Canning Chicken and Rice Soup

Chicken soup is good for the soul....Well at least that is what the popular line of books written back in the 1990's would say. Well I cannot vouch for that, but I can tell you that Chicken soup is good for the tummy, especially when it is beginning to turn cool outside and the leaves begin to change colors. My wife says that soups are a cool weather food and she does not care for them during the summer months, but I think soups should be enjoyed at all times of the year.

Recently here on the farm, we butchered seven rooters so we had lots of backs and bones to cook down and turn into chicken stock. As is usual, I canned some of the chicken meat leftover from the bones and made some chicken and dumplings. I still had a little white and dark meat left over and decided to make some chicken and rice soup.  The thing is, I knew if I made a big pot and put it in the refrigerator we would have more than we could eat. I could freeze it, but our freezer space is precious, so I decided to can 4 pints of chicken and rice soup.

I can hear you screaming now “You cannot can rice in your soup!” Well, yes you can, it is just not recommended by the USDA. In fact, there are a lot of things that you can preserve via canning that the USDA does not approve of. Primarily, because the risk of food poisoning is higher if you do not follow proper sanitary procedures and or techniques. So heed my warnings, if you decide to can soup with rice, you do so at your own risk however minimal it might be.

Having said that, people have been canning rice in soups for many years without any problems, you just have to be careful. I always can my soups with dry uncooked long grain rice. Something you have to be aware of is that dried rice, generally absorbs 2 to 3 times it's volume of liquid when cooked. The container (pint or glass jar) has a limited amount of room for the expansion of dried foods such as rice, and beans when they cook. Therefore it is important to measure the amount of dried rice you put into each pint or glass jar before adding the liquid. In my recipes, I use 2 tablespoons of dried long grain rice for a pint jar, and 4 tablespoons per quart jar. You can put less rice in the jar, but never more or you run the risk of having jars that overflow or not to seal properly.

I know when you look at this amounts of rice used in these recipes they appear insufficient, but I promise you that these amounts are accurate for safe and reliable canning of rice in soups. Rice like many grains, will continue to absorb liquid after it has cooked, and in most cases the rice will absorb almost all the liquid in the jar if you use the recommended amounts of dried rice (2 tablespoons per pint, 4 per quart) in each of these recipes.

You could soak your rice over night, and rinse it to remove some of the starch. This technique might also reduce some of the liquid the rice absorbs when it is being processed, but I have not tried this yet, but may do so the next time I can a chicken or rabbit and rice soup. I have a friend, who cooks his rice ahead of time, but I have never made my soups that way. I was always afraid that the 75 to 90 minute processing time would turn it into mush, but he assures me the texture is fine. I may try this technique in the future, but again, in this article I am only going to explain the actual technique that I use.


Getting Everything Ready (Mise En Place)

You will need a pressure canner to can your soup as it will contain meat (a low acid food), and all low acid foods must be pressure canned. The appropriate number of pint of quarts jars, lids, and rings. For this recipe I am going to assume you already have made your chicken stock and are ready to can your soup. If you would like further information regarding making your own chicken stock and canning it safely check out my previous article: Canning Rabbit: Beef, Poultry and Wild Game. http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Canning%20Meats.

If you haven't cleaned yours jars, then do so before you get started. Once your jars are clean we are going to sterilize them. Fill your pressure canner about ¾ full with water and put on the stove and set it on high. We will remove some of the water later, but I like to use my pressure canner to sterilize my jars before canning. If you do not want to use your pressure canner to sterilize your jars, then fill a stockpot with enough water so that you can submerge your jars in boiling water. I like to go ahead and sterilize my jars and set them aside on my racks just before I add my ingredients.

Once the water in your pressure cooker or stockpot begins to boil, reduce the heat until the water simmers and using your jar tongs place no more than 3 pint jars in your pressure cooker or stockpot at a time and leave for 30 seconds to sterilize the jars then remove to a rack to cool. If you do not have a metal rack, a bath towel folded in half to protect the counter will work, however be careful not to knock the jars onto the floor. At this point I also sterilize my funnels and other equipment by dipping them into the water and placing them on my canning racks with the jars.

When you are ready to can your soup, take a small saucepan and fill with water and set it on high and heat it just until it starts to boil. Turn off the heat and add your rings and lids. If you are using your canner to sterilize your jars and already have it ¾ full of hot water, then remove enough water until you only have about 3 to 4 inches left in the canner. If you did not use your pressure canner to sterilize your jars, then fill it with water until it reaches the 3 to 4 inch mark. Now, I realize, that 3 to 4 inches does not sound like a lot of water, but as you add your full jars of meat, the water level will rise. Most pressure cooker manufacturers also recommend adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the water in your pressure canner to prevent water stains in the cooker and on the tops of the jars. I must admit I am not very consistent with my use of vinegar, and the occasional water stains are easily wiped off the tops of the jars.


Chicken and Rice Soup

Before starting the canning process you need to already have the raw vegetables you wish to use copped as well as your chicken cooked, cooled, and cut up and your chicken stock needs to be hot and ready. The amount of chicken and chicken stock you will need depends on the number and size of jars of soup you want to can. When canning my chicken and rice soup I layer the cooked chicken, raw vegetables, and rice in the jar, and then fill them with the hot chicken stock. Therefore, I will list the amounts of the ingredients I place in each pint or quart jar.

Chicken and Rice Soup (Pint Jars)

1/3 cup chicken, cooked, and diced
¼ cup onion, diced
½ a carrot or 3 baby carrots, chopped
2 tablespoons long grain rice
1 tablespoon celery, diced
¼ teaspoon minced garlic

Layer all ingredients into pint jars, then fill with hot chicken stock leaving 1 to 1 ¼ inch of head space. Add lids and rings then place in pressure canner and process for 75 minutes on 10lbs of pressure.


Chicken and Rice Soup (Quart Jars)

1/2 cup chicken, cooked, and diced
1/3 cup onion, diced
¼ cup (4 tablespoons) long grain rice
¾ of a carrot or 5 to 6 baby carrots, chopped
2 tablespoons celery, diced
½ teaspoon minced garlic

Layer all ingredients into pint jars, then fill with hot chicken stock leaving 1 to 1 ¼ inch of head space. Add lids and rings then place in pressure canner and process for 90 minutes on 10lbs of pressure.

Now, this recipe for canning chicken and rice soup is pretty basic, but very versatile, and it works, and I have used it many times. Feel free to use whatever raw vegetables in the soup that you and you family like. You can increase the amount of the vegetables somewhat if you you like, but remember you do not want to increase the amount of rice. In addition you need to take into consideration that if you increase the amount of the vegetables significantly, you will have less room for the chicken stock.


Conclusion

So why can rice in your soups when dried rice is already shelf stable? There are three reasons why I can some of my soups with rice. First, I like to have soups canned and ready to eat, so that I can just open a jar pour it into a container and take to work for an easy, fast, nutritious lunch. Second, rice is a relatively cheap filler and adding it to soups is a delicious way to stretch your food dollar. A 1/2 cup of cooked, chicken, beef, or rabbit meat does not easily feed two or three people, but put it in a quart jar with rice and vegetables and you have a filling meal. When I have small amounts of leftover or extra meats is generally when I can rice based soups. Third, I like to have soups on the shelf in our pantry that are ready to eat that I do not have to heat up in the event that we are without electricity for whatever reason.

