This meal is my favorite. It goes on every single backpacking trip. I never get tired of it. Clients love this recipe. Need more convincing to try it?
Key Stats
- Recommended meal weight: 5.7 oz
- Total calories: 668
- Calories per ounce: 117
It’s rare that someone struggles to finish this meal. But if you have a smaller appetite, use less beans and rice (but keep the ratio). To increase calorie count or caloric density, add more Fritos.
Ingredients
The four main ingredients are essential. The rice, Fritos, and cheese are widely available. The beans are best found online; in a pinch, I have used a seasoned bean dip from the Whole Foods bulk section.
Assuming the beans are plain, the Taco seasoning is critical. Most people skip salt and pepper, but may add red pepper flakes to inject some heat.
At-home preparation
For groups, I do the following:
- Each group member is given one 2.5-oz snack bag of beans and rice mixture
- Fritos and cheese are kept together, and divided proportionally in the field
- Meals are individually seasoned with the taco seasoning and group spice kit
When solo, I vary between two approaches. If I plan to have this meal several times on the same trip (or the same leg of a thru-hike), I have a pre-spiced snack bag of beans and rice for each meal, and my supply of Fritos and cheese is kept together but preferably somehow delineated so that I don’t steal tomorrow’s calories for tonight’s dinner, e.g. divide the block of cheese equally but keep it all together. Alternatively, if I plan to have this meal just once, I will use up to three bags (beans/rice, cheese, Fritos) but I’ve also combined everything into one bag before. It works out okay since the ingredients are fairly easy to separate in the field.
Cooking instructions
For many reasons, I make all of my meals soupy. This simplifies some the cooking:
- Add at least 10 oz of water to my stove pot.
- Pour in beans, rice, taco seasoning, and any other spices at anytime.
- Cook, ideally to a simmer for about 60 seconds, stirring to avoid boil-over.
- Cut cheese into dice-sized pieces and add to meal.
- Add Fritos just before consumption. If added too early, they will soften.
To prevent burning, do not add beans, rice, and taco seasoning until water is boiling.
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Tags: Meal time: Backpacking breakfast & dinner recipes, Video
Sounds yummy! To reduce mold on the cheese, try not to get your fingerprints on it. Wrapping the cheese in plastic wrap helps reduce mold/air interaction. If you buy too much cheese, it can be frozen for future use.Keep the recipes coming, ‘Alton’ 🙂
On the trail wrap your cheese in plain ole brown paper. It will never mold just get drier
Cheese has been around a lot longer than refridgeration
I know. On the trail I get talking to’s about I should keep my eggs, cheese and cured sausage cold. We seem to be the only crazy culture that refrigerates everything.
I find that as soon as it gets hot my cheese gets really sweaty. Does the brown paper help avoid that? Thanks!
When doing resupply at a market, ask for your stuff to be bagged in brown paper. Later when you leave and transfer food into your pack, tear the paper bag into sections, fold them, and put them in the Ziplock where you carry maps, journal paper, or other paper items. Then later you can use the brown paper to wrap your cheese.
What’s the cooking time? I love the simplicity of one pot meals, and have long been an advocate of them.
It does not need to be brought to a boil, but I find that a simmer up to about 60 seconds will reduce post-cooking wait time and ensure thoroughly cooked rice.
Sounds good. I too make my food soupy/saucy. Have you ever tried basmati rice rather than Minute Rice? Look in the Asian/Indian food section. It tastes WAAYYY better than minute rice and cooks very quickly (compared to regular raw rice). I will bring my rice dishes to a boil and then let set in a pot cozy for 15 minutes. Cooks fine. Would probably be done even sooner.
So I tried it yesterday. Had some dehydrated refried beans left over from last summer. I made a half recipe with equal amounts of beans and rice (basmati) and one cup of water. Substituted plain tortilla chips for Frijtos. Didn’t have taco seasoning so I made my own (cumin, paprika, cayenne). Was a bit thick, next time will use more water. Rice cooked great.
m I missing something.. do you really only simmer for 60 seconds and that cooks the rice? Do you simmer for 60 seconds and then cover for a while? I’d love to make this, as beans and rice is my favorite meal even at home!
Yes, cover it for a little while. I think total cook time is about 5 minutes. Not sure if I ever wait that long though.
Ready/Minute Rice cooks far faster than normal rice. I’m not sure the exact process, but it’s parboiled or something.
