Anyone here opened a can or pail of lentils after 15 or 20 years?
I am curious if you found any difference with pinto beans. I read their shelf life is more close to 8 years because after they harden and they have to be pressure cooked or grounded. I am more curious if after that amount of time you can still eat them by normal cooking.
ditto on that soup .... I think it's the best they have .... and what's even better, it's on sale most often ....
8 yrs on LTS pinto beans is way short .... you can cook up 15 yr old beans with no problem .... lentils are something I discovered like 10 yrs ago .... haven't had the packing longevity yet to talk 15-20 years .....
Soaking legumes with some baking soda apparently helps soften stored long-term hardened beans.
Storage temperature affects long term oxidation. Cooler and temperature regulated storage area the better.
One of my favorite soups is lentil soup, simple nourishing and filling. My mom has the best lentil soup ever. Looks like hell (mud) but tastes great. We add some broken up spaghetti strands to it, just great, and cheap.
Lentils are good for sure. I prefer to make mine up in the same way I do with split pea soup. Some onion, garlic, pepper, salt, cayenne, etc. I sometimes make a thicker stew with the lentils using some diced potato or wild rice mix with some carrots and corn too.. The ease of storage, cooking, taste and nutrient value make them a winner.
Thanks for the ideas. I like the Pregresso soup for it's ease of use and it is very similar to french onion, just with lentils added to it. I do like the idea of adding rice to it, especially wild rice.
True true true, we do tend to go off on tangents with posts. But the way I see it, if you stock up on the soups or canned lentils. they will last for at least 15 years and they are pre-cooked, packed in water and can be eaten cold. It can be heated up quickly if you prefer and are already a self contained meal.
I realize it's not the most economical way to store food but it does have it's trade offs when you take all things into account. It is a relatively thick and hearty soup. The cans are 19 ounces and are packed with lentils for only $1.25 a can.
Other than the Brigham Young University data, this would probably best addressed by a LDS person or the one of the 'old timers' around here. AFAIK there is a small minority of people here have been prepping that long.
You could try inquiring with Mtnman Mike. I believe he's been storing food since before Y2K.
British expeditionaries to Nepal found some lentils in a cave above 14,000 feet that had probably been there for 500+ years that sprouted when planted.
Lentils also have the added bonus of being quick to cook with no overnight soaking necessary.
Lentils and rice, seasoned with cumin, garlic and coriander. Served with carmelized onions, and tabouleh..this dish is also known as mjedera. Vegan (if that's your thing), wholesome and quite tasty. If you gotta have meat, add baked chicken that's been marinated in garlic, olive oil, salt, and allspice. Great way to use LTS items.
I've had dry beans of various types go hard and more or less useless (they would not cook very well, but in a bad situation they would maybe be better than nothing), mostly because I stored them for a long time and probably because I didn't pack them in anything but the sack they came in.
Lentils and dried split peas on the other hand don't stick around my house long enough (more than a year or two) for me to know whether they would eventually become unusable. I use them in stews and such. I find them more edible, taste better (IMO), I think they are more nutritious (certainly easier to digest) and easier and faster to cook than beans (certainly take less energy).
Now that I have a much larger place to store lentils and split peas I will probably get a much larger amount (like 50 pounds at a time instead of 5 pounds here and there) and package them properly and store some away for LTS. I think lentils and split peas will store longer and easier than most beans; they are smaller and drier, yet easier to cook. But that is just my opinion based on short term experience and some guesses about the structure and size of lentils v. beans.
In the same easy to cook category as lentils are split peas. They're cheap and easy to find also. I very much prefer them to lentils, personally. Mostly because of the high ratio of "skin" to meat in the lentils.
I have grown both lentils and pintos in my garden. At least in my area pintos outproduce lentils by about 20 to 1. I expect that even in different climates other kinds of beans will also way outperform lentils.
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