Food Question about stored grains, etc..

Babs

Veteran Member
I have about 1000lbs of stored grains, beans, & rice. I packaged it up about 14 years ago, in mylar w/ 02 absorbers, and sealed in buckets. Until this past year, it has been stored in a cool basement. We sold our home last Feb., and had to place everything in a storage unit, until such time that we could start building our new home. It's been in storage all through the summer months, where the temp was often above 90-100 degrees.

I am wondering if this food is any good now at all. Is it still good for food but just less nutritious? Is it not good for food at all? Would it still be good to use as fodder for animals? Should I just toss it out?

We have a huge investment here, and I'm slowly trying to replace some of the things with fresh, but I'd really hate to have to toss it all out.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
 

Samuel Adams

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I have about 1000lbs of stored grains, beans, & rice. I packaged it up about 14 years ago, in mylar w/ 02 absorbers, and sealed in buckets. Until this past year, it has been stored in a cool basement. We sold our home last Feb., and had to place everything in a storage unit, until such time that we could start building our new home. It's been in storage all through the summer months, where the temp was often above 90-100 degrees.

I am wondering if this food is any good now at all. Is it still good for food but just less nutritious? Is it not good for food at all? Would it still be good to use as fodder for animals? Should I just toss it out?

We have a huge investment here, and I'm slowly trying to replace some of the things with fresh, but I'd really hate to have to toss it all out.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Definitely animal feed, at least....especially for chickens.

You would need to cook the beans.....
just like you would for chili, etc.
Chickens go nuts over cooked beans.

14 years old, so handled, I wouldn’t want to rely on such for my own food, but I would certainly crack open a few and sample.
 

bluelady

Veteran Member
Should be fine since they're whole grains & not flour. We have some from a couple of decades ago :) and we no longer eat grains, but I plan to use them for sprouts/microgreens in the winter or when fresh greens aren't available/affordable.
 

Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior
that summer temp range certainly took life off your food - good thing is that grains properly prepped for LTS are at that max longevity curve - 30-35 years for your hard shell stuff isn't fantasy - might have to grind something like rice into a flour supplement ....

keep it as is for another 10 years and then start the worry ....
 

Walrus

Veteran Member
Samuel is right. Crack open a few and cook them up; it'll tell you more than anyone here could, because all we could do is offer a best guess.

I suspect it's all fine and good as long as the bags are still intact and properly sealed. That's one of the reasons I like vacuum-packing in mylar; it's really easy to tell if there's a good seal or not.
 

Faroe

Un-spun
If they look fine, they are fine. The beans may need pressure canning to get soft.
Just try some. Old grains properly stored aren't going to kill you. The only problem I've had with grains/beans is when they came from the supplier moldy. That is a no-go, and those bags got returned.
 

AlaskaSue

North to the Future
Only thing is the rice, it can go rancid under those conditions. You can smell it immediately when you open it up.

Grains are very likely to be fine; beans too (though possibly past the age where they’ll cook like normal, but they can be ground and then cooked if all else fails on getting them tender).
 

Babs

Veteran Member
*UPDATE* We finally were able to get our stored grain into our storage building on our property. I have many buckets of grain going back to 2008. One of the buckets was labeled "Hard Red Wheat, No Mylar, Use First". So I opened it up, and inside were several large ziplock bags full of wheat berries. As I said, these have been through multiple cycles of freezing temps followed by over 100 degree temps.
I wanted to check and see if these were still viable, so I grabbed one of the bags, and began testing to see if it would sprout.

It sprouted!!! There was no off smell, no mold, nothing. Only in Ziplock bags in a bucket!

I'm super excited and I'll see how well the beans are doing next.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
*UPDATE* We finally were able to get our stored grain into our storage building on our property. I have many buckets of grain going back to 2008. One of the buckets was labeled "Hard Red Wheat, No Mylar, Use First". So I opened it up, and inside were several large ziplock bags full of wheat berries. As I said, these have been through multiple cycles of freezing temps followed by over 100 degree temps.
I wanted to check and see if these were still viable, so I grabbed one of the bags, and began testing to see if it would sprout.

It sprouted!!! There was no off smell, no mold, nothing. Only in Ziplock bags in a bucket!

I'm super excited and I'll see how well the beans are doing next.
That's really good to know. It was around '08 when I did my mega storage of wheat, corn, rice and beans. I opened a container of basmati rice a year or so ago and it was pristine.
 

Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I had some red beans stored in a storage shed from 2011 until 2020. I finally pulled a few bags out and cooked them overnight in my crock pot.

They took a few hours longer to cook than fresh red beans do, but they made for a fine Monday night dinner.

Let me add - for anybody so concerned - my crock pot gets the beans to the boiling point when they cook overnight, but not much hotter than that.

