I have been doing a food inventory check as my son and his wife are coming to live with us in August and I will need to increase my stock to accommodate the two extra mouths. I opened my bean bucket and found that I had only twenty pounds of dried beans! Now, I am quite sure that there are many folks who would say, “Twenty pounds of beans! What the heck will you ever do with twenty pounds of beans?” I, on the other hand say, “Twenty pounds of beans! How would I manage with only twenty pounds of beans? Where did they go? What happened to my inventory control?” Obviously, I know what happened. Rice and beans, bean soup, baked beans, burritos and quesadillas happened. We ate them.
I keep a lot of dried beans. They are cheap, nutritious, versatile and store for a really long time. You can grow them if you want to but they are available in every supermarket. I won’t be happy until my stock is back where it belongs. 100 pounds will allow me to use 2 pounds a week for year. I also store bean seeds.
As long as I had my bean bucket out, I decided to change the way I store my beans. In the past, I have kept them in 6 gallon buckets, right in the original plastic bag. I separated the beans by type and put them in half-gallon jars which I then vacuumed sealed. I had a bookcase available in my storage room because I had moved the pasta so I now have 3 dedicated bean shelves. I have Great Northern, Navy, Kidney, Pinto, Garbanzo, Lentils, Black, Pink, split peas and a 13 bean soup mix. I used to have Indian Woman but I couldn’t find them. I greatly fear I ate my seed stock. I will need to order some. I know that Seeds Of Change carried them.
Herbal Pagan mentioned in yesterday’s comments how much food we eat in a year. It’s true. Most people would be shocked to find out that the weight would be measured in tons for a family with a couple of teenagers. This has been another crazy weather year. No snow, then feet at a time. In the Northeast, we are having record floods. I can see some garden problems looming. It was the wet spring last year that made the blight such a catastrophe for our potatoes and tomatoes. The very early, warm spring will cause the trees to bud out early. A late frost will usually zap them and that’s the end of the crop. Food security is everybody’s problem, everybody’s concern. I am taking my food storage very seriously as rising prices and lack of availability may make feeding a family well a real challenge.
The next time I shop I will put beans at the top of the list. I can generally get 5, 1 pound bags for 4 dollars and sometimes see them for even less. I can get a better deal at Costcos or BJ’s but I don’t get there that often and I don’t want to wait. I need 80 pounds. I can get 4, 20 pound hauls without affecting my budget. I will just to cut back on something of lower value for me.
March 31, 2010 at 7:16 am
beans are so valuable in food storage, but we just don’t eat enough of them! I feed my family baked beans at least once a week, but I’m going to start sneaking them into other meals as well. We eat a rather stodgy New England diet, so it’s hard to stick them in…they don’t like rice, not crazy about beans other than baked. I guess me and the recipe books will be trying to find something special.
March 31, 2010 at 8:14 am
when you vacuum seal your beans in jars, do you use a pump and seal? I’ve been debating on buying one but didn’t know how well it worked.I was also wondering what kind of canner you use. As always thank you.
March 31, 2010 at 8:22 am
Like you, I use wide mouth half-gallon jars with a vacuum sealer for beans and lots of other foods too. The bulk store I like to go to sells organic beans in 25-pound bags. I find that the whole bag will fit in a 5-gallon plastic bucket with a lid. I prefer the glass, but I’ve yet to find any half-gallon jars at yard sales. I need either the glass or plastic to keep my food from moisture in the basement, where we store almost all our food. We’ve been having the same rain as you and right now there’s water standing in one room of the basement. I’m not worried about the food in the least, and that’s a good feeling.
I’m hoping this yard sale season will provide me with plenty of cheap canning jars.
March 31, 2010 at 9:14 am
I use a Food Saver. I couldn’t find a Pump and seal. Do you like yours? I have 2 All American pressure canner. I am going to buy a stainless steel water bath canner this year. My old enamel ones rust out too fast for me. I want one I can pass on to my kids.
March 31, 2010 at 9:16 am
I hope we don’t end up at the same tag sale. I’d have to rassle you for them.
March 31, 2010 at 9:20 am
Kathy, with at least a few states between us, I doubt that’s likely. But I do like a good rassle, so hope we don’t turn up at the same one!
March 31, 2010 at 9:56 am
I don’t have a pump and seal yet, but it is at the top of my list. I was hoping to find someone who has one and see what they thought about it. My hot water canners don’t seem to last over a few years either. Thanks Kathy for all the good information you pass on.
March 31, 2010 at 11:42 am
Shannon, I have a pump and seal and love it. I am able to reuse jars that other wise I couldn’t. I make sure I don’t dent the lids when I open them ( with the original contents), sometimes certain ones don’t seal but most do. I also got for Xmas a Food saver, but I haven’t got the lid attachment yet to use the jar seal portion. If TEOTWAWKI happens I can use my pump and seal also. There is also a site where the lady show you how to make your own tabs. It is http://www.judyofthewoods.net/pump.html, I haven’t tried it yet so not sure if they work. Hope this helps.
March 31, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Seed Savers Exchange is a great source for heirloom type beans. They sell seed stock for lots of kinds including Yellow Indian Woman, Hutterite Soup, and others, as well as bulk eating beans that aren’t seed quality. It’s a great place to get “variety” 1 lb packs of heirloom beans to try. They will also sell 5 or 25 lb amounts. It’s more expensive than the 50 lb sack of beans grown in china or mexico found at your local big box store, but the beans are grown at the Seed Savers flagship farm and all sales go towards maintaining seed genetic diversity and keeping the Seed Savers organization alive and well. You can buy them from their website, just look for “Eating Beans” under their “Buy Online” menu.
March 31, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Debbie, thanks so much. I have been wanting one for sometime now. The only thing holding me back was hearing from someone who had one. I was also concerned about the tabs so that information was also enough to convince me. Many Thanks