I just wanted to share a little info that might save someone some grief and maybe help in using your beans from food storage.  Here's my story:

Five years ago I lived in Utah and could not cook beans at all.  I did the overnight soak, the quick soak and I would cook them all day long and they always either turned out starchy (not fully cooked) or mush.  Then I moved to Georgia and amazingly, had no problems cooking beans.  It was a miracle!  I moved back to Utah not quite a year ago and attempted to cook beans here and again could not get them to cook properly.  I don't know if it's the altitude or the hard water or what but they just don't work for me here.  I knew the answer was going to be to get a pressure cooker so I finally bought one a couple months ago only to return it when I found out YOU CAN'T USE A PRESSURE COOKER ON A FLAT TOP STOVE.  Let me repeat:

YOU CAN'T USE A PRESSURE COOKER ON A FLAT TOP STOVE

I was reading the owners manual and figured this out, luckily, before I used it on my stove.  I've even since spoken with someone who cracked her flat-top stove attempting to can vegetables. I'm not sure about all of the science, but part of it is that it radiates heat back to the stove-top and when it gets hot enough like a pressure cooker does, it can crack your stove.

I was sad and resigned to forever eating beans from a can when I found out there is such a thing as an electric pressure cooker.  Yeah!!!! (Signal the celebration music)  I just received mine a couple of days ago and I already love it.  Okay ... I've only cooked one round of beans in it and they were chickpeas at that but IT WORKED!  It was super easy.  Just set the timer and walk away.  When they're done it depressurizes on it's own and will switch to "warm" mode.  And I didn't even have to soak my beans.

I just thought I would pass on a little information that might save someone else some grief if they attempt to use Grandma's old pressure cooker to can stuff on their nice, new flat top stove. 

I bought it off of Amazon.  After searching through various reviews I felt like the best one to purchase was the Cuisinart EPC-1200PC.  None of the others had as good of reviews and I read a few things about the 600PC (the earlier model) where people had problems or had to send them in for serving or replacement.  So, I figured this was a better one to go with.  Several people on message boards said that they had purchased theirs at Costco for around $60 or $70 but none of the Costcos in our area that I called were carrying them.  Apparently it was a seasonal item or one that they aren't carrying long-term.  I bought mine for $120 including shipping from Amazon and used some of my Swagbucks giftcards to make it a little cheaper.  I can't wait to use it again!   In fact, I just figured out that there is a pressure cooker recipes thread on here but not a lot of recipes posted yet.  So, please share any you have.

The one I purchased initially was a small one and the instruction manual said it was not to be used on a flat-top stove.  I don't know if it depends on the pressure cooker itself or on the stove and it's possible the company is just covering itself from future litigation.  However, I don't think I'll ever use one on a flat-top stove and risk cracking it.  There were also other benefits to getting the electric pressure cooker.  It's really nice being able to set the timer on it, knowing that I can just walk away and leave it and it will revert to "warm" when it's completed the time I have set it for.