The bottom line is that you can can soups with rice if you are careful and practice safe canning techniques. I know there are a lot of people out there that are not going to be happy about that statement, but I stand behind it. I have canned rice successfully in soups and know many people who do as well. Having said that, if you choose to can rice in your soups, be aware that there are risks involved, and that the risk is yours and yours alone!

If you are wanting to learn about canning, be sue and check out some of my other articles on the subject on our blog. And as always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us on friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.


Additional References:

To Pressure or Not To Pressure, That Is the Question: Preserving Your Bounty Safely. http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Pressure%20Canning

Canning Rabbit: Beef, Poultry and Wild Game. http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Canning%20Meats

Taco Bell Style Taco Sauce

Now that you have made your All-American Tacos (see link below), you need some of that fast food taco sauce to go with them. You know the kind, the sauce that comes in the small foil packets that are littering the floor board of your car, the ones served at Taco Bell, Taco Bueno, and Taco John's just to name a few.

Now, I have been making this taco sauce for a long time and use it not only on tacos but it is pretty good on enchiladas and burritos. The base recipe for this taco sauce actually came from Todd Wilbur who does a series on 'clone' type recipes on his website 'Top Secret Recipes' (see link below). I happen to have added a few additional spices that I think rounds out the recipe quite nicely, but I cannot take the initial credit for this sauce. The great thing about this taco sauce recipe is that it is quick, easy, cheap to make, and tastes just like the Taco Bell sauce..

Cost Analysis

I do not want you to get the wrong idea here, I am not beating up on Taco Bell, they just happen to be the most common and or popular Mexican fast food restaurant here in the United States. To be honest, I like their crispy tacos and their mild taco sauce, so I am only going to compare prices on my homemade taco sauce versus that of the Taco Bell brand sold at my local Walmart. The price for the Taco Bell brand of 'Mild' taco sauce is $1.28 for a 7.5oz bottle (17.4 cents per ounce). Total cost of my homemade taco sauce is 68.7 cents for 30 ounces (2.29 cents per ounce). That means ounce for ounce, it is 87% cheaper to make your own Taco Bell style sauce at home than it is to buy it at your local grocery store. That is pretty amazing!

The Ingredients

No surprises here as you can imagine, making your own taco sauce gives you creative license on the ingredients that you use. Not a lot of difference in the main ingredients, but as always, the commercial preparation contains the necessary preservatives to keep it shelf stable. Looking at the ingredient list below, I know which one I would rather feed my family.

Taco Bell Sauce – Water, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Vinegar, Contains Less Than 2% of Salt, Chili Pepper, Spices, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Benzoate As A Preservative, Potassium Chloride Maltodextrin, Yeast Extract, Datem, Natural Flavor.

Homemade Taco Bell Sauce – Water, Tomato Paste, Vinegar, Cornstarch, Chili Pepper, Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, and red (cayenne) pepper.

Homemade Taco Sauce

3 cups water

2 teaspoons cornstarch (0.2oz = 1.8 cents)

1 6oz can tomato paste (6oz = 46 cents)

3 tablespoons white vinegar (1.5oz = 3 cents)

4 teaspoons chili powder (0.4oz = 9.2 cents)

2 teaspoons salt (0.2oz = ½ penny)

½ teaspoon onion powder (0.05oz = 1.2 cents)

½ teaspoon garlic powder (0.05oz = 1.4 cents)

½ teaspoon red pepper (mild) (0.05oz = 5.6 cents)

In a small saucepan, dissolve the cornstarch in water. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks or place in small jelly jars and process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.

NoteL If you like your taco sauce hot, then use 1 teaspoon red pepper (cayenne), for fiery hot sauce use 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons. As always, adjust the ingredients to suit your taste, what is hot for me may be mild for you and your family.

Conclusion

Making you own taco sauce to go with your All-American Tacos (see link below) is simple and easy and it is 87% cheaper than buying it at your local Walmart. Can I say that again 87% cheaper, heck I do not think we have made any recipe on this blog that saves you as much over the commercial brand as this one does. After looking at the price breakdown and tasting the sauce, I cannot imagine anyone wanting to buy the pre-made Taco Bell sauce ever again. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us on friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.

References:

Tacos: The All-American Mexican Food http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Tacos

Todd Wilbur's Top Secret Recipes http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/Taco-Bell-Mild-Border-Sauce-Copycat-Recipe.html

Tacos, The All-American Mexican Food

That's right, you read the opening graphic correctly, tacos as we know them made with ground beef is an all-American version of the Mexican sandwich. While tacos made with ground beef share a Mexican heritage with carne asada (shredded beef) and al pastor (shredded pork) the seasoned ground beef filling is uniquely American in origin. During the 1960's several small Mexican fast food restaurants began serving American 'style' tacos made with seasoned ground beef. These included Taco Bell (1962), Del Taco (1964) both in California, Taco Bueno (1967) in Texas, Taco John's (1969) in Wyoming, and Taco Casa (1974) in Alabama. Many others have followed suit over the years, but these companies were the ones that helped make tacos famous in America.

In America the term 'taco' has become known by most people as a spicy chili powder based ground beef mixture served on a flour tortilla or crunchy taco shell with shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, and diced tomatoes. Only hamburgers and pizza are more popular fast food choices than tacos. In fact, according to the website 'How Things Work', the Taco Bell taco is listed as the third most famous American fast in the United States. In addition, according to the research obtained from The Daily Meal website, Taco bell's “Crunchy Beef Taco remains its current best-seller, with over 2 billion sold in the past year alone”.

Whether Taco Bell is famous or infamous is a matter of personal opinion. In this article, I am going to teach you how you can make better tasting, less expansive tacos than those from Taco Bell, Del Taco, Taco Bueno, Taco Casa or the any number of fast food TexMex or Mexican restaurants. In addition, I will share with you my recipe for taco seasoning that tastes better than any prepackaged taco seasoning you can buy, and it is a whole cheaper to boot!

Ingredients

Taco seasoning mixes are pretty straight forward with all of the ingredients being essentially the same, with only Old El Paso containing monosodium glutamate (MSG). All except for the homemade taco seasoning contain some form of preservative. Most of them are gluten free except for Lawry's and Old El Paso which use flour alone or in addition to cornstarch as a thickening agent. As always, making your spice mix, in this case taco seasoning, gives you the most control over the additives in the food that you serve your family.

In this article I have included to versions of my taco seasoning, one which includes beef bouillon which contains monosodium glutamate (MSG), and one without. Personally, I prefer the flavor of the taco seasoning made with beef bouillon so this is the one I use most often. If you have concerns about MSG, then the non-MSG recipe is the one for you. I have supplied the following information so that you can examine the ingredients of each of the prepackaged taco seasonings as well as the homemade version so that you can make a well informed decision regarding any future purchases.

French's Taco Seasoning – Cornstarch, Chili Pepper And Other Spices, Maltodextrin, Salt, Dehydrated Onion, Dehydrated Garlic, Paprika (As Color), Red Pepper, Disodium Inosinate, Paprika Extractives (As Color).

