Rice and Beans

[Bravery]

My family and I (wife, teenage boy, and myself) are pretty new to prepping. I have bought about 90 lbs of different kinds of rice and about 5 gallons worth of different kinds of beans. My question is what is the rice to beans ratio that I should be shooting for?

We don't have a lot of money so I wanted to get something now as a staple and then build on it with the finer things in life (canned chicken, canned beef, canned ... ). To head off people telling me I need more than rice and beans to eat... please understand that I know I need to add other things to our diet but that will come in time. If the SHTF, I want to be able to feed my family something and with the Obama economy the way it is... I have/want to start building my emergency supply with rice and beans.

So any ideas about the rice:beans ratio?
THANKS!

 

[Hades]

Do you like rice twice as much as beans?
or would you rather have beans 3 times as much as rice?
give me a idea of how often you would like to switch, and which one you like more, and I can give you that ratio PDQ.

 

[Bravery]

Do you like rice twice as much as beans?
or would you rather have beans 3 times as much as rice?
give me a idea of how often you would like to switch, and which one you like more, and I can give you that ratio PDQ.

Now that you say it like that...it makes sense. I think I would like it 50/50. I know rice really swells when it is cooked. Does that answer help?

 

[Hades]

They can be mixed, they can be made seperate. Its just a preference thing man. I could eat beans 6 days a week, if I have cornbread LOL
I would eat a neighbor before I ate rice, never liked it. But hey each to thier own. LOL

 

[SSTxPrepper1]

Rice and beans are food and are cheap and you can buy in bulk almost anywhere. But just like Hades said about cornbread, if you got that much get as much or even more for corn bread.

 

[SSgt.]

They can be mixed, they can be made seperate. Its just a preference thing man. I could eat beans 6 days a week, if I have cornbread LOL
I would eat a neighbor before I ate rice, never liked it. But hey each to thier own. LOL

When I first joined the military and was living in the dorms my meal of choice was beans with a ton of franks red hot sauce thrown on it. Lol

 

[Bravery]

When I first joined the military and was living in the dorms my meal of choice was beans with a ton of franks red hot sauce thrown on it. Lol

Military ... Dorms?!? Were you in the Air Force?

I lived a year in China and I ate ramen noodles almost every night and I found some chili garlic thick sauce (it was more of a paste than a sauce) and it made it bearable! We are definitely storing up some hot sauce.

 

[Loomis]

Gladiators ate barley & beans. Sounds bland.

 

[Bravery]

Gladiators ate barley & beans. Sounds bland.

That's what made them so mean!

 

[ranjen]

I dont think you should look at a ratio between the two, Just get as much as you can of both. Rice is the ultimate filler though you can add it to almost any main course and make that meal stretch out filling more people or feeding fewer longer. Any thoughts on oatmeal?

 

[Loomis]

That's what made them so mean!

It was supposed to build up a layer of fat, so when the other guy got lucky and cut you, you have some cushin before his blade did any damage. They did a chem analysis of the bones of a Gladiator.

 

[Shawn]

8th ID Pathfinders! I was stationed at Lee barracks from 1988-1990. Made me smile when I seen the crazy 8 patch!

 

[Bravery]

8th ID Pathfinders! I was stationed at Lee barracks from 1988-1990. Made me smile when I seen the crazy 8 patch!

I put the patch up because I just wanted to change up my avatar. I would have loved to have been stationed in Mainz. When I was going to Germany, I was hoping and praying that I would be stationed in a small duty station near a big city... I got just the opposite.... a big duty station near a small town ... Baumholder. I was there in the 80s ... the good old days when Reagan was President and the dollar was strong! I was spending money there like it was going out of style, traveling just about every weekend I didn't have duty (and even sometimes when I did - I was amazed that some people would take my weekend guard duty for only $20), I came home with nothing but memories!

When are you going to put up your avatar?

 

[Shawn]

I put the patch up because I just wanted to change up my avatar. I would have loved to have been stationed in Mainz. When I was going to Germany, I was hoping and praying that I would be stationed in a small duty station near a big city... I got just the opposite.... a big duty station near a small town ... Baumholder. I was there in the 80s ... the good old days when Reagan was President and the dollar was strong! I was spending money there like it was going out of style, traveling just about every weekend I didn't have duty (and even sometimes when I did - I was amazed that some people would take my weekend guard duty for only $20), I came home with nothing but memories!

