Aldi Sausage, Beans, and Rice
Summer sausage, instant beans, and rice in one pot, with olives doing the heavy lifting.
- calories
- 790
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 132
- protein
- 29 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 450 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant white rice | 3/4 cup | the parcooked kind, not minute-brand imitations that clump |
|---|---|---|
| Dehydrated refried bean flakes | 1/3 cup | |
| Shelf-stable summer sausage | 3 oz | the dry-cured stick, not a refrigerated link |
| Kalamata olives | 2 tbsp | drained and blotted at home, carried in a small screw-top jar |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1/2 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Feta | 1 oz | optional, first night only |
Method
- Slice the sausage into coins before you light the stove. Doing it in the pot later is worse.
- Bring 450 ml of water to a boil. Add the rice, the sausage coins, the garlic powder, and the paprika. Cover and pull it off the heat.
- Wait five minutes. Do not stir, do not peek.
- Stir in the bean flakes a spoonful at a time until the loose water is gone and it holds a shape.
- Add the olives and the oil. Salt and pepper it. Crumble feta over the top if you are still on day one.
This started as a family dinner off a budget grocery list: sausage as the anchor, rice and beans to stretch it, olives and feta for flavor. That structure is already close to trail food. The changes are the perishables. Fresh sausage becomes a dry-cured stick that keeps for weeks, canned beans become bean flakes, and long-grain rice becomes instant rice so one boil finishes the job.
The bean flakes are the load-bearing part. They soak up whatever water the rice left behind and turn a wet pot into something you can eat with a spoon, and they add protein without adding cook time. The olives matter more than they look: cured salt and acid are the two things a rehydrated dinner is always missing, and neither survives being dried. Feta is real dairy, so it is a day-one luxury and nothing more.
Packing
Rice, bean flakes, garlic, and paprika premix into one freezer bag. Sausage and olives ride separately, and the olive jar goes upright in a side pocket.
Variations
- Swap the sausage for a foil packet of chicken and add a pinch of cumin.
- Skip the sausage and feta entirely and it is a vegan bean-and-rice bowl at about 550 calories.
- A crushed handful of corn chips stirred in at the end adds fat and texture.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/one-week-meal-plan-aldi