Pantry Staple Beans and Rice
Instant rice, dried beans, and a spice kit. Built entirely from things already in the cupboard.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 550 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant rice | 3/4 cup | parboiled or freeze-dried, not raw long grain |
|---|---|---|
| Instant refried bean flakes | 1/2 cup | sold in bulk bins as dehydrated pinto |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | in a leakproof dropper bottle |
| Chili powder | 1 tsp | |
| Cumin | 1/2 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried onion flakes | 1 tbsp | |
| Apple cider vinegar powder | 1 tsp | or a lime wedge carried from the car |
Method
- Boil 550 ml of water. Add the rice, onion flakes, and the whole spice mix.
- Cover, pull it off the heat, and wait five minutes. The rice rehydrates on stored heat, which saves fuel.
- Stir in the bean flakes a spoonful at a time. Stop when it holds a spoon upright.
- Pour the oil over and stir once more. Let it sit two minutes so the beans finish drinking.
- Add the vinegar powder at the end, off the heat.
This is what a stocked pantry looks like after it has been packed into a bag. The base is two dry starches that rehydrate off residual heat, so the stove runs for one boil and then stops. Beans and rice together also cover the amino acids that neither one covers alone, which matters more on day four than day one.
The spice mix is the whole recipe. Dehydrated beans and instant rice are bland by design, and salt, cumin, and chili are what keep the bowl from tasting like paste. The acid at the end does the same job a squeeze of lime does at home: it cuts the starch so the last third goes down as easily as the first.
Packing
Rice, beans, onion, and every spice go into one quart freezer bag at home. The oil rides separately in a bottle with a taped cap.
Variations
- A handful of crushed corn chips stirred in at the end adds fat and texture.
- Swap half the rice for instant potato flakes in cold weather for a thicker, hotter bowl.
- Dried tomato powder turns it toward a chili.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/stocking-frugal-real-food-pantry-save-time-money