When are you going to put up your avatar?

Ugh, Baumholder Been there a few times and was about tore up by a huge pack of wild pigs.. I have a friend thats stationed there now and will be going back this summer to visit for a week or so.

I will most likely put up my avatar later this evening

 

[Bravery]

Ugh, Baumholder Been there a few times and was about tore up by a huge pack of wild pigs.. I have a friend thats stationed there now and will be going back this summer to visit for a week or so.

I will most likely put up my avatar later this evening

What is that? Watches?

 

[Shawn]

Yes, that Is a couple of my watches

 

[Bravery]

Ugh, Baumholder Been there a few times and was about tore up by a huge pack of wild pigs.. I have a friend thats stationed there now and will be going back this summer to visit for a week or so.

I will most likely put up my avatar later this evening

I have a couple of funny stories about the German boars (not the ones that hung out in the bars but the ones in the woods) at Graf. I will tell one of them...

I took a short cut through the woods by myself to get to the little PX they had there. Going through the woods was off limits but I did it anyway because it was shorter. Well, going to the PX was fine but on the way back I heard this rustling in the bushes just a head off the path. So, I stopped not sure of what it was. Then out popped this HUGE HUGE I mean really HUGE boar. It was about 5 to 6 feet away from me.

Then all these little babies went running out of the woods across the path and into the woods on the other side. The monster boar just stayed there looking at me.

I had no weapon, no stick, there wasn't even a good sized tree that I could easily climb to get way if it charged. True story! I can't believe that my mind cleared and I remembered reading that animals can sense fear. SO I thought, "what is the opposite of fear?", I reasoned it was aggression. Again true story, I had this gargantuan beast right in front of me, so I didn't want to get any closer to it so I figured the only thing I could do to show aggression was to grunt and growl. So I did just that.

Well, this little show of aggression on my part really pissed the boar off. It started grunting and pawing the ground... I learned something about myself in that moment. I learned that no matter what fear I face in the future I wouldn't ever piss myself. I knew this because I was so scared at that moment, more so then than any time in my life ... and I would have been ok with myself if I did piss myself... but I didn't.

The boar moved about 6 inches closer (it was already close so that little difference was way too close). I then figured I needed to act. So I ever so slowly backed up... I back up to about 10 feet away and the boar then quickly bolted into the woods. I stood there for about 5 minutes ...

Well the moral of the story is....
I DIDN'T PISS MYSELF.

 

[Hades]

You must have done your kegals at boot camp LOL
You couldnt pee cause you were too scared and your PC muscles had you locked up. I bet you had to after she left, before you left the woods, I would have.
Been there, well not there , LOL. I was hunting Just outside of Grandview State Park in WV. Tracy Hylton ( he is like a new age tycoon, owning coal mines, land leases, and other companies in southern wv and who knows where else) had some russian hogs brought over for him to hunt, they escaped and ravage the mountains of Southern WV to this day. Anyways I was hunting the area and found myself pretty much ambushed with a
rock wall on one side, drop off on other, too far to go back around the bench ( hillbilly term for the flat area on the side of a hill between a wall and a dropoff LOL) that was probably 30 feet wide, didnt have real good trees on it to climb but I saw a big boulder that had rolled off the cliff wall to the rt of me, I could tell they were getting closer, so i climbed on that rock, maybe 5" tall, and watched this parade of hogs pass me by. You couldnt have drove a needle in my ass with a sledgehammer, but I didnt pee either. I sat there for a hour once they were gone, I had to pee bad once it was over.
did you use that shortcut after that?

