Wondering how to store your beans? Are you working on saving money by buying in bulk, but don't know how to best store and prepare your purchases?
This week, fellow West Michigan Blogger, Jolon Hull at Savvy Chic Savings blogged about her new bulk purchase of 25 pounds of black beans. She indicated that she was thinking about canning her beans and was concerned about how difficult that might be.
I quickly posted a comment to her blog with my own solution in an effort to help my fellow cohort in blogging and things frugal.
Now, I have never canned foods on my own. I canned peaches once about 20 some years ago (Wow…am I that old already?), in someone else's kitchen, and she did most of the work. It was fun, but I haven't done it again since. I have found that every so often I can try a new arc in my learning curve of life and that one I haven't done yet. I would like to and I also plan to learn how to make my own soap.
For now, though, I have made my own bread, candy, baked goods, baking powder, spice mixes, fruit leather and flax crackers, granola…. but not canned goods.
Now, I'd like to learn to can, but not for beans. Too much fussing for too little results for this busy mom — in my opinion.
Here is the easy-peasy way to store prepared beans.
1. Cook a whole bunch at one time. I typically use a pressure cooker and cook up to 10 cups (about 3 1/3 pounds) at one time.
2. Either use the beans all at once in a recipe that can carry our family for a number of meals, or use quite a bit of them and
3. freeze the rest in small plastic bags, portioned out for easy future use.
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The bags that I use are the smallest ones available through Country Life Natural Foods, and I secure them with those great Twixit Clips that I mentioned in my post on How to Store Nuts and Seeds. There are small plastic bags available through Amazon, but I have not tested those. They have a zip-top but I think these should work pretty well. I just really prefer the Twixit Clips for ease of use. (anyone else get frustrated with those zipper top closures :-(?))
The portion that I find most helpful is 3 1/2 cups per bag as this is the amount of beans in 2 typical cans of beans.
4. Simply take a bag out of the freezer when you need them. If you take them out the night before then they will probably be usable the next day. You can also let them warm for a bit and then empty the bag in to a warm pan and heat them up until they are ready to go into your dish. If the dish that you are preparing combines the beans with other items that you are preparing fresh and they are warm, then the heat from the dish will thaw out the beans the rest of the way.
This is such a time and money saver and a nutrition booster as well.
- You avoid the added expense of canned beans.
- You also have beans ready whenever you need them for a recipe. I will, in the future, post the recipe for a very flexible curried grain and bean dish that you can adapt to any grain and bean. In truth, almost all recipes work this way. In fact, flexibility in the kitchen is one of the greatest ways to save time and money.
- You also save on salt intake, though I think it is fine to consume salt as long as it is the healthy kind, not the kind in most processed foods and on most folks' tables.
- The beans, when prepared with ajwain or epazote by you, will be soaked and cooked properly and so much more easily digestible and nutritious.
- One final benefit of preparing and storing your beans this way is that you will be preserving the nutrients in your beans. Canning reduces nutrients whereas freezing only does so minimally.
It's not often that one can save time, money and nutrition all at the same time, but when you can, what a deal!
Let me know how it turns out for you!
I'd love to hear any time, money and nutrition saving tips that you have come up with!
Carol says
I have also started dehydrating them and then they just need to be added to hot liquid for about 40 minutes and are good to go. It is especially nice not to have to take up freezer space and very handy.
Adrienne says
Great idea!!
Shirley says
How long can you keep cooked black beans in refrigerator in a covered container!
Adrienne says
Hi Shirley – I don’t know how long. I know they do go quickly – sometimes I sprinkle salt on them to help with that.
Mahannah says
I have tried finding the spices epazote and ajwain in Kroger, Tom Thumb, and Whole Foods, with no luck. Short of ordering on line, any ideas? Maybe Fiesta or Carnival? Also, is the epazote in a powder form?
Adrienne says
I have never heard of those stores – maybe an ethic grocer nearby? The epazote is kind of like a chopped leaf.
Daniel says
Once you’ve frozen or dehydrated the cooked beans, how long after you’ve done so can you use them? Does it differ depending on whether you froze or dehydrated them?
If I want to purchase 6 months worth of black beans, should I cook 6 months worth and freeze or dehydrate all of it? Or, is there another way to store them before cooking closer to the time of use?
On an unrelated note, which grain do you think is the most nutritious and tasty by itself? Which can be stored for the longest amount of time?
Adrienne says
Hi Daniel. I am not a food storage expert at all. And I tend to “push the envelope” with food storage. There are recommendations for freezer storage and other kinds of storage all over the internet and I just can’t make a recommendation and then be in trouble if someone gets sick. That being said, my understanding is that dried foods (properly dried) last an indefinite amount of time, but they will take longer to rehydrate if you are talking beans. Frozen foods have a limit, but it seems to me that is to preserve taste and depends on the kind of freezer. Deep freeze is best.
I personally store my dried beans in a bucket until I need to use them. Soaked and dehydrated beans (I don’t have many) I store in the fridge, but just bc I am being extra cautious. You can see the buckets in this post on food storage.