The Jasmine Minute Rice actually has some flavor. It has been my go to for several years.
Andrew, this sounds great. I have made a similar dish with knorr Spanish rice and beans packets, plus chipotle cheddar cheese and spicy peanuts. I have never used the dehydrated refried beans and look forward to trying this. Now I am thoroughly pumped for the spring and for many backpacking trips. As an avid skier, I was dismayed to wake up to temps in the mid 40s and light rain washing away the wonderful snowpack we got in the Northeast this winter. Fortunately reading some of your blog has me renewed and ready for warmer seasons. Thanks Andrew!
You had me with the Fritos – I’m putting this one on my list for our next trip. Thanks.
I’ve recently learned I am gluten intolerant and have been wondering what sort of backpacking meals I could come up with to replace my old staples of ramen and pasta sides. This will be a great addition! I’ll just have to be careful with the taco seasoning I use.
Now I’m curious… do you think you could do this all as a boil-in-bag (adding the Fritos just before eating) if you let it set a little while rather than cooking it in a pot. I use an MSR reactor and for simplicity’s sake like to just boil water in it v. cook (I hate doing dishes).
Great recipes! Please keep ’em coming.
P.S. – I imagine this would taste even better with chili-cheese Fritos!!
I’m positive you can do it freezer bag style. Fool around with it at home, but about a 2 to 1 ratio of water to rice and about 10 minutes sitting should be good. More water if you want it soupy
That’s what we’re doing. Adding boiling water to a freezer bag to rehydrate the rice and beans. I do not like washing pots on a backpacking trip!!!
Chili-flavored Fritos are relatively toxic compared to the Original — look at the ingredients list.
This is an easy meal to clean out of a pot. Add some water, clean the pot with your fingers, and either disperse the grey water or drink it. That’s better than eating out of a plastic bag and then carrying that plastic bag around for the rest of your trip, IMHO.
Not to fault your logic Mr. Skurka, but… don’t you still have to carry the bag you brought all the ingredients in around with you anyway? Just sayin’. You certainly are correct about the chill-cheese Fritos though, I’ll be sure to leave them home if I ever have the pleasure to book an excursion with you, so as not to offend anyone’s nutritional sensibilities. 😉
Tried this yesterday at home, freezer bag style. 10 ounces of water, let it sit for about 10 minutes. Consistency was good, but 12 ounces of water would have been fine. Very tasty! Going on the Rae Lakes loop with me in August!
Is there a way to print this recipe? TIA
File > print
These things work well for transporting cheese.
http://www.beeswrap.com/products/bees-wrap-single-medium
Pre-cook and dehydrate REAL rice from your local oriental store. I recommend Nishiki. Way more fuel in that than minute rice, for sure.
I’ll second dehydrating real cooked rice. I used to cook real rice in the field cook for 20min because I hated the mushy texture of instant rice. Dehydrated real rice is about 80% as good as real rice and a real time and fuel saver.
I make a version of this with Mexican rice (pre-cooked and dehydreated), FD dried chicken, cumin, Mexican oregano, chipotle powder, FD roasted corn, FD sauted onions, FD red peppers- adding lime cystals and chalula hot suace packets to taste. Topping with Fritos is the best part! I keep those in a small Tupperware container so I can pack more densely and avoid crushing them.
I’m hiking the Na Pali Coast next week and this might be on the menu… yum.
If no one here has ever been on the kalalau trail it is a must see. Many people I know who have been around the world consider the napali coast among the most spectacular sites to see. Check it out!
I’m super excited, packed and ready!
You’ll find tomatoes and things to pick when you get there. We even found prawns in the stream
This recipe passed the test at our house. I made this for the family at home tonight and everyone loved it! I substituted regular white rice as I always do on the trail. I brought the water to a boil with the rice already added, reduced the flame to a simmer for 60 seconds and then removed from heat and wrapped with a towel to insulate and sit for 20 minutes.
It’s really great that you’re publishing some of your meal planning and recipes Andrew! My attempts to reverse-engineer your meals hasn’t always panned out.
— “Swammie”
This was very, very tasty. Cooked it up in my SP 700 over my Fancee Feest alcohol stove (top burner for a smaller diameter pot…found Fancy Feast stove was inefficient for a pot the diameter of the SP 700) in just 5 mins. Into the cozy it all went, then cheese, and then Fritos when ready. Great! This one is coming with me on the JMT this summer.
