I have stored a lot of dry beans. Not because I necessarily use them, just so I have them in case of an emergency.
I had myself a bit of an emergency yesterday when I was in desperate need of Great Northern Beans for a White Chili I wanted to make. Things were too chaotic around here for me to run to the store, so I thought, why not just cook up some dry ones?!
I did (and it took me forever…a post for another day) so decided to make the soup for tonight’s dinner.
Now I have to say that I have done this before…made my own beans for this particular soup and whenever I have done it, it has turned out to be quite tasteless and I have been very disappointed. I figured the reason for this is I was adding too many beans.
So, I was determined to not make the same mistake again. But…I did. Can you believe it! Unbelievable!!
I was so frustrated, I did what I should have done in the beginning and went to the Internet. It took me a bit but I found just in the information I was looking for and thought it would only be right to pass it on…
“We recognize that sometimes you want to use canned beans, sometimes dry, so here's a handy chart to remind you of the various relationships between dry, cooked and canned beans:
** Dry beans expand to about 2-1/2 times their original size when soaked.
** A one-pound package of dry beans equals about 2 cups dry, or 5-6 cups cooked.
** One 15 ounce can (drained) equals about 1-2/3 cups cooked beans.
From http://www.calbeans.com/beanbasics.html
Using the information supplied above:
1 2/3 cups of cooked beans (point 3 above) divided by 2 1/2 (the expansion factor in point 1 above ) equals:
2/3 cup of dry beans cooks up to 1 can of cooked beans.
So, there you have it.
P.S. Due to the fact that dry beans take awhile to cook and therefore are not a great “quick” meal…
- Make up a large batch
- Fill freezer bags with 1 2/3 cup beans
- Freeze for up to 6 months
The convenience of canned beans at a fraction of the cost.
Photos courtesy of sadaf.com and greenasathistle.com
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