Frugal Disaster Preparation With Bean Flours
We spent five years on a small island which had several typhoons a year. We spent two or three years in a house on well water in an area prone to blizzards. In April. We have been without running water for days at a time. We've been without power for days at a time. Everybody needs to be prepared for some sort of emergency situation, but...
Consider these synonyms for unprecedented: aberrant, abnormal, anomalous, bizarre, singular, unexampled, unheard-of, unparalleled, unrivaled, unusual, atypical, deviant, unthinkable, unexpected.
One dictionary defines it as "Having no previous example."
Your best asset under such conditions is simply going to be your faith in God and the ability to think creatively and utilize the unofficial motto of both the Marines and the Coast Guard- "We who have done so much with so little for so long can now do anything with nothing." Unfortunately, our brains tend to go numb on many of us in crises situations.
Still, it's best to plan something. Here's one easy, inexpensive emergency food supply: Bean flour (recipe below). In order to have bean flour, you really need a grain mill, which is expensive. But if you are living in American and know more than a few homeschoolers, you do know somebody who has a grain mill. Ask around, and when you find somebody with a mill (especially Whisper Mill ) ask if they will grind up some bean flour for you. We like flour ground from split peas and white beans best.
Store your bean flour in the freezer. It will keep for up to three weeks at room temperature, and then it starts to taste rancid. It will keep for up to six months (maybe longer) in the freezer, so you want to rotate your stock. Every six months or so, ask your friend to grind another batch of bean flour for you and use what is in your fridge. In a disaster your power will probably go out, but the bean flour in your fridge will be good at that time, and you can cook up batches of instant soup with it for two or three weeks (recipe follows).
You also need to store some water for drinking and cooking. Ask around among your friends who drink coke from 2 litre bottles and ask if you can have several of them. Save large glass jars (we buy our raw honey in five pound jars, and if you buy pickles in one gallan glass jars, keep the jars). If you make sun tea you have at least one gallon glass jar container that works for water storage, too.
Fill some bottles of water about 80 percent full, and store them in your freezer, especially if you live in an area wher eyou get no notice of your natural disasters (earthquake regions, fire prone areas). Otherwise, when you get word that a tornado or hurricane is on the radar make filling containers with water one of your first priorities.
One more idea for liquid for cooking is to keep on hand some canned goods like new potatoes, they have a lot of liquid in them, and instead of draining the cans, you should use the liquid for cooking.
Here's how we use our bean flours:
I adapted my recipes from the Country Beans cookbook by Rita Bingham which I highly recommend.
Instant 'Cream' Soup
Combine: 6 c. boiling water (include liquid from canned vegetables if available. Tomato sauce or juice is not recommended, as it hinders the bean from cooking)
1 c. finely ground white bean flour
OPTIONAL:
1 c. diced meat or veggies if you have them
2 T. soup broth powder or boullion cubes if you have them
This will be bland if you don't have soup broth powder or frozen soup broth. You can add such herbs and spices as are available- learn also which wild plants in your area are edible and safe to eat. I would use purslane and garlic mustard if in season.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat (cook on a bar-b-que grill, a propane camp stove, or a campfire if you've got it) whisk bean flour into boiling water and add flavoring and seasoning if you have some. Bring back to a boil, then cook and stir 2 minutes. (For creamiest soup, blend for 1-2 minutes in 2-cup batches.) Add ingredients like cooked meat, herbs, purslane, canned veggies if used. Serves 4-6.
Alternative: You can grate raw vegetables and add them to the boiling water and cook them until they are tender, and then add the broth powder and cook as directed.
Basic Instant pea soup
Boil 2 cups of water (or broth, liquid from a cooked ham would be tasty)
Whisk in 3 Tablespoons finely ground dried pea flour, stir for one minute
Reduce heat to low, cover and cook two more minutes. For a thicker soup (preferred at our house), use up to 1/3 cup flour
I add all kinds of things to this- you can add grated carrots, pototes, onion, minced celery, sea weed, green onion- bits of meat, as you desire. Add raw vegetables to the boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes first, then you add the pea flour. For the amount of water listed above, add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped, shredded, diced veggies (you could also add bits of leftover baked potato, bits of whole, cooked peas- be creative. Use some instant mashed potato flakes if you have them).
The basic recipe serves 2. Obviously, I increase this, and also obviously, the more veggies and liquid you add, the more you stretch your soup.
We also like our pea soap so thick that when it cools it is thick enough to spread on bread for sandwiches- very hearty meal in winter.
These are not gourmet recipes. They are basic, frugal, economical ways to care for your family and others during an emergency. You can 'pretty them up,' especially the white bean flour recipe, which is just like a rich cream soup without the calories or cholesterol. Maybe you could fix up a fancier batch and make some now for a neighbor.
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5 Responses to “Frugal Disaster Preparation With Bean Flours”
March 13th, 2009 at 7:04 am
Speaking of being with out power, many folks on the East coast were with out power for more that a week in the middle of a ice storm this year. Global cooling…um, I mean global warming!
Thanks,
Nate
March 13th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I thought we were the only ones who like split pea “soup” thick enough to stand a spoon up in it. When we refrigerate a batch it thickens to that consistency, then we add more water when we reheat it (usually a bowl at a time). A batch of soup lasts forever that way, and freezes well too.
March 16th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Interesting article. Some very good ideas. I always save the water from vegetables that I cook. It’s great for making soup or gravy. Why pour all those good nutrients down the drain?
March 16th, 2009 at 8:12 am
I use my blend with food processor settings to grind rice and oatmeal into flour for allergy free baked goods. Can I grind dried beans in it to make bean flour instead of using a grain mill?
Also, why would homeschoolers have a grain mill as a opposed to nonhomeschoolers?
March 16th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Condo, beans are much harder, and I am not sure it wouldn’t break your blender to do beans in it.
The homeschoolers thing was kind of a joke- grain mills were/are a bit of a fad with some homeschooling circles, that’s all.
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