I think dried beans are probably the least expensive form of protein one can purchase. The problem with cooking beans is that they can take an hour or two, so they aren't a quick meal when you get home from work. The solutions are to pre-soak the beans and to make things ahead of time.
Put the beans in a pot at night and add water to about an inch above the top of the beans. By pre-soaking the beans over night, you'll be able to cook them the next day in much less time (30 to 45 minutes, instead of 2-3 hours). Yes, this means you have to plan a day ahead.
On Sunday I made Navy Bean soup. Navy beans are small white beans, and - since they are small - I think they cook a bit faster. I had been planning to make some soup for few days, and presoaked the beans on Wednesday. Things kept coming up, so I kept the uncooked, soaked beans in the fridge until I was finally ready. I had some past-their-prime carrots, and half an onion left over from Tuesday, sitting next to the beans.
Soup is a great way to use up sketchy looking or leftover vegetables (and bits of meat, for you carnivores). By the time they were chopped and cooked, you couldn't tell that the carrots weren't fresh. Maybe they lost a bit of vitamins, but they made good soup. The beans took as long to cook as it took me to chop the vegs, saute the onion (and garlic), add the carrots and kale and salt and pepper and a quart of stock. The stock was probably the most expensive thing. Total cost was $6.50 ($3 vegetable stock, $1 beans, $1 kale, $1 carrots, $.50 onion, garlic, salt, pepper and some fresh herbs from our planter box) and it made 5 generous portions. All you need is to add a slice or two of bread and maybe top with some shedded cheese and you have dinner for $1.57/serving. (Oh, and i froze half the soup in single-portion containers, so now I've got ready-to-go lunches.)