I have been loving dehydrated quinoa instead of rice. It dehydrates quickly and rehydrates in a heartbeat. Good protein source.
Some general thoughts for other people trying this out
Works awesome as a freezer bag meal. 12 oz of water gets it pretty thick, which is preferable for freezer bags to avoid tragic spillage. Takes about 5-8 minutes to rehydrate and doesn’t require boiling water. I’m a fan of adding a bit of extra garlic powder and cumin as well when I’m bagging them up.
A roughly even mix of the Santa Fe refried and the Harmony House whole pinto is a nice textural contrast, and gets lots of good beaney goop along with whole beans.
I’ve found little single serving extra sharp cheddar at a few places, most recently and easily available is at Sheetz gas stations. They have little flat 2oz packages of cheese (real cheese, not cheese food) that last a long time in the woods.
This is easily my favorite backpacking meal ever, and it’s super simple and inexpensive. After I accidentally dumped 3 oz of olive oil onto myself, I’m all about the meals that don’t involve the oil calorie boost.
“avoid tragic spillage” LOL!
My girlfriend, her father and I gave this recipe a shot on the second night of a two night section of the AT in Georgia. It was cold and rainy all day and night, and this raised our spirits big time after a long day of elevation changes. No wonder it’s a favorite – would recommend it to anyone, as it is not only satisfying but requires extremely simple prep. I bet it would go great with summer sausage as well, if your diet permits. Thanks for sharing!
We loved this meal on a 5-day trip in the Sierra last summer. However we made a big mistake prepackaging the Fritos into ziploc bags to portion them out for two meals. The Fritos infused their flavor into all of our other food. Have you ever dreamed of eating an oreo that tastes like salty corn? Well, let me tell you it’s not good. I’d recommend keeping the Fritos separate from all other food or stored in some kind of bag that doesn’t release odors.
I am considering this recipe instead for a 10 day trip with our Boy Scout troop. I am thinking more than a day or two on the trail with regular cheese is not a great idea (especially with teens) so I am interested in substituting cheese powder. Can anyone provide how much powder would be used in this recipe, and would you change the amount of water?
When I ran 7-day guided trips, this meal would be our first and our last meal, on nights 1 and 6. No problems at all with the shelf-stability of the cheese, and I wouldn’t blink about taking it out for a few extra days beyond that. The exterior of the cheese will get oily, but it should not spoil. I would recommend a hard cheese (e.g. very sharp cheddar) rather than a softer cheese like Monterey.
Awesome, thanks for the quick response Andrew!
Looks good! I’ll try it with dehydrated canned black beans and dehydrated cooked basmati..
PS Nick the good bags for containing odour are Opsak.
https://www.amazon.ca/Aloksak-Opsak-Barrier-Bags-9X10-3Pk/dp/B0012RK0M8
This was great! I just did an at home trial of it to make sure it would pass muster of the picky eaters in the family and it did! I made it a little thicker and loved it.
Thanks for the great ideas. First time taking a larger group out on a trip (~16 people). Can I cook 2 larger batches for everyone, or would you recommend keeping to smaller individual batches in their own pots?
That’s a lot of beans & rice in a pot! It would work, but someone will need to stand by and stir to avoid splatter. Be careful of burning the ingredients to the bottom of the pot, just as you would at home.
As Doug said, this meal needs to be simmered some in order to cook fully. It will not work well if you simply boil water in group pots, then decant the hot water into individual bowls with the beans/rice mixture. Everyone will end up with crunchy rice, and maybe not enough heat leftover to melt the cheese.
Thanks to both of you for the prompt replies. Looks like I will have to cook several smaller batches or have some of the scouts can bring smaller burners for some individual batches to supplement.
Hi Andrew, I’m going on my first backpacking trip to the Smoky Mountains. Can you tell me what type of pot, stove and fuel you used in the video for this recipe?
Thank You,
Thomas from FL
Here’s my usual solo setup, https://andrewskurka.com/backpacking-alcohol-stove-system-gear-list-ultralight-premium/
Four other recommended systems for you, too: https://andrewskurka.com/backpacking-stove-systems-gear-lists-soloists-couples-groups/
This one you need to simmer and cook to completion I found.. ie. it’s not one you can just boil the water and add to individual mugs filled with one serving’s worth (GSI fairshare is what we use). So we cooked 2 servings to completion (gotta stir constantly to avoid splatter) then divided into individual mugs.
