Survivalist Forum banner

12+ Year old Pinto Beans

18K views 108 replies 43 participants last post by  Toyboy 
#1 ·
I can't be the only one who stockpiled pinto beans (as in hundreds of pounds).
Much to my dismay, here, I learned that dry pinto beans have a shelf life. But?
So I soaked a bag dated 2007 for 4 days and cooked them in a slow cooker for 10 hours. They softened quite a bit, but a fairly large portion retained the texture one finds in JIF crunchy peanut butter. Definitely edible but not an all time favorite. Now, only water was used for the soak and cooking. Will try baking soda next time but have my doubts.

Any ideas on how to repurpose these? And since I like canned beans better than any fresher beans I've ever made, well that's another story.

Don't care if you aren't nice with your comments especially if humor is incorporated.
 
#44 ·
We really do appreciate the sentiment. If everyone was as thoughtful and respectful as you then you wouldn't see that kind of talk.

But this place abounds with trolls and the aggressively ignorant. This isn't a refined society ladies meeting room either.

Type A abounds and when you add that to trolls and the forcefully ignorant around here you have to slap it down or you end up encouraging them.

Better to arrive in your nice clothes with rubber boots on. Wade through the sleaze and when you meet folks with good answers just be presentable to them. I and many others are quite capable of stopping our troll bashing for a moment to deliver you a polite and useful answer. We compartmentalize quite well here. :)
 
#43 ·
If you have a few hundred pounds, turn them into pork. Let the pigs do the chewing.
I cycled out some 9 year old black beans with a couple of feeder pigs. Gave them the stored COB for the chickens, wheat, rice and everything else in the cellar.
Pricey for hog chow but LTS stuff needs to be rotated.

Poured boiling water over everything in a small cooler the night before I fed.

Ps. I tested the black beans, they were fine in mylar.
Pigs tasted good too.
No longer doing big buckets, #10 cans are easier to deal with.
 
#49 ·
Y2K Bean Rotation

Good morning.
We are currently cycling through our Y2K Bean storage. Each bucket gets replaced as it is emptied. These are primarily Pinto and Black Beans. These were stored in Mylar with an O2 pack (2000cc).
No issues so far and we have been doing a 24 hour soak with at least 2 water changes.
Our replacement packages are being replaced with one and two gallon mylar sealed bags for ease of use.
We have been using a "Pinto Bean Seasoning" that the entire family enjoys. It is Badia brand. We also serve "Mild Southern ChowChow" on the side. Never any left overs here.
 

Attachments

#53 ·
Spent the weekend at the cabin. I put some 9 bean soup mix in the slow cooker. It was a few years old, maybe quite a few years old. Anyway put them in at 2:00 pm. Next day 10:00am all were cooked except the pintos, which were still crunchy. We switched to a white Peruvian bean from Costco. Costs a little more but we buy it in 20-25# bags. It has replaced our current use of pintos.
 
#61 ·
Some would say the digestive issues of not well cooked beans IS suffering, maybe some wouldn't care? Like I said it's very easy to totally avoid with a little planning ahead (and not just pinto beans) Not doing things properly while you can (and have ample power & water) is not really survival minded IMHO especially when proper planning not only removes several issues but also makes thing easier & quicker during terrible /hard times (which is what this site is primarily about) Once I found how easy it was to cook & dehydrate beans (and brown rice) making them store much better/longer & actually be beneficial I can't see any good reason(s) to not do it that way (and can some as well) you can still store some dry if you like , just make sure to preserve them properly before it's "too late" simple and "easy peasy"
 
  • Like
Reactions: MissFilthyPrepper
#63 ·
Pressure cooker (or regular cooker) dehydrator(s) time will depend on how many cookers and dehydrators you have; you only do it once for 25 lbs, 50 lbs or whatever, sealed in mylar with O2A and they'll last a long time and won't take long to heat & eat (nor nearly as much water) "I" like to can several lbs so they're already "wet" saving even more water & time others may not want to do so.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MissFilthyPrepper
#65 ·
You are welcome; I will give it a try to answer as best I can remember

Its been awhile since I did some but ran two dehydrators overnight(with some extra trays) IIRC for a couple of nights maybe 3?---- had a bunch of dehydrated beans to put into mylar. Used some of them and they are great and quick/easy.

