Drying beans

[Fritz_Monroe]

We have been working on changing our diet. We want to eat healthier and we want to eat things that we can have in our long term storage. So, we've been adding bean recipes to the menu. Each week we add in another recipe to try and when buying ingredients for that new meal, we buy twice as much and store the rest.

 

Putting up some beans, it got me thinking about preserving them. Since we are going to have a garden this summer, could we dry the beans for storage? Are they just dried or would I need to use a dehydrator?

[Belle]

I do my green beans two ways- in a dehydrator and by stringing them and just letting them air dry. I dried 12 (6 foot long) strings of them this summer, as well as a few dehydrators full.

 

To make leather britches, thread a heavy needle with strong thread (I use upholstery thread), then just sew through each bean, near the end, and hang them to dry. They take about a week in hot weather. After they're good and dry, I store them in coffee cans.

 

Dehydrated green beans don't taste like fresh. They have their own flavor. You cook them like any other dried bean - soak, then cook.

 

[Cat]

Belle is right, and talking about green beans.

 

 

The other kind of beans... the dried ones... are VERY easy to do! The first ones I tried were just from a bag of black beans I bought at the store... I didn't even buy "seed". (Some people say that such beans are treated somehow to prevent sprouting and growing, but I haven't found that to be true. You can test them in wet paper towels in a baggie first, if you like.)

 

I just grew them like my green beans, and let them mature and dry on the plants. When it was nearly time for frost, I just pulled up the plants and sat at my picnic table to pull them off the plant and shell them.

 

After taking them out of the dried pods, spread them in single layers on cookie sheets, then set your oven on the lowest setting and dry them for at least an hour. This kills all possible parasites, and makes sure they're fully dried. Store in glass jars after they've cooled, preferable out of light.

 

 

Dried beans are one of the best things to store, and easy to grow. Cook them in a meal with rice, and the two make a complete protein.

 

 

[Belle]

You can serve them with any whole grain or dairy product to make a complete protein. That's one reason Mexican food is so practical for vegetarians - the corn tortillas are whole grain. Even if you use white flour tortillas, you can add some cheese and have a healthful meal.

 

Sorry. Former vegetarian. I get carried away, sometimes.

[HSmom]

Originally Posted By: Belle

Sorry. Former vegetarian. I get carried away, sometimes.

[HSmom]

And I mean that in the nicest way!

 

Your comment just tickled me.

[Fritz_Monroe]

Thanks.

 

Many of the recipes that we are trying are vegetarian or vegan. We aren't vegetarians, but since the majority of what we are storing is not meat, it just seems like that is what we should do.

 

Tonight's dinner is a vegetarian chili. It's simmering on the stove and smells really good. So far we've added a calliflower/cheddar soup, navy bean soup and a couple lentil meals.

 

I have learned that I have to allow more time to fix dinner when eating this way. The beans take a lot more time and take some planning to do the soaking.

[Belle]

I think it's a lot easier to prep vegetarian. I do it myself, to a large degree. It's also easier to produce and preserve vegetarian food at home and doesn't require a year-round commitment, like animals do.

 

It's good that you're learning how to use your preps, too. That way you'll have food that you're used to eating, when the SHTF.

[Fritz_Monroe]

Originally Posted By: Belle

It's good that you're learning how to use your preps, too. That way you'll have food that you're used to eating, when the SHTF.

Exactly why we are doing this. It is easy to store rice and beans. Our short term is a lot of canned goods, but long term would be very expensive and take up a lot of room. I am making sure we have some meat, after all, I really like Spam, my wife won't touch it.

As for being easier, I don't think so. For one, I have to put them beans in water the day before, only thing I need to do with meat is get it out of the freezer.

BTW, the chilli was pretty good. I should have cooked it longer, but it was almost 7 and we hadn't eaten. So we had some skins that were a little tough, but not hard beans. We looked at the amount of beans and thought it looked like we wouldn't have enough food, so we doubled the recipe. We have a ton of leftovers. If we were canning now, could we can the leftovers?

[Belle]

Sure you could can the leftovers! That would be your new fast food.

 

I didn't mean it was easier to cook dried beans. I meant it was easier to grow them (they grow in one season, then they're done, while animals tend to hang around longer) or stockpile them, since they're cheaper than meat and don't take up any more room (probably less). I store Treet (cheaper than Spam around here). I don't particularly like it, but it's gotten me through some rough times and kept me from starving, so I trust it to do so again. A lot of people don't like it because of the fat, but I believe fat is going to be very important to our survival.

 

BTW, you don't have to soak beans overnight. You can pick through them, rinse them, put them in a pot with some water, cover, and cook them. They only take about an hour longer than they do when they're soaked. I always soaked mine, so it took some convincing to even get me to try doing them the other way, but now that's the only way I'll cook them. I prefer the broth from unsoaked beans - it's richer and more flavorful. I can cook a potful of beans faster than I can thaw a pound of meat (unless I cheat and use a microwave)

[Cat]

Dittos to Belle's post.

 

As you do research, you'll find that fats in the diet are very necessary, especially in a "survival"-type situation. It keeps the body working correctly.

 

 

You can also bring the beans to a boil, cover, and soak for an hour before starting the cooking process (instead of overnight).

 

OR if you end up getting a pressure cooker (as opposed to canner), they help the cooking go faster.

 

 

Many people drain the beans after soaking to help get rid of the "gassiness" they cause, but you don't HAVE to. And the more beans you eat, the less gas they'll cause, I've read. Your body gets used to them.