The most flexible part of my budget is groceries. You can’t cut back on the rent payment or insurance premiums, but you can make cuts in your grocery budget to stretch your budget. I would rather eat beans and rice a few more times in December than be faced with credit card bills in January.
I asked some of my blogging friends to share their favorite bean, rice, and lentil recipes with me. If you have a recipe you would like to share leave it in the comments and I will add it to my Bean, Rice, and Lentil Recipes Pinterest board. Let’s help all of our friends stretch their budget with frugal recipes!
Creating recipes with dried beans is even more frugal than cooking with canned beans. One pound of dried beans costs less than a can of beans, but makes the equivalent of 4 cans of beans. Are you new to cooking dried beans? Then try one of these Methods for Cooking Dried Beans.
Bean Recipes:
- Hoppin’ John
- Hoppin’ John (using a bone for flavor)
- Tuscan Pasta Salad
- Spicy Black Beans
- Avocado Tacos and Black Bean Cilantro
- Three Sisters Soup
- Hearty Tomato Barley Salad
- Black Bean and Corn Salsa
- 4 Bean Chipotle Chili
- Pink Bean and Ham Soup
- Spicy Black Bean and Sweet Potato Patties
- Slow Cooker Ham and White Bean Soup
Rice Recipes:
- Pork Fried Rice
- Rice Water Soup
- Mexican Rice
- Autumn Rice Pilaf
- Hot Rice for Breakfast
- Warm Rice Salad with Sausage and Apples
Bean and Rice Recipes:
Lentil Recipes:
What is your favorite frugal bean, rice, and/or lentil recipe?
Would you like to save this article?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Cindy says
I love all things beans and rice! Your post is a great recipe resource. Pinning it!
Swathi says
Alea,
Great collection of recipe, Rice and lentil my favorite combo meals.
April @ The 21st Century Housewife says
This is a wonderful roundup of frugal and delicious recipes! Thank you for including mine too!
Debbie says
I love all of these ingredients and try to incorporate them into our diet frequently. Thanks for sharing all of these great links. I am giving away two great prizes on my blog: a $50 gift certificate to my favorite jeweler robinsonlane.com and a copy of a new book published by fellow blogger, Kat Robinson. It is called Arkansas Pie: A Slice of the Natural State. I just know you will love either one. http://diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com/2012/11/2012-merry-merry-munchies-3-baked.html Come link up to enter.
Milehimama says
Always love finding new bean recipes, and honored you included my recipes on the list! Thank you!
mjskit says
Dried beans are definitely an inexpensive protein and so easy to make them stretch into many dishes. I’m always amazed at how much you get from 2 cups of dried beans! Great post!
robbiekay says
This is my top choice: http://catelinden.com/recipes/frugal-meatless-meals-coconut-curried-lentils/
The smell of it cooking is heavenly and the taste is delicious. It makes me smile to dish up a serving. The only drawback to this recipe is that it doesn’t yield an infinite supply. 😉 Fortunately, it’s also a quick and easy recipe. (I substitute maple syrup for the molasses.)
-h (@taste-buds) says
Perfect post. My beautiful signi just informed me that she all of a sudden no longer likes meat. This will surely help keep her protein and iron levels where they should be.
-h
Pat says
My favourite rice is rice pudding. All I do is take leftover rice, mix up a couple of eggs, mix in with the rice, add some sweetener ( sugar, honey, or what ever you use to your taste), and a little milk ( or soy milk, or almond milk… this was extra good), a little vanilla and bake it all in a casserole dish in the oven at 350 degrees F.
I can’t really give a regular recipe because I do things to the amount of rice I want to use up. Sometimes I add rasins, or cranberries, and sometimes I add cinnamon. But not always any of those.
This is a dessert, or our evening snack. Have also eaten it for breakfast.
'Becca says
Great collection! Thanks for the new ideas.
We have many favorite bean recipes, but the big winners we make over and over again are Honey Baked Lentils and Masoor Dal with Carrots. These both use lentils, which are easier than most dry beans because they cook more quickly.
Judy@Savoring Today says
What a great collection of frugal recipes! Thanks for putting all this together. 🙂