Frugal Living Day 8: Beans...Dry vs. Canned

"I love beans.  Big, fat, hot, juicy beans. Don't get me going on beans..."  The first person to tell me what movie that quote is from will earn the #1 coolest reader award.  (no cheating allowed!)


My frugal tip for today is all about beans. Exciting stuff, huh?  I went through a major couponing phase.  It was time consuming and frustrating for me.  Yes, exciting to get things for super cheap.  But, I found myself buying unhealthy things...like cheap oreos and pop tarts.  Don't get me wrong, I still use coupons...but I try to turn to other ways of saving money. Like making my own bread, buying regular rice instead of instant and buying dried beans instead of canned.


There are many different ways to use dried beans.  I recently discovered the ease of using the crockpot.  I filled the crockpot up about 1/2 way with beans, and filled the rest up with water.  In about 8 hours (on low), I had perfect beans!

I usually make a big batch and freeze them in smaller portions to use for whatever...homemade refried beans, soups, burritos...etc.

I also love using dried chickpeas (instead of canned) to make homemade hummus even more frugal than store bought. And, the hummus comes out so much creamer with the dried (and then soaked and cooked) chickpeas!  I recently discovered that if you add a little bit of baking soda to the beans while they are cooking, they come out much softer, resulting in a smoother hummus.



I also like storing my dried beans in mason jars.  Mason jars make everything look pretty, don't you think? I found a bunch at the thrift store for pennies.

So, when it comes to beans...buy dried and save money! It does take a little more time, but if you make big batches and store them in the freezer...it's so quick and easy! Plus, you don't have to worry about any unhealthy additives that the canned variety might have.

Here's the cost breakdown:

Canned
1 16 oz. can of pinto beans: $1 = about 1.5 cups (drained) of beans for $1
Total: about $0.66 for 1 cup of beans


Dried
1 lb bag of dried pinto beans: $1.50 = 6 cups cooked beans.
Total: $0.25 for 1 cup of beans