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Home , Rice and beans

and Budget friendly rice and dishes for preppers

Preppers often talk of getting together supplies of bullets, beans and bandages, but when it comes to the beans part, preppers are usually unprepared! Sure, they may have an ample supply of beans and rice, but they don't know how to store, cook and make the most of this prized protein source. Rice and beans pack protein and is easy on your budget. Make the most of this important prep! Learn the rules of prepping with rice and beans... Prepping Rules for Rice and Beans Storage Here are some quick rules for buying, storing and eating rice and beans: Rule #1: Learn to like beans. The first rule of rice and bean storage is to love them! Over time rice and beans can become a family staple. Rice and beans together form a perfect protein for preppers, meaning together they are a natural substitute for lean times. Not only are rice and beans cheap, and but they are healthy and for these reasons make an ideal food storage combination. Many preppers admit they don't like rice and beans (and yet they really haven't given them a chance). At the bottom of the page, you will find inspiration for rice and bean combos to help you fight the food fatigue. Rule #2: Buy what you eat, and eat what you store. Do give rice and beans a try, but don't go buying rice and beans if your family doesn't get used to eating rice and beans. It is a basic prepping principle to buy what you eat and eat what you store. A better option might be to store pastas with meat sauce that your kids will eat! Remember, your personal guide to food storage, depends on you and your family, not some book, chart or Web site which tells you how much beans and rice you should buy. Having said this, it's important to know that rice and beans are among the most shelf-stable you can buy, which is why preppers put them up! Rule #3: Learn to cook beans from scratch! It's important to know that takes longer to cook than white; pinto beans take longer to cook than lentils. There's much to learn! Cooking from scratch before disaster strikes is important also because you won't want to waste food. Besides, the rice and beans from your favorite Mexican restaurant will not be available in crisis, so you'll need to learn to cook them yourself. An ideal cookbook for new preppers on rice and beans is by Peggy Layton. "Cookin' with Rice and Beans," is packed with 165 pages of prepper recipes and includes charts on how to cook the specific types of beans and rice. It's not a fancy book, but it gets to the basics and well worth skimming for ideas. Rules #4 and #5: Store enough water and fuel. Beans aren't always quick to prepare -- especially the dried varieties, such as pintos and garbanzo beans, but indeed they are a shelf-stable food that every prepper should store. Make sure to stock enough water and fuel for cooking rice and beans:  Stock up on water: It takes a lot of water and fuel to cook rice and beans, which is a problem in an off- grid world. Dried beans will need to soak in water and cook, and even if you soak them for 24 hours, it might not be enough time (unless you like your beans crunchy).  Stock up on fuel! Beans take hours to cook, and your large white propane tank will only get you five to ten meals or so of pinto beans, which is why you'll want to weigh your options. It's possible you'll want 1

to invest in a solar cooker, which will provide you with endless fuel. A solar cooker will have you cooking rice and beans quietly, without the smoke from fire to attract unwanted attention. Yes, you can cook rice and beans with a solar oven! Rule #6: Have some quick options available. There may be days when you simply don't have the energy to guard the rice and beans as they cook for hours, or you simply don't feel good enough to cook them. This is why you'll want to have some quick beans and rice and here's how: Want quick beans?  Cans: The quickest beans come straight from the can. You don't even need to heat them in an emergency, just open the can and eat!  Split peas and lentils: While dried pintos take a long time, you might consider other dried legumes, such as dried split peas and dried lentils. You'll cook around 20 lentil or split pea meals from a tank of propane; and about half that amount with beans.  : Dehydrated refried beans available from Provident Pantry and Honeyville Farms, are a quick solution. Pictured below, stock up! Want quick rice? Rice takes around 20 minutes to cook. Faster options include:  Cook rice with ! Coconut milk absorbs really quickly and as a result cooks faster than using other liquids. A happy prepper favorite rice recipe is from Bethheny Frankel: her is devine!  . Uncle Ben's instant rice is a prepper favorite. It might not be the healthiest option, but it's cheap and quick.  Legacy Foods : Parboiled rice, pictured right by Legacy Foods, is 80% nutritionally similar to brown rice; this emergency storage food is a good source of protein and is high in fiber too!  Rice Sticks ( noodles). Consider stocking up on (not the ramen kind), which take less energy to cook. Vermicelli rice stick noodles will take a minute to cook. Rule #7: Stock proper for your dried beans. Variety is the spice of life and this pertains especially to serving rice and beans to your family. o : A tasty way to add flavor to your dried pinto beans is pinto bean seasoning, pictured at the top of the page. o Flavor your own rice: For plain rice, you can add dried fruit. o Cook with coconut milk: o Visit our Pinterest page for rice and beans recipes. Rule #8: Store your rice and beans properly. A rookie prepping move is to keep rice and dried beans in the bags they came in, which leaves them vulnerable to vermin! An easy solution is to buy in bulk and you get the food bucket container. You can also buy our own buckets and learn to use mylar bags with oxygen absorbers to store your own rice and beans. o Store your rice and beans using the H-A-L-T method of food storage.

Fighting Food Fatigue Too much rice and beans? While budget friendly rice and beans packs the necessary protein for the prepper's pantry, it's sure to cause food fatigue if that's all a prepper stores. Even if your budget doesn't have much 2 flexibility, you can use creativity to enhance your variety and soon everyone in your family or group will find a favorite. Try the budget friendly rice and bean combinations below... Budget friendly rice and bean combos to give a try: 1. -style rice and black beans. Pre-cooked in a can and organic, the Caribbean Rice & Beans are ready to eat (no heating necessary in an emergency situation), though we recommend heating this delicious and healthy protein source. 2. Jamaican rice and beans. Backpackers Pantry Jamaican Rice And Beans, pictured right, is a hearty combination of brown rice, black beans, chicken and vegetables over rice with our special Jamaican BBQ sauce. 3. Louisiana . Backpackers Pantry, pictured at the top left-hand of the page, makes a happy Cajun favorite: Louisiana Red Beans and Rice, which will send your taste buds back to Mardi Gras. 4. Mexican rice and beans is a prepper must try! 5. and beans. Popular favorite from Eden Organic is Spanish Rice & Beans made with Lundberg short grain brown rice and pinto beans grown on a family farm in the . Pictured immediate right, Eden's Spanish Rice & Beans is cooked in a spicy tomato puree with a hint of sea salt.

Now you know the prepping rules for rice and beans food storage (buying, storing and eating rice and beans), and it's your turn to tell us your favorite rice and bean combinations. We're happy to hear your prepping ideas and link to your site. Please drop us a note on Twitter and Facebook at HappyPreppers. Please also visit us on Pinterest! - See more at: http://happypreppers.com/rice-and-beans.html#sthash.a0rpwShv.dpuf

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