Comments on: Saving Pennies or Dollars? Canning Beans

By: Skirnir Hamilton

Skirnir Hamilton — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:19:36 +0000

Here regular canned beans are $1, but I buy no salt added canned beans which I can only find at one local store for now $1.69. (Was $1.55 a month ago and had been that price for a yearish.) For me, the freezing idea sounds good as I have never canned before, etc. My husband did freeze some beans at one time and I finally used them in my chili, but sat in our freezer for over a year before I remembered to use them. Sometimes I have trouble with dried beans never seeming to be done, esp. in the crockpot.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:37:20 +0000

Unless you use tattler lids, the lids have bpa in them. The food obviously doesn’t come in contact with the lid as much as the whole can but it’s not bpa free.

Maybe you could post your salsa recipe. I’ve only canned it once but I found it much too acidic.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:30:04 +0000

We just canned our first round of beans a few months ago, and for us it was worth it. We have tried cooking then freezing beans and they never defrosted right (for us). We also borrowed the pressure canner and used our own stash of jars so the only cost was for the beans and time. Canned beans here are in the $1/ea range and comment #18 is right about the 1.5 cups beans/can and 7 cups of beans soaked from dry. Dry beans here are about $1/lb give or take. There was a definite price difference per jar of home-canned beans.

The process of canning them required relatively little active time, and it is convenient to be able to pop open a jar of beans when we want some. Additionally, we can store an open jar of beans in the refrigerator and just scoop out what we need. We will definitely do it again when we run out of this batch of beans.

By: Joyce

Joyce — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:26:17 +0000

I routinely can beans for convenience and cost saving (usually get 4-5 pints from a pound of beans). I work full time and have a fairly lengthy commute. When I get home I can just open a can of whatever sort I fancy and go from there. Freezing is nice, I do it on occasion, but then there’s the space factor and defrost time. I plan my meals, but the best laid plans of mice and men… I’ve done the slow-cooker thing, but with beans the results are not always what I expect. Also, there is a fuel cost to canning, but it’s actually not that much. I turn the heat up at the start of the process, but the actual canning part is done at almost a simmer. Anyway, that’s my experience of canning. YMMV

By: Louise

Louise — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:20:57 +0000

Wow! Who knew that the price of canned beans could lead to such an interesting discussion?! Thanks for all the comments, people. I’ve learned a lot! Food for thought. ;-)

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:48:08 +0000

When you add in the cost of infertility and reproductive cancer treatments (due to BPA consumption) – the cost of canned beans goes WAY up.

By: littlepitcher

littlepitcher — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:47:39 +0000

All beans run under $1/can here, except baked beans. If and when I can dried beans (and I haven’t), it will be for the convenience of having a superbly seasoned, low-sodium, BPA-free product. If your county has a high-volume canning kitchen available for public use, it might be possible to use commercial size pressure cookers to shorten beans’ long cooking time. Otherwise, the high cost of electricity (and the long-term costs of natural gas fracking) make this an iffy deal; freeze them if you have a freezer.

By: Janis

Janis — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:52:33 +0000

I regularly pressure can dried beans. I do it for the (future) convenience, economy, and selection. Commercially canned organic beans cost from $1 on sale to a norm close to $2, plus they’re loaded with salt. And our nearest store only stocks 3 or 4 varieties. I can use whatever varieties I want when I can my own, and they’re ready to use at a moment’s notice. We don’t have much freezer space, so canning works best for us – with no worries should the power go out this winter.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:20:31 +0000

As others have pointed out, the math in this is seriously screwy.

A can of beans has about 2 cups of beans+liquid, and about 1 1/2 cups of actual beans.

A pound of beans is approximately 7 cups cooked, if I recall.

This changes the cost calculations dramatically, making the dry beans cost about $0.15 for a 1 1/2 cup serving.

But I also don’t know why you’d ever can beans. Cook them in a crockpot (no soaking needed) overnight if you preplan, keep some in your freezer for times when you don’t preplan.

By: Kerry D.

Kerry D. — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:07:10 +0000

I prefer to cook my own beans, over canned, both for cost and flavor. Not to mention control over sodium and making sure they are well soaked and rinsed. I, too, usually cook double what I need and freeze a portion (Costco gallon ziplok freezer bags run about 9 cents per bag here.)

By: Shelley

Shelley — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:46:31 +0000

I can’t believe anyone would pay $1.50 for a tin of beans! We buy generic beans for anywhere from .19-.35 pence a tin for when we travel in the RV. At home, we buy dried beans, soak them, and cook them in the crock pot, then freeze them. Canning is a lot of work, I think.

By: AnnJo

AnnJo — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:16:39 +0000

Stores in my area routinely sell canned beans on sale for 50 cents a can; can there really be that much regional variation that three times that price is considered a “sale” price?

On the flip side, is it really possible to get a good pressure canner for $40? A pressure cooker, maybe, but canners are bigger and cost more.

And I’m not sure why Trent would mention a water-bath canner as needed equipment in a discussion of canning beans. Beans would have to be pressure canned, I’d think.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:57:44 +0000

This is one of the dullest topics possible.

By: tentaculistic

tentaculistic — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:57:36 +0000

A side note that is not directly related to saving money: canned goods almost always have BPA can liners, as do metal drink cans or Tetrapaks. If you’re someone who has switched over to BPA-free plastic or glass, it can be distressing to realize that your canned veggies and such come with a big old load of BPA.

You can get a list of BPA-free canned goods from Organic Grace’s “BPA In Cans” website (not giving a URL b/c I’ll end up in moderator purgatory; just google it). Also look at the Environmental Working Group’s “Bisphenol A: Toxic Plastics Chemical in Canned Food: Consumer tips to avoid BPA exposure” which says what has BPA and not.

By: Leigh

Leigh — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:32:24 +0000

We have just stopped using canned beans due to concerns about BPA toxins in the cans themselves. We don’t have children, but consuming these chemicals can be especially bad for the little ones.

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:24:33 +0000

$1.50 for a can of beans sounds high to me. I would say I average paying $.75 for a can on sale. And that is black beans, kidney beans, northern beans, etc.

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:55:00 +0000

I’m with #8 & 9. Also, we dehydrate freshly cooked beans, then pack them in single-serving plastic bags, to rehydrate when out hiking/camping. We’ve had better results buying the beans from the bulk bins rather than the bagged ones – fresher taste, and they absorb more water so they soften more quickly.

By: ehunt

ehunt — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:46:11 +0000

I’m with George & the others — not sure why you’d bother going through the step of canning. leave them dry until you want to use them (food preservation). Make a big batch and freeze for convenience (easy access). Or cook more with lentils that can be prepared pretty quickly without soaking.

By: George

George — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:41:22 +0000

I’m not sure why one would bother with canning beans. Dried beans keep for a long time, so the only thing you’re accomplishing with canning them is the ability to eat precooked beans, which is a convenience rather than food preservation.

By: kristine

kristine — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:33:54 +0000

No mention of energy required to use the pressure cooker. Add a few cents.