Cooking with dried beans

[Anonymous]

I have little experience with dried beans. Is it better to soak/cook the beans as needed, or can I soak/cook a whole bag of dried beans and store them somehow (freezer?)

[Anonymous]

You can do either. You can soak the beans (for at least 4 hours, or overnight) and then put them in the fridge and cook them later, or you can soak, cook, and then refrigerate or freeze. You can also skip the whole soaking phase by cooking for a longer time, maybe three hours - but you'll need to check in on them to make sure all the water doesn't boil away, or cook them in LOTS of water in a big pot. They taste better than canned, I think, and I like how they take up so little room in the cabinet - I have a small house, so that's a plus!

[Anonymous]

My favorite way to cook them is in a crockpot. I rinse the beans first, and then put them in the crockpot with a lot of water. I turn it on high for 6 hours (black beans) or 4 hours (kidney beans) Don't add salt until they are soft.

[Anonymous]

We cook a whole bag and then freeze individual portions of just plain beans (no seasoning or anything). They hold up really well and cook up super quick.

I always try to soak them overnight before cooking because most grocery store beans have been on the shelves for a while and the longer they're stored the more difficult it is to get them soft.

[Anonymous]

Some beans hold up better than others in the freezer IME. White beans turn mushy, but black, kidney do fine and pinto are so-so.