Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Canning pinto beans

Now the first question I get asked when I tell people that I can pinto beans is "why do you can dry beans". OK, here's my reasoning behind it.

1. That way I always know just how many meals I have on hand. 1 qt. of beans is plenty for a family of 4.

2. They are "heat and eat meals". You could eat them cold if you wish, I know many people that enjoy cold pinto beans, I'm not one of them.

3. If I had to I could heat them in the mason jars that they are in. Glass is as good a cooking container as you will find. In an emergency that glass jar may provide many uses. I can also use this glass mason jar over and over.

So, that's why I do it. Plus we love them and eat them often. This way we can just grab a qt from the storage room and heat them up. No all day soaking and cooking them, just heat and eat. It makes what would normally take a few hours of cooking into a few minutes. It's convenient. Also they travel well, you can take them with you just about anywhere and have a good meal just minutes away. Maybe be good for barter in the future too.


The way I do it.

Rinse your beans and then let soak over night. ( 12 hours ) Store in a cool place during this time.

Remove beans from the water and replace with fresh water to cook them at medium heat for 30 minutes.

Place hot beans in hot qt. jars leaving an inch of head space in the jar. Add 1 teaspoon of table salt. (Optional) Remove any air bubbles.

Adjust 2 piece ring and lid and place in a pressure caner at 10 lbs for 90 minutes.

You're done !!

Label and store and be ready to enjoy them good ol' pinto beans ( we call 'em soup beans ) anytime you wish. I am going to can some tomorrow and will try to post some pics tomorrow night. I love to can and hey, it's prepping too. My 2 favorite things all in one. Gotta love it.


This is Bullseye... OUT !!!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bullseye, I just turned off my pressure canner a few minutes ago. I canned 7 quarts of pinto beans. I have been canning pinto and other dry beans for many years. My canner will also hold 18 pints. Beans are a very good protein source providing all 20 amino acids. Thanks for your article.
Mountain rifleman

Bullseye said...

Mountain Rifleman, Good to know others are canning dry beans too, maybe I'm not crazy after all. A family of 4 could live on a 20 lb bag of pinto beans for a month. They'd be pretty sick of beans but they would be well fed and healthy. Thanks for coming by and I hope you will come back often.

Northwoods said...

Bulls',
I to enjoy canning. In a
way haveing food "put away" is like money in the bank. Every time I hear that timer go ding it's like a deposit being made in a savings account.
With all I've canned this year from the garden I felt I was about burn't out with it though. Now Ya got me think'n!
I don't even know how many 5 gal buckets of dryed beans I've got stored and when we do use them (after soaking) I usually pressure cook to save time.
To have them ready right out of the jar makes alot of sence.
Now I know what to do with the last couple dozen jars I have left.
Ya know between one of your earlier blogs inspiring me get all my stuff organized and now having to do more canning...hey buddy I'm suppose to be retired.
That's it I'm not reading your blog any more it's just to much like work! LOL
Hang in there brother!

Ken said...

...i got about 10 jars of 'heat-n-eat' pintos left,saving these for rainy days...lol,won't be canning anytime soon...canned ones aint bad(still like the all day beans tho...lol)

...good to see ya postin'Brother,just did some catchin'up..."lone prepper post" hit mighty close to home...lol...i'll see ya around...

Angela said...

Of all the canning I've done, I've never done beans. Wanted to, just never got around to it. Maybe I'll get some done when I'm done with my other couple of projects I've got going . . .

One good thing about canning beans is it can be done through the winter when there's nothing much else to can (at least around here). Have fun canning :)

ErinAndBrad said...

Hehe - we have canned lots of seasoned ham and beans - yummy!!

Unknown said...

You know I have read this before, but hadn't really given it much thought until now. If power were out and you had canned beans all the heat you would need would be to heat them up. Now I just have to find some time to get some canned!

deafnsmart said...

Bullseye,

Thanks for the recipe! You make it sound so easy; I'll have to try it.

Bullseye said...

Northwoods, sorry to be working you so hard brother, it's just what I do. LOL And man you are right, food storage is money in the bank. Let me know how the canning goes. As always, thanks for reading my BS.

Ken, good to (see) you brother. Glad all is well. I love the all day beans too, the smell I think. Ready to eat is pretty nice too. I add a little water and bring them to a boil for a few minutes, just as good to me. The Lone Prepper post hits home to just about everyone I think, sorry to say. Good to have ya back my friend.

Angela, I know you have plenty of projcets going, see from your posts. And yep, it's good to have some canning to do in the winter. I love it. Thank ya much.

Big E, always got a big ham hock in mine too. lol Thanks for stopping by buddy.



Sci, it's really great to can beans. As you said, heat and eat when the juice is off is pretty handy. Good luck with finding time, never enough of it it seems. Good to have you come over, please come back.

Deafnsmart, you are more than welcome. It's pretty easy really, just takes time. But I love it. Thanks for coming over, good to have ya.

HermitJim said...

As much as I love beans, I guess I better start canning some To tell the truth, I just never thought about it.

Thanks for the great idea...and for letting me know of another way to have my "Eisenhower Strawberries"!

Gen-IL Homesteader said...

Bullseye, You're not crazy! I've been canning pintos, black-eyed peas, black, and navy beans for years! They're wonderful to have on hand.