Grains…hmm…are you gluten free? I don’t really have an opinion, but if you are GF then teff and quinoa tend to be more highly regarded in the nutrition category. Speaking of which, we haven’t had teff in soooo long. I have a great recipe for Teff Pancakes but no photo yet :).
Jennifer says
Do you drain your beans when you freeze them or leave some water in the bag? I have tried drying cooked Pinto Beans but when I take them out they seem so dry.
Thanks.
Jennifer
Adrienne says
I drain them. Haven’t had that problem. Anyone else???
Miranda says
The link must have changed; the bags via the Amazon link appear to be flat and do not say they are for food storage/freezing. I can get qt Ziplocs at Costco, though might be worth it to pay the “non-U.S. mainland” shipping fees and order from Country Life. I’d probably still save money over buying canned beans. 😉
Does anyone have another source for bulk freezer food storage bags?
Adrienne says
I just changed the link to be something that should work better – but I do think the Twixit Clip option is better. Hope that helps!
Lounette says
I use the clips that are on the ends of plastic clothing hangers. I just cut them off with an electric saw borrowed from my husbands work shop and they make great clips for chip or any other type of bags.. They work in the pantry or freezer and cost me nothing extra.
Adrienne says
What a great idea! Of course you can’t use them on the hanger any longer….are you tossing the hangers then?
Lounette says
Yes, you would have to melt or file the ends to get rid of any rough stuff, but if you have little kids you could use them as hangers for their tiny clothes. OR you could use them to hang neck ties or scarves. If anyone has any ideas of how to use the hanger parts I would love to hear them.
Adrienne says
Thanks much – inventive for sure.
Miranda says
What size bags do you use to freeze “one can of beans?” The Amazon link goes to 2 x 3 inch bags. 🙂
Adrienne says
Hi. Sorry for the delay – mine appear to be 8 x 4 x 2. What is the 3rd dimension of the amazon ones? It’s possible it changed since I linked. Thanks.
Jasanna says
where do you buy bulk beans at?
Adrienne says
I shop Country Life Natural Foods. Anyone else have a good source? We have a local shop here w/ bulk options. Where do you live?
Rebecca says
I’ve never cooked beans ahead and frozen them, but I will now, thanks for the tip! It will help so much in food prep for my family of 7!
I am surprised though, that you use the pressure cooker for anything. I have read enough of your blog to know you are all for whole foods and against microwaves. I am a midwife and we say all that a pressure cooker should be used for is to sterilize our instruments! 🙂 The high heat of a pressure cooker kills a lot of the nutrients in food. When I cook beans I just throw them in the crock pot overnight after soaking them for a day (8-12 hrs).
I appreciate your blog!
Adrienne says
Hi Rebecca. I have read very mixed things on pressure cookers. One of the things that I have read is that they preserve nutrients and that the Europeans love them for that. I would love to read more if you have info.
rebecca says
just one little question because I want to be sure I understand..are you saying freeze the FRESH or COOKED beans? thanks
Adrienne says
I am saying to freeze the cooked (make sure you cook them w/ the de-gassing spices) beans. Freezing dried beans won’t do anything. They keep really well dry but might take longer to cook if they are really old. 🙂
Petra says
Dehydrating your cooked beans are also a great way to store them without using a freezer. They will now be considered instant beans. When you use them, you just rehydrate with equal portions of hot water.
Adrienne says
Thanks, Petra – great tip!
Priscilla W says
HOW do you dehydrate cooked beans? I’ve never heard of dehydrating cooked beans. That is very interesting…I like the fact that I wouldn’t have to take up freezer room to store them.
Adrienne says
Hello Priscilla, You just put them on your dehydrator trays and dry them until they are really dry. That way you can use them in a regular bean dish, or what I would most likely do with them – grind them for flour and use them in baked goods. The GF flours in the store have been made w/ beans that haven’t been cooked properly and so they are probably rough on digestion. Hope that helps!
SillySimple says
Just wanted to jump in here and mention that if you decide to can your own beans please use the pressure canner method (as opposed to water bath canning). Beans are low acid foods and therefore must be processed at a higher temperature.
I make black beans using the slow cooker about once a month and can testify that freezing them really works well. Actually, they come out of the freezer better than they went in I think.
free2befrugal says
Wow, I never really looked into bean prep before but it seems like it would save a lot.
Good stuff here!
Georgia says
what an awesome tip!! i will have to bookmark this so i can refer to it later!
http://georgiascookiejar.blogspot.com/p/give-back-thursday.html
SnoWhite says
Thanks so much for sharing this tip today! I haven’t looked too much at bean prep yet, so this post is very helpful! Thank you.
Karyn says
Wow!! Yes again! I use a lot of beans and sometimes cook then up and sometimes use canned but I am not a canner either. I never thought of cooking a huge batch in the slow-cooker. Yay!! Definite for this week. Thank you so much for your wonderful and helpful tips. love,Karyn