There are a few key points to keep in mind:

1. Always get dried legumes (and don't be afraid of them) they are SO much cheaper
2. Always soak your dried legumes before cooking them (just plop them in a bowl in the morning, cook them at night!)
3. Spice the cooking water before and during cooking to ensure their deliciousness
4. Let them sit in their liquid to gather all the flavor
5. Save the liquid to use as broth

And with that, you will have a super easy to make, ridiculously cheap (a lot cheaper than meat), and delicious source of protein, as well as a broth to make other yummy things (like flavorful rice, pasta, or even steamed or quickly cooked veggies)!

People are often scared of dried things because they think they are more time consuming and difficult to make (okay, maybe that was just me before I started making dried beans). Then, after reading a few articles, I realized it was the easiest thing I wasn't yet doing (also realized that about pickling). This is technically true – it does take more time to make dried beans than beans in a can – but you can make so much more, it will be so much better tasting, better for you, versatile, and remarkably cost effective.

I typically go for garbanzo beans (chick peas), black beans, and lentils. Each of those links have more info on each, as well as my personal suggestions and recipes. Though, in general, and as I wrote in the smaller note in the page before this one, the methods applied for one and be used for the others.

What I usually what I do, the simple version

1. Right before I leave for work or whatever it is i'm doing that morning, throw a few handfuls of whatever dries legumes I have into a tupperware or bowl
2. Cover them with more than 3x their volume in water in the fridge
3. leave

1. when I come home and want to make dinner, put a pot on the stove, turn on the heat
2. dump the soaking liquid out of the tupperware with the legumes
3. throw them into the pot
4. cover them with 2-3x their volume in water