My children are prone to complain if they see the same meal too many times in a row.  To keep them from getting food boredom, I often take leftovers and turn them into something new. I do pinto beans on a Monday night, doubling the beans and setting the extra aside.  I serve cornbread for dinner on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the following day for lunch I serve the reheated beans spooned over the cornbread.  For me and the kids, we’ll eat three slices of cornbread and a third to a half a pound of dry beans for a lunch.

Final cost- 73 cents a serving using organic beans or 67 cents a serving for conventional.  If you can use cornmeal that isn’t gluten-free, it will be a cheaper meal.

Cornbread
$4.66 for the whole pan, 58 cents a serving (8 servings)

2 cups cornmeal (1.98 if you buy Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free from the HFS)
¼ cup tapioca starch, potato starch, cornstarch, arrowroot or wheat flour if not GF (13 cents for tapioca from the Asian market)
1 Tbs rapadura, optional (6 cents)
½ Tbs baking powder (4 cents for Bob’s Red Mill from the HFS)
1 tsp xanthan gum if not using wheat flour (16 cents for BRM from the HFS)
1 tsp salt (5 cents)
½ tsp baking soda (less than a penny)
2 eggs (50 cents @ $3/dz)
1 cup unsweetened rice or almond milk (54 cents for Blue Diamond Almond Breeze)
½ cup coconut oil or sesame/olive/coconut oil combo, melted ($1.20)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease an 8×8 baking pan and set aside. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Pour into baking pan and smooth the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.

Pinto Beans

A pound of pinto beans costs me 68 cents for conventional or $1.20 for organic. There are 8-10 servings in a pound of beans. Season your beans, including salt, after cooking them.  Cooking beans with an acid such as tomatoes or using salt will keep them from becoming tender.

• To sprout and cook beans, soak the beans in cold water overnight. Drain thoroughly, then spread out in the colander and set on the counter to dry. Rinse the beans 3-4 times a day for two to three days and drain thoroughly each time. Discard if mold or a sour smell develops. They have sprouted when little tails develop.  To cook, place in a stockpot and cover by one-inch of water and bring to a gentle simmer and cook until tender. Alternately, they can be cooked in your pressure cooker or your crock-pot.

• To soak and cook beans, cover with water on the keep warm setting on your crock-pot overnight. Drain and rinse throughly, then re-cover with water by at least one inch and cook on low or high until tender.