Tag: preparation

Cooking Pinto Beans

  1. Sort beans and remove discolored beans and anything other than a bean
  2. Wash the sorted beans, put in pot, cover with water and soak for 6 hours to overnight
  3. Place on heat source and bring to a boil
  4. Let boil for 10 minutes stirring occasionally
  5. Reduce to a bare simmer, partly cover pot with lid, and cook for 1-1/2 to 2 hours
  6. Continue stirring occasionally.
  7. Make sure the beans are soft before removing from simmer

Equivalents and Measures

1 Pound Pinto Beans = 12 half-cup servings
100 servings = 8.33 pounds on pinto beans

One pound bag of dry beans = 2 cups dry beans
One pound bag of dry beans = 6 cups cooked beans, drained
One cup of dry beans = 3 cups cooked beans, drained
½ cup cooked beans, drained = 1 serving of beans
One 15-oz. can of beans = 1.75 cups cooked beans, drained
One 15-oz. can of beans = 3.5 servings of beans

Larger Scale, Cost Effective Water Purification (on the cheap)

Water Treatment With sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate

(Clorox Xtra Blue Pool Shock less than $5 at Wal Mart for a one pound container)

A 1 pound container will treat 75,000 gallons of water!

To treat smaller amounts, you need to make a bleach solution with a known quantity of chlorine. Also, there needs to be a little fudge factor so the amount of chlorine is slightly more than necessary to keep us from puking and crapping from some bug. Easy to use measurements are also required in a grid down situation as complicated formulas will lead to mistakes.

To make the “mother” bleach solution use 1/4 teaspoon granules in 1 quart of clean water.

To disinfect water with this solution: (solution, not granules!)

Use 1/2 cup (20 tsp) in 5 gallons
(1/2 cup is actually 24 tsp, but 20 tsp is plenty strong, 1/2 cup is used to make measuring easy.)
Use 4 tsp in 1 gallon
Use 1 tsp in 1 quart
Use 1/2 tsp in 1 pint

Stir or shake and let the bleach work.

Let treated water sit covered for a few hours if possible and then inspect. If chlorine smell is present, water is safe. If no chlorine smell is present, treat again. Once water is safe, it can sit uncovered for a while to reduce chlorine smell and taste. These amounts are slightly stronger than the accepted levels the World Health Organization recommends. Slightly stronger is better than too weak.

Easy peasy. I have these instructions in a heavy ziplock bag taped to each jug of this we have. I also have a 1/4 tsp, 1 tsp and a 1/2 cup measuring spoons/cup zip tied to the handles of the jugs. These came from a set that Walmart sells for 88 cents. I just threw the rest away and kept the ones I needed. Make sure if you do this that you use plastic, not metal spoons/cups.

I have multiples of this and multiples of the instructions. This and some saved large aspirin bottles or the like to split it up would be great bartering fodder.

Water Treatment with Calcium Hypochlorite (Pool Shock) 

To Make a Stock Chlorine Solution:

1 Teaspoon (approx 1/4 oz) for 1 Gallon of Water

To Disinfect Water:

– Use 3/4 ounce of Chlorine Solution to 1 Gallon of Water

– The Calcium Hypochlorite needs to be 68% or higher if it has other inert ingredients
– To get the chlorine taste out of the water, transfer it back and forth between containers to allow the gas to dissapate

NOTE: Place the Calcium Hypochlorite in a plastic bag and in a quart jar with a plastic lid. The compound is highly corrosive and should be stored in this manner to ensure it is safe from negative issues

Never Mix Calcium Hypochlorite with sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate!!

There are two known treatments to kill off microbes etc. in your water and keep it safe: Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione Dihydrate or Calcium Hypochlorite. Of the two, Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione Dihydrate is the preferred, and is EPA registered and NSF/ANSI certified for routine chlorination of drinking water. NOTE: From my reading, Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione Dihydrate is the same as Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrioneHydrated.