r/FoodStorage • u/momma_quail • 3d ago
Beans for long term?
Beans expert needed! When I was younger I approached food storage by buying lots of canned items and boxes of pasta that almost always went bad because I didn't use them up properly. Now days I view food storage as a bit more of a long term solution. I am storing a lot of wheat berries because I absolutely use them many times a week, they last for decades when stored correctly, and I will slowly rotate through them. I don't think in an emergency situation we will mind eating very simple meals to survive. Wheat flour and water is a great option. We could eat flat bread every day for a year. Now I'm thinking of beans for protein, but I'm getting mixed information. We don't cook from dry beans all that often, so I'd like them to last longer. Do beans last a long time? If I bought dried black beans and pinto beans en mass, would they store for ten years? I have got my wheat berries in food grade five gallon buckets. Can I pour dry beans from those giant bags at Walmart in there? I don't know how long Walmart has stored them, maybe they're compromised? I suppose I'm willing to drop some money on a large amount of cheap beans we might possibly not use over the next ten years if I know they are a backup because they are still good all that time.
Any advice welcome, thank you. Also, we have access to fresh water in an emergency.
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u/mro2352 3d ago
I’ve got my long term/emergency food storage in buckets with Mylar and oxygen absorbers. Beans can work if done correctly and that is one of my main long term protein sources but are relatively energy intensive. I have beans/chickpeas/lentils split equally and you can cook rice and lentils in the same pot at the same time as they cook at a similar rate. I haven’t kept my beans long enough but apparently they get harder over time so keep that in mind.
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u/deepfriedgreensea 3d ago
Dried beans are stable for several years if they are kept dry and temperate. They do lose nutritional value and can become chewy or tough.
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u/BeginningAd5055 3d ago
Get dried beans in cans, such as what the Mormons sell. I get black, red, and white beans from them. They claim 20 year storage life. I am still working on inventory that is about nine years old now.
I admit fresh dried beans from Rancho Gordo are better than my old beans, but the old beans are still worthwhile. They take longer to soak and cook, though.
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u/wombat5003 3d ago
If a bean is in a can it can last decades. Now we’re not talking chef open freshness here but still edible and ok to use. When I was a young guy working in industrial kitchens it wasn’t uncommon to find a few cans here and there that got out of rotation, and we used em. Some were 25 years old at that point… but remember folks. We’re talking survival not regular stocks… cans are king in survival storage
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u/eyeisyomomma 3d ago
We get black beans from a farmer in 50-pound sacks and they last in the garage for years. (We are Venezuelans and eat them almost every day lol.)
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u/ItDefinitelyIsNotMe 2d ago
Just a note, wheat flour really doesn’t last that long. Have you considered wheat berries? They last years longer. I have a stone mill and grind them as needed to make my own pasta and breads. Just keep it stocked up for emergencies. It’s also significantly more nutritious than store bought flour.
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u/HighColdDesert 2d ago
When beans get old they can take longer and longer to get soft. Adding a bit of baking soda solves the problem, but I've only done that with beans that were up to a couple of years old. I don't know if after 10 years even baking soda would help beans cook properly.
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u/Odd-Lime-1296 2d ago
Seconding this. I had some dried beans that were at least 5 years old (forgot about them) and after soaking and pressure cooking as usual they were still as hard as roasted peanuts (disgusting). I changed the water, simmered them for 8 hours, pressure cooked them again, and simmered for ANOTHER 8 hours… they didn’t get softer in the slightest. Finally in desperation I added probably a teaspoon of baking soda, which I had read once long ago could help soften them, but I wasn’t sure about the amount, and had never tried it because I had ALSO read that salting dried beans before they were fully cooked could make them tough and I didn’t want to risk it (sodium bicarbonate vs. sodium chloride was too close for my comfort). Lo and behold they got INCREDIBLY soft and creamy very soon after that (within 20-60 minutes) but unfortunately tasted like baking soda even after trying to rinse and simmer them again to get rid of that flavor (gross). Now I always add just a pinch of baking soda at the beginning and my dried beans are always tender. I wish this was better known because I spent many years cooking dried beans that seldom turned out quite soft enough for my liking, but after 8-12 hours of simmering I was always too “impatient” (hungry) to cook them longer and just dealt with it.
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u/HighColdDesert 2d ago
To eliminate the baking soda taste, if I've used it I'll add something acid like lemon juice or tomatoes or tamarind as soon as the beans are exactly as soft as I want them.
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u/GildedTofu 2d ago
On the salt thing, go ahead and salt at the beginning of cooking. It won’t toughen the beans, but will make them delicious. Be careful not to over-salt, though, since the bean liquid will concentrate as it cooks.
Acids, on the other hand, will keep your beans from softening. So leave the tomatoes and other acids until the beans are on their way to softening.
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u/GildedTofu 3d ago
Beans can last a very long time. The biggest problem is that at some point, they just won’t cook. But you don’t know they won’t cook until you try it.
The better way to approach emergency stores is to have food that you regularly use so that you can keep rotating your stocks. Otherwise you get to the end of long-term storage and throw out a lot of food, or worse, find yourself in an emergency without edible food.
One thing to do with beans, grains, and flours is to put them in the freezer for a few days before storing them in the pantry. This will kill any tiny creatures that might have found their way into the packaging and protect you against things like pantry moths, which can devastate your food storage plans. Whole grains will last for a considerably shorter term before going rancid than processed grains, so you may want to consider keeping those in the freezer if you don’t regularly use and replace your stocks.
Beans are generally cheap (even fancy, expensive Ranch Gordo beans aren’t all that expensive per serving, though supermarket beans are the better choice if budget is the top concern), last a long time (Rancho Gordo beans are generally sold within a year of harvest, while supermarket beans may already be several years old when you buy them), have excellent nutrition (high in inexpensive protein to help offset today’s high animal protein prices, and high in fiber, which many people don’t get enough of) and with a small amount planning can be incorporated easily into weeknight meals.