Cost Per Serving: Frugalwoods’ Rice & Beans Plus

Happy Friday! Time for another installment of your favorite recipe cost and flavor ranking series, Cost Per Serving! Today we’ll be looking at the Frugalwoods’ super cheap rice and beans recipe, with one important change!

I cook a lot. Ever since college, I’ve cooked a lot. But that entire time, I don’t think I’ve made rice and beans ONCE. Not once! I know I’ve had it as a side dish made by other people, but when I cook for myself, my mind just never goes there. And I like Latin American food! So when the Frugalwoods’ posted their recipe, I knew I had to try it for myself and see how it stacks up in the ultimate battle of frugal deliciousness!

Ingredients for Rice & Beans Plus

Ingredient Cost Size of Package Amount Used Cost Per Unit Cost Per Recipe
Rice $3.39 5 lb 2 cups (0.8 lbs) 0.68 0.54
Black beans 0.89 1 can 3 cans 0.89 2.67
Olive oil 5.99 1 liter 3 tablespoons 0.09 0.27
Shallots 2.49 1 lb 4 (1/3 lb) 2.49 0.83
Garlic 0.69 head 4 cloves 0.06 0.23
Chili paste 1.99 8 oz 4 tablespoons 0.12 0.50
Mushrooms 2.49 12 oz 8 oz 2.49 1.66
Cilantro 1.29 Bunch Bunch 1.29 1.29
 Total $7.99
Servings 10
Cost Per Serving $0.79

Cilantro

You’ll notice one difference from Frugalwoods’ recipe: Cilantro. That’s what the “Plus” stands for. Once I really looked at the ingredients list, it seemed short. Rice, beans, garlic, onions, chili sauce… It needs something else. Since I’m going to be making a huge batch of this stuff, and eating it day after day, it needs more something. The last thing I want to turn into is Mohammed Atta, the 9/11 hijacker who hated eating so much, he kept a giant pile of plain mashed potatoes in the fridge and would just eat from that. (I think about this detail more often than I think about 9/11 or terrorism at all)

Not Cilantro

So I added a bunch of cilantro, which added some nice color and flavor. But I made one key mistake. I cut the chili sauce in half. I actually only put in 2 tablespoons. Since I’ve never used that much chili sauce at one time, I was a bit skeptical. It is really spicy stuff, and I’m not big on heat although I do like the flavor of this stuff. But it turns out, in this recipe, you really can use four tablespoons of it. There is just a massive amount of rice and beans to cover.

As I made it, I rate this a 5.5, but with Mr. Frugalwoods’ recommended amount of chili sauce, I’d probably give it a 6, so I’ll go with that. Even so, Marge agreed it was missing something: Acidity. We added vinegar, but what it really needs is lime juice, and we didn’t have a lime. I would probably even put more garlic in it. With some tinkering, this could get a higher rating. It reminded me a lot of a black bean and couscous recipe I used to make a lot, which I’ll be sure to add to this series at some point.

You’ll also notice my price was much higher than the Frugalwoods’ 39 cents per serving. Chalk that up to the cilantro, my more expensive black beans (I actually did buy these at BJ’s during a free membership period, but I am going with my grocery store’s price) and small container of chili paste.  If I do actually get twelve servings like they did, my cost will be 67 cents. But it looks like I’ll be getting only ten servings out of it. That could be wrong, so I’ll amend this if it ends up stretching for longer.

Deliciousness Rating: 6
(Where 1 is gross, 5 is good, and 10 is marzipan)

The standings so far:

* The stated deliciousness of each recipe is solely the opinion of the author. Cost is objective, but your tastes may vary.

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