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He doesn’t mean literally “Rice and Beans” but he is using it as an example of something that someone could stock up on without being familiar with it, and suddenly learning that they are allergic to it, or don’t like it, or are totally unprepared for the gastric reaction to suddenly switching to a diet heavy with ground wheat, or beans, or lentils.

Personally I am very, very much into rice and beans and wheat for long term survival, it fits my budget, and the shelf life fits my budget also, I love MREs but I can’t afford them, and I don’t want to think in relatively short terms of 10 years of shelf life (budget again).

Wheat and beans and rice are the basis of real food, it is better to have to “forage” and scrounge, and hunt, for meat and greens, than it is to have an occasional rabbit or apple, and desperately need big bowls of real, filling, food, that can’t be found easily.

Those staples require water, and lots of cooking time though, and dietary adjustments for most.
Pressure cookers and canning helps cut down on fuel use when cooking the beans for instance, you can cook them while canning them, which means all that fuel gathering and effort, gives you leftovers that you can put up on the shelf without refrigeration.

Thanks!

Growing up in East Texas, my body will not be shocked at all with pinto beans in a SHTF situation - I grew up on them. We had many farms in our family, and I think the only veggie I ate out of a store-bought can was early peas. All other veggies came from Mason jars.

Those staples require water, and lots of cooking time though

There's a rare variety of chickpea that I'm trying to get hold of some seeds for. To cook it, you essentially pop it like popcorn. A couple minutes in a dry skillet and it's done. You can eat it just popped, or if you pop then add it to a soup it won't require any soaking time, and the cook time is drastically reduced. Seems like a good addition to the survival garden.

I'd like permission to use that first paragraph to add to my chapter 2 of my poverty cooking screed. I will credit you with it.

/johnny

My all time favorite meal is Beans, Fried Taters, and Cornbread with a slice of onion. One of my friends from high school had this meal every night.

I also like rice with a few onions, carrots, and green peppers. Mashed potatoes and stewed tomatoes make another good accompanment for beans.

During the winter, I cook a pot of beans or bean soup every other day. We have beans and rice or taters with cornbread for lunch, and use what’s left to make chili con carne, or some other bean dish for supper.

This summer I plan to plant peanuts and make my own peanut butter - I have heard that the taste can be superior to that purchased in the store.

Wheat and beans and rice are the basis of real food, it is better to have to “forage” and scrounge, and hunt, for meat and greens, than it is to have an occasional rabbit or apple, and desperately need big bowls of real, filling, food, that can’t be found easily.

A grain and bean combination can form a complete protein, so meat won't even be necessary. I've stored wheat berries, rice, and beans just for that reason. That, and they can store for 30 years under the right conditions.

Wheat berries are marvelous; with a wheat grinder and some yeast, you can make marvelous whole wheat bread. I started practicing doing just that after storing some wheat berries, figuring I needed to know how to use them. The nutritous value of the whole wheat degrades right after grinding, so fresh ground wheat is much better than anything in the store. There's plenty of manual grinders on the market as well; I got one that can go either manual or electric.

A cast iron dutch oven will work just fine to bake bread over coals from a fire, if there's no other heat source available. You can also add some ground bean flour to the bread, not too much though or it will be too dense. But it increases the protein content.

BTW, I've had no problem getting 100% whole wheat to rise - the secret is vital wheat gluten, about 1 tablespoon per cup of flour. Vital wheat gluten can be stored with oxygen absorbers and will last 5 years, according to the LDS website. I personally think it would last longer than that. Oh, and wheat berries can be sprouted, if you're missing some fresh veggies.