Soak your beans by either method, then rinse.

Place the beans and water into a pot with a cover. 

Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer so that the beans don’t boil over. The special challenge of the stove-top method is that beans are starchy and the starch makes the cooking water boil up if you don’t keep an eye on the heat. Once you find the right setting for a low simmer, you can just ignore them. 

Simmer until the beans test tender. Drain off and discard excess liquid unless you plan to freeze the beans. Stir them into your recipe or freeze for later. 

The same method works with all beans I’ve tried except for garbanzo. 

Soak your beans by either method. 

Place your beans into the slow-cooker with enough water to cover (a little more for larger beans). 

Cook the beans for 7-8 hours on the medium setting or until the beans are tender. Every crock-pot or slow-cooker is a little different, so allow more time the first time you make beans, or with larger beans like kidney beans. No need to stir the beans - just leave the cover on. 

Once the beans are tender, drain the liquid as with the stove-top method, unless you will be freezing the beans. Stir the cooked beans into your recipe. 

Soak beans as for the other methods.

Add the soaked beans to the pot along with enough water to cover. 

Set the Instant Pot to the right length of time according to the size of your beans. For example, I use: 

27 minutes for black or navy beans or black-eyed peas

29 minutes for kidney or large white beans

35 minutes for garbanzo beans

Let the pressure in the pot come down by natural release for 15 minutes, then use manual release. 

Use or store the beans as for the other methods.