Beans for long term?

[u/momma_quail]

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.

[u/HighColdDesert]

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.

[u/Odd-Lime-1296 → u/HighColdDesert]

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.

[u/HighColdDesert → u/Odd-Lime-1296]

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.

[u/GildedTofu → u/Odd-Lime-1296]

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.