Hmm just weighed everything out and by volume – the beans are taking up at least 2x more volume… Think this might be SUPER bean heavy
Have used this on the trail. Very good. Made even better in the first or second day with some cherry tomatoes brought along if you ar inclined.
Great posts, enjoying and learning.
thanks
Rich(uk)
Vegetarian Frito Pie is a similar meal that was our quick dinner option on a three week trip through Alaska last year. One tip: we never found real corn chips like Fritos in Canada. Lots of tortilla chips, though. They work, but tend to break down much faster than corn chips.
There’s Fritos in Canada at Walmart (the one I went to, anyways)..
Maybe they’re banned in British Columbia. : )
Prince George, BC I got them at.
This is a great meal! I brought along two servings on my backpacking trip this weekend. I ended up cooking it with the freezer bag method but using Ziplock Zip n steam bags. I assume those bags have a higher softening point since they are exposed to steam.
The only negative I experienced was a lot of gas after eating the meal. It was pretty bad and was slightly painful. I am not sure if being at altitude exasperated the situation or not. When I tried it at home at sea level I did not have the same problem.
Only other issue is that the smell will permeate all your other food in your bear canister. This did not turn out to be a bad problem as I did not taste it when I ate the other food.
Other then the negatives this is my favorite meal! It is light weight and quite tasty! All the other campers with me that were eating mountain house meals wanted some of my meal.
OK, I have reached the pinnacle of this recipe and thought I would share. Send checks to Andrew and he will forward. 🙂 Mine involves slightly more pre-trip work, but the results are spectacular, with more meat taste, more varied textures, and more fiber. There’s really no weight increase because the added ingredients are reducing the use of others.
Ingredients for two people:
1 c. Sante Fe refried beans
1 c. Brown rice, cooked and dried
1/2 c. Ground beef, cooked and dried
1/2 c. Mountain House Fire Roasted Vegetable blend
2 oz. sharp cheddar
1 c. fritos
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 lime wedge
All dried ingredients get mixed with an equivalent amount of water by volume, so you can scale this recipe. Place 3 cups of water in pot and bring to a boil. As it comes to a boil, add beans and rice. Reduce to high simmer, cover for three minutes. Add ground beef and vegetable blend, stir, increase heat to bring back up to high simmer, reduce heat to keep at high simmer, and cover for three minutes. Add taco seasoning and stir. Let simmer on low, covered, for five minutes. Add cheese cut up into small pieces, stir, cover for three minutes. Separate into bowls. Squeeze lime over both. Crumble Fritos over both and serve immediately. Bask in the compliments, using the remainder of the lime for the cocktails you served people before dinner.
I’ve also combined Mountain House fire roasted vegetables with the freeze dried refried beans and instant rice as well–very tasty. The veggies aren’t necessarily calorie dense but they taste great and add fiber. Freeze dried onion flakes are another great addition. Used this recipe with first time backpackers.
I’ve made this a few times now. I use an alcohol stove so I just bring the water to a boil, then add the rice/ beans/seasoning. Then I immediately slide the pot into a reflectix pot cozy. Let it sit for a few minutes, then add the cheese and chips. Fritos don’t agree with me so just used tortilla chips. Back country gourmet.
Thanks Andrew for presenting this! I’ve not yet had it on the trail but have enjoyed it twice at home.
Your recipe lists the ingredients by weight. That is.handy for assessing the meal’s calorie density, but when I cook I usually measure things by volume rather than weighing them. So, I’ve used information on packaging to make these calculations: 2 oz. instant beans =2/3 C; 1.5 oz. instant rice= 1/2 C; 1 oz cheddar cheese = 1/4 C; 1 oz. Fritos = 3/4 C; .2 oz. Taco Seasoning= 2 Tsp.
.
Thank you, this is helpful!
It addition to being tasty,this has a relatively high protein content, a feat that can be challenging to accomplish in trail meals. Your recommended one person serving has this much protein:
Beans 14 Grams
Rice 4 Grams
Fritos 2 Grams
Cheddar Cheese 7 Grams
———————
Total 27 grams
Also, all that protein ought to be usable to maintain muscle tissue. The amino acids in cheese make it a ‘complete’ protein and those in rice and beans apparently complement one another well.
Ingredients in Santa Fe Instant Refried Beans:
Pinto beans, interesterified soybean oil (with TBHQ to preserve freshness), salt.
Interesterified soybean oil… hmmm….
