"Ed Pawlowski" > wrote in message
...
> On 1/18/2015 9:41 AM, sf wrote:
>
>> That's what I do too. One thing I discovered was that B&M Boston
>> Baked Beans taste just like mine, so I can save hours of cooking and
>> have no leftovers to deal with when all I want is one serving of baked
>> beans as a side with dinner - just by opening a can.
>>
>
> My wife has made beans a few times, but mostly not worth the effort. You
> can buy many varieties of beans too so you don't even have to doctor up
> the plain ones if you want a specific type.
>
> We don't make jelly and preserves either. Locally we can buy Trappist
> brand (made by the Monks) and they are very good. For a few jars a year,
> not worth the making.
>
> I've thought about crackers just so say I did it, but never got around to
> it.
>
> OTOH, hard to find a cake as good as home made.

I am now feeling torn about using dried beans to begin with. The last time
I made chili, I used canned beans. And while I swear that I say this with
each batch that I make, the last one was the best ever. So much so that I
didn't get much of it to eat! So... When my CSA package arrives, I'll be
making a double batch of it. Again with canned beans.

I suppose if for some reason I needed a huge amount of beans at once, I
might use dried ones. Or if I wanted a mix of beans and a small amount of
each one, I might use dried but that could be a problem with varying cook
times. I used to cook a pot of pintos weekly and make my own refried adding
lots of onion, peppers, and sometimes carrots and celery to make them less
carby. But now I can get refried ones for about 98 cents a can and most
others from 50 to 69 cents a can. So I am really not even sure that there
is any advantage to cooking the dried. Sodium isn't an issue for me.

I do like to do baked beans from dried. I guess it's just the notion of
making them totally from scratch. But I also only make them once a year if
that.

As for the cakes, I no longer make them but when I did, I found that I could
easily doctor up any packaged mix and it was just as good as from scratch.
Of course there were exceptions depending on the type of cake.