Dried Beans

Food Storage Essentials - Dried Beans
Food Storage Essentials – Dried Beans

This week’s food storage essential item is dried beans. Beans are super important to a complete food storage plan. They are easy to store, and can be added to many dishes or just eaten on their own. I found a 2-pack of 64 ounce bags of dried pinto beans at Walmart for $5.96. Only 5 cents per ounce! At that price, I want you to get 4 bags total, so 16 pounds of dried beans. It’ll only cost you $12 plus tax.

Nutritional value

Beans are high in protein and are commonly used as a meat substitute. They are also a great source of carbohydrates, which provide your body with quick energy. Pinto beans are also high in fiber, iron, and magnesium. When paired with rice for a meal, it provides your body with all of its essential amino acids.

Long term storage

Dried beans, when stored properly, can last for up to 10 years. There are a few different ways of storing dried beans. The most important thing to remember is to remove the air in whatever way you are storing the beans. If you have a vacuum sealer, you can seal in vacuum food storage bags. If you went even further and got a mason jar attachment for your vacuum sealer, you can put the beans in mason jars and vacuum the air out of the jars. Oxygen absorbers work well for this too. Just fill up the jars most of the way, put an oxygen absorber or two in there, and seal the jar. If you have taken my advice thus far and got some food grade buckets, you can use those too. I would just suggest putting the beans in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers if you want to use buckets.

Preparation

One of the only drawbacks to keeping dried beans in your food storage plan is the fact that they take quite a while to cook. First you have to soak the beans overnight. If you thought beans give you bad gas, you don’t want to try them without soaking them first! Soaking also reduces the amount of time that it takes to cook the beans. After soaking, drain and give them a good rinse. Then you just simmer the beans, stirring every half hour or so, until they are tender.

 

Dried beans are a fantastic addition to your food storage plan. They’re cheap, very nutritious, and easy to store. Make sure you get some today!

 

 

Shawna

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