So yes, they are completely safe cooked on low all night (10 hours minimum) in a 4 quart crock pot.

If it were not, I would be dead now, and my wife also, because we have crock pot cooked beans EVERY Monday night, without fail.

(We are from New Orleans. I think there is a law down there requiring all native New Orleanians must have red beans and rice for supper every Monday night, from the cradle to the grave)…)
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I had some red beans stored in a storage shed from 2011 until 2020. I finally pulled a few bags out and cooked them overnight in my crock pot.

They took a few hours longer to cook than fresh red beans do, but they made for a fine Monday night dinner.

Let me add - for anybody so concerned - my crock pot gets the beans to the boiling point when they cook overnight, but not much hotter than that.

So yes, they are completely safe cooked on low all night (10 hours minimum) in a 4 quart crock pot.

If it were not, I would be dead now, and my wife also, because we have crock pot cooked beans EVERY Monday night, without fail.

(We are from New Orleans. I think there is a law down there requiring all native New Orleanians must have red beans and rice for supper every Monday night, from the cradle to the grave)…)
what's wrong with cooking beans in a crockpot?

And also, how were your beans stored, did you use 02s or something else.
 

school marm

Senior Member
what's wrong with cooking beans in a crockpot?

And also, how were your beans stored, did you use 02s or something else.
Excerpt from an article I wrote a few years back. More at the link.

Instant Refried Beans, Bean Toxins, and Using Bean Flour in SOS Mix

"...[R]ed kidney beans can cause some pretty serious, as in painful, food poisoning if they are not prepared properly. Properly, when it comes to kidney beans, means boiling them for at least 30 minutes. Red kidney beans prepared in a slow cooker may not reach the temperatures necessary to destroy the toxin. If raw or undercooked kidney beans--as little as 4-5 beans--are eaten, severe nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea may begin in as little as 1-3 hours. It usually lasts for about 4 hours and there are no reports of death associated with red kidney bean poisoning. (And it's only red kidney beans that are so toxic. White kidney beans are fine.)"[1]

[1] Bad Bug Book, US Food and Drug Administration, https://www.fda.gov/media/83271/download (accessed 19 March 2020).
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Excerpt from an article I wrote a few years back. More at the link.

Instant Refried Beans, Bean Toxins, and Using Bean Flour in SOS Mix

"...[R]ed kidney beans can cause some pretty serious, as in painful, food poisoning if they are not prepared properly. Properly, when it comes to kidney beans, means boiling them for at least 30 minutes. Red kidney beans prepared in a slow cooker may not reach the temperatures necessary to destroy the toxin. If raw or undercooked kidney beans--as little as 4-5 beans--are eaten, severe nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea may begin in as little as 1-3 hours. It usually lasts for about 4 hours and there are no reports of death associated with red kidney bean poisoning. (And it's only red kidney beans that are so toxic. White kidney beans are fine.)"[1]

[1] Bad Bug Book, US Food and Drug Administration, https://www.fda.gov/media/83271/download (accessed 19 March 2020).
Thanks, now that I read this I remember something about it. I have red beans stored, but they are not something we'd eat very often, sorry Barry. They just aren't our favorite and no where around here cooks them right.
 

Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you all. Just made me sick to have to put them in that storage container, but we had no alternative. I will go ahead and try some, use some as decoys and sprout some for the animals. Happy Thanksgiving!
what's wrong with cooking beans in a crockpot?

And also, how were your beans stored, did you use 02s or something else.
Well, School Marm has addressed the danger better than I can. Though I have NEVER had a lick of trouble cooking red beans, as long as I cook them 10 hours in the crockpot.

As for how they were stored - actually most of them - including the ones I cooked - were just stored in their original cellophane packaging. They were Camilla brand beans - what other brand would a New Orleanian cook?


I don’t know if the kind of sealed, cellophane wrapping that is the hallmark of Camilla red beans is better than regular plastic bean bag wrapping or not.
 

Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thanks, now that I read this I remember something about it. I have red beans stored, but they are not something we'd eat very often, sorry Barry. They just aren't our favorite and no where around here cooks them right.
Well, yeah — them NORTH Louisianians don’t know how to cook red beans and rice right… though they sure can cook a great Meat Pie in your neck of the woods!
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Well, School Marm has addressed the danger better than I can. Though I have NEVER had a lick of trouble cooking red beans, as long as I cook them 10 hours in the crockpot.

As for how they were stored - actually most of them - including the ones I cooked - were just stored in their original cellophane packaging. They were Camilla brand beans - what other brand would a New Orleanian cook?


I don’t know if the kind of sealed, cellophane wrapping that is the hallmark of Camilla red beans is better than regular plastic bean bag wrapping or not.
I put mine in the freezer for a few days, take them out, let them thaw out and then vacuum seal in a jar.
 
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