The beans aren’t super soft but they’re not crunchy either. Definitely edible. Also added a smoked ham hock to it that was kinda freezer burned.
I’m going to try the baking soda soak next time. The juices could be a little thicker and beans a little softer.
Prepping practice meal. LOL We always keep 4-5 gallons of rice on hand too so it’s good to know we could have beans and rice. Close to ten gallons before cooking.
Just talking to the wife and we figure the kids were toddlers when we bought the beans. They’re 18/20 years old now so the beans are about 15+ years old and they haven’t always been kept under the best conditions. They’ve sat for the past several years in a camper that has no heat or A/C so they’ve gone from below freezing to up in the 90s in a square frosting bucket. The round frosting buckets have a rubber o-ring but the square ones don’t.
Country Folk Can Survive!
I am SO not afraid of what lies ahead. I could live on Beans & Rice if I had to. Seriously. Not as stocked up on them as I should be, but I have a lot of Frank’s Red Hot on hand. ;)
What is your solution to stashing milk, eggs and cheese, though?
I didn’t worry about it during the Sham-Demic, because my Kwik Trip never ran out of those basics, and they are my Touchstone for this kind of stuff. If the Kwik Trip doesn’t have it, you don’t need it! ;)
The local Walmart DID run out of eggs for a while, there. People were stocking up like crazy.
I need laying hens. Why don’t I HAVE laying hens? Beau stole my ‘space’ for a coop and turned it into more dog kennels. I’m pretty sure laying hens will be MORE USEFUL than dogs when TSHTF!
I give full credit; the dogs DO hunt Black Bear and it only takes ONE bear to see us through on meat for a year or more.
Beans and Rice and Bear. ;)
You should always briefly freeze rice, beans and nuts that you plan to keep a while. I just threw out a bunch of brown rice, and nuts that were less than a year old. Bugs inside the sealed plastic wraps had hatched, eaten, and pooped.
Regarding Peruvian Chips at Trader Joe’s, I do not find them too salty, nicely crunchy, and pretty when held up to a light. Also, I have been using less salt for quite a few years. If you love salt, then plan to eat a lot of raw salad type vegetables and bananas for the high potassium content which should be about the same as the salt consumption.
I don’t do much gardening right now, but love my 7 year old fig tree. This spring I looked at the tree expecting to find old flower buds and early forming figs. NOTHING I was so disappointed. Came back a month later and found little fig buds growing at the joints between branches. No flowers at all. Now if I could just get the ripe ones before the birds do!!! Grrr.