Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and thyme, then simmer for 30 to 60 minutes, or until the beans are just tender. Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid (if desired) and discard the ...

Dried beans cooked from scratch have a more uniform texture than most canned beans. Also, you can control what gets added to the beans (particularly salt). And they cost much less than canned beans.