Great Value Taco Seasoning – Spices, Onion, Whey Solids (Milk), Salt, Sugar, Paprika, Garlic, Potato Starch, Citric Acid.

Lawry's Taco Seasoning – Spices (Including Paprika And Chili Peppers), Onion, Salt, Lactose (Milk), Sugar, Garlic, Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Cocoa Powder, Citric Acid, And Natural Flavor.

McCormick Taco Seasoning – Spices (Including Chili Pepper, Cumin, Oregano, And Red Peppers), Onion, Whey Solids (Milk), Salt, Sugar, Paprika, Garlic, Potato Starch And Citric Acid.

Old El Paso – Salt, Maltodextrin, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), Corn Starch, Yellow Corn Flour, Spice. Contains Less Than 2% Of The Following: Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Silicon Dioxide (Anticaking Agent), Natural Flavor, Ethoxyquin (Preservative).

Homemade Taco Seasoning – Chili Pepper, Cumin. Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Cornstarch, Paprika, Beef Bouillon* (optional).

*Beef bouillon contains quite a few additives including monosodium glutamate (MSG). For further reading on the ingredients of powdered bouillons, see my previous article: 'Restaurants Use Them, So Should You?' http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Bullion.

Cost Analysis of Pre-packaged Versus Homemade Taco Seasoning

Prepackaged taco seasoning mixes are one of the few prepackaged items that you can buy that are almost as cheap as making them yourself, however, ounce for ounce making your own is 30% cheaper than the cheapest prepackaged mix (Great Value at 40 cents per ounce). Occasionally you can even find them on sale for half of their original retail price. On those occasions it makes sense to purchase these mixes and keep a few on hand in your pantry, especially if you can get them for less than 35 cents per package. If you do not have a decent sized pantry or stocked spice rack it may actually be cheaper to buy the prepackaged mixes as opposed to making your own, however, most of you should have the ingredients to make your own mixes on your shelves right now.

French's Taco Seasoning $1.12 for a 1.25oz packet (90 cents per ounce)

Great Value Taco Seasoning $0.50 for a 1.25oz packet (40 cents per ounce)

Homemade Mild Taco Seasoning $0.38 for 1.3oz (29 cents per ounce)

Homemade Spicy Taco Seasoning $0.44 for 1.3oz (34 cents per ounce)

Lawry's Taco Seasoning $0.58 for a 1oz packet (58 cents per ounce)

McCormick Original and Hot Taco Seasoning $0.58 for a 1.25oz packet (46.4 cents per ounce)

Old El Paso Original Taco Seasoning $0.78 for a 1oz packet (78 cents per ounce)

The individual costs of the spices used my our homemade taco seasoning mix are based on those found in my local Walmart. You may find that there is some variation in price based on your location, but generally the cost should be about the same. The following is a cost breakdown of the individual spices that I used in this recipe. Bandia Chile Powder $2.92 for a 9oz container (32.4 cents per ounce), Bandia Ground Cumin $2.38 for a 7oz container (33.8 cents per ounce), Knorr Beef Bouillon $4.48 for a 35oz container (12.8 cents per ounce), Argo Corn Starch $1.48 for 16oz container (9.25 cents per ounce), Great Value Iodized salt $0.54 for a 26oz container (2.1 cents per ounce), 5^th Season Garlic Powder $0.88 for 3.62oz container (24 cents per ounce), 5^th Season Onion Powder $0.88 for 3.25oz container (27 cents per ounce), Badia Smoked Paprika $1.42 for a 2oz container (71 cents per ounce), McCormick Red Pepper Flakes $3.24 for a 2.62oz container ($1.24 per ounce). Total cost for your homemade taco seasoning per the recipe below is 38 cents for mild seasoning (without the red pepper flakes) and 44 cents for medium heat (with the red pepper flakes).

Cost Analysis of Fast Food Tacos Versus Homemade Tacos

So making your own taco seasoning can save you 30 to 70% over the prepackaged taco seasoning mixes depending on the brand you purchase. However, if you want to see the real cost savings associated with making tacos at home, we have to look at the total picture.

Ground Beef 1lb, $1.88 on sale, 11.75 cents per ounce

Homemade taco seasoning $0.38 cents for one recipe

Mission Crunchy Taco Shells 12ct $1.28 (10.6 cents per shell)

Great Value Fiesta Blend Shredded Cheese $7.94 for 32oz (24.8 cents per ounce)

Marketside shredded Lettuce $2.98 for 16oz package (18.6 cents per ounce)

To make one taco similar in weight and ingredients found in the original Taco Bell Crunchy taco it costs us approximately $0.67 (3oz ground beef (1/3 cup) with seasoning $0.38, $0.11 for the taco shell, $0.12 cents for ½ ounce cheddar cheese, and $0.05 for ¼ cup shredded lettuce). The original Taco Bell crunchy taco costs $1.31 plus tax. That means that the taco you just bought at the drive through cost you 51% more than if you made it yourself. Let's look at it in one more way. If you bought 12 tacos from Taco Bell it would cost you $15.72 (with our local 1.08% sales tax), to make those same 12 tacos at home it only costs you $8.03. That is a 51% savings by making your own tacos at home.

Because in this section we are comparing our homemade tacos versus the original Taco Bell 'Crunchy Taco' I thought you would like to see exactly what Taco Bell lists as the ingredients for the seasoned beef they use on their tacos compared to the recipe here. I know which one I would rather serve my family.

Taco Bell Seasoned Beef – Beef, water, seasoning [cellulose, chili pepper, onion powder, salt, oats (contains wheat), maltodextrin, soy lecithin, tomato powder, sugar, soybean oil, spices, garlic powder, citric acid, caramel color (C), disodium inosinate & guanylate, cocoa powder, natural and artificial flavors (contains gluten), trehalose, modified corn starch, lactic acid, torula yeast], salt, phosphates. Contains: Soy, Wheat

Homemade Taco Seasoned Beef – Ground beef, Chili Pepper, Cumin. Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Cornstarch, Paprika, Beef Bouillon* (optional).

Taco Seasoning Mix Recipes

Because I know some people do not like to use monosodium glutamate (MSG) I have included to recipes for homemade taco seasoning in this article. In addition each taco seasoning mix can be made as either mild (no red pepper flakes) or spicy (with red pepper flakes). Included with these recipes is the individual weight of the spices and the cost of each to make the taco seasoning mix. In making thes mixes all spices were individually weighed to ensure the most possibly accuracy.

Homemade Taco Seasoning (With MSG)

2 tablespoons chili powder (0.6oz = 19.4 cents)

2 teaspoons cornstarch (0.2oz = 1.85 cents)

2 teaspoons beef bouillon (0.1oz = 1.28 cents)

1 teaspoon ground cumin (0.1oz = 3.38 cents)

1 teaspoon onion powder (0.1oz = 2.7 cents)

1 teaspoon garlic powder (0.1oz = 2.4 cents)

1 teaspoon paprika (0.1oz = 7.1 cents)

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional), (0.05oz = 6.2 cents)

Total Cost: Mild $0.38, Spicy $0.44

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Omit the red pepper flakes if you want a mild taco seasoning, or plan to add diced jalapenos or a can of Rotel Tomatoes and Green chilies to your meat mixture.

