Long Term: Food Storage Beans

So if you’re like me, you’ve wondered how in the world you will ever use those beans….because that is A LOT of chili!  And if you’re like me you only like to eat chili a couple times a year….NOT a week like is recommended (well, not that much chili but that many servings of beans).

Cooking your DRY Beans:

Quick Soaking – For each pound of beans, add 10 cups hot water; heat to boiling and let boil 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and set aside for at least 1 hour.

Overnight Soak – For each pound (2 cups) dry-packaged beans, add 10 cups cold water, then let soak overnight, or at least 8 hours.

Cooking Beans – Once your beans have soaked and tripled in size, it’s time to cook them. The most important step in this process is to drain off the soaking water and rinse the beans before cooking to help decrease the gas side effect. Depending on the bean variety, it will take 30 minutes to 2 hours to cook. Make sure and check the package for more specific directions. You’ll know the beans are done when they are tender, but not overcooked. If your beans have been sitting in your food storage for a long time you will need to cook them for a longer period of time. Cool the beans in their cooking liquid if you are not adding them to another liquid, like a soup, when they are done cooking.

Helpful Recipes for Using Beans:

Other Helpful Posts on Beans:

Other Resources about Beans:

© 2009 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

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  • Anonymous

    ever since you first posted about bean puree in baked stuff – I’ve been using it with brownies and the doughboy quick bread mixes. I freeze it in quarter cup sizes and for brownies I add enough oil to make up the called for amount and for quick breads I skip the oil all together. The only quick bread that white bean puree doesn’t work well with is the pillsbury lemon poppyseed. but thats ok,

  • Anonymous

    I recently found this 90-minute, no-soak bean recipe via The Paupered Chef (here: http://thepauperedchef.com/2009/06/90-minute-no-soak-beans.html ; and here: http://thepauperedchef.com/2009/06/beans-and-brats.html) It is a fantastic way to cook dried beans, and really does take only an hour and a half for a pound of beans. (I’ve had it take maybe half an hour longer for two pounds of beans.)

    This is the recipe I made last week (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Addictive-Sweet-Potato-Burritos/Detail.aspx) using beans. I baked the sweet potatoes with the beans in the oven, which worked really well.

  • Anonymous

    I have enjoyed going “Back to School” this week. I appreciate you for putting this week together to inspire us to use our food storage.
    Thanks to your site, I have been trying new recipes with my food storage… and it is delicious.

  • Anonymous

    Crystal, I bought your book at the SD Deseret bookstore, just a few days after you had been there! If I would have known about your book before that, I would have totally been to your book signing there! I was home visiting my parents. Anyway, your book totally did it for me. I am so super excited about using food storage! I have tried many recipes already, and used up my powdered milk (I only had one can!) I cannot wait to get to the cannery in a few weeks and get more powdered milk, as well as other food storage items. I have started to build my food storage, and get really excited talking about it to my friends. Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I love looking at your blog! This week’s info has been fantastic!

  • Crystal-Everyday Food Storage

    Yeah I’m so glad you’re enjoying the book!

  • http://thedcookshouse.blogspot.com Anonymous

    I have heard that really old beans need baking soda added when you cook them (or the soak water maybe). Do you know the details on this? I have been keeping extra baking soda on hand for that purpose, but I have no clue how to do it.

  • Anonymous

    I have tried the baking soda with beans for soaking….I haven’t found that it makes them plump up faster or produce less gas. I really didn’t notice any change in how they work. If you use it besure to rinse them really good though, since baking soda is salty tasting. I’d say try it and see maybe with a cup of beans, if it doesnt work out the way you want at least you can use the baking soda to bake with or cleaning…

  • http://doingmybestforhim.blogspot.com/ Anonymous

    Crystal,
    I enjoy your site. I am always amazed that people store things they dont use or even know how to use. I am not LDS but I go to the cannery and I have food storage. It just makes sense (cents). We use dehydrated food, grind our own wheat to make bread, eat beans etc. I dehydrate, freeze and can. I make my own soap, you name it.
    I ordered your book yesterday and cant wait to read it.
    Keep up the good work.
    Debbie Olson

  • Anonymous

    REALLY old beans will not ever soften. 8 yrs is about their max keeping time. Baking soda doesn’t help, though a lot of people still insist on doing it. I’ve heard that the soda leaches some of the nutrients. Since nutrient loss is already going on in aging food, I don’t suppose you would want to make it worse. I like to tell people to visit Mexican grocery stores just to see what they have that we are not used to. Bigger ones have hundreds of different kinds of beans!! Pink ones, round ones, purple ones huge ones and tiny ones. Some have wonderfully different tastes. They usually have ham bullion, too. Hard to find in standard American groceries. While there check out the canned milk. Did you know it comes in Caramel??

  • http://everydayfoodstorage.net Anonymous

    After beans have soaked overnight, you can cook them in a PRESSURE cooker in 15-30 minutes! Using a pressure cooker reduces the cooking time of many foods that normally have extended cooking times, but still leaves them tender and juicy. It is especially good for less-tender cuts of meat, but you can cook lots of different things in them. You can cook vegetables for a soup (potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, etc) in about 5 minutes (at pressure)! The bonus in an “emergency” is that since the food cooks faster, you use less fuel. Definitely a plus when you have a limited supply ;-) Although there are lots of horror stories of pressure cooker/canner problems in the past, the modern models have numerous safety features which make them very safe. Once you learn how to use one, it’s also very easy.

    Another of my favorite things (which is also a GREAT way to cook if the power/gas goes out) is a hay box or wonder box. This method of cooking uses retained heat. You bring your food to a boil, in a pot with a tight-fitting lid, and then place it in a box lined with insulating material (straw, shredded newspaper, towels, blankets, or even a cooler/ice chest lined with towels or blankets). You then put additional insulating material on top of the pot and leave it! It will continue cooking for up to 4 hours, without using any additional fuel!! At this point you check it. If it’s not done, you bring it to a boil again and put it back in the insulating material and let it cook for up to another 4 hours. A wonder box works the same way, but is a bean-bag type moldable bag/box which is filled with styrofoam beads. It molds around the pot, so there is no need for towels or newspaper, etc. There is usually a large base, in which the pot sits, with a smaller lid that sits on top. This method is especially good for dishes you would usually cook in a slow cooker/crock pot, such as soups, roasts, cheaper cuts of meat, and dry beans.

    Some additional benefits are that the food can be left unattended, the food won’t burn, and you can put the pot back in to keep warm until you are ready to serve it!

    Although you can use these with most regular pots, if you use a pressure cooker it cuts the time by 1/2-2/3, which will further improve your conservation of fuel, since you usually don’t have to reheat it and put it back in to cook for another 4 hours! You just bring the pot up to pressure and put it right in, with the weight still on. Because it cooks so much faster, you need to check it in about 1 hour. If you leave it for 3-4 hours, your food will be mush :-)

    I LOVE using a wonder box and use it on a regular basis in my everyday cooking (with food storage, of course ;-) . It’s truly amazing!

    Thanks so much for your site! I love the recipes and information you share with us.

  • Lisa Clark

    When using dried beans in baking recipes (like the pumpkin bread) do they need to be cooked first? This sounds like a silly question but I think I need to know the answer.

  • eatfoodstorage

    Yes, they need to be cooked first. THANKS!

  • eatfoodstorage

    Yes, they need to be cooked first. THANKS!