 

[olivia1]

They can be mixed, they can be made seperate. Its just a preference thing man. I could eat beans 6 days a week, if I have cornbread LOL
I would eat a neighbor before I ate rice, never liked it. But hey each to thier own. LOL

We eat lots of beans and rice in the South. Add onion, garlic, and such, cook the beans until tender. You can add cheaper meats for flavoring, such as pieces of sausage, ham, smoked pig's feet (no, not one of my favorite, but really tasty). Makes the meat go further, adds extra protein to the meal. Then serve the whole thing over rice. Just a suggestion, learn to cook and eat new foods NOW. When times get bad, you need filling, cheap, comfort foods. That isn't the time to try and get your kids to eat "strange" meals. Note, rice can be served as a warm cereal with sugar (brown or white), maybe some raisins and milk. Not my favorite, but kids will eat anything sweet....and it is good for energy. Or the rice, sugar, raisins and milk can be mixed and baked for a rice pudding. Rice is wonderful for stretching meals. Very fattening, but I love warm rice with just plain butter. And cornbread is just heaven, especially with butter and homemade jam.

 

[Bravery]

We eat lots of beans and rice in the South. Add onion, garlic, and such, cook the beans until tender. You can add cheaper meats for flavoring, such as pieces of sausage, ham, smoked pig's feet (no, not one of my favorite, but really tasty). Makes the meat go further, adds extra protein to the meal. Then serve the whole thing over rice. Just a suggestion, learn to cook and eat new foods NOW. When times get bad, you need filling, cheap, comfort foods. That isn't the time to try and get your kids to eat "strange" meals. Note, rice can be served as a warm cereal with sugar (brown or white), maybe some raisins and milk. Not my favorite, but kids will eat anything sweet....and it is good for energy. Or the rice, sugar, raisins and milk can be mixed and baked for a rice pudding. Rice is wonderful for stretching meals. Very fattening, but I love warm rice with just plain butter. And cornbread is just heaven, especially with butter and homemade jam.

Great job Olivia!! Now I'm really hungry. I'm coming over to your place for dinner!!!

 

[Clyde]

8th ID Pathfinders! I was stationed at Lee barracks from 1988-1990. Made me smile when I seen the crazy 8 patch!

I was on Lee Barraks in 1991 with B CO 118th Support BN!
I was with 3rd ID B Co 3rd SPT BN in Schweinfurt

 

[Clyde]

I have a couple of funny stories about the German boars (not the ones that hung out in the bars but the ones in the woods) at Graf. I will tell one of them...

I took a short cut through the woods by myself to get to the little PX they had there. Going through the woods was off limits but I did it anyway because it was shorter. Well, going to the PX was fine but on the way back I heard this rustling in the bushes just a head off the path. So, I stopped not sure of what it was. Then out popped this HUGE HUGE I mean really HUGE boar. It was about 5 to 6 feet away from me.

Then all these little babies went running out of the woods across the path and into the woods on the other side. The monster boar just stayed there looking at me.

I had no weapon, no stick, there wasn't even a good sized tree that I could easily climb to get way if it charged. True story! I can't believe that my mind cleared and I remembered reading that animals can sense fear. SO I thought, "what is the opposite of fear?", I reasoned it was aggression. Again true story, I had this gargantuan beast right in front of me, so I didn't want to get any closer to it so I figured the only thing I could do to show aggression was to grunt and growl. So I did just that.

Well, this little show of aggression on my part really pissed the boar off. It started grunting and pawing the ground... I learned something about myself in that moment. I learned that no matter what fear I face in the future I wouldn't ever piss myself. I knew this because I was so scared at that moment, more so then than any time in my life ... and I would have been ok with myself if I did piss myself... but I didn't.

The boar moved about 6 inches closer (it was already close so that little difference was way too close). I then figured I needed to act. So I ever so slowly backed up... I back up to about 10 feet away and the boar then quickly bolted into the woods. I stood there for about 5 minutes ...

Well the moral of the story is....
I DIDN'T PISS MYSELF.

Oh hell I forgot about Boars in Graf! A couple of use built a trap with one of those trees that were there. the plan was the boar would walk on the camo net, trip the trap the tree would snap upright thus trapping the boar, then a couple of Specialists (E-4p ) would have one hell of a dinner...... Well......
It was so cold that night the tree froze in its bent position, and the boar had a great meal of MRE peanut butter, and MRE Cheese.....

Anyone spend time in Hoenfels?

 

[Clyde]

My family and I (wife, teenage boy, and myself) are pretty new to prepping. I have bought about 90 lbs of different kinds of rice and about 5 gallons worth of different kinds of beans. My question is what is the rice to beans ratio that I should be shooting for?

