Thoroughly rinse the beans. Place in crockpot and add all other ingredients.
My first time to make the beans, I put the onion in whole (I just cut it in half). The second time, I threw in chopped onions and the onions stays in with the beans. I prefer this way, but if you are not an onion fan, you might just want to toss them in whole so you can strain it easier.
Cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours or LOW for 8-10 hours. They will start to get really soft.
Once they are cooked, use a slotted spoon to scoop out some of the mixture into another bowl. Begin mashing with a potato masher (you could use a food processor here but it is easy to do it by hand).
Add liquids from the crockpot as needed to get the consistency you prefer.
You get to decide how “mushy” you want them. Continue to do this until all beans have been mashed.
Then place the beans into containers for the freezer until ready to eat. 1 pound of dried beans will make about 4 “cans” of beans.
When you are ready to eat, just thaw in your fridge and cook on low in a sauce pan, until heated through.