Homemade Taco Seasoning (No MSG) Total Cost $0.43

2 tablespoons chili powder (0.6oz = 19.4 cents)

2 teaspoons cornstarch (0.2oz = 1.85 cents)

1 teaspoon ground cumin (0.1oz = 3.38 cents)

1 teaspoon iodized salt (less than ¼ of a penny)

1 teaspoon onion powder (0.1oz = 2.7 cents)

1 teaspoon garlic powder (0.1oz = 2.4 cents)

1 teaspoon paprika (0.1oz = 7.1 cents)

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional), (0.05oz = 6.2 cents)

Total Cost: Mild $0.37, Spicy $0.43

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Omit the red pepper flakes if you want a mild taco seasoning, or plan to add diced jalapenos or a can of Rotel Tomatoes and Green chilies to your meat mixture.

Homemade Tacos (Serving Size 6 tacos)

1 pound ground beef (73/27)

1 recipe taco seasoning

¾ cup of water

1 large onion, diced (optional)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Add oil to medium skillet pan and put on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the diced onion and sauté' until translucent. Remove from the skillet with a slotted spoon.

Add the ground beef to the skillet and brown, then drain in wire mesh strainer in the sink, rinsing with hot water to remove the unwanted grease, rinse out the skillet as well. Once the ground beef and the skillet have been rinsed, return the skillet and ground beef to the stove and add the sautéed onion.

Add the dry taco seasoning mix, and the ¾ cup of water. Bring the ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes making sure to break up any clumps of ground beef. Then remove the lid and continue to simmer as necessary until the meat mixture has absorbed almost all of the liquid. Serve with crunchy taco shells or flour tortillas, shredded lettuce, and cheddar cheese.

Taco Tip – My wife and I often purchase 3 to 5lb packages of ground beef (73/27) on sale for $1.88 to $1.99 a lb (a 50% savings from regular price) and cook it in batches with sautéed onions. We rinse the meat thoroughly in a mesh strainer with hot water and set aside to allow it to dry as much as possible. We then weigh the cooked ground beef and store it in 1lb packages in zip lock bags and pace it in the freezer. Now when we want to make tacos we simply set it in the fridge the night before, or thaw it out in the microwave (just takes a few minutes). And we can have tacos ready faster than you can drive to the local fast food Mexican restaurant and back. To see why we rinse our ground beef check out the article on our blog 'Cheap Ground Beef Can Be Just As Healthy As Lean' http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Healthy%20Beef

Additions

Tomatoes and Green Chilies - Drain them thoroughly and reserve the liquid, then combine that liquid with any additional water as needed to make ¾ cup of liquid.

Pinto Beans – Adding a rinsed and drained can of pinto beans to your taco meat with the rest of your ingredients is a good way to almost double the yield of your taco meat mixture. It is even cheaper if you have left over pinto beans from a previous meal, or if you cook dried pintos just as an addition. Pinto beans are not only rich in protein, but help to lower the overall cost of your meal, while allowing you to feed more hungry mouths.

Conclusion

This bottom line, making tacos at home can save you up to 59% versus fast food tacos, and the best thing is that you can make them start to finish in just about the same amount of time as it takes you to drive through your local fast food Mexican restaurant. And as always, you have total control over the ingredients you use. The great thing about making tacos at home is that it is a quick and easy dish, and it is one of the few dishes I never had to beg the kids or grandkids to eat. In fact, I get requests for my homemade tacos on a regular basis. The great thing about tacos, is you can setup a taco bar and let everyone can help themselves.

I must admit this article was way longer than I expected it to be, but there just so much information to share with you to help you make better informed food purchases for you and your family. If you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Google+

References

How Stuff Works: 10 Most Famous American Fast Foods http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/menus/10-american-fast-food-menu-items.htm#page=8

The Daily Meal: America's 10 Most Popular Fast Food Items http://my.xfinity.com/slideshow/news-popularfastfood/

Taco Bell Website: Nutrition and Ingredients http://www.tacobell.com/nutrition/ingredientstatement

Oven Fried Rabbit

This recipe for 'Oven Fried Rabbit' is one of those great ways to get that fried taste without all the bad fats. To pull this off we are going to follow the three 'B's' brining, breading, and baking. This is one of my favorite rabbit recipes, the meat is juicy and tender and the breading comes out nice and crunchy. The three step process for this recipe is easy to follow and I am sure you will enjoy the results as much as I do.

If you have ever eaten rabbit then you now that it is pound for pound, the leanest white meat you can raise or purchase. The downside to having meat that is so lean is that if not prepared correctly it can be a challenge to make sure it is nice and tender. There are a few options to ensure that your meat is tender, one option is to use a marinade that not only imparts flavor but helps to tenderize the meat. Another option, and the one I use in this recipe is to brine the rabbit before cooking.

Brining the Rabbit

A brine is simply a combination of water, salt, sugar and spices, that are combine together and the meat is then placed in the brine for 8 to 16 hours to allow the meat to absorb the brining solution. What most people do not realize is that brines are used commercially everyday. One only has to look at the label of any packaged poultry product to see that it states ”this product has been infused with a sodium solution.” In plain English, that means it has been brined to enhance both the flavor and moisture content of the meat to keep it from drying out.

Baking rabbit without brining it can leave you with both a tough and dry meal, the exception to this would be if you were cooking the rabbit in the oven via a wet method (cooked in liquid). I use a couple of different brines depending on the meal I am looking to prepare. However, for this recipe I will be using my all-purpose brine as I want to coat the rabbit before baking. This technique is often referred to as 'oven frying' but it is in reality just baked rabbit.

Simple and easy to make, my all-purpose brine and is the base recipe for all my other brine recipes which I have mentioned in another article 'Brining, Adds Flavor and Juiciness to Chicken, Turkey, and Rabbit' at http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Brine. In my experience, I find it best to make the brine up the day before to make sure it is nice and cold before adding the raw meat.

All-Purpose Brine

8 cups water

1/2 cup kosher salt
1 Tablespoon black peppercorn crushed
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 bay leaves dried

In a large stock pot add all the ingredient except the cold water and bring to a boil, stirring until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove the stockpot from the heat and allow to cool. After cooled down completely, place in the fridge overnight for use the next day.

Once the brine has been refrigerated, add your rabbit and allow it to brine for 8 to 16 hours. I usually place the rabbit in the brine and allow it to soak overnight or until I am ready to cook it the next day. Once you are ready to begin cooking, remove the meat from the brine and pat dry and place on a baking dish or platter until ready to use.

Coating and Baking The Rabbit

If you grew up in the 1970's like I did, you probably remember a product called 'Shake and Bake', which can still be found on supermarket shelves, but is not marketed as much as it was back when I was younger, so if you have not heard of it that's okay. Because this blog is all about saving money, I have my own recipe for homemade 'Shake and Bake' which can be found on my blog at http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Shake%20And%20Bake. If you do not want to make your own Shake and Bake at this time, then by all means try out the commercial version to see what you think, you can always make your own later.

Oven Fried Rabbit

1 recipe all-purpose brine

1 cup homemade shake and bake mix

6 to 8 rabbit hind quarters

salt and pepper to taste

Brine rabbit overnight.

