Comments on: How to Avoid the Poison in Your Pantry

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:33:58 +0000

Do all canned foods contain BPA? Is there a way to tell if the canned foods that I buy have BPA? We eat a ton of canned fruit. I looked into canning it myself, but it cost more to can myself than to buy it canned, not including the time and effort I would have to put into canning it.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:41:13 +0000

Yay! Thanks for posting! I didn’t know about bean pots until tonight! Next: searching ebay!

By: Becky

Becky — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:48:35 +0000

Thank you for the info on bean pots. I also do not like eating from cans, but I do not have very good luck with cooking my own beans. Mine still seem so hard even after I follow all of the directions. This bean pot sounds like a good solution for me.

By: Bridget

Bridget — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:26:02 +0000

Thanks for the post & love the input in the comments. This is one of those things that has been in the back of my mind but I haven’t dealt with…life just seems to get busy! I’ve been trying to add more black beans in my diet. I love em & also top them with tons of pico de gallo from Costco…easy, healthy lunch. Trying to incorporate more of Dr. Oz’s food suggestions in my diet.

I’ve never heard of a bean pot & interested in looking into the thermal cooker as well. Plus it didn’t occur to me to cook & freeze them! Thx Tracy & Trixie.

So sounds like the thermal cooker is more full proof?? I have the crockpot already. If you soak overnight, do all beans take about the same amt of cook time? Or just trial & error? I can see myself ending up with a bunch of mush.

By: Katharyn

Katharyn — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:43:05 +0000

Just curious, why fish in water not fish in oil?

Thank you for reminding me that my father gave me a bean pot, which is long forgotten on the top self of the pantry.

By: Trixie B

Trixie B — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:30:01 +0000

I don’t use canned beans anymore, I use dried. Soak them overnight in the crockpot, change the water and cook on high for 3 1/2 hours start to finish. It’s so easy. I divide them up and freeze them. One 1 lb bag of beans makes about 3 cans worth. It takes some planning but it’s not as hard as you think.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:24:57 +0000

I buy beans in bulk about once a year for food storage. I also use that food storage during the year. Cooking the beans for me was terrible. They always came out mushy until I started using a thermal cooking pot. Now all I do is soak dry beans overnight, drain, and fill the pot with water and boil for 20 min on the stove. Place the cooking pot in the thermal cooker and it just sits on the countertop. No stovetop or oven or crockpot going all day. Open it up at night and it is still blazing hot in there. I then take the beans and place them in storage containers for the freezer to use later. That is how I get around buying canned beans. You can do the same thing with rice…I do it all the time.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:46:15 +0000

I’m glad I’ve found your post. I love cooking and i go into canned goods more than the fresh ones. Thank you for sharing your ideas. Nice post!

By: andiscandis

andiscandis — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:50:36 +0000

I’m going to seriously consider a bean pot. We eat a tremendous amount of canned beans. It’s what we just had for dinner! I’m of course concerned about BPA, but just haven’t found an easy way to do dried beans yet.

Sheri- According to the latest issue of Organic Gardening magazine, even the metal tops for canning jars have BPA! ALL of the brands do. I’m not sure how much that concerns me because the food you put up doesn’t really touch the lid. But if you want to go 100% BPA-free, you have to get the old-fashioned glass lids with wax sealing rings. Isn’t that insane?

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:50:28 +0000

Dani, usually several hours 4-6ish… or at lower temps (200-250) for up to 10 hours. Depends on how slow you want to cook them.