Hear me out, if you’re on a journey to pay off debt like I am, one of the few places you can actually cut costs is your grocery bill. This sounds good in theory but lord have mercy is it hard in practice. I’ll be the first to admit that I have a hard time sticking to my budget. I still want my food to taste good but why does it have to cost $200 every freaking trip to the store? Rice and beans makes a ton of food for cheap and we’re going to make it It covers the all the basics of a meal: protein, carbs, flavor. Simple but effective.
The hardest part of this recipe is remembering to pre-soak your beans overnight. All you have to do is rinse them, then put them in a bowl of cold water. Cover and let them soak overnight. There should be instructions for this process on the back of your bag of beans, also.
RICE AND BEANS
INGREDIENTS
- White or brown rice, 1/2 pound or 1 cup
- 1/2 pound or 1 cup of beans (I like pinto beans but adjust to your preference)
- Chicken bouillon powder, roughly 4.5 teaspoons (I add probably twice this amount but that’s a personal preference)
- 4.5 cups of water
- Salt, 1 teaspoon
- Pepper, 1 teaspoon
Optional ingredients:
- Hog Jowl (This is a cheap cut of meat used to season beans. Some people remove it at the end and some eat it)
- Kinders Buttery Steakhouse seasoning, 2 tablespoons
INSTRUCTIONS
This is the easy part.
- Wash your rice under cold water, 2-3 times. The water should run pretty clear when you’re done.
- Dump your washed rice and pre-soaked beans into the crockpot.
- Cover with 4.5 cups of cold water
- Mix in your chicken bouillon, salt, and pepper.
- If you choose to add hog jowl or other seasonings, add them now.
- Cook on high for four hours or low for eight hours.
Notes:
- Depending on your crockpot, it could be done sooner. I would check it about halfway through.
- Don’t add too much salt at the beginning, especially if you add the hog jowl. It’s naturally salty.
- I like to add some hot sauce to mine when I eat it. It adds a good kick to a meal some people would call bland.
You can get a pound of rice and a pound of beans at Dollar Tree for about $3. Even if you only use half of the bags for one meal (2 cups total), it makes roughly 6 cups of food. You can’t beat the price of that if you’re on a budget. It may not be McDonald’s, but rice and beans are a filling, healthy, low-effort meal that you can customize with seasonings and add ins.
