The Y2K scare has come and gone, but my survival food storage remains intact.
Over a one year period leading up to the year 2000, I had put back hundreds of pounds of grains and beans – mostly wheat, pinto beans and white rice as well as over 50 cases of canned foods.
Well as we all know the millennium bug, never amounted to much more than a change in the date. This was fine with me, I had my food storage up to date and ready for other threats to my survival.
I rotated the canned foods into my regular diet, replacing every can taken out with a fresh new product of equal value. The grains and beans were stored in food grade five gallon food grade buckets with mylar bags and three oxygen absorbers thrown in each pail and sealed shut with an air tight lid.
I added a line of silicon caulk around the seal of the lid as an extra precaution.
A few days ago I had the bright idea to open a bucket of white rice and one of pinto beans to check the contents and cook some of each to see how well the foods had held up to storage.
The beans looked good, perfectly dry with good color and shape. After several hours of cooking, the beans failed to soften enough to eat, so I cooked on medium high for yet another two hours.
After six hours of vigorous cooking the beans softened very little. They could have been eaten if ground into a mush, but it would have not been enjoyable to say the least.
Looking back, I think the oxygen absorbers may have been at fault, but I can’t say for sure.
Most sources suggest a self-life of three to four years for most types of beans, and after my test I would say that is about right. So the word from here is to rotate your dried beans every few years and replace with fresh stock.
This should not be a problem since you should be eating and rotating anyway.
The white rice fared better. It looked the same as when I placed it in storage. Cooked up well and tasted as fresh as the day I bought it. I am currently updating my food storage to include more of this excellent product.
Brown rice is a healthy food for a number of reasons. It’s a complex carbohydrate, which means that it contains starch and fiber. Complex carbohydrates are digested slowly, allowing the body to use the energy released over a longer period which is nutritionally efficient.
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