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How long to keep pulses/dried beans etc?
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Allexie
Posts: 3,460 Forumite
Had a sort out of my cupboards and came across loads of half empty containers of dried lentils, butter beans, kidney beans, chick-peas, rice, cracked wheat, flour etc, etc. Most of the stuff must be several years old and it led me to wonder just how long this sort of stuff can reasonably and safely be kept? Can anyone advise me please?
♥♥♥ Genius - 1% inspiration and 99% doing what your mother told you. ♥♥♥
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Personally I would use it, but I am no expert
“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” - Dave Ramsey0 -
older dried beans/pulses are safe to eat but can take a lot longer to cook. if they are several years old it may not be worth it as they may still be very tough after a long, llong time boiling them.
You can use some of them for baking pastry blind perhaps so they aren't wasted, or if you have young kids they can be used for making "mosaic" type pictures, musical instruments (put beans in old pringles tin or similar, shake)0 -
A few years ago the shops were full of decorative bottles filled with dried beans etc, for which they charged a pretty penny! I made my own with interesting shaped empty jars, which I filled with layers of kidney beans, barley, black beans etc. Aim for contrasting colours in each layer. Bob's yer uncle - trendy decor for your kitchen.
Actually they're looking a bit manky now so I'll probably bin them.
If your pulses are really elderly, then chuck them out - it's not like they were expensive. You presumably don't eat them often anyway or they'd have been used up by now. If you only eat them rarely it'd be easier to buy them tinned when you need to. Have a purge now, and resolve not to replace anything till you really want to cook it - I had a bad habit of keeping a wide range of pulses "in stock" when truth be told, I didn't use them often enough to justify buying such a wide selection.
A lesson I learned from living with an angler is that dried goods like peanuts, seeds etc can harbour weevils and that alone would put me off eating any pulses of dubious origin.0 -
The smell would give it away, even if they still looked ok - dried goods in the cupboard tend to generate a smell that's hard to describe, but, you'll know it when you smell it!
filigree is right though - make a decorative jar with them ... buy some more!
cranna99 gave you some great ideas too - also, you can make bean bags with them ... believe it or not, Spring *is* on the way and bean bags are far kinder to plants when the kiddo's are playing catch/jugglings/bean bag races etc.
If using them up in craft/arty ways is your preferred method:
1) decorate a photo frame with them (perhaps a "food" photo you're fond of ie: birthday/christmas meal?)
2) Cover a styrofoam ball with them (obviously not the flour/rice!), attach a ribbon, some drops of essential oil for fragrance and voila - a pomander to hang from your door knobs (keeps kids occupied for hours
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3) use the rice to make "Heating Pads" for aches - if you're not sure how, I'll post - but I'm on my out for a few days away so you'll either have to wait or some other kind soul might post them ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PMS Pot: £57.53 Pigsback Pot: £23.00
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If they are mouldy or have bugs in chuck em, but otherwise they just take longer to cook the longer you keep them.Member no.1 of the 'I'm not in a clique' group :rotfl:
I have done reading too!
To avoid all evil, to do good,
to purify the mind- that is the
teaching of the Buddhas.0 -
Have you thought of planting them?Nice to save.0
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Think said beans etc are gonna be chucked!!! Could they go on the compost though so's not to be too wasteful?
♥♥♥ Genius - 1% inspiration and 99% doing what your mother told you. ♥♥♥0 -
I've rummaged to the back of my larder and come across a cache of lasagne sheets. Box after box of it, about enough to reslate my roof if I'm honest. Some of it looks as if it's in special coronation packaging but the rest looks ok if you ignore the pre-decimal price labels and the fact that Presto Supermarket stopped trading about 20yrs ago! Apart form the obvious (lasagne) what can I do with it?Life's a beach! Take your shoes off and feel the sand between your toes.0
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errrr... get your kids to use it in creative paintings / collage things as umm house roofs and stuff??!0
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