When ready to cook the rabbit, remove from the brine and pat dry and place in baking pan or corning ware dish. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Pour shake and bake mix into a 1 gallon zip lock bag and set aside. Lightly salt and pepper the hind quarters, and add them one at a time to the zip lock bag and lightly the bag to ensure that the meat is throughly coated with the breading mix. Once coated place the rabbit in a baking dish sprayed with non-stick coating, and repeat the same process until you have all of the pieces coated with the shake and bake mix.

Cover the dish and bake the rabbit for 70 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for another 20 minutes to crisp up the coating. Now you may be able to cut the cooking time down by increasing the temperature, but I cook the rabbit at a lower temperature and for a longer amount of time to keep it from drying out. For example, you would typically cook chicken at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, however chicken is not as lean as rabbit. Feel free to experiment with the time and temperatures, and post a comment here, I would like to hear about your results. As always, I hope that you have found this article informative and beneficial for you and your family, if so please take the time to share it with your friends so that the can benefit as well.

Additional Resources

'Brining, Adds Flavor and Juiciness to Chicken, Turkey, and Rabbit' at http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Brine, August 12, 2015.

'It's Shake and Bake and I helped...Sorta' http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Shake%20And%20Bake, August 13, 2015.

Strategies To Stretch Your Food Dollar

Three of the most important things I learned from my years in the restaurant business were 1) never throw food anything away that could be used in another recipe, 2) do not buy prepackaged foods, rather make everything you can from scratch, and 3) learn how to figure food costs and work within a budget.

So what does this all mean? Well, for example, anytime we butchered or broke down an animal or seafood carcasses (chicken, duck, pork or beef) the bones were kept to make stocks, demi-glase (a concentrated rich stock), and consomme' (a clear rich broth based soup) from scratch. The ends and pieces of carrots, onion and celery were roasted with the bones to enhance the flavor of the stock. Don't get me wrong, we did throw away food, rather the principle was that no food should be wasted. As for prepackaged foods, they generally cost more to purchase and as you have no direct control over their preparation, you cannot always guarantee their freshness or quality. In the classical French tradition (in which I was trained) this meant that in most cases making your own sauces and seasoning's was a better option. And finally, it dose not matter if you prepare and serve the best food in the world, if you cannot control your food costs, you will not stay in business for very long.

All of these principles are just as valid for the home maker as the are for the restaurateur. Most of us have a limited number of food dollars to spend each month, and being able to maximize those dollars may mean the difference for eating regular healthy meals or going hungry.

Most of the focus of this blog has been about how to save money by making meals from your family from scratch or with limited prepackaged ingredients. Why? Simply because you can prepare more food cheaper by doing it yourself. Believe it or not, most of the time preparing foods from scratch takes about the same amount of time as using prepackaged foods and mixes, but the cost savings can be anywhere from 50 to 70%. That's like getting a 50% raise in your salary, and who would not like that?

Other than growing your own vegetables, five of the most common strategies you can implement to help stretch your food dollars and make better, more nutritious meals for you and your family include: 1) Creating a food budget, 2) Creating a menu plan, 3) using coupons, 4) competitive price shopping (Using Competitors Ads), and 5) not buying or limiting prepackaged foods.

Creating a Food Budget

Actually of all the strategies listed in this article, creating a budget is probably the simplest to do. However, following your food budget takes discipline, especially when you are tired, the kids are cranky and you just do not want cook. Now there are several ways to figure out how much money you will need for your food budget. For me and my wife it was simply trial and error however $30 to $50 per person per week should be sufficient to feed everyone. For a family of four that is $120 to $200 for food per week, that's $480 to $800 per month.

If you have a limited income or are working for minimum wage, you will definitely need to to use the lower number. This means that your food budget should include all of your food dollars. That includes meals eaten out at restaurants. Now the average family of four will spend about $6 per person on average or $24 on one visit to McDonald's. The lesson here is eating out will rapidly destroy your food budget. Every two weeks when I get paid, we set aside $200 ($50 per week per person per week) in a regular white envelope and when we shop we take the envelope with us. If we use up all the money we have, we stop buying groceries. Any money we may have left over stays in the envelope for the next time we go shopping. I will not lie you, sticking to a food budget takes discipline, but if you can do this you will find that you start to make more informed food choices.

Creating a Menu Plan

Another strategy you can employ that will actually help you with your food budget is to sit down and make a menu plan for the week. By planning your meals, you will know exactly how much and what type of food you need to purchase to feed your family. A menu plan, keeps you from buying unnecessary items and allows you to stretch a food product (chicken, hamburger meat etc...) over several meals during the week. This is especially important when you are on a limited income. Buying a 3lb package of hamburger to use for spaghetti one night, tacos the next, and a soup or casserole dish a third is far cheaper than buying three individual 1lb packages. 

The bottom line is that a meal plan helps you maximize purchases and minimize waste which saves you money. I admit that since we built up a pretty extensive pantry over the last few years, I do not do this on a regular basis anymore, but if you are just starting out, it really helps. Do not forget to get the kids and your spouse involved, choosing meals they will all enjoy will help you to be more successful with your meal plan.

Using Coupons

Using coupons to increase the buying power of your food dollars can be an extremely effective strategy. I am not talking about 'extreme couponing' like you may have seen on television. In this instance I am talking about using coupons to help reduce the cost of items on your shopping list. Using coupons to purchase food that you do not need is a waste of your hard earned money. Having said that, if you have additional left over money in your budget and the item(s) are something that you can use later, then purchasing these items may be a good idea. But keep in mind, just because you have a coupon does not mean you have to purchase something.

Competitive Price Shopping (Comp Ads)

I have had several emails from people asking why I mention Walmart so often in my articles. Two reasons really, in rural East Texas where I live, we have a Walmart and a Brookshires that's it. The one thing that Walmart does that really helps to stretch our food dollar is accept competitors ads. In plain English, they price match. So every grocery store in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that has a weekly grocery ad is accepted at my local Walmart in Canton, Tx. 

Now, we could look on-line at each of the grocery store websites and print out their ads, but that costs way to much money in paper, and ink and takes way to much time. What we do is pay $4.00 (out of our food budget) to purchase all of the grocery store ads from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area from a lady at a local beauty salon. We have been doing this for some time, and we always save more money that the $4.00 we spends on ads. Here are just some of the items we bought last week at our local Walmart; 3Lbs white onion $1.00 (regular price $3.49) a 71% savings, ground beef 73/27 1.99 per pound (regular price $3.98lb), a 50% savings, bananas 39c cents per pound (regular price 89 cent per pound), a 56% savings. I think you get the picture, using comp ads is one of the best ways to stretch your food dollar, and the one strategy we use the most.

Avoiding Prepackaged Foods

if you have been reading my blog, then you know that I am a firm believer in making all your own seasoning mixes and replacing prepackaged foods with your own homemade recipes. Ounce for ounce, prepackaged foods cost you more money than just about anything you can buy. If you do not believe me just take a look at beef jerky. Jack Link's Original Beef Jerky is $6.48 for 6 1.2 ounce packages, that's 92 cents per ounce or $14.72 per pound. Heck even fillet mignon or T-Bone steak does not cost $14.72 per pound. In fact, I have purchased 8 to 10lb briskets for cheaper and you can make a whole lot of jerky from an 8 to 10lb brisket.

