Dry Pinto Beans ~

Living in the southwest you will find that, there seems to be, an endless supply of pinto beans. Local stores will sell them in 50-pound bags from farms in the area. New Mexico and Arizona alike you can a pretty good selection from farms that grow local.  The last 50 pounder we bought was in September of 2012.  I have around 30 cups left. They are old and very hard. The color of older beans is also darker than fresher beans. So, if you are purchasing smaller bags in stores look at the color and you can estimate how old. They are still useable, but your cooking times will be longer.

Earlier this year when I knew prices would be climbing and not being sure with supply chain issues, I purchased another bag. One 50-pound bag holds approximately 132 cups of beans - "I just counted" this morning to store in plastic food quality pales with screw-down lids (purchased 2012). However, the size of the pintos might slightly differ the amount, I only know how many cups I got from the bag. 

Each bale holds up to 90 cups. I have 90 cups in one and still able to close the top without problems. The 42 cup I put in another that will allow me to put the bag with older beans in on top. (I replaced the older pintos with newer in the pale. The pales kept them throughout 10 years, no bugs or moisture - they just got older, darker and harder. "Still useable!"

I plan on cooking the older beans up and making refried beans that I can dehydrate, how about brownies? I might even powder the beans to use as a thickener for soups. You can still make chili and bean soup. 

I have 15 cups of older pinto beans on the stove in a big stock pot. I started them with a quick boil. I'll do one more boil letting them soak overnight. To this pot I also tried the suggestion from the link below of using baking soda to help soften the beans.  The link has ideas to tenderize old hard beans, I never had a trouble with older beans before but thought I try the soda idea to see. I hope this might be helpful as inflation is out of control. I don't want anyone to mistakenly throw out something that they can use or might need. 

9 Ways to tenderize Old Dry Beans   from Ready Squirrel 

Masqueraded Chili 

Chili w/Corn

I try and post other recipes for pinto uses ~

New beans and small bag from Albuquerque I forgot about - yum - the leftover older beans dumped into the 50lb empty bag - lol

Inflation is something that is hurting everyone, and my prayer is that you are able to tackle some of the things we are facing with wisdom. Above all with prayers and the God's help. VB Philippians 4:4-7