Freezing Dried Beans

Someday I will have enough garden space to grow my own beans, but until then, I have to buy them in bulk. They are considerably cheaper than canned (after all, you are paying for the can which will either take up space in the land fill or have to be recycled). So buy them in a bag or in bulk (cheaper yet), cook them up and freeze them! I live alone and often times a can of something is too much for me to finish in one dish. So here's what I do. I will use pinto beans as an example:

1. Measure out the amount of dried beans for the amount you want to have COOKED (it's approximately 1 cup dried =a little more than 2 cups cooked.
2. Soak the beans for about 8 hours (or overnight) or according to package instructions. They will double in size so use a large enough pan and plenty of water
3. Cook the beans (about 1 1/2 hr.)
4. Using a one cup measure, scoop them into a large size muffin tin (they will pop out easier if you spray them with a cooking spray). 
5. Freeze them, then pop them out and put them in a Ziploc bag and back into the freezer.

You now have serving sizes of about 1 cup...take out more if you need to. NO waste!