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Unpopular opinion: dried beans beat canned every time and it is not close
A guy at the laundromat in Tulsa last month told me he feeds his family of four on $45 a week and almost all of it comes from dried beans and rice. I did the math and a one pound bag of pinto beans at my store is $1.29 and makes about six cups cooked, while two cans of the same thing run me close to $3.50. So I grabbed a bag, soaked them overnight, and simmered them with onion and cumin for about two hours. Now I do a big pot every Sunday and eat on it all week. Does anyone have a good trick for freezing them so they do not turn to mush when they thaw?
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felixward7d ago
My grandma in Abilene froze beans for like 40 years and her trick was to undercook them just a bit before freezing. She said the freezing itself softens them more, so if they are perfect going in they come out mushy. I read somewhere that the ice crystals break down the cell walls, which is why thawed beans fall apart. So pull them off the heat when they still have a little bite, cool them fast in the fridge, then bag them with some of the cooking liquid. That liquid matters too, keeps them from drying out.
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