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Notes on beans:
Really cheap cooking means no oil. I used to cook pea soup with no meat and no oil. I'd put celery (try to get stalks with leaves), carrots, onions and herbs into water. I used yellow and green peas. I usually added parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, bay leaves -- whatever i had. It helps to have a garden. The herbs stand out.
If you do have oil, start by cooking onions in the oil over low heat. Once the onions have softened up, add vegetables in order of hardness (e.g. carrots first). Then add beans and water. Don't add salt until the very end. I boil the beans separately if i'm making a tomato-based sauce.
I almost always use dried beans. Even chick peas will be done in about an hour. (Don't add salt until the beans are done!) Canned beans have crap like corn syrup, too much salt, and are mushy.
You can substitute mushrooms for meat and mushroom stock for meat stock in a lot of bean dishes, e.g., lentil soup. If you collect your own mushrooms (2008 was a great year for them), they're pretty cheap. Don't eat any that you're not absolutely sure about. Even if you have to buy your own dried mushrooms, you'll still come out ahead. The water from soaking is your stock. Don't throw it away!
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