Dried beans are cheap, filling and healthy. They are a great alternative to making more expensive meat dishes which has become a lot more important in our house with the recent rise of produce and meat prices. Using dried beans helps me spent less at the grocery store.



So, how do you store all these different dried beans, peas and lentils? Take them out of the plastic bag they came in and then sort through them before you put them in their permanent storage container. That way they will be ready to use when it's time to cook them.

The easiest and fastest way to sort through a bunch of dried beans or lentils is to spread them out on a large table and pick through them. Keep an eye out for small rocks that may have gotten in. When you're done, throw your beans in some ziplock bags or plastic containers with a tight fitting lid. Then move those containers into a dark place. I keep mine in my kitchen pantry.

Dry lentils, beans and peas will last longest at room temperature. That makes your refrigerator or freezer a bad storage solution.

Don't forget to properly label your container after you add the beans to it. Many varieties of beans look pretty similar. I like to not the type of bean as well as the date when I bought them. This allows me to use the older ones first when I have more than one container of beans on the shelf.

You may also want to jot down any cooking instructions that were printed on the original bag that the beans came in. Either attach it to the container you transferred the beans to, or start a little notebook with cooking instructions for different varieties of beans.

Dry beans will keep up to 30 years stored in an airtight container on a dry, dark shelf. But to be honest, I have never had any sit around for more than a year.