Looking at dehydrated beans instead of non cooked beans.

This doens't seem like too bad a price at Costco and I was thinking about packing my own beans from bulk at Sam's but this looks like a good option since they are cooked and dehydrated so there is less water used soaking and cooking them when needed.

According to the details there is a 20 year shelf life so it sound comparable to regular uncooked dry beans.

What I mainly need to know is compared to uncooked beans will these really last 20 years? Will they taste good or do you loose a lot since they are precooked?

About how much cooking time does it take to make normal dry pinto beans?

Considering what you save in water, cooking fule and time do you think this would be a good choice compared to uncooked beans?


Costco - Food For Health

Thanks,

 

Well let me see. Are you going to store them for 20 years before you break the seal and sample them? At that point your bulk storage purchase at $60 for 64 servings is merely ready to use asap food. Now we are also talking about pintos. Probably the least expensive most common available bean on the north american continent. For $60 I can make a bulk purchase of two 50 pound bags and repackage them so that they will easily last 10 years or more. Do you even eat pinto beans? From your post I know you haven't cooked any. 100 pounds of dry pintos is easily 400 plus servings. The costco 64 serving can at $60 is not a good deal. There are many other ways to wisely spend your prepping money. You might try buying a pressure cooker/canner and a cookbook to see how easy it is to cook beans. Or check these links.
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Texas Ranch Style (pinto) Beans Recipe
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Dry Beans

I just recomputed the yield from 100 pounds of pintos dry, and came up with 275 Quarts of cooked beans..... that more like 1100 servings of one cup each. Cooking and canning beans is no great feat, but it does save you a ton of money. At supermarket prices for canned beans, that 100 pounds dry is worth over $500. How does the Costco deal look now?

 

Yeah, the 64 servings doesn't sound right at all if so then this is a very crappy deal, it looks like a 5 gallon bucket to me so it has to be more than that or it is smaller than it seems in the picture. Unless they are family servings or something. The beans are divided in 8 packages so that would only be 8 servings per package so I'm thinking they don't mean individual servings, either that or it's only 1/4 full or something which would be really stupid.

I do love beans but never cook them from dry beans. I've thought about canning them and may still but when you consider the cost of materials and time involved it probably really isn't as different from buying something like this as it seems (assuming it's not actually 64 individual servings and is a full 5 gallon bucket). Part of the problem is I stay pretty busy so spending 20 minutes buying something vs. 10+ hrs a canning a similiar amount is worth something to me.

Something else to consider is dehydrated products are more likely to last and maintain freshness and nutrients than canned goods. Less space to store and lighter to transport. I'm not knocking canned goods, I also stock up on canned goods for sure.

Other than the cost what do you guys think about the dehydrated packed beans vs. dry uncooked packed beans?

 

It is a 5 gallon pail with 8 sealed packages. Each package is worth 8 servings. There were 6 mixed reviews on this product there as well. If all you are looking for is convienence without regard to cost per serving, I guess these will serve you well. One other note; I did the math on the old 5 to 1 ratio of rice to beans (which is dry rice uncooked and dry beans uncooked). Your 64 serving dehydrated beans in a 5 gallon pail will support 30 pounds of dry raw rice. 6 pounds of dry pintos is aprox 66 servings and costs only $3.00. Beans are not hard to cook or can. IMO this costco deal is no deal at all. $3.00 worth of beans for $60 is a royal screwing! You can lead a horse to water but not make him drink unless he wants to! You will do what you feel is right for you, as is your right. I am done with this subject. I wish you the best no matter what you decide.

 

Like I already said if it really is 64 individual servings then this is a very crappy deal. There is no way I am paying that much for 64 servings. I'm sure there are many other better and cheaper ways to get the same product.

Right now I am more interested in the value of dehydrated beans Vs. Dry uncooked beans for long term storage what people have experienced and their opinions.

Thanks.

 

There is no "value" in dehydrated bean products, outside of convenience. Dry beans store longer, yield more per penny, you have a greater variety available, can be planted to grow more beans (beans are seeds, you know). I have bought and eaten several different brands of dehydrated bean products. Not worth the money., IMO. YMMV.

 

That's interesting, I have heard you can plant beans but didn't know if they could be sprouted after several years of storage. Do you know if there is a limit to how long they are sproutable? That would be a great benefit to using dry beans for sure.

 

A bean is a seed...
Seeds commonly have viability for 3-5 years. However, I must insert a caveat here. Seeds can be viable even after decades, dependent on a variety of conditions.

 

Generally really low humidity or oxygen is bad for seed viability. So I'd leave out the oxygen asorbers. I routinely sprout 3 yo soy and mung been sprouts. My guess is that grains (ie wheat) would sprout easier then beans given poor storage conditions.

 

Hmmm, maybe seal up most beans and leave a gallon or so unsealed for sprouting.

 

Dehydrated beans? Aren't they already dry??

My wife and I stock several types of beans. Red beans (that kidney beans to you Yankee types) pinto beans, small & speckled Lima's and black beans. We will be adding navy beans in the future.

Why so many? They last just about forever, are inexpensive, and filling.

I don't even bother with mylar bags for my dried goods. Just food grade buckets and Gamma lids.

Now cooking beans is an all day thing. If you want to speed it up, bring them to a boil, then let them set over night. Change the water in the morning add your spices and ham/sausage or both an start cooking.

The water change will cut down on the gas, but not entirely. If you want to try something different, try kosher salt. It's a whole different taste.

 

I guess the idea on behydrated beans was that they could be ready to eat in 10 or 15 minutes and use much less fuel, instead of all the time to soak and cook them.

That's good to know does soaking them like that make any difference in the quality, taste or nutrition?

 

I somewhat successfully ground up dry pinto beans with my grinder and made them into small bits/flakes in order to cut down their cooking time. It worked fro refried beans, albeit not as well as I'd hoped. I don't think I would waste my money on something that is dehydrated like that unless it was something like a fruit I could not get in my area, etc.

 

Not that I can tell. It is just a way for the cook to unitize time while sleeping. I didn't know red beans were cooked any other way till I got married.