My mom's $1.50 bean pot idea sounded lazy, but I was dead wrong

When I moved into my first place in Akron last winter, my mom kept pushing me to cook a big pot of dry beans on Sunday instead of buying canned ones at 99 cents a pop. I figured she was just being old school and that the extra soak time was not worth the hassle. Two months in, I did the math on my receipts and I was spending $23 a month on canned beans alone, so I finally boiled a pound of pinto beans with an onion and some garlic salt. That pot gave me six meals for about a buck fifty total, and it tasted better than anything from a can. Now I do it every Sunday, and I'm curious what cheap staple food you all think is worth the extra prep time?