Buying prepackaged foods when you can make you own is like throwing your hard earned money out the window. Having said that, there are times when you can get prepackaged items on sale for cheaper than you can make them. This is especially true when using comp ads. My point is shop smart, if you can get the prepackaged items cheap enough then go for it, just make sure you have room for it in the food budget.

Conclusion

Personally my wife and I have used and or still use most of these strategies to help stretch our food dollars. Establishing a food budget is the first thing that you should do, once you have you budget laid out, start on menu planning. Any money you have left over after doing your shopping should go to purchasing staples (rice, dried bean, flour, sugar) for your pantry. Having a pantry stocked with non-perishable items allows you to make more recipes from scratch allowing you to stretch your food dollar even more, especially if you can buy them when they are one sale.

The one thing I have not listed here that we do everyday is grow a vegetable garden and raise our own chickens and meat rabbits. Not everyone has the ability to do this, but if you do, supplementing your food budget with fresh vegetables can be a tremendous way to help feed your family healthy nutritious food. If you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, check out my good friend Steve Coyne's blog 'I Grow Vegetables.' at the link on the sidebar or click on the link below. Retired from the USDA Steve has first hand knowledge on what it takes to have a successful, sustainable vegetable garden.

As always, I hope that you have found this article informative and beneficial for you and your family, if so please take the time to share it with your friends so that they can benefit as well.

Steve Coyne's Vegetable Blog 'I Grow Vegetables' www.igrowvegetables.blogspot.com

Additional Resources On our Blog

Spices: Save Up To 80% By Shopping At Your Local Ethnic Supermarket http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Spices

If you grew up in the 1970's like I did, you probably remember a product called 'Shake and Bake' that was marketed as a healthier alternative to pan or deep frying chicken or pork. If you have never heard of Shake and Bake that would not be surprise me either as it has not really been heavily marketed on television since the early to mid 1990's. During the 70's and 80's though their commercial's were seen on television on a regular basis. Having explained all that, Shake and Bake is a bread crumb, flour and seasoned coating that was developed for chicken and pork to mimic the crunchy texture of deep frying when baked in the oven.

It works relatively well in simulating deep frying, and when used with chicken that has the skin on makes for a petty crispy crust. When used on skinless chicken and or rabbit, you do not quite get that crispy crunchy coating as the fat from the skin is not there to crisp up as much, but I quite enjoy the flavor of the coating. It is as General Foods originally advertised “a better alternative to frying.”

Now owned by Kraft foods, there are thirteen different varieties of 'Shake and Bake' listed on their website. That's quite a few for a product which is no longer advertised on national television. Anyway, while I love fried chicken, I knew I needed to have a healthier alternative to frying. While shopping for groceries I remembered seeing 'Shake and Bake' at my local Walmart. Because this blog is all about stretching your food dollar, and giving you and you family healthier food alternatives, I thought to myself, I bet I can made a homemade version that is not only cheaper, but tastes better. I think I was successful, and I hope you think so as well.

The Ingredients

The ingredient list of both the commercially prepared and the recipe for my homemade Shake and Bake are very similar, and in this instance there is very little health advantage between using one over the other unless you are wanting to eliminate high fructose corn sugar from your diet. Eliminating the powdered chicken bouillon in the homemade recipe will however decrease the number of ingredients as well as remove any unwanted MSG. Personally I like the recipe as it stands, but feel free to modify it to suit your personal tastes.

Shake and Bake Original Chicken Seasoned Coating Mix – Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [Vitamin B1], riboflavin [Vitamin B2], folic acid), enriched bleached wheat flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [Vitamin B1], riboflavin [vitamin B2], folic acid), maltodextrin, salt, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils, canola oil, paprika, contains less than 2% of celery seed, spice, high fructose corn syrup, dried garlic, yeast, dried onions, natural flavors.

Homemade Shake & Bake – All purpose flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin [A B Vitamin], Iron, Thiamin, Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), plain bread crumbs, salt, sugar, cornstarch, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, dried parsley, and powdered chicken bouillon*.

*Chicken bouillon contains quite a few additives including monosodium glutamate (MSG). For further reading on the ingredients of powdered bouillons, see my previous article: 'Restaurants Use Them, So Should You?' http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Bullion.

Cost Analysis

A box of Kraft Original flavor Shake and Bake is $2.00 for a 5 ounce box or 40 cents per ounce.

Great Value all-purpose flour sells for $1.60 for a 5lb bag or 2 cents per ounce, while Great Value plain breadcrumbs are $1.68 for a 15 ounce container or 11.2 cents per ounce. As with most recipes, the spices that go into the mix are of such a small quantity they are no more than one or two pennies each. In this instance 10 cents should cover the overall cost of all the miscellaneous spices in this recipe. So when everything is totaled we see that our homemade shake and bake costs approximately 8.43 cents per ounce (8oz AP flour = 16 cents, 15oz bread crumbs = $1.68, miscellaneous spices 10 cents, total for mix $1.94 divided by 23oz = 8.43 cents per ounce) versus the Kraft brand which costs 40 cents per ounce. So we see once again that making your mix can save you a significant amount of money. In this case making your own shake and bake is 79% cheaper than buying a pre-packaged mix.

Homemade Shake & Bake

1 cup AP flour

2 cups breadcrumbs

2 tablespoon dried parsley

4 teaspoons chicken bouillon

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoon onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons sugar

Mix all dry ingredients together and store in an airtight container until ready to use.

When ready to use, add 1 cup shake and bake and 1 tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil to a medium sized bowl and stir with a fork until thoroughly mixed. Pour mix into a zip lock bag or container and add the poultry or rabbit a few pieces at a time and mix until evenly coated.

For Chicken – Place on foil lined baking sheet sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until done. Do not cover chicken. (1 cup coats approximately 8 to 10 pieces of chicken or rabbit.

For Rabbit – Place in corning ware or casserole dish sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray and cover. Bake at 325 degrees for 90 minutes or until done. Take the lid off during the last 15 minutes to crisp up the coating. (1 cup coats approximately 8 to 10 rabbit hindquarters). The rabbit is cooked longer and at a lower temperature to keep the meat from drying out as it is so lean. You can experiment with a higher temperature bu run the risk of drying out the rabbit.

For Pork -  Place on foil lined baking sheet sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray and bake uncovered at 425 degrees for 15 to 30 minutes or until done. Do not cover or turn pork chops.

Conclusion

While the health benefits of making your own breading mix may not be that different from the commercially prepared product, using your homemade shake and bake as an alternative to deep fat frying is definitely a healthier choice. While we cannot put a price tag on the advantages of making significant lifestyle changes (baking versus frying), making your own shake and bake coating mix can save you and your family a significant amount of money (79%). Another way you could really cut the cost of your homemade shake and bake is if you prepared your own bread crumbs out of leftover stale bread, but that is a topic for another article. Once again I ask that if you enjoy this article and have found it informative, please share it with your friends so that they can make better informed food purchasing decisions.

Brining Chicken, Turkey and Rabbit

If you have ever eaten rabbit then you now that it is pound for pound, the leanest white meat you can raise or purchase. The downside to having meat that is so lean is that if not prepared correctly it can be a challenge to make sure it is nice and tender. There are a few options to ensure that your meat is tender, one option is to use a marinade that not only imparts flavor but helps to tenderize the meat. Another option, is to brine the rabbit before cooking.

