Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

I've been thinking about stocking up on groceries not only as a survivalist, but as a hedge against inflation or in case I become unemployed later on. After 1 year of buying groceries, I want to have a 1 yr surplus.

What I want to know is what's the shelf life of rice and dried beans? I plan to buy a large plastic container and store the dried foods in there, keeping them in their original plastic bags as well.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

from what I have read through my own research, the best way seems to be storing in the mylar bags/5gal buckets with O2 absorbers.

They are easy to stack and easy to move.

I use that combined with Mason jars of various sizes. I'm new to all of this, and so far, i've been saving money buying bulk and using the jars for my consumables. If you do it this way the contents should be good for up to 5yrs and if in good climate 10 yrs.

When I go to the store i'll buy the 15 bean mix and buy 10-15 bags @ 1$ a bag. I then put the beans into jars with o2 absorbers and label that date they went in.

Geting back to the basics feels great.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

According to the LDS Web page, beans should last up to 30 years if vacuum packed. When using buckets, i would put the beans in a mylar bag and add oxygen absorbers in the bag, seal it, and put it in the bucket along with another oxygen absorber before sealing it.

If you have storage room, glass jars would be a better choice. You can use a jar of beans without exposing the entire bucket full to the air.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

We parallel-posted but it seems that we both have the same idea! Confirmation never hurts.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

But doesnt the jar add a lot of additional cost? You mean open the bag and pour the beans into mason jars? I dont have any jarring equipment, but are you recommending vacuum packing it as well?

Thanks for the great, confirming, 'parallel' posts. :)

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

You use a mason jar attachment to a foodsaver appliance you can pick up at samsclub. Look at this thread for some nice pictures on the subject:

http://www.goldismoney.info/forums/s...d.php?t=260256

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

Thank you mr graspAU!

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

I vacuum seal ours in plastic foodsaver bags to defeat weevils then toss 'em in cheap metal trash cans to defeat rodents. We had rodents chew through a plastic bucket is why the switch.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

Keep the plastic container down to a size you can handle. Like the traditional five gallon bucket.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

I'm going to do that once I start using the garage.

I made the mistake of putting a case of MRES in the attic, only to later find bits of chewed up plastic everywhere. *THOSE FOCKERS*

Man, now I know why they call em RATS.

Those rat bastards almost got my MRES. I have since moved MRES into 5gal pails.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

The biggest storage concern for rice & beans is moisture. As long as they keep dry (and pest free), they are good to go. I've had pinto beans stored in a plastic bag (sealed with a twisty-tie) in the kitchen pantry for years with little ill effects. They do get harder as the years go by, required additional cooking time, but you couldn't tell the difference, taste-wise.

If it is stuff you are going to be using on a regular basis (not just sealing up and storing in a cache somewhere), then it doesn't make much sense putting it in mylar with oxygen absorbers. Any tightly closing container will work. We use 2-L soda bottles to store rice in. They keep moisture and insects out, and are easy to pour from when used.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

I'd also wonder about bugs either growing from eggs (already inside the bags of grain/rice) & trashing the entire contents of your "stash". I have had bags of rice, grains, and even dried peppers develop critters while stored in their original bags in kitchen cabinets. I'd be inclined to go with mylar pouches sealed with oxygen absorbers.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

No oxygen equates to no bugs.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

call me crazy, but i pre-cook and dehydrate all of my beans before vacuumpacking them. why?

i a SHTF scenario, i figure fuel will be scare, and i don't want to use limited resources to cook a can of dried beans for an hour.

so, i cook them until they are about done, then i put them in a food dehydrator and dry them out. then i seal them in mason jars.

if it gets really bad and there is no fuel, i can eat them the ay they are, dry. if it's better and i have water, i can soak them and eat them cold. if i have tons of fuel, i can cook them.

boxes full of regular dried beans without any fuel to cook them are worthless.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

Agreed! If the OP does what he was suggesting "I plan to buy a large plastic container and store the dried foods in there, keeping them in their original plastic bags as well", He may end up with a large plastic container filled with bug-laden original plastic bags of grains/rice.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

That is exactly what will happen if nothing is done to get the O2 out. I think the bayleaf trick is a good idea too.

That Wendy Mea video on youtube answered all my questions.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

How much are you planning on storing?

Beans and rice should be good for about 5 years IF kept dry and in a cool place

Brown rice will start to go rancid quicker, as will whole wheat flour. If you are storing large quantities you do need to go to some sort of system that uses O2 absorbers or CO2, and mylar bags , or the mason jars. Does it increase the cost? Of course! But bad food can and will make you sick.

Oxygen is what reduces the shelf life. Cool temps slow down the interaction of the oxygen on whatever product you are storing. Vacuum packing(food saver) also helps.

sb

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

You're wasting a lot of time and effort on the front end, my friend. Dry beans can be easily and quickly cooked if they are soaked in water for several hours before cooking, then cooked quickly with little extra fuel expended. One thing that can help cut the cooking time of the beans is to get a hand-cranked grain grinder or, if portability is a bigger concern, a pepper grinder. You can grind the beans into smaller bits, which will help them cook much faster. No pre-cooking necessary.

Furthermore, besides sapping the nutritional content by pre-cooking them, you're probably putting more moisture into the beans than re-dehydrating them will take out. Keeping moisture out of your stored food should be your main concern. Aim for reducing the bit-size of your beans and you won't need to pre-cook them and then dehydrate them at all.

I buy cases of 5-gallon Mylar storage bags from sorbentsystems.com and put my rice, beans and other grains (I don't store wheat because a lot of people have an allergy to gluten and can't eat wheat. See this post I made: http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=328737) Sorbentsystems.com also has oxygen absorbers. I've been getting 5-gallon buckets from various restaurants to store the bags in.

Re: Dried Grains and Beans Shelf Life
 

You can eat the uncooked beans dry as well. Also you can just soak them overnight in water and they will be quick and easy to cook, or eat raw then.

Another thing, you can soak them in water for a couple of days, and eat the sprouted beans, and you will get even more nutrition.