I’m trying to educate myself to teach older Cub Scouts who will be entering Boy Scouts some of these awesome secrets. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
What would you use in place of Cheddar in hot weather (25+ celsius)?
I’d stick with cheddar, but a higher-end brand instead of the low-end rubber stuff that gets softer and more oily in warmer temperatures.
So Andrew, is this something you could keep on refueling with in general stores along the AT? I’m trying to go with out shipping myself stuff except in select few towns. Any good substitute for dehydrated refried beans? Or an idea of stuff to buy along the trail? Thanks!
Refried beans would be tough. My local Whole Foods (flagship store) has them in the bulk bins, but I don’t see them even at most supermarkets. You can buy boxes of beans-and-rice meals but they normally have a 25-min cook time.
If you want to buy-as-you-go, you are probably better off with some of the other recipes, e.g. Peanut Noodles, Pesto Noodles, Cheesy Potatoes.
I’m about a quarter way through my SoBo AT hike and I can safely say I have the best food so far for sure. Not that your recepie needs improvement, but I added some diced Mountain House Chicken and dehydrated red and green peppers. And as thru-hiking tradition dictates, gotta toss it in a tortilla. Maybe even some taco bell hot sauces if I’m lucky enough! Thanks Andrew
Glad to hear it.
Avocado is an excellent addition to this meal as well.
“Please Sir, may I have some more grey water”?
This looks delish, I’m going to try it on my next trip.
I’ve used this item many times on short trips, but I’m planning on packing it for a longer thru this season, for the first time, and I’m concerned about shelf life when just storing it in a ziplock. Do you have an idea of the shelf life for this once mixed and packaged? For instance, if I pack this in a resupply today, could I count on it being safe if I ate it two months later? Would a vacuum seal make a difference? Cheese aside, of course.
Besides the cheese, the ingredients are very shelf-stable. I’ve eaten this meal 6-9 months after originally assembling it. Of course, keep the meals in a cool and dry place.
Andrew – any recommendations on food recipes where water is at a premium (i.e. the desert)?
I don’t change my meals based on environmental conditions. Water consumed in food or as pure water hydrates you similarly. The only difference in arid areas is that I’m even more inclined to drink the “gray water,” after washing my pot, which I think to think of as simply a watery broth.
This was a massive hit on my High Sierra Trail trip this past month. All of my other dinner meals were purchased meals in a bag and this was a big standout. The cheese got a little spooky after a day or two and I finally had to give up on it. This is a permanent go to from here out and has inspired me to take more interest in what I am eating on the trail. As the trip went on, I met others who have enjoyed this and brought it up as a favorite! Thanks a ton.
What is “spooky” cheese? In my experience, even low-grade cheddar is fine during a week-long trip in the summer. It starts to sweat, but it does not go bad. Harder cheeses and cold temperatures are better, if you can make that happen.
Great meal, voted best new meal of 2017 by my daughters and myself.
We prefer black beans and Minute brown rice.
Consider also adding:
– Freeze Dried Super Sweet Corn from Harmony House
– Dried tomatoes (e.g. from Trader Joes)
And some Starbucks have packets of sriracha sauce which works well.
Oooh, my dad just bought a freeze-dryer.. Will be pre-making this and the peanut noodle recipe and freeze-drying the works (maybe not the fritos)!
Are these dry measurements (weighed) or volume measurements?
Dry. As in, use a postal scale.
Looks tasty! quick question regarding trail prep. Are you “cooking” this on a titanium pot? Any issues with burning? I’ve always used aluminum and now just got a TI pot so not sure how it will turn out.
Thanks!
How big is the pot you cook a solo meal in.
900 ml
My entire stove system is detailed here, https://andrewskurka.com/2015/backpacking-alcohol-stove-system-gear-list-ultralight-premium/
Just got back from a JMT section hike and Beans /Rice and Fritos was the favorite meal. Single serving Sriracha packets added some kick for those needing it. We did it as rehydration pouches (quart ziplocks) and kept the dried cheese and Fritos in a snack bag to add after the beans and rice had rehydrated. 10/10.
So toss the ingredients in than bring to boil than simmer for 60 seconds after boil?
A boil will accelerate reconstitution, but not necessary — you’d just have to wait a few minutes longer before eating.
After the beans & rice are cooked, add seasoning, then cheese, then Fritos last.
