How to stretch a pot of Pinto Beans

One of the cheapest things we make around here are pinto beans. The great thing about pintos is that you can do so many different things with them. I like to make one big pot, and then re-use the left-overs in different recipes for the next couple of days. Little tricks like this are great for helping to make your dollar stretch a little bit farther. Here's just one example of what you could do with the pinto beans.

Day 1:

Make that big ole pot of pintos. Please, for the love of peanuts, make sure that you put some good stuff in them and you're not eating bland pintos.  Season those puppies with a ham hock so that the flavor is just right.Now, yer gonna need some goodies to go along with those pintos, although my Hubster can make a meal on pintos alone....He puts mayonaisse in 'em, nastiest lookin' stuff you've ever seen, but that is another story. Moving on,.......... Make yerself a side of tater salad, some cabbage, and a pan of cornbread. Nobody will go to bed hungry tonight.

Day 2: Okay, so last night you had yourself a good old fashioned country meal. You had beans, taters and cornbread. Maybe tonight you can mix it up a little bit. Try putting those leftover pintos to good use and whip up a pinto bean casserole. They're super easy to make and don't take a lot of time or ingredients for that matter. If you had leftover tater salad, or cabbage it'll go along well with the casserole.

Day 3: So....Here's the deal. I'm paranoid about how long I'll use leftovers. I invoke the same three day rule my Mama always used. Around here if it ain't gone on the third day it's doggie chow. I just refuse to eat anything past that three day mark. So.....Now's the time to use up all those leftover pintos and what better way to do it than to make yerself some chili beans. These babies are super easy....I do 'em in the crockpot and it just doesn't get much easier than that does it? You're probably gonna wanna throw together another pan of cornbread to go with them.

See, how easy it is to make the most out of a simple pot of pintos? If you set yer mind to it, you  can stretch that dollar like a rubber band, and save some major dough!