Storage of beans and/or rice?

[lkothe]

How do YOU store your beans and/or rice?
I'd imagine a vacuum packer would be optimum but I don't have one,,,, yet.

Looking at options for storing beans and rice for future use.

DNO

 

[aviator41]

Vacuum sealer is the best way to go. Alternative would be nitrogen storage, but if you can afford to do that, you can afford a vacuum sealer.

Whatever you store it in, make sure it's air and moisture tight. Containers with screw on lids work very well.

 

[ignerntbend]

Store them in the packages they came in sprikled with diotamacious earth. [I probably didn't spell that right]
Grains and legumes last forever. Wheat buried with the Pharoes will still sprout.

 

[BadgeBunny]

Actually, vacuum packing and DE have both come under fire lately as less than optimal ways to store food long term. Studies have shown that the plastic packaging is O2 permeable. Mylar and O2 absorbers are a much, much better choice, although I suppose that you could vacuum seal the mylar with the absorbers. If you are gonna store food in plastic buckets, seal it in mylar first, then store the mylar in the bucket.

I've seen several posts on survival boards where folks have used DE and then opened containers to find bugs ... Again, O2 absorbers will make the container completely inhospitable to bugs, etc.

Like most things in life, I'm sure results vary from person to person due to variances in skill and care taken. But forewarned is forearmed ...

 

[BadgeBunny]

A member here wanted to contribute this information to the thread anonymously ... So ... without further ado, here it is ...




1 - Put mylar bag in bucket
2 - Beans/rice to 1/3 capacity, put in an Os absorber
3 - Beans/rice to 2/3 capacity, repeat
4 - Beans/rice to about 2 to 3 inches below top of bucket, another Os absorber
5 - Cut the mylar bag at angles to remove the upper corners, leaving a section about 4 to 6 inches wide at the top, center of the bag.
6 - Seal the angled cuts with a flat iron at approx. 1 to 2 inch depths from the edges.
7 - Seal the top, center section at the top of the bag in from the corners toward the center, leaving a space about 1/2-inch wide open in the center.
8 - Insert the hose on the vaccum sealer into the narrow gap remaining in the bag (don't insert the hose beyond the depth to which you've sealed the mylar), press out the remaining air and turn on the sealer. Let it do its thing. You may have to pinch the mylar on each side of the hose to achieve a seal. I fold/wrap the mylar around the hose and it works great.
9 - Once the air has been removed and the machine indicates a vaccum, fold the mylar below the sealed edge to hold the vaccum as best you can, remove the tube and quickly seal the gap with the flat iron.

Don't install the lid right away. Set the lid on the bucket and put it aside. Wait 30min to an hour and check to ensure that you don't have an air leak somewhere. Your mylar bag should look like a bag of vaccum-sealed coffee (lumpy and hard as a brick of coffee/beans/rice)
When you're satisfied that you have a good seal, gently fold the mylar down below the lip of the bucket, put another Os absorber on top of the bag and install the lid by hand at first then with a rubber mallet. Make sure your buckets and lids are food grade and that the lids have a rubber gasket in them.
Store in the coolest, dryest place you can.



According to his PM to me, he has used this method for quite a while and it works fine for him. If you have any questions, please post them in this thread so everyone can see them and as he answers them, I will post the response.

 

[Hump66]

I just keep it in the packaging I bought it in, stored indoors in a closet.

 

[GeneW]

Buy it from the LDS cannery/Bishops House in OKC. They are packed in #10 cans, 30 year shelf life, lightweight and easy to move, and best of all, they are dirt cheap dirt cheap dirt cheap.

Trust me on this, you need to make a drive over to them and check it out. Call first!!!

 

[dennishoddy]

Where does one get the mylar bags?

Cut up balloons? How are they sealed?

 

[SMS]

Dennis, you can find bulk sellers on Ebay and even Amazon.

FWIW, I think using a vacuum sealer AND O2 absorbers isn't necessary. I put the O2 absorbers in, squeeze as much air out as I can and seal the bags with one of Mrs. SMS' old hair flat irons...gives a wide complete seal. The bag doesn't shrink up tight like a brick of coffee right away, but after a little while the O2 absorbers do their thing and the bag gets tight.

Beans and rice just get stored in their original packaging. The only stuff I have sealed/stored right now is wheat berries.

 

[Free Trapper]

Buy it from the LDS cannery/Bishops House in OKC. They are packed in #10 cans, 30 year shelf life, lightweight and easy to move, and best of all, they are dirt cheap dirt cheap dirt cheap.

Trust me on this, you need to make a drive over to them and check it out. Call first!!!

U got it, Gene!