inside. Then take an old comforter or something fluffy to add some extra insulation. Depending on the type of beans, they will be ready in three hours or so. I left some in all day till dinner and the pot handles were still hot enough to burn my hands when I took it out at 5pm!
I'm going to try the garlic method for cooking beans. I like the idea of cooking my own beans, and have also wondered about the frugality of such long cooking times. I also like the idea of being able to control the salt vs buying canned beans and rinsing off some of the salt. Carol
I marvel that you came up with another way to cook beans. Among the various ways to beans, I've never heard of your method until now. I have to say that your method seems like more work than cooking in a crockpot which is what I do year round.
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