Stocking Your Pantry - Part 2

For this second Stocking Your Pantry post, I want to cover how to store your beans, rice, and lentils so that they will last longer.

I like to stock a lot of beans and rice. I like to cook with both, especially because together they make a complete protein., but also because they are filling, easy, and so versatile. Dried beans and rice can last a long time in your pantry; however, the beans in particular CAN degrade in quality over time if kept in their plastic packaging. So, what can we do to avoid that? Vacuum seal them in mason jars, and you can store rice that way, too.

What you're going to need, in addition to the bags of lentils, beans, and rice, is -

• mason jars, including the rings, like these

• a mason jar vacuum sealer like this

• jar lids to fit your jars

The jar vacuum sealer is such an easy gadget to use. You simply fill a jar with beans, put the correct size lid on the jar, put the vacuum sealer on it, press a button, and it sucks the air out of the jar. Once the jar is sealed, make sure to write on the lid what type of bean it is and the date, and that's it. That's all you do, and by storing them this way, you won't have to worry about the beans degrading over time in your pantry.

You can do the same with the rice after you've taken it out of the freezer. This is also a great way to portion out a large bag of rice if you happen to buy it in bulk so that you have it in more manageable quantities.

And that's it. By adding to your pantry a little bit at a time you can have the ingredients you need to make easy, cheap, and filling meals anytime you want or need them.