Red Beans and Rice Recipes

Red beans and rice are not only a staple in a southerner's diet, they are wholesome, nutritious food that really sticks to your ribs.

Beans and rice make a complete meal that has all the protein, fiber, vegetables and nutrients you need for good health. No meat is necessary to complete the nutritional value of this meal. Meat is used as a seasoning or flavoring ingredient.

Beans and rice are also an inexpensive meal. Five pounds of rice costs about $2.00 and a 1 lb bag of dry beans costs anywhere from $0.50 - $1.25, depending on whether you buy a generic or store brand, or a name brand. All dry beans are raw, minimally processed agricultural products and must be sorted, rinsed thoroughly and soaked before cooking. There is no good reason to spend more on name brand beans when they likely came from the same fields as the store brands. Save your money and buy generic.

If you add meat, and most of us do, you can add smoked sausage, ham or bacon. A pound is around $2 - $3. I try to cut down on meat when we have beans and rice and only use a small amount for flavoring, around one-half pound instead of the pound most recipes call for.

The most frugal way to put meat into your beans is if you have a ham bone with meat left on it. Boil the bone until the meat comes off, then remove the bone and use the stock and the meat instead of plain water. You may have to add water as cooking continues, but stock always makes a better-tasting soup. A ham bone is usually very inexpensive at your grocery store's butcher counter.

When you add up the cost of a 5-quart pot of beans (1 lb of dry beans makes 5 quarts of cooked bean soup) and 6 cups of cooked rice, which serves about 6 hearty eaters, the total cost is about $4.40 if you use a pound of meat; $2.90 if you use half a pound of meat, and $1.40 if you make the beans vegetarian style (just leave out the meat). Add another $1.25 if you serve cornbread with it. Last time I checked, you can barely get lunch for one person at McDonald's for $4.40, and it won't be anywhere near as healthy.

Beans and rice freeze well, too. You can scale up your recipe and make 12 servings, eat half at one meal and freeze the rest for a quick meal later. There are only two people in our household, so 6 servings of beans and rice feed us 3 meals.

I often freeze beans and rice in individual-sized containers so my son can have them whenever he wants them. He's a growing boy and loves any kind of beans and rice. Beans were one of his finger foods when he was a baby. He'll choose a serving of beans and rice over just about any junk food around as well. I keep plenty of different beans and rice on hand and he eats them nearly every day.

If you bring your lunch to work and have access to a microwave, you can throw a single serving container of frozen beans and rice into your lunch box and pop it into the microwave for a filling, nutritious, inexpensive lunch.

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