Question about food storage

psy-ops

psy-ops

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Sep 27, 1999
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I have been thinking about the long time storage of dried beans for a while. One major obstacle is I think I have to have those 5 gallon plastic jugs that are vacuumed sealed. So there is a significant investment which makes it prohibitive.

Recently, I have had a mouse (there is a high turnover rate) in my pantry, so when I buy grain or rice, I have to repackage them in a glass or plastic containers. The containers are usually used (I mean recycled) glass Pasta sauce jars.

Then a light bulb went off. Wouldn't the beans keep longer in a lot of small pasta jars then one big vacummed sealed jug? Though it is less efficient in one sense and takes more storage space, it is cost effective and even convenient I would not have to keep breaking open the seal every time I wanted beans in a survival situation. I would have beans pre-measured in seriving size containers. Then the containers could be used for something else.

Would small glass containers (25oz) holding beans be an effective long term food storage?

Thanks

Chris
 
"I have been thinking about the long time storage of dried beans for a while. One major obstacle is I think I have to have those 5 gallon plastic jugs that are vacuumed sealed. So there is a significant investment which makes it prohibitive."






As long as I'm going to use my beans within a couple of years I don't pay any attention to them, but I did buy some nitrogen packed beans in #10 cans.

The purpose of the more expensive long storage methods, is to put away the stock of food that you will never use (or maybe rotate only every decade or so).
 
Actually, beans are a very good source of nutrition, and very easy to store! Nitrogen packaging is quite unnecessary for dry beans. They have no fat so are not affected by oxygen. The only thing that happens to beans over time is they continue to dry, reducing their moisture content. Although low, if even a small amount of additional moisture is lost from the beans, they tend to toughen. The solution to eating "toughened" beans is a little more soaking and a little more cooking. Also, avoid putting salt in the beans till they are completely cooked. Salt has a tendency to require even more soaking and cooking to get tender beans.

There is always the problem with the "pentoses"! These are rare but natural five carbon sugars that humans don't have the enzymes to metabolize, but bacteria in your gut do. The result is ....... well, you know! ...but in an emergency situation, or camping or hiking, this is certainly less of a problem than during a three hour epic drama at the Cineplex!

So, all your methods to store beans are acceptable. They are all protected from vermin, and if you feel a "modified" atmosphere is necessary and don't want to pay for the Nitrogen packed stuff, just pack your beans in plastic, airtight containers and put a small piece of dry ice on top of the beans, under the lid. Set the lid on but do not seal it for about 20 minutes. The CO2 is heavier than all the elements that make up our standard air so it will fill the can from the bottom up as it sublimes (dry ice doesn't melt. It goes from a solid to a gas without passing through the liquid state - called sublimation.), pushing the oxygen containing air out. Then seal the container. Good for a long while! You can do this with wheat, oatmeal, or any other grain also. It is actually more important to exclude the oxygen from grains, especially cracked grains like oatmeal, because they do have a little natural fat that can be attacked by oxygen.
 
I went to a local bakery and asked for the buckets that icing and filling come in. They are about 3.5 gals and the lid has a rubber o-ring to seal it. I put beans and rice in them and they stay nice and dry. I did this for Y2K and the contents were fine when I started using them a couple of years later.

Many bakeries and donut shops will give these bucket away as they get a lot of them.
 
One thing you might consider is tepary beans--these were a staple food in pre-European-contact North America; they thrive in extremely-low-water climates (harvests have been known from as little as a couple of good rainstorms in the Sonoran desert), and they contain proteins that seem to deter bugs better than ordinary pinto beans, etc., do.

One more thing about beans: they are relatively easy to grow, so a good-sized jar of them that isn't too old to germinate (botanists who have written on the subject put this age at somewhere around 5-10 years, I think) gives you the option not only of eating for a month but also of planting your own relatively-low-maintenance crop for the longer term.

I suspect, however, that nitrogen storage might not keep the beans viable for planting--I'm not sure. Refrigeration or freezing can vastly increase their viable life, by the way.
 
I tend to like using 2 L Mason Jars. They are pretty cheap, very durable - unless dropped on a cement floor - and see through allowing you to view the contents. They are also a bit heavy and not very stackable. Although if you keep the boxes for the jars then you can stack the boxes and label the front of the box.

My wife is a genuine Tupperware junky. We had mice in one of our earlier homes and she spent $1000.00 plus on tupperware for this, tupperware for that. I have to admit it is really quality stuff and comes with a lifetime guarantee. In fact if you find the old, yellowed, tupperware at a garage sale - buy it, put it in the freezer and give it a little abuse (not so obvious). Then send it back to Tupperware and they will upgrade you to a new equivalent item no questions asked. A great company!

Bruce - that is a really cool idea about the dry ice. I tend to agree with the earlier post, however, that the lack of moisture will preserve the beans whether oxygen is present or not. Anaerobic fermentation can also occur under a reduced atmosphere - but this also requires moisture to be present.

You could also disinfect the jars with some sodium metabisulfate. Just go to any home-brew supply store and they will sell you packs of the stuff for almost nothing. Mix the powder up with the required amount of water and put it in a sprayer/mister. Squirt the jars and then rinse/dry. Again - probably not necessary but I encourage my wife to pre-sterilize her mason jars prior to canning just as a double safety.

I guess it begs the question - was the 'Blazing Saddles' scene filmed after eating decade/rotated beans or freshly bought ones????
 
Hello Chrisaloia,

It just occurred to me after posting and grabbing a glass of wine. We have these vacuum pump tops designed just for wine bottles. These clearly aren't as handy as the big acrylic vac. containers but they are cheep. You get the pump and 6 vacuum stoppers for about $5.00 but are restricted to storing in wine bottles.

A vacuum sealer bag system is also a good way to go. These things are a bit more pricey but there are many storage possibilities that these can be used other than food. I've seen someone actually store their clothes in a vacuum sealed bag. Not for preservation, but by sucking all the air out it made for a really tight packing job!
 
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