[Stoves] haybox cooking

[Andrew Heggie]

Hi all

I've been playing with cooking kidney beans and wonder if any cooks
out there have any insights in using retained heat cookers. I've gone
slightly hitech in that I have cut a recess in some wall insulation
board  for the pot to sit in. As I'm only using a cupful of dried
beans, pre soaked for 24 hours I think my chief mistake is not having
enough food mass to retain the heat  and so I'm having to re boil the
beans after 5 hours.  Unfortunately my data logger will not function
above 80C and I'm unsure at what temperature cooking effectively
stops.

My question is does the boiled water have to be discarded from the beans?

What I am wondering is could rice be added and the whole contents be
reboiled and left as the rice cooks?

Any suggestions for non meat, low sodium,  flavourings to enhance the taste?

Andrew