[madcat]

this should help
http://www.getselfsufficient.org/blog/food/how-to-soak-and-cook-chickpeas

Thanks, lots of information for everyone there.

I didn't fancy the idea of stovetop, which is how I would normally cook them, for that large a quantity. I'll cook them in the slow cooker tomorrow, as they're already soaking.

I do that all the time.  Because we are on economy 7 and I am a tightwad, plus I have time in the evening that I definitely don't have in the morning, I start the soak first thing and in the evening drain, rinse and chuck in slow cooker.  Top up with cold water to cover, maybe add a bayleaf and leave to cook overnight - which will be somewhere between 8 and 12 hours but they don't care. 

Pack in 250g spread boxes, which seem to be near enough in weight to a drained 400g tin for recipes to work.  Actually - and this is inconvenient if you can only buy in 500g packs - 600g of dried chick peas makes 3 boxes and a few over to chuck in a soup or stew.

Let me know how you get on!

[arugula]

Let me know how you get on!

They're in the slow cooker now - since 8:15 ish - on high. It is a 500 gram bag I get, but that is a handy tip for the right sort of size of container to freeze them in madcat.

I'll report back later when they're cooked.

[madcat]

Bit late to say now, but you can turn them down to low/simmer when they start to bubble, or cook them longer (from supper time to first cup of coffee time next day) on low.  They aren't fussy thankfully.

[arugula]

Five hours in my machine, they were perfick. I left them on high as they never actually bubbled, only formed a scum a couple of times which I skimmed off as I'd normally do during stove top cooking.

[madcat]

Eeek - just doing the washing up and realised I lead you astray...  it is the 500g olive spread boxes I use.      The smaller ones, but not the tiny ones.  Sorry.

[arugula]

S'ok. I noticed.

[madcat]

Phew!   

What would we do without spread boxes?  All this talk about recycling ... been doing it for years.  Spread boxes and ice cream containers for the freezer, yogurt pots for cuttings, tomato boxes for seeds, Christmas biscuit and sweetie tins as cake storage and cat biscuit storage, salt jars for dried goods eg beans and lentils, coffee jars for chutney, pop bottles on canes etc etc etc.

And that is without going back to childhood and rockets from washing up liquid bottles ...

[BussinSpain]

what a wonderful thread   Over here it usually works out cheaper per kilo to buy the pulses already cooked and in glass jars (and there is a wide variety to choose from).  I then have loads of jars for my home-made jams, chutneys and pickles etc.,  I do have the dried ones in large jars on the shelves in my kitchen - make it look a bit country-fied  LOL!

[Ema]

Why has this never occurred to me before I freeze so much but always buy canned beans and pulses because the dried take forever to cook and I never fancy them the next day. This will save me a fortune

[devonbarmygardener]

It is amazing how we re-use so much!
I really like this freezing pules idea though. Will save more of my spread tubs now!

[arugula]

Why has this never occurred to me before I freeze so much but always buy canned beans and pulses

Me too. As planned last trip to the shops I bought dried chickpeas at £1.09 for 500 grams but I still bought multiple tins of cannelini and butter beans at (now) 69p/ 400 gram tin.  The choices and availability aren't always great in our shops but I'll try to buy dried from now on and process in larger batches. Its no hassle to set the slow cooker going, now that I know roughly how long they will take to cook in it.

[mumofstig]

I'd better say - don't try it with lentils - they go to mush too quickly!

Just in case anyone was thinking of it 

[arugula]

Lentils cook on the stovetop in no time.

[mumofstig]

Indeed! but thought I better say ............................... just in case   

[arugula]

Quite right.