A brine is simply a combination of water, salt, sugar and spices, that are combined together and the meat is then placed in the brine for 8 to 16 hours to allow the meat to absorb the brining solution. What most people do not realize is that brine’s are used commercially everyday. One only has to look at the label of any packaged poultry product to see that it states 'this product has been infused with a sodium solution.' In plain English, that means it has been brined when it was processed to enhance both the flavor and moisture content of the meat to keep it from drying out.

Grilling or baking rabbit without marinating or brining it can lead to not only a tough, but dry unsatisfying meal. The exception to this would be if you were cooking the rabbit in the oven via a wet method (cooked in liquid).

Why Brine's Work

As mentioned earlier, a brine solution is a concentration of sodium (salt) and dextrose (sugar) with miscellaneous flavorings of your choice. Brine's work via the process of diffusion, which is the natural movement of solutes (salt and sugar) from an area of higher concentration to that of an area of lower concentration (the meat). The short answer is the meat has a lower concentration of solutes therefore the brine is essentially pulled into the meat until there is an equal amount of solutes in both the meat and the brine. That's really all you need to know.

The Brine's

As I mentioned there are many different type of brine's, but the all-purpose brine is a good place to start. It is simple and easy to make, and works equally well for chicken, turkey and rabbit. My all-purpose brine is the base recipe for all my other brine recipes which are listed in this article. I find it best to make the brine up the day before to make sure it is nice and cold before adding the raw meat. I brine almost all of my rabbit, except for when I plan on using a marinade, or I am going to make rabbit sausage. The steps for making all of the brine's in this article are the same, only the spices are different, the water, salt and sugar measurements remain the same.

All-Purpose Brine

8 cups water

1/3 cup kosher salt
1 Tablespoon black peppercorn crushed
1/3 cup sugar
2 bay leaves dried

In a large stock pot add all the ingredient except the cold water and bring to a boil, stirring until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove the stockpot from the heat and allow to cool. After cooled down completely, place in the fridge overnight for use the next day.

Once the brine has been refrigerated, add your chicken, turkey or rabbit and allow it to brine for 8 to 16 hours. I usually place the rabbit in the brine and allow it to soak overnight or until I am ready to cook it the next day. Once you are ready to begin cooking, remove the meat from the brine and pat dry and place on a baking dish or platter until ready to use.

Spicy Southwest Brine

8 cups water
1/3 cup kosher salt

1/3 cup sugar

2 jalapenos, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons chile powder

Caribbean Brine

8 cups water
1/3 cup kosher salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, chopped

2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons whole allspice

½ teaspoon nutmeg

Indian/Pakistani Brine

8 cups water
1/3 cup kosher salt

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cinnamon sticks

2 red cayenne peppers, sliced

2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon ginger, ground
1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds

6 green cardamom seeds, whole

Conclusion

If you raise, chicken's, turkey's or rabbits, brine's are an excellent way to increase the flavor and moisture content of the meat. Even if you do not raise your own poultry, using a brine is an excellent way to add flavor to your chicken or turkey. I will be honest, I use a brine almost every time I roast a turkey, and almost always when cooking rabbit. Generally, I do not brine store bought chicken as most of them already have a sodium solution injected into the bird when processed. For poultry I primarily use marinades, dry rubs or simply season it with salt and pepper. 

Brine's are easily modified to suit your own particular taste, just remember to keep the water, salt and sugar ratios the same. You can add, omit, or increase the spices you use as you desire to come up with your own flavor combination. Dried fruits especially seem to impart a nice flavor to turkey. I hope you have found this article informative, if you have please share it with your friends.

Homemade Rice-A-Roni

As my wife and I have really started living on a budget and paying attention to where our food dollars go I have really been surprised at the amount of money we used to waste on convenience foods. Having worked in restaurants for more than 18 years, I learned to make most things form scratch. It is far cheaper to make your own soups, sauces, skillet dinners, and casseroles that it is to buy the pre-made at the local grocery store. The downside to such is that it does take a small amount of planning and time to cook from scratch as opposed to using convenience foods. If you are struggling to make ends meet and feed your family, learning to make some of those convenience or comfort foods at home can really help you to stretch your food dollar.

Last week my wife and I were doing our shopping at our local supermarket when I noticed a young woman who had three kids that were on the rice and beans isle looking at the vast variety of per-packaged box dinners. I was on the isle to grab a 20lb bag of rice when I watched her start loading her shopping cart with a variety of selections of Rice-A-Roni, Hamburger Helper, and Zatarain's rice and pasta dinners. As I stood there with my 20lb bag of rice that cost me $8.98, I watched as she put 22 boxes of these dinners in her cart and moved onto the next isle. After I found my wife and put the 20lbs of rice in our cart, I went back to the boxed dinner isle to look at the prices of these items, because well...I am nosy. Anyway, the current prices (8/4/2015) for some of the items she had in her cart are as follows: Rice-a-Roni 6.4 ounce box all varieties $1,00, Hamburger Helper 5.1 ounce box all varieties $1.25, and Zatarain's 8 ounce box all varieties $2.36. Lets just say that she had an equal amount of each of these pre-packaged box dinner dinners her total estimated cost of this purchase = $33.66 just for a little rice, pasta and some dried spices.

Now, I am not lambasting her in anyway, I do not know anything about this young lady, but I really felt compelled to help her. The thing is, I did not know if she would have even been interested in my help and I definitely did not want to embarrass her in anyway, so I let her walk away. On the inside, I dying to ask her what she would think if I could show her away to purchase all those items she just picked up for half the price. Maybe I couldn't help her, but if you are reading this article, I can definitely help you!

Cost Analysis

I have already listed the prices of the various boxed dinners earlier. In this article I am going to focus on the rice based boxed dinners, and will do another article on how to make your own hamburger helper style dinners at a later date. Most of the Rice-A-Roni brand packages contain rice, vermicelli, dried spices, and occasionally dehydrated vegetables, while the Zatarain's do not have any vermicelli, rather they are all rice based. All of which you can purchase separately, if you cannot find dehydrated vegetables you can substitute fresh vegetables. To make it easier to see the potential savings your could reap, I am going to break the cost of each of these items into the basic unit of ounces. 

Rice-A-Roni ($1.00 per 6.4oz box) costs 15.6 cents per ounce, while Zatarain's ($2.36 per 8oz box) costs 29.5 cents per ounce. Plain long grain rice cost 3.1 cents per ounce when purchased in a 5lb bag or larger, at my local Walmart. Vermicelli costs $1.27 per pound or 7.8 cents per ounce. So to make our own recipe of Rice-A-Roni, we will use by weight 4oz long grain rice (4 x 3.1 = 12.4 cents) and 3oz of vermicelli by weight (7.8 x 3 = 23.4 cents) combined with the dry spices. Now the amount and therefore the cost of the dry spices used are so small that the cost is less than 10 cents per recipe. So to make a homemade recipe of Rice-A-Roni, plain chicken or beef flavor would be 45.8 cents (12.4 + 23.4 + 10 = 45.8 cents). I allocated 10 cents for the dried spices, but the cost is actually lower.

