I know what your thinking good grief here he goes again, another post about pinto beans. Hey, at least I’m regular. Anyway pinto beans are a great survival food, important in the diet, and easy on the budget. Pinto beans contain approximately twice as much protein as cereal grains and on a per-serving basis, about half as much protein as lean meat. Beans are low in fat, high in fiber and are a good source of iron. In fact one could survive with only a supply of whole corn and pinto beans.
When living off-grid and on a budget one tends to look for ways to cut energy costs and to maximize resources. One method I have been using to cut costs and to make my fuel go farther is thermal cooking. One of the main drawbacks to cooking pinto beans is the output of energy required; it costs me $87.00 to fill a forty gallon propane tank so I try to make every drop of fuel go farther.
This is my favorite technique because I can cook larger amounts of food, reheating and eating the contents through out the week, leftovers are great; never throw out eatable food just because you ate it the day before. You’re not made of money for God’s sake.
You need a large pot with a tight fitting lid, wool blanket and a cooler with lid. Sort and pre-soak beans over night, the next day bring the contents to a rolling boil for about ten minutes, cover the pot with the lid and quickly remove from heat and wrap pot tightly in the wool blanket. Cover the pot completely because you don’t want the heat to escape.
Carefully set the wrapped pot of beans into the cooler, filling any remaining space between the cooler and blanket with old newspaper and place lid on cooler. Pinto beans take approximately three hours to cook completely, if not done to your liking simply reheat and re-wrap and let stand for another hour.
The advantages with this method are many and can be used with other foods besides beans. You get three hours of cook time for only ten minutes of fuel used, food does not sick in the pot or burn if left unattended. Water usage is kept to a minimum because it does not boil away or need to be refilled while cooking. Thermal cooking is the most cost effective and least labor intensive cooking method that I know of.
Keep Surviving.
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Thermal cooking is a great way to cook just about anything. I even found recipes for cooking breads inside a thermal cooker.
Some of the commercial vacuum insulated cookers will keep food hot for 10-12 hours. You could prepare lunch and dinner in the morning inside a thermal cooker at the same time you are cooking breakfast and then eat a hot meal 3-12 hours later without doing anymore food prep. the whole day. In a disaster this would be ideal or if you were on the road it would be great too. Here's my blog that has info, recipes and demonstration videos on thermal cooking: http://thermalcooker.wordpress.com/category/thermal-cooking/
You can make your own or find compact comercial units that all do the same thing.
The gal that wrote Gone With the Wind wrote a recipe book on Fireless Cooking in 1908 which uses a haybox type thermal cooker. Themal cooking has been around a long time.
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