Dried beans can be a practical kitchen staple, but the cooking method needs to match the bean. With dried red kidney beans in particular, soaking alone is not enough, and a slow cooker should not be the only cooking step. Use clear food-safety instructions for the actual ingredient rather than copying the timing for a different bean or appliance.
This is a preparation issue, not a reason to avoid beans. The FDA explains that canned and properly cooked kidney beans have low levels of the relevant lectin that will not affect you. Canned beans offer a convenient option when you do not want to organize cooking from dry.
Read the package before planning the recipe
Check the type of bean and whether it is dry, canned, or already cooked. A recipe using canned kidney beans assumes a different starting ingredient from a bag of dried beans. Replacing one with the other is not simply a matter of leaving the pot on a little longer.
If a recipe does not clearly explain how its dried kidney beans are prepared, choose one that does. Do not use a short social-media clip as the entire food-safety instruction when it omits the preparation stage.
Use a specific, reliable method
The FDA’s Bad Bug Book gives a specific consumer method: soak kidney beans in water for at least five hours, discard that water, and boil them in fresh water for at least thirty minutes. Continue cooking as needed for the recipe and appropriate tenderness. The FDA says not to use a slow cooker to cook these beans or dishes containing them.
Keep the complete method with your recipe so the soaking and boiling stages are not separated from the instructions you follow at the stove. If the package gives additional preparation or cooking requirements, read those too. Do not shorten a clearly stated method to fit the time left before dinner.
Plan for the time the method actually takes
Choose a day when you can soak and cook the beans as directed rather than discovering at dinner time that the preparation is unfinished. Set a reminder for the cooking stage and keep the recipe available. Soaking is preparation for cooking, not permission to taste the beans raw.
If time is short, use canned or otherwise properly prepared beans in the recipe. You can still make a useful meal without turning a busy evening into a test of cooking everything from scratch.
Match the appliance instructions as well
Pressure cookers and other appliances have their own operating requirements. Follow the manufacturer's instructions and a suitable tested recipe for the actual bean and appliance. Do not guess a pressure, liquid level, or time from an unrelated recipe.
Once the beans are properly cooked, handle leftovers with ordinary food-safety care: refrigerate perishable cooked food promptly and store it appropriately. Label the container with the date so the next meal does not depend on remembering when the pot was made.
Make the useful version easy to repeat
Keep one reliable bean recipe and its preparation instructions together. Decide whether dry or canned beans fit the next meal, then shop for that version. The most helpful kitchen habit is knowing your starting ingredient and following its method all the way through.