We don't have a lot of money so I wanted to get something now as a staple and then build on it with the finer things in life (canned chicken, canned beef, canned ... ). To head off people telling me I need more than rice and beans to eat... please understand that I know I need to add other things to our diet but that will come in time. If the SHTF, I want to be able to feed my family something and with the Obama economy the way it is... I have/want to start building my emergency supply with rice and beans.

So any ideas about the rice:beans ratio?
THANKS!

Well in my family I prefer beans. However, my wife is from Taipei, Taiwan so you can imagine what side she is leaning!
I will probably just maintain a 50/50 quantity.
My issue is preserving them for many years. How do I do this?

 

[Bravery]

Well in my family I prefer beans. However, my wife is from Taipei, Taiwan so you can imagine what side she is leaning!
I will probably just maintain a 50/50 quantity.
My issue is preserving them for many years. How do I do this?

Your wife is Taiwanese? How did you meet her?

I almost married a girl from Hong Kong... damn good thing I didn't. She was feisty as hell.

 

[old_anorak]

Clydesdale, as long as you store the rice to where it is dry and you don't get critters, it stays good for years. Wild and brown rice doesn't keep, so I wouldn't fool with them for long term storage. I use 2 liter soda bottles to hold my rice in the kitchen, but for in the pantry and storage, it's taken out of the plastic bags and poured into 5 gallon buckets with the lids.

Beans will last for a good while too, but be aware that the older the bean the less tender it gets and needs more cooking time. You can pressure cook beans, but I don't fool with that because you can blow the lid off of the blessed thing if a bean husk is jammed in the exhaust hole thing. You could also pressure can your beans so all you have to do is open a jar and heat them up or eat them from the jar, saves you the cooking time when you don't have it to spare. Can't can rice though.

 

[PhoenixPrepping]

Beans beans the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot, the more you toot the better you feel, so eat beans with every meal!!! Can't say that for rice now can you?

As has been stated in this thread already I'd rather eat my neighbor and keep his dog than eat rice. ~shudders~ Long story but I can't stand rice. Beans work out really well though. There are many different varieties and they can always be planted for more beans. Rice on the other hand is bland, and takes a LOT of work to grow. And you have to have the knowledge to do it, which I don't think many people do, oh and LOTS of water.

My suggestion to help flesh this out, at least on a budget, would be dehydration. But the same things that you buy now, just a bit extra, slice and dice it then dehydrate it then put them into vacuum seal bags and they should keep for years. Even meats can be done this way. Makes it tough but can be eaten on the go, high in protein, you can add some flavor before you dehydrate, and you can always toss it into a stew or soup. Before I got my engineering degree this was how I prepped. Now that I actually got the bloody money I'm putting it to use and buying most of these things and storing them in my bunker.

At this very moment if I was to close the hatch of my bunker, I wouldn't have to open the bloody thing for at LEAST 10 years, and I planned for up to 6 people eating adult portions for that. It is EXPENSIVE as hell but what am I going to use the money for come Z Day? Tender? Toilet paper?

 

[old_anorak]

Don't be afraid of expiration dates on canned goods. Really, don't. I had a can of 15 year old ravioli for lunch the other day. It was fine and I'm still alive and kicking. I do dehydrate things, but I won't spend the coin on the 'survival food' that is being touted by some businesses. The only exception to that might be powdered milk, but I have dairy goats and I have that covered.

Oh, wait, the only expiration dates on canned goods I pay attention to are the ones on soda. Seriously, out of date by 2 days diet Coke is foul.

 

[PhoenixPrepping]

Your right Anorak, expiration dates aren't set in stone, just a date the retailer can't sell them anymore. I don't do cans simply because I can NEVER find a can opener!!!! I got 5 of them and can't find them lol.

The food I got is stuff that I use all the time for camping and like it pretty well. Like how it is packaged, like how it tastes, and like the variety. But I STILL have my old reliable dehydrator in my bunker!!

 

[old_anorak]

Have you tried using a vehicle as your dehydrator?

 

[PhoenixPrepping]

No haven't heard that one. How does that work?