how long will dried beans last?

[markbrewer]

I saw a 50 pound bag of dried beans recently and I wondered how long they could last. they seem a good thing to stockpile.

 

[HTacianas]

I saw a 50 pound bag of dried beans recently and I wondered how long they could last. they seem a good thing to stockpile.

Depends on how fast you eat them.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I saw a 50 pound bag of dried beans recently and I wondered how long they could last. they seem a good thing to stockpile.

I would store them away in sealed containers with minimal exposure to Oxygen. There are Oxygen absorber packets available for that purpose somewhere out there. The claim is that sealed and with the Oxygen absorbed you can store beans up to ten years. I think it would depend a bit on the kind of bean. And that you would get way less if you do nothing about the Oxygen.

My issue with beans is that they do lousy in my hard water, always tough no matter how long they are soaked or cooked. I have had to resort to distilled or deionized water just to cook dried beans. For me, if I wanted to sock away some beans, I think I would go for already cooked canned beans. They may last longer than the dried beans too. There was a steamboat that sank on the Missouri river north of Omaha and some cans and jars had edible food after a century. Of course your mileage may vary considerably and one has to be very cautious of old cans.

 

[Mark Quayle]

I saw a 50 pound bag of dried beans recently and I wondered how long they could last. they seem a good thing to stockpile.

Yes, in preparing for a Y2K type situation, it is good to stockpile ahead. I'd get extra strong containers, to store the methane, for fuel.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Yes, in preparing for a Y2K type situation, it is good to stockpile ahead. I'd get extra strong containers, to store the methane, for fuel.

Beans can be doubly useful.

 

[eleos1954]

I saw a 50 pound bag of dried beans recently and I wondered how long they could last. they seem a good thing to stockpile.

1-2 years

Dried beans are listed as indefinite, but they will begin to lose their moisture after 1-2 years in the pantry. They will need to be soaked and/or cooked for a longer amount of time than is on the directions if they are older than 2 years from the best by date as stated on the packaging.

 

[Walter and Deborah]

I saw a 50 pound bag of dried beans recently and I wondered how long they could last. they seem a good thing to stockpile.

My guess is that, how long before they go until beans goes to seed. Question is, do all beans go to seed?

 

[SavedByGrace3]

We have dried beans (Big Lima, Pinto, Great Northern, Navy, Lentils, Split Green Peas, Black Beans, and maybe some Kidney Beans). We need to do an inventory. We also have some beans in #10 cans. Most from the Mormon Store.
Some have been in the prep room for 7 years. We open a bag once in a while and test them. Never had a bad one yet. We prep them by placing them in a Mylar bag with a Oxygen absorber. Seal the bag with an iron. The O2 absorber sucks the oxygen out of the sealed bag and "brains" the bag. You can always tell when the bags gets a hole. They will lose the vacuum.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

We opened a pack of Big Lima beans yesterday that we put into storage 7 years ago. They were perfect.
We packed them in a mylar bag with a oxygen absorber. The package was still in a state of good vacuum and the absorber was still soft and pliable. When an absorber is completely used up it becomes hard and brittle. If it is still pliable, that means it absorbed all the O2 from the package with iron to spare. The absorbers work because they are basically Oxygen absorbing Iron filings. The iron absorbs all the oxygen from the pack (about 16% of the air) and creates a vacuum.

 

[Mark Quayle]

I just saw on my alerts, the thread about beans, and the next item on the alerts was by someone named "Grasping after the wind". Hmm....

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I just saw on my alerts, the thread about beans, and the next item on the thread was by someone named "Grasping after the wind". Hmm....

Took this old man a minute.. but I finally got it.