Eat healthy-On the cheap!

It is a general misconception that eating healthy, real or natural foods is expensive. I beg to differ!

To prove myself, I am going to share some easy, inexpensive food ideas with you-starting now.

BEANS

Beans are about a buck a can at the grocery store. I know this because I used to buy dozens of cans at a time. I do love my burritos, so these were a must have in my cupboard. Dozens of cans was about $12-20 of my grocery bill and that's a lot of money!

A cheap alternative...make them yourself in less time than it takes to drive to the grocery store.

First you hit up a bulk store. We have Cash n' Carry here. It's like a mini Costco, with no membership dues and better prices. It aint a fancy place and what's available is limited, but for price-they are tought to beat!

Get a 25 lb bag of beans for about $10 or less. That's $0.40 a lb (about a $1.60 less than a regular grocery stores dry beans)

Grab a couple/few scoops full and put them in a bowl. If you are doing black beans, don't use your nicest ceramic bowl...it will stain the sides.

Now fill it up with water-(I use filtered).

Now forget about it. Total prep time=less than 1 minute

24 hours later, drain and rinse your beans. This makes it so you don't have a family of 'tootie pants' people. Yep, washing off the soaking water also washes away the tootie enzymes!

Now, pull out that crockpot that hasn't been touched in years...it's the thing your mother passed on to you in the very very back of one of your cabinets.

Put your rinsed beans in the crockpot, fill with water (I use filtered), set to low.

Now forget about it until tomorrow. Total time =2 minutes

12 hours later, test your beans. If they are to your tenderness liking, flip them up to high for about 10-15 mintues to get them super hot.

Grab some jars and put your beans in them, filling the rest up with liquid. Put your lids on. Total time=2 minutes

Now, let them cool. You will hear the jar lids pop when they have sucked all the air out. These can be stored in your refridgerator sealed like this for up to a month. That's it- you are done!

Total time and cost=Less than 5 minutes, and about $1.00 for about $8 of grocery store canned beans.

I usually do two or three batches at a time, when one is cooking, I am soaking the next bunch of beans and just rotate them. The crockpot in on the counter for three days and I have over a months worth of beans made and waiting for me in my fridge.

Perfect for burritos, southwestern breakfast scrambles, stews, chilis and on and on.

Pinto beans are great if you puree them before you put them in jars-refried beans without the fat!

Viola!