*October is Legume Month*
By Stryder
01 October 2004
October is legumes month in my storage plan. What's a legume you ask? The major staple foods such as beans, soya, lentils, peas and chickpeas are all legumes. You need these legumes for the protein they provide and because like rice and cereal grains, they are relatively cheap and easy to store. More info than you ever want to know about legumes is at www.ildis.org, the international legume database and information service. There is a story that goes around the health care community that says 25 years ago low income families had much healthier hearts then today. Part of the reason has been traced to the fact that beans and rice were cheap, easy, healthy meals that were enjoyed in many low income households. Now many of those same households have gotten into high fat meals and the health benefits are gone. Prior Month's suggestions are on my web page at http://www.alpharubicon.com/~stryder/survive.htm.Buy what works for you! I cannot say that enough! If you are buying what I'm suggesting and you or your family won't eat it please just take your money and burn it in a barrel in the back yard. You might just as well save the time rather than shop for something that is no good to you.
October is Legume month. Try for a goal of 100 lbs. of legumes per person/per year. Fifty dollars this month will buy about 85 lbs. of beans, enough for about 0.8 man-years.
#10 can of dried beans = 5.25 lbs.
One gallon of beans = 7 lbs.
6.5 gal. pail of beans = 50 lbs
Storage
Beans, Dried in original store containers - 8-10 years at 70F
Beans, Dried resealed in pails with oxy absorbers or vacuum sealed - indefinitely
Beans, Canned, Bush or Progresso - 24-36 months
Bush - 1-423-509-2361 Progresso - 1-800-200-9377
Here's my list for October:
Dried Black Beans 20lbs. $12.00
Dried Kidney Beans 15lbs. $10.00
Dried Garbanzo Beans 10lbs. $9.00
Dried Pinto Beans 25lbs. $9.00
Canned, Black Beans 10 1.5lb. cans $ 11.00
If you're swimming in one of my suggestions, move the money and buy extra of one of the others where you're a little weak.
And if you're completely good on legumes (again, I find it hard to believe that anyone is that set on the basics of legumes and can't use to shore them up some) then you might want to spend this month's $50 on seeds, fertilizer, soil or tools for next year's garden. Think of the accomplishment of putting up your vegetables this time next year!
Keep chugging away on that food storage but don't forget water. Make sure your water stocks are keeping up with your food storage goals as well!!
Stryder
www.alpharubicon.com
All materials at this site not otherwise credited are Copyright (c) 1996-2004 Trip Williams. All rights reserved. May be reproduced for personal use only. Use of any material contained herein is subject to stated terms or written permission.