BPA free Beans: cook and freeze your own

After all the articles in the news about BPA, and especially about BPA in canned foods, I decided to start cooking my own beans in batches and freezing them.

Surprisingly they taste much better than canned beans! Especially chickpeas- home cooked chickpeas are buttery and delicious. You can use these just as you would canned beans. 

Tips:
As long as the beans are intact (and not mushy) when finished cooking, you can drain in a colander, then pack into ziplocks and freeze.

When you're ready to use, simply microwave what you want or defrost in the fridge.

Soak the beans in lots of water overnight- this helps them cook a little more evenly. Might help with flatulence but I haven't run a controlled study to confirm that hypothesis.

There are a few options for cooking the beans:

•  boiling at low temperatures on the stove (make sure it can sustain a low heat, otherwise the beans will split. My gas stove can't really do this)
• simmering in a slow cooker/crock pot: beans + water in the slow cooker- with water covering the beans by at least 1 inch. Cook on LOW for as many hours as it takes- could be 6-11 hours depending on if you have a new (hot) or old (cool) slow cooker model. 
• pressure cooking: use Miss Vickie's pressure cooking site for times and proportions. 

WARNING: not all beans are suitable for slow cooking.  I've read that kidney beans need to be boiled at a rolling boil for at least a few minutes to remove a toxin that gases digestive issues.  I've had good luck in the slow cooker with chickpeas, black turtle beans, and black eyed peas.