Beans, rice & dry goods

Why dry staples matter

Canned food gets you through the first weeks. For anything longer, dry staples do the heavy lifting. White rice, dry beans, wheat, oats and pasta are cheap, packed with calories and, sealed properly, they outlast almost anything else you can buy.

A 50-pound bag of white rice holds roughly 80,000 calories, about 40 days of food for one adult, for far less money than the same calories in cans. Rice and beans eaten together also give a more complete protein than either one alone, which is why that pairing feeds much of the world.

What stores best, and what doesn't

The foods that last are dry, low in fat and low in moisture. Utah State University Extension reports that polished white rice, properly sealed and stored, keeps well for 25 to 30 years. Long-term storage programs give similar estimates for dry beans, wheat, rolled oats and pasta, although very old beans take longer to soften.

• Store for the long term: white rice, dry beans, lentils and split peas, hard wheat berries, rolled oats, pasta, dried corn, potato flakes, nonfat powdered milk, sugar, honey, salt and baking soda.
• Store for the short term only (about 6 to 12 months): brown rice, whole-wheat flour, cornmeal, granola, nuts and anything oily. Natural oils go rancid even in a sealed bag.
• White flour keeps about a year. Whole wheat berries keep for decades, so store the grain and grind it when you need it. That takes a hand grain mill.
• Don't forget what makes plain food worth eating: salt, bouillon, spices, cooking oil, honey and sugar.

How much per person

A widely used planning figure for a one-year supply is about 300 pounds of grain and 60 pounds of beans and other legumes for each adult, plus oil, sugar, salt and powdered milk. That works out to about 25 pounds of grain and 5 pounds of beans a month.

Few households start there. Build in steps: one month, then three, then six.

• 1 pound of dry white rice is roughly 1,600 calories and makes about 7 cups cooked.
• 1 pound of dry beans is roughly 1,500 calories and makes about 6 cups cooked.
• Example: one adult for one month needs about 25 pounds of rice or other grain, 5 pounds of beans, a quart of oil, and salt and seasonings.
• Grain and beans alone are not a complete diet. Add canned fruit and vegetables, powdered milk and a daily multivitamin for the long haul.

Choosing containers

Light, oxygen, moisture, heat and pests destroy stored food. The goal is a sealed container that stops all five.

• Mylar bags (5 mil thick or more) block light and oxygen. Seal them with a clothes iron, a hair straightener or an impulse sealer.
• Food-grade plastic buckets (HDPE, recycling code 2, sold as food-grade) protect the bags from rodents and crushing. Screw-on gamma lids make opening and resealing easy.
• #10 cans from food-storage suppliers are the gold standard but need a can sealer.
• Clean PET bottles, such as 2-liter soda bottles, with an oxygen absorber work well for small amounts of rice, wheat and beans.
• Never use buckets that held anything but food, and don't rely on the store's paper or thin plastic bags. Mice and insects go straight through them.

Packing with oxygen absorbers

Oxygen absorbers are small packets of iron powder that pull the oxygen out of a sealed container. Without oxygen, insects can't survive and food keeps its flavor far longer.

• The food must be dry, about 10 percent moisture or less. Store-bought rice, beans and grains usually are. Never pack moist foods with absorbers: low oxygen plus moisture can allow botulism.
• Set the Mylar bag inside the bucket, fill it, and shake it to settle the food. Leave enough bag at the top to seal.
• Add the absorbers last and work quickly: they start working the moment they meet air. Keep unused ones sealed in a glass jar.
• As a rough guide, use about 300 cc of absorber per gallon of container, or follow the supplier's chart.
• Press out extra air, seal the top across its full width, and check the seal. Within a day or two a good bag pulls tight and hard.
• Close the bucket and label it with the contents and the date.

Pests, heat and moisture

• Freeze newly bought grain and beans for 3 to 4 days before packing to kill any insect eggs. Let them warm to room temperature in the closed bag first, so moisture doesn't form on the food.
• Store buckets off the floor somewhere cool, dry and dark. Below 70°F is ideal. Warm storage shortens shelf life sharply.
• Check buckets a few times a year for bulging, gnaw marks or damp.
• Once a bag is opened, move what's left into airtight jars or a sealed bucket and use it within about a year.

Cooking beans and rice safely

Dry staples cost water and fuel to cook. Plan for both.

• Rice: about 2 cups of water per cup of rice, simmered covered for about 20 minutes.
• Beans: pick out stones, rinse, soak overnight in plenty of water, drain, then cook in fresh water until soft, usually 1 to 2 hours.
• Old beans take longer to soften. A pinch of baking soda in the soaking water or a pressure cooker helps.
• A pressure cooker cuts bean cooking time, and the fuel it burns, dramatically.
• Save fuel with retained-heat cooking: bring the pot to a full boil, then wrap it tightly in blankets or set it in an insulated cooler to finish cooking without a flame.

Eat what you store

Stored wheat does nobody any good if no one knows how to grind it and bake it, and a sudden switch to beans and whole grains can upset stomachs. Cook from your storage now: a rice-and-beans night each week, oatmeal breakfasts, a loaf of bread from your own wheat.

You'll learn what your family will actually eat, keep the stock rotating, and find out what's missing, like a grain mill, a pressure cooker or enough spices, while you can still buy it.