This is my new favorite trail dinner. I’ve finished all of the prepared meals that one box each of each refried beans & rice will provide, and i’m ready for more! i’ve been bringing the tillamook single serving snack cheeses with me for trips, they’re individually wrapped so they don’t get messy, and you can easily work the cheese out of the wrapper when it’s been incidentally warmed and has become oily without messing your hands. it’s a bit more trash than i’d like, so i’m looking at a way to store each serving in wax paper that can be easily burned, or even better: something reusable that i can pack out, wash at home, and use on the next trip.
i also suggest a reflectex pot coozie to help with rehydration, since i tend to burn food when i try to simmer on my MSR PR2.
Will the cheese keep fresh?
It keeps a lot longer than you might think. After a few days it will get greasy on the exterior, but it’s still entirely edible. Drier cheeses keep better in the backcountry than wetter cheeses. Cheddar is somewhere in the middle, not Brie but also not Romano.
Has anyone tried this with Easy Cheese yet? Thought it would be a good less perishable substitute for the cheddar.
Cheese lasts much longer in the field than you might think. We regularly carry it around for a week before using it. It will get slightly greasy, but it’s perfectly okay. It helps to let your food cool overnight (e.g. put your bear canister in an open meadow) and to keep it insulated during the day (e.g. insulate it from the outside of your pack by putting a fleece or rain jacket over it.
I carried tasty cheddar in the Grand Canyon for 13 days a couple years ago. Daytime temps regularly hit 100°. Cheese got greasy, but was always yummy, right through the end of the trip.
I love stuff like this. And ingredients are pretty inexpensive in the bulk section of WINCO or similar stores. One thing my boys and I loved when they were little was dehydrated hash browns or pasta with veggie soup mix and powdered cheese sauce. I remember packing a can or two of SPAM on short trips to add. Some knowledge of basic nutrition and a little creativity go a long way to having some tasty meals on the trail.
My wife and I love this recipe and have used it many times. Our only tweak is to use Corn Nuts instead of Fritos. We prefer the nuts because they are less likely to get broken down into tiny pieces in a bear car during a long hike and due to their higher crunch factor. The plain ones have the same ingredient list and functionally identical nutritional specs as Fritos so we just substitute them 1:1 for the chips by weight.
For those of you who prefer conventional “kitched” measurements, here’s what it works out to:
1/2 cup instant beans
1/2 cup instant rice
3 tsp taco seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp pepper flakes
For cheese, I use powdered cheese. 4 or 5 tsp.
I DO like things spicy. You might reduce the pepper and pepper flakes.
I put it all in to a ziplock bag.
3/4 cup Fritos according to Andrew’s recipe. LOL.
thanks for posting these measurements. How much water? And is this for a single portion?
As mentioned above, this recipe is a favorite. My wife and I have added what we think is a nice twist if you can swing carrying the extra weight and have access to the ingredient: Avocado.
We share eating out of the pot, especially early in the feast, its great to scoop out a spoonful, put it in the hole where the seed was and let it cool a moment. Then scoop the BRC and a bit of Avocado. Its a multi-purpose ingredient, food and bowl. Even when the pot has cooled a bit its nice to scoop a coupe spoonfuls out into the avo half and eat out of there.
And if you believe in having a fire, the skin of the avocado will dry out nicely and burn cleanly in a fire. Perhaps not minimalist lightweight backpacking, but on either early in a trip or on a two or three night trip why not.
Beware…. Tried this in UK with tinned refried beans. This recipe is a joke, warning to those who carry a few days worth of this on a trek without trying it first. Looks and smells like s***e.
Maybe the problem is with the tinned beans—they’re supposed to be freeze dried.
Or maybe you don’t like Mexican food.
This recipe is my favourite of the ones I have tried and I’ve tried most of them. Peanut Noodles is my number 2.
One question. If I make up a bunch of the Rice & Beans in sandwich bags, how long are they good for before I need to eat them? Wondering if I can do up a bunch of them at the beginning of the season and just grab and go, adding the cheese and Fritos of course and head out the door.
Thanks
Prepared servings will last months. The exact time depends on storage conditions. In a dry basement in Colorado, we regularly use servings for our first trips of the meal that were prepared six months earlier for the prior season.
Preparing breakfasts and dinners for the season at one time, and having a bin of snack foods ready to go, is a fantastic way to reduce the work required to get out for quick trips.
Thanks for the quick response. More importantly thanks for the Seasoned Beans and Rice with Fritos and Cheese!!!!!
The Google Sheet with the ingredient quantities has become unlinked for some reason. This is a clear sign that I need to save this somewhere, instead of always coming back to this page for the recipe!
