Oh, Beans!

I was really excited to read a post the other day about canning dried beans. And I gave it a try last night.

You might wonder why it would excite me to can dried beans. There are a few reasons.

The first is simple enough -- expense. I can buy dried organic beans for a lot less from my health food store's bulk bin than I can get the equivalent amount of already canned organic beans if I can even find organic beans in cans.

Also, most canned goods come in cans with plastic liners. When you can them yourself in glass jars, you don't have to worry about what's in that plastic -- no BPA's or any other nasty chemicals.

 Last year, the nonprofit Consumers Union found it in 18 of 19 canned foods it tested: Progresso Vegetable Soup topped the list with 22 micrograms of BPA per serving—116 times Consumers Union's recommended daily limit, which is based on animal studies. more on that


The final reason and probably the most important is convenience. One of the problems I have run into with changing how we eat is my own planning. I may unintentionally set myself up as being someone who always has a plan and is terribly organized. But I'm not. And I really don't purposefully want to portray myself that way. I have my good, organized weeks. And then there are my not so good, organized weeks.

While dried beans are easier to store, they also require more time to cook. If we want to have beans with a meal (like in soup or chili or refried beans, etc.), that requires me to soak the beans for a day, then cook them the next day.

Unless they are canned. If they are canned, I just have to pull a jar out of the pantry. I admit they don't look real pretty but I imagine if we could see through those metal cans, they would probably look about the same so I'm okay with that.

And that's why I'm so excited that Little House Living shared how to do it. I used quart jars so I had to adjust the amounts I put in but she gives pretty clear instructions. You can check out her instructions and her video here.