Crockpot Black Beans

I love black beans. My absolute favorite meal is black bean enchiladas. So, needless to say I buy a lot of canned black beans. Until now...

I was perusing the blogs of others who do once a month cooking and stumbled across an entry on freezing beans. This person prepared beans in her crockpot, bagged them and put them in the freezer. So, I decided to try this out. I wanted to compare cost and quality.

Every now and then I can find canned black beans at the grocery salvage store for 3/$1. Now, I have to admit it has been a long time since I have seen that price. The last time we went to the salvage store the beans were $0.79 (about what I would pay at Walmart). So, can making my own beans be cheaper? I picked up a 2# bag of dried black beans at Walmart for $1.72. Monday night I washed and cleaned the beans, covered them with water and let them soak. Tuesday morning I rinsed the beans and added more water and turned on the crockpot before I left for work. When I got home that afternoon, I had a pot of cooked beans. They were very tasty!!. I divided them into 2 cup portions (which is a bit more than a normal can). I was able to get 6 nice size portions to use later. That's $0.27 a portion, which is definitely cheaper in the long run.

Five of the portions are in the freezer and one will be used tonight in an enchilada dish. I am really excited that this is so easy. I will definitely be cooking my own beans from now on and saving money (which always makes me smile).

Have a great week.