Storing pinto beans, long term.
Originally posted by The Gray Man at www.FreeAmericanNational.blogspot.com
You can’t eat bullets, and using bullets to take someone else’s food isn’t a good way to go. It’s a good way to come across the wrong person just one time and get yourself killed.
So store your own. I’m doing pinto beans today. They are capable of being stored for long periods of time and are very versatile with cooking. They do not have oils to worry about going rancid.
Go to Sam’s Club and get you some pinto beans:
Get your wife’s flat iron. Or your own:
And the rest is easy:
To seal the bags, it only takes a few seconds of the flat iron. Make sure there are no wrinkles, or if there are, it’s sealed well. One 300cc oxygen absorber per gallon bag. I have about six pounds of beans in each bag. Leave some space in the bags, and only seal the top inch or so. If you have to cut it open, it can be resealed.
Finished product:
Use a sharpie to label contents and date. My research tells me these beans should be useable for 15+ years of packaged correctly, like above. I’ve been told that with proper cooking, these could be useable for up to 25 years.
Storing white rice is exactly the same steps. Salt and sugar are the same, EXCEPT YOU WILL USE DESSICANT MOISTURE ABSORBERS AND NOT OXYGEN ABSORBERS. Why is that in all caps? Because oxygen absorbers will turn your granulated salt and sugar into a rock. White rice is preferable for longest term storage over brown rice, because brown rice can go rancid in two years, even with this preparation method.
One 300cc oxygen absorber (you can see one sticking out of the pinto beans a couple pictures above) is good for a one gallon Mylar bag. You’ll need 5gm of dessicant moisture absorbers for the same size Mylar bag of salt or sugar. Either a single 5gm dessicant packet, or five of the little 1gm packets. I’ve done both.
I put the sealed Mylar bags into HDPE2 five gallon buckets with sealing lids. That will protect the bags from damage and make it easier to move them around or load into vehicles quickly.
Note: After some years, around 12, pintos can become hard to cook. Literally, they’ll be a bit hard and crunchy. Pressure cooking with some baking soda should solve most of that issue. Also, making refried beans is a way around that hardness.
I’ve also been informed by IamZeke at Survivalist Boards that lentils can be put through the exact same packaging process described above, with “softer” long term results.