So we see that our homemade Rice-A-Roni costs 54.2% less than the name brand (45.8 cents versus $1.00). That is a huge cost savings! Thin pastas such as angel hair, or thin spaghetti can be substituted for the vermicelli reducing the cost even more. In my area, several times a year dried pastas can be purchased on sale for as low 88 cents for a 16oz box (5.5 cents per ounce) reducing the cost by another 31%.

So I ask you, would you rather make your own Rice-A-Roni for 38.9 cents (when pasta bought on sale for 88 cents a box) to 45.8 cents per meal or spend $1.00 if it took you the same time to prepare it? So if you want to reduce your food budget by at least 50%, then lets get started!

The Ingredients

While saving you money on your food budget is one of the goals of this blog, helping you to make more informed and healthy choices for your family is another. As always we want to look at the list of ingredients of recipes in which we are creating as opposed to the commercial versions. The following is a list of the most popular commercially prepared rice box dinners (Chicken and Beef) as well as our homemade version. Most of the time, the homemade version is not only a healthier alternative, but is cheaper as well, but this is not always the case.

Rice-A-Roni Chicken Flavor – Rice, durum wheat semolina, salt, sugar, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed soy protein, onions, monosodium glutamate, natural flavor, parsley, garlic, chicken broth*, chicken fat, turmeric spice (for color), hydrolyzed corn gluten, niacin, disodium guanylate, disodium inosate, ferric orthophosphate, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, turmeric extract, folic acid, riboflavin.

Rice-A-Roni Beef Flavor – Rice, durum wheat semolina, salt, sugar, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed protein (corn, soy, and wheat), potassium chloride, maltodextrin, salt, monosodium glutamate, sugar, carrots, caramel color, beef broth*, garlic, hydrolyzed gluten (wheat and corn), niacin, disodium guanylate, disodium inosate, ferric orthophosphate, ferrous sulfate, milk, thiamin mononitrate, turmeric extract, folic acid, riboflavin.

Homemade Rice-A-Roni – Rice, vermicelli noodles (durum semolina, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), onions, garlic powder, parsley, turmeric (for color), butter, sugar, and powdered chicken bouillon*.

*Chicken and Beef bouillon contain quite a few additives including monosodium glutamate (MSG). For further reading on the ingredients of powdered bouillons, see my previous article: 'Restaurants Use Them, So Should You?' http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Bullion.

If you are concerned about the amount of additives in the homemade version of these rice box dinners, you can reduce the number by using canned or homemade chicken broth. Of course using a commercially prepared broth increases the cost of the meal significantly. In fact, using a canned broth actually makes if cost more to prepare your Rice-A-Roni from scratch, however you must weigh the costs of the meal versus any health concerns you have regarding the ingredients.

Prepackaging Your Ingredients

Once you have bought your pasta and rice, the first this you have to do is take your pasta (vermicelli, angel hair or thin spaghetti) and break it into ½ to 1-inch pieces. I do this by hand, you do not have to be super accurate with this but one cup of pasta should way about 3 ounces. Make the pieces large if you wish, it just increases the cost a small amount. Once you have all of your pasta broken into small pieces, it is time combine it with your rice and spices and make your Rice-A-Roni mixes. The easy or quick way is to combine the rice, pasta and dry ingredients into zip lock sandwich bags. The original way is to separate your rice and noodles from the dried spices and flavorings and add the dried spices and flavorings after sauteing the rice and pasta. To cook either version of your homemade Rice-A-Roni, simply follow the directions as listed below.

In the 'Original Version' the spices are placed in separate plastic bag and placed in the bag with the rice and pasta.

Chicken Flavor (Package Mix)

¾ cup long grain rice

1 cup vermicelli pasta

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Beef Flavor (Dry Package Mix)

¾ cup long grain rice

1 cup vermicelli pasta

1 tablespoon beef bouillon

1 teaspoon dried carrots

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon dried parsley

1/8 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Mexican Style (Dry Package Mix)

¾ cup long grain rice

1 cup vermicelli pasta

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried bell pepper

1 teaspoon dried parsley

¼ teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon sugar (optional)

 

Cajun Style (Dry Package Mix)

¾ cup long grain rice

1 cup vermicelli pasta

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon

2 teaspoons creole seasoning

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Asian Style (Dry Package Mix)

¾ cup long grain rice

1 cup vermicelli pasta

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon

1 teaspoon dried carrots

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried parsley

½ teaspoon sesame seeds

1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon brown sugar

Now, there are a vast quantity of different flavors offered by McCormick who owns the Rice-A-Roni brand of rice and pasta dishes on your grocers shelves. I have only listed the most popular ones and the varities that my family likes best, but I have a few other recipes I make such as 'Chicken Briyani',and 'Dirty Rice-A-Roni'. These homemade mixes are easily customizable and can be made to suit you and your families individual tastes and preferences, so experiment and have fun with them.

Homemade Rice-A-Roni (Easy Version)

1 package dry Rice-A-Roni mix

2 cups water

½ onion, minced

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon soy sauce (Only for Asian Style Flavor)

Saute the onion in the butter over low heat just until it starts to become translucent, add the dry mixture to the pan with the two cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until the rice is cooked. Remove from the heat and fluff with a fork and serve.

Homemade Rice-A-Roni (Original Version)

1 package dry Rice-A-Roni mix

2 cups water

½ onion, minced

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon soy sauce (Only for Asian Style Flavor)

Saute the onion in the butter over low heat just until it starts to become translucent, add the pasta and rice to the pan and saute, stirring often, until the vermicelli is golden brown. Then add the water and bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until the rice is cooked. Remove from the heat and fluff with a fork and serve.

From Side Dish to Complete Meal

Originally developed as side dish, your homemade Rice-A-Roni can become a complete meal by adding cooked meats to the dish after sauteing the vegetable and pasta just before adding the water. Diced or cubed chicken and ground beef are some of the most common additions. A small portion of leftover steak or pork chop diced or cubed is another great addition to these rice and pasta mixes and an excellent way to stretch your food dollar. 

Because we have a large extended family, ground beef is a staple in our household. We purchase it only when on sale and in significant quantities. We then cook, rinse, drain and and bag in 1lb packages and freeze for future use. When we need it, we simply take out of the freezer and thaw in the microwave for a quick complete healthy meal. For more information regarding the nutrition and health implications of ground beef in your families diet, check my blog article on 'Can Ground Beef Be healthy? You Bet!' http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Healthy%20Beef

Conclusion

If your family enjoys Rice-A-Roni style pasta mixes you can save a significant amount of money (50% or more) by making your own mixes. Making your own mixes is not only quick and easy, the best part is you have total control regarding which ingredients you wish to use. I hope you have enjoyed this article although it is quite long, and I hope it inspires you to make your own rice and pasta mixes from scratch. Thanks again for visiting our blog, and if you like this article please feel free to share it with your friends. Btw, you can actually find some good recipe suggestions for using your homemade Rice-A-Roni on the official Rice-A-Roni website, so if you need some help, check it out (see link below).

References:

Rice-A-Roni and Pasta-A-Roni Recipes, Golden Grain Company. http://www.ricearoni.com/recipes/

'Restaurants Use Them, So Should You?' http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Bullion.

Can Ground Beef Be healthy? You Bet!' at http://culinaryyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Healthy%20Beef