Interesting Ways To Use Up Beans – Frugal Tip

We cook and eat a lot of beans and I always make extra to freezer or turn into things like re-fried beans for burritos and such. But it doesn’t stop there. Even with the repurposing and freezing anything that’s enough for another family meal, I end up with little bowls of leftover beans.

Today I thought I’d share some of my more interesting ways to to use up those cooked beans.I hope you find some ideas you can use to stretch your meals and get more healthy legumes into your diet.

• Sprinkle some cooked beans on your salad. Black beans and Garbanzo beans are a favorite around here, but any type of beans will work.
• Use them in spaghetti sauce instead of meat. You end up with a frugal and healthy meal that’ll fill you up.
• Grind up various leftover beans and turn them into a dip. Season with spices, garlic etc. to taste. We love this for dipping tortilla chips, carrots and even as a spread for burgers and sandwiches.
• Grind up cooked beans and mix them in with ground beef to stretch it in burgers, meat loaf etc.
• Throw some cooked beans and pot liquor (the cooking liquid from the beans) into a blender. Refrigerate the mixture and use it to thicken soups and stews while adding more nutrients.
• Throw the leftover cooked beans into your next pot of soup or combine them with various other leftovers hanging out in the fridge to make a casserole.
• Stir some black, pinto or kidney beans into your next batch of homemade salsa for added flavor and crunch.
• Mix your leftover beans with some cooked rice. Season with a bit of cumin and you have a delicious side dish.
• Replace half the oil in your favorite cake or brownie recipe with mashed up beans.
• Throw some beans into your next smoothie for added thickness, texture and nutrition. If you have seasoned beans, rinse off any liquid they were cooked in to remove as much salt and seasonings as possible before using them in your smoothie.

The Thrifty Bean Cookbook

Ready to cook some beans? Not only are beans a great way to add high quality nutrients to your family’s diet, but they are versatile too. You can easily adjust flavoring or start out with a big pot of pintos to have with corn bread the first night, then turn them refried beans for bean burritos the following night.

You can use them as a main dish by serving them over rice, with tuna or serve them as a side dish. Here are 35 savory bean recipes from simple frugal dinners to dishes you can make for company.

Get your copy of the Thrifty Bean Cookbook today and start cooking.