Remember beans will swell to about 3 times their dried size which plays into how much you can pressure cook at one time. You could also soak overnight, drain them and then pressure cook/can. We dry some and can some when we do the beans .

I wouldn't doubt we will do a bunch this winter actually.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MissFilthyPrepper
#70 ·
As Bunkerbuster said early on in this thread, if old beans are first pressure cooked, then dehydrated, they will be soft when reconstituted with water.

I like to stir a little oil in the pot before pressure cooking to keep the contents from clogging up anything important.

Soon, I will be trying out a dehydrated bean spread to go with easy-to-make homemade tortillas /tortilla chips. This recipe looks tasty and the two items together will give me a complete protein nutritional profile: (grain + beans = complete protein).

I got this recipe from the book, Backpack Gourmet by Linda Frederick Yaffe.

(note: instead of canned beans called for in the recipe, I am using my pressure cooked old pinto beans)

Some Like it Hot Bean Spread

4 servings, 2/3 cup each

Puree in a blender or food processor:

30 ounces canned pinto beans, rinsed and drained
4 ounces canned diced green chilies
1/2 cup salsa (mild, medium, or hot)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Spread on covered dehydrator trays and dehydrate for 4 hours at 145 degrees.

To rehydrate, add a little water, stirring until spread consistency is obtained. Serve with tortilla chips or with any variety bread.
 
#76 ·
This choice is a bit location dependent. In my part of the world you find got value in field pea types and the various lima beans. That won't be true in other places. On this continent there are so many pintos grown that it crowds out the other varieties from becoming cheap everywhere.

But across the ocean you will find that lentils are the biggest volume bean grown. Lentils are likely the #1 bean by volume in the world. As such its price makes it the 2nd most affordable types, though there are a number of varieties. Green or brown lentils are your likely next best price option after pintos. Lentil get bonus points for cooking a lot faster and not getting so hard you can't ever cook them. Faster cooking means less fuel used and meal making isn't an all day affair.

Some preppers just quit trying to pinch every penny and go for several bean types to store. It's a great way to cut food fatigue. Changing from red beans to limas is certainly a distinct taste change. And then you get chickpeas (garbanzo) that have a lot of ways to use them.

You should also lean what really grows well where you live.

But if you just want to find next most affordable type to pile up a lot of then look to lentils.
 
#79 ·
Before going out and buy a bunch of beans for storage you should do some experimenting with them and make sure you can cook them in a way you and your family likes them.

In our home as far as flavor goes, pinto is the king then great northern and navy beans. The kids don't like split peas. No one in our house really cares for black eyed peas, chick peas or lentils. Some of the kids won't eat black beans, I assume because of the color rather than the flavor.

Pinto's are also by far the cheapest bean you can get in stores 1/3 to 1/5 the price of any other bean. Of course for long term storage they aren't a good idea. However we go through enough of them that we tend to keep around 100 pounds of them on hand, we cycle through them and have no fear of them going bad.

If you like the flavor of split peas and lentils they have much shorter cooking times than most other beans so that could be a good reason to store them.
 
#80 ·
I have had some experiences like that, honestly I just always assumed I had done something wrong in the cooking, never considered it could be the age of the beans.

If you have a lot of old beans and what not that you feel are too old for consumption they are great for fattening up a hog. I have been fattening up a hog for the last three weeks on household scraps and and 3 pounds of cooked rice and 4 pounds cooked beans a day. He was pretty skinny when I got him about 180, he is some cross between pot bellied and some New Zealand meat breed I guess. He is now about 235 - 240 and looking tasty as hell. Handy way to get rid of some of my old stocks.

I just cooked up a crockpot full of beans over night with some old hog lard and a touch of salt each night and a couple giant pans of rice each morning mixed it all in the hog/chicken bucket and boy you should see him snarfing that hot steaming food.

If you do feed old rice or beans to livestock, make sure to at least soak it in water before doing so, that way you do not kill anything with swelling of the beans or rice in the stomach.
 
#81 ·
I hope you realize that 85% of America lives urban somehow and that means no livestock.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top