# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Gardening >  Dehydrated refried beans

## Alpine_Sapper

Ok, in Tarrant county jail they have dehydrated refried beans available for the inmates on commisarry that are really good and really cheap. (Don't ask how I know), 

But I can't find the brand on the internet. 

Everything I can find is either gourmet or backpacking food, and it's kind of expensive. I'm not willing to pay the price because I can make a huge pot of pinto beans and turn it into refried beans for less than $2.

 Has anyone ever tried to dehydrate refried beans in the oven? If so, do you have any tips or advice?

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## Tahyo

Alpine, I'm sure you can dehydrate them.  Seems like I saw somewhere how to do it but I'll be damn if I can find where.  Like you I found a lot of sources for them already dehydrated.  I'd be curious how to do it as well.

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## nell67

Try this and see it works for you Alpine Sapper,

*Dehydrated Refried Beans*  hot water to taste salt2 cdry pinto, black, or red beans3garlic cloves, minced1 medonion, minced4 Tolive oil      Cover the beans with boiling water. Let stand overnight or for at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse the beans. Add fresh water and bring to a boil. Add onion and one garlic clove. Cover and simmer for ~2 hours, until the beans are soft. Season with salt.      In a large skillet saute the 2 remaining garlic cloves in the oil. Using a slotted spoon place the beans in the skillet. Add a small amount of cooking liquid and mash the beans. Simmer to a thick consistency.      Spread the beans on a prepared tray and dry at 120° F for 6 to 8 hours.      To Prepare:  For 2 cups of refried beans, bring 1 c water and 1 c dehydrated beans to a boil. Cover pot, remove from heat, and let stand until water is absorbed (~5 minutes).      Yields ~3 cups of dehydrated beans.

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## Alpine_Sapper

> Try this and see it works for you Alpine Sapper,
> 
> *Dehydrated Refried Beans*  hot water to taste salt2 cdry pinto, black, or red beans3garlic cloves, minced1 medonion, minced4 Tolive oil      Cover the beans with boiling water. Let stand overnight or for at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse the beans. Add fresh water and bring to a boil. Add onion and one garlic clove. Cover and simmer for ~2 hours, until the beans are soft. Season with salt.      In a large skillet saute the 2 remaining garlic cloves in the oil. Using a slotted spoon place the beans in the skillet. Add a small amount of cooking liquid and mash the beans. Simmer to a thick consistency.      Spread the beans on a prepared tray and dry at 120° F for 6 to 8 hours.      To Prepare:  For 2 cups of refried beans, bring 1 c water and 1 c dehydrated beans to a boil. Cover pot, remove from heat, and let stand until water is absorbed (~5 minutes).      Yields ~3 cups of dehydrated beans.


Awesome. Thanks, Nell! I'm off for the next two days, so I'm gonna give this a try.

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## nell67

Your welcome!

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## Arkansas_Ranger

> Ok, in Tarrant county jail they have dehydrated refried beans available for the inmates on commisarry that are really good and really cheap. (Don't ask how I know), 
> 
> But I can't find the brand on the internet. 
> 
> Everything I can find is either gourmet or backpacking food, and it's kind of expensive. I'm not willing to pay the price because I can make a huge pot of pinto beans and turn it into refried beans for less than $2.
> 
>  Has anyone ever tried to dehydrate refried beans in the oven? If so, do you have any tips or advice?


Not just refried beans but dehydrated refried beans ????  :EEK!:

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## Rick

Alpine - Find out who their supplier is. I'll bet it's a commercial food distributor. That's the reason you can't find it online or in the stores. They probably only sell their brand name or supply a commercial only product.

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## Sourdough

I have a fair amount of freeze dried slightly used dog food. Must submit order soon be for all the snow is gone, and the rains come. This is a very limited time offer, this food was only used one time by a love-able standard poodle. Hurry supplies are limited............ :EEK!:

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## Rick

Let me figure this out.....used food......Hmmm. That means the poodle had.....well, that is just sick!

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## crashdive123

So if you reconstitute the dehydrated refried beans.....are the f***s dehydrated or reconstituted?  Which is worse in a small tent?

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## Alpine_Sapper

> I have a fair amount of freeze dried slightly used dog food. Must submit order soon be for all the snow is gone, and the rains come. This is a very limited time offer, this food was only used one time by a love-able standard poodle. Hurry supplies are limited............


Wrong thread, bud. Bragg's Food Ration thread is located here:

http://wilderness-survival.net/forum...ed=1#post42005

 :Big Grin:

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## Alpine_Sapper

> Awesome. Thanks, Nell! I'm off for the next two days, so I'm gonna give this a try.


Ok, I finally got around to getting the actual pinto beans made tonight.  TDW had me out car shopping for my days off.  I'm dropping them in the crock pot tonight, and will turn them from pinto's > refried > dehydrated tomorrow when I get home.  Will let you know how they turn out.

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## Chuck

Try the book The Best of the Basics. They tell how to dry almost anything.

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## dilligaf2u2

The LDS(Mormon) cannery has re fries in #25 bags for $32.25. That comes out to $1.29 a lb. I would call the local church and see if they have a cannery in your area and when it is open. You do not have to be Mormon and they  do not preach at you. 

I also found them at a place in town (Sourh West Distributers) for 2.5 lbs at $3.77 a bag. That comes out to $1.50 a lb. 

I too like my refried beans. 

I hope this info helps.

Don

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## prepngo

If you like the dehydrated refried beans, you may also want to try dehydrating black beans.  I usually buy cans of black beans, drain off the juice and then toss the beans in a bit of garlic powder and onion powder. Then spread them on the dehydrator trays.  

They dry quite fast and make an excellent snack.  I keep several vac sealed bags of dehydrated black beans in my BOB.

Depending on your preference dehydrating any type of bean results in a nutritious snack.

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## crashdive123

So A.S. how did they turn out?

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## Alpine_Sapper

the first batch I didn't have time to let them dry fully, so they didn't turn out that great. The second batch was primo perfecto. I'd post pictures but TDW left my camera at the inlaws some time ago and I haven't been able to make it up to DFW to get it back yet.  :Mad:  :Mad:  :Mad: 


 :Smile:  Thanks again, Nell.  :Smile: 

Now, I have the hamburge rocks, and the refried beans, and the packaged spanish rice, Wildwoman's technique for preserving cheddar cheese. All I need to do is figure out if I should dehydrate the chipotles and adobo sauce, onions and garlic on their own and carry the spices, put it together in the field, or add it to the hamburger rocks before I dehydrate them and just make the whole thing of taco meat reconstitutable in the field.  I'm thinking it'll conserve fuel to do it the latter way since it needs to simmer for ~10 minutes once you add everything to the hamburger. Just haven't had time for experimentation with that aspect yet.  :Smile:

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## Ken

Why not let the Quality Control Department help with some advice?

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## dilligaf2u2

I want on this quality control board! 

I just got 50 lbs of dehydrated pintos from the pantry this week. I put most of it in food grade bucket with Gama lids(Screw on lids) About 10 lbs went into the frig for extended testing by myself. 

50 lbs of dehydrated pintos comes out to 100lbs of beans. That would be a lot of burritos and methane! 

Don

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