A friend had a recipie for a dinner he ate almost every night in college. One can of beans. One can of diced tomatoes. Put in microwave. Spice to taste. He called it “beans and tomatos”.
Yup. Buy dry beans and dry rice – none of that precooked stuff. Buy fresh potatoes tho. If you can afford it, I’d also get a bag of onions, maybe carrots, and some spices that do NOT contain salt. You can also buy salt, but it is way cheaper per-gram to get salt and other spices on their own. Note that brown rice has more vitamin content than white rice (thiamine deficiency), but most white rice is enriched to compensate.
I have to admit that I do not do beans nearly as much as I should. I think it is because canned beans are not nearly the deal money-wise as dried beans are … and I am not good at letting beans soak without forgetting them and ruining them.
I started vaguely planning my meals by the week sort of by accident. A friend made me a “weekly planner” whiteboard that had a “menu” section I thought would be totally useless.
But I started jotting down some ideas there, just on a whim, and I’ll be damned but I love it!
I don’t always follow my own plan, and I often just write the main/protein part and wing it a bit, but it’s great having at least an idea what’s coming down the pipe for the week, so I can actually plan prep and shopping, and use up what I have. It looks something like:
MON lentils
TUE beans
WED tofu
....
Etc, so like now I know to soak beans overnight on Monday, and go buy tofu before Wednesday.
I’m not sure they’re quite ruined if over soaked. Cooking time will be greatly diminished. I’ve left beans soaking for 24 hours because I forgot, they turned out fine.
You don’t actually need to soak them before you cook them.
I’ve made plenty of bean dishes, starting with completely dry beans. It takes a little longer to cook because they are rehydrating while they cook, but they still come out great.
Part of the reason to soak is for them to release sone long proteins that are hard to digest. You can achieve the same result by carefully removing the foam they produce at the beginning of the cooking (or replace the water completely after 10-15 minutes of boiling)
Fun fact FTW! Check out epazote for not only doing away with the pre-soak, but most of the renowned GI effects, too. 🖖🏼 A little goes a long way, (IIRC, ~ ½T for a 4-5gal pot) and it’s essentially dried grass. Get it from your local mercado/bodega for dirt cheap, change your life. 🥳
Rice, potatoes, beans, and lentils are all solid low cost choices.
A friend had a recipie for a dinner he ate almost every night in college. One can of beans. One can of diced tomatoes. Put in microwave. Spice to taste. He called it “beans and tomatos”.
Rofl, but actually a better “recipe” than many college students are capable of.
Yup. Buy dry beans and dry rice – none of that precooked stuff. Buy fresh potatoes tho. If you can afford it, I’d also get a bag of onions, maybe carrots, and some spices that do NOT contain salt. You can also buy salt, but it is way cheaper per-gram to get salt and other spices on their own. Note that brown rice has more vitamin content than white rice (thiamine deficiency), but most white rice is enriched to compensate.
I have to admit that I do not do beans nearly as much as I should. I think it is because canned beans are not nearly the deal money-wise as dried beans are … and I am not good at letting beans soak without forgetting them and ruining them.
I started vaguely planning my meals by the week sort of by accident. A friend made me a “weekly planner” whiteboard that had a “menu” section I thought would be totally useless.
But I started jotting down some ideas there, just on a whim, and I’ll be damned but I love it!
I don’t always follow my own plan, and I often just write the main/protein part and wing it a bit, but it’s great having at least an idea what’s coming down the pipe for the week, so I can actually plan prep and shopping, and use up what I have. It looks something like:
Etc, so like now I know to soak beans overnight on Monday, and go buy tofu before Wednesday.
I’m not sure they’re quite ruined if over soaked. Cooking time will be greatly diminished. I’ve left beans soaking for 24 hours because I forgot, they turned out fine.
I thought at least 24 hours was the requirement
Overnight/8 hours is what’s normal where I am. Or boil for 10 minutes, soak for a couple of hours.
Yeah you can just soak them in boiled water to shorten the time required.
You don’t actually need to soak them before you cook them.
I’ve made plenty of bean dishes, starting with completely dry beans. It takes a little longer to cook because they are rehydrating while they cook, but they still come out great.
Part of the reason to soak is for them to release sone long proteins that are hard to digest. You can achieve the same result by carefully removing the foam they produce at the beginning of the cooking (or replace the water completely after 10-15 minutes of boiling)
Oh, cool. Thanks for sharing that, I wasn’t aware.
That’s one of the reasons I love cooking. No matter how much I know, there’s always so much more to learn.
Adding to this. A pressure cooker brings the cook time down dramatically and I think it produces a superior result.
I second this.
Also works for things like cheap pieces of beef which normally require long cooking times before you can comfortably eat them.
dry lentils can be cooked with rice in a rice cooker right with them because they are so small.
Fun fact FTW! Check out epazote for not only doing away with the pre-soak, but most of the renowned GI effects, too. 🖖🏼 A little goes a long way, (IIRC, ~ ½T for a 4-5gal pot) and it’s essentially dried grass. Get it from your local mercado/bodega for dirt cheap, change your life. 🥳
TIL, thanks
Do a quick soak (bring to a boil, turn off heat, cover, let sit for an hour) and use a timer.
Magic words: pressure cooker. Electric ones are simplest, press one button and wait for beepng.
I mix lentils and rice with sautéed onions and I have a meal for a couple days. Add a dollop of sour cream.
If you then add fried onions to that you get a lebonese comfort food
Thanks. I’ll try that. It’s definitely my comfort food.