It’ll get put up again this week. The embed code broke recently due to a platform change.
Any chance you could update this? I’ve wanted to try this for awhile and I finally got the ingredients together.
It’s showing for me. It might be a page caching issue. Try a hard refresh, like Ctrl+Refresh button on windows.
This is very strange, in chrome I did Ctrl+R, Ctrl+Shift+R, Ctrl+F5, even opened dev controls, right clicked the refresh button and did “Empty Cache and Hard Reload” but it will not work. It’s also broken on my mobile device (logged into the same google account). Thankfully I seem to be able to work around it by either opening it incognito or in another browser. So if anyone else has the same issue I suggest that. No idea why my cache for this page seems to be broken but thanks anyways.
I’m taking my family of 8 on a nine day trip and want to do a few of these meals. Newbie question: Do I need a food scale to multiply the ingredients by 8 that are listed in oz or grams? Or can I convert to teaspoons, tablespoons, cups or volumetric oz? I’m assuming I need a scale but I thought I’d verify and check with how those making for larger groups scale up the ingredients.
We make group servings all the time, and we multiply the per-person amounts by the group size, and weigh it all with a postal scale.
The postal scale is great for making multiple one-person rations, too. For example, put 20 oz of beans and 15 oz of rice into a mixing bowl, and then scoop out 3.5-oz portions of the mix.
Thank you! Now I finally have a good excuse to get a scale.
Hi Andrew,
Interested in the recipe but didn’t see the measurements of the ingredients anywhere. Did I miss them somewhere?
Try Ctrl+R, or opening the page incognito, or a different browser.
I’ve wanted to try this but balked at the cost of dehydrated refried beans. Then I realized I had a food dehydrator. One can of refried beans from Aldi is $0.89 and, dehydrated, yields just under 4 ounces, so enough two servings of this recipe. I also dehydrated a can of Ro-tel, which reduces to a paltry 10 grams. I added 4 grams of it to the recipe and wow it’s a good addition. Adds a little more color, too.
Andrew, I see that Amazon does not have the Santa Fe Instant Southwestern Style Refried Beans available. Can you recommend another supplier or manufacturer of a similar bean type that would work with this recipe?
That’s been our supply for years, so I’m less familiar with other options.
I remember hearing that Harmony House had good beans.
Jon, I like the Frontier Co-op dried black bean flakes on Amazon.
I’ll look for those Katie. Thanks for the recommendation.
I’ll check it out. Thanks Andrew.
This is the best trail meal! I add a couple of sliced Duke’s shorty sausages to mine. Delish!
I like the “Baja Bean flakes” from Outdoor Herbivore.
Excellent Benjamin. I’m in Canada and there is next to nothing that one can buy at a grocer for dehydrated beans. I’ll add this to my mail-order list options.
I seriously will make these for lunch at work. I’m that guy in the parking lot, pulling out an MSR stove for things like this instead of running out to get something. It’s too dang good and cheap and easy to pass up for a quick bite anywhere or any time.
Haha! I took them on a trip for my daughter’s volleyball team, where we would have a microwave, and boiled water there and made them. They’re the best. I had the coolest convenience food out of all of the parents. I’ve made single servings in baggies, written out a recipe card, and given them to backpacking friends as gifts, too. Can’t beat B&R w/ F&C!
I tried this out on a backpacking trip in Canyonlands National Park this weekend and it was AMAZING! I would genuinely eat this on a normal day at home. I can’t believe how tasty it was given how simple the recipe is. This will definitely be added to the top of my meal list for future trips.
[…] but this was an exception. I prepared the classic beans and rice, following the classic recipe here. One essential ingredient that was missing was Fritos, I hoped to pass a convenience store on the […]
[…] hands down, one of the best backpacking meals we had on the JMT. Our buddy Treeline (who got the recipe from Andrew Skurka) had an extra serving of this in his pack that he gave to us and […]
I LOVE this meal and take it with me on every backpacking trip. The recipe portion is a bit too much for me so I reduce the rice and beans by .05 oz (naturally cheese/frito portion remains unchanged). Easy to assemble at home and easy to prep at camp after hiking all day. Thanks for sharing!
Can this be made (rehydrated) w/o rice – cold soak style: bag it up & hike in the hopefully warm pm?
It can, but I don’t know why you would. Finding nuggets of melted cheddar in your pot is almost as good as finding gold.