Reddit mentions: The best dried black beans

>you're going to try and tell me you fed 4 people on $7 a day? did you grow/raise/catch/kill any of your own food? barter?

Cooking, baking, and buying in reasonable bulk. Rice, beans, pasta, frozen/canned vegetables, and a crockpot can do it. I'm not talking 500-pound bags of military surplus war beans or anything, just actually cooking them yourself. If you build a diet around cheap-to-obtain staples, the costs drop rapidly. For example:

• 15 pounds of brown rice at $16
  
• [25 pound bag of black beans at $36](http://www.amazon.com/Black-Beans-25-Lb-Bag/dp/B00J7UTDPC]
  
• [20 pounds of spaghetti at $38](http://www.amazon.com/Barilla-Thick-Spaghetti-Pasta-Ounce/dp/B00338JWL4]
  
• [50 pounds of flour at $42](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bulk+flour]
  
  So at about $150 you have about 6 months worth of base staples. And these are just random quick Amazon searches - most of these things can be found with more variety, healthier (depending on your dietary needs), and/or cheaper if you are looking. You can hit farmer's markets, but in my area they aren't really that much better as far as deals go unless you are looking for specific foods. Food banks certainly exist, and they are pretty laid back about who gets food, but I've never hit the point of wanting to use one up here.
  
  You don't eat out, drink alcohol, and treats end up being the most cost-effective ones possible. I ended up going with the cheapest fresh stuff I could find in stores for the number of services, to supplement frozen and canned. Fresh veggies really are the cheapest way to eat healthy. Cheaper the better: my usual "spaghetti sauce" was mostly carrots. Potatoes are literally cheaper than dirt here (Washington state: less than $2 per ten pound bag, not sure if it's that way anywhere else). Homemade salsa, mustard, and cost-effective heat seasonings are the condiments of choice - they stretch the furthest.
  
  If you don't want to cook a great deal, you can live on a crock pot or rice cooker. They are essentially $10-$20 investments these days. Dump everything in before leaving, come home to cooked food. It's not amazing, but it's sustenance on days where you are too lazy to cook for yourself. You can also cook and freeze, which is cheaper than buying frozen meals. Or, cook and refrigerate if you are someone like me who can eat the same leftovers for days at a time. Crockpot also means homemade soups, another great use for cheap veggies and potatoes. And acorn squash adds a great creaminess to chili (a great penny-stretching food). Sliced bread can be purchased relatively cheap, but almost any other baked good needs to be made at home.
  
  If you are a carnivorous family then chicken and tuna are your friend, but they are still not going to be cheap enough to be eaten regularly. Chicken does well with rice and beans, making it the natural choice for crockpot meat. Pork, and even beef, can be had when really good sales roll around - but that often makes them holiday meals (which I'm okay with). Cheese and fresh dairy in my experience is never cheap enough, and the only regular dairy we did was powdered milk. The trick with all of these is creating meals that use them sparingly, such as chicken in a crockpot giving flavor to everything else.
  
  I do grow greens in the warm months here (because I've got the greatest cheap AND lazy way to ever do it), but other than that I don't hunt or garden.
  
  Ultimately, it's doable, but it requires a complete disconnection from the "Murican Diet" of fast food and brand names. You work with healthier foods, smaller portion sizes, and less pre-packaged/pre-made products.

Some of these are hard to find and get into, so I'm gonna post a brief visual guide to Chinese food ingredients/products that bearsx3 posted about. (Note: I'm not Chinese, I've just taken up Chinese cooking as part of my food hobby, so if anyone could add or correct any info, that would be appreciated)

Chinese cooking Wine

• Notice the different spellings: xiao xing, shao hsing, shaoxing
  
• I use this as an ingredient in stir fry sauces. I also use this commonly as a quick marinade for chicken thigh or beef (along with soysauce, salt, cornstarch, etc) before I stir fry them.
  
  Zhenjiang (Chinkiang) vinegar
  
  
• Also called Black Vinegar (in the picture I use the brand on the left)
  
• Honestly, I run into this ingredient pretty rarely. I've never had to replace my first bottle. A recipe book I bought lists it as one of the staples of Chinese cooking, however. It tastes... really authentic haha. I would include this on the shopping list of an intermediate Chinese food hobbyist rather than on the list of a beginner.
  
  Hot bean sauce
  
  
• This one confused me for a while because I went to an Asian market and there was an entire wall of sauce products and there seemed to be many similar to this. It also goes by many names: Chili Bean Paste, Toban Djan (pictured), Doubanjiang, and some other spelling derivatives. I've used a couple brands and they are both good. If you're in doubt about which sauce is which, just look to see if the Chinese characters match the one in the Lee Kum Kee pic I provided.
  
• I use this frequently. You might even be able to find it in the Asian section of Publix or Kroger or something like that. Walmart might even have it.
  
• Not to be confused with Garlic Chili Sauce, (also made by the same brand as Sriracha, here), which is tangier and brighter.
  *found this article about the stuff. It's pretty interesting.
  
  Sweet Fermented Paste
  
  
• This stuff is also confusing. In English it can go by sweet bean sauce, sweet bean paste, sweet soybean paste, sweet flour sauce, or sweet noodle sauce (according to wikipedia). You'll be able to tell it's the sauce you're looking for by it's Chinese name, usually a derivative of Tian mian jiang, like tien mien djan or something like that.
  
• It's used as a condiment for Peking Duck, among other things.
  
• I got this stuff confused with Black Bean Sauce for some reason. Ugh. Don't make the same mistake I did.
  
• There's a good post on it here, just scroll down a bit.
  
  Fermented Black Beans
  
  
• Called Douchi
  
• Used in lots of stuff. From what I gather, legit beef with broccoli includes these.
  
• RINSE BEFORE USE. I ruined an entire batch of this Salt-fried Pork Belly by not rinsing the beans first. It was way too salty.
  
  Sesame Oil
  
  
• Once you know you're gonna get into Chinese cooking, get this stuff in a tin since the little bottles of it are kind of pricey for the amount you're buying. I use the brand pictured and it's really good, especially in salad dressings (but that's more of a Japanese thing). Every time my bottle runs low, I just refill it from my tin.
  
  Soy Sauce
  
  
• I grew up with Japanese soy sauce, so I've got Kikkoman brand loyalty, but I'll definitely try the Wan Ja Shan aged soy that bearsx3 recommended to see if there's a difference. Like the sesame oil, buy in bulk when you get serious, otherwise you'll be wasting money on small glass bottles of soy sauce. (But get one to keep on the table for rice).
  
  Whole Dried Chilies
  
  
• There are lots of different kinds (especially when it comes to Mexican food), but the ones you'll commonly use for Chinese cooking are the ones pictured above. I find them super cheap in the Mexican section at Walmart.
  
• No need to cut them open and get the seeds out, they'll remain intact while you stir fry them.
  
• If you're stir frying them, you'll be adding them to an extremely hot wok. BE CAREFUL: the fumes will burn your throat, so be sure to cover your mouth with a shirt or something. Also, don't stir fry these with small children or animals around. The first time I stir fried these, if there had been a baby on the patio or something, it could have been injured by the fumes.
  
• Lol with that said, don't be intimidated by it. These things absolutely make dishes like kung pao chicken.
  
  Things I'm still confused about:
  
  What are some good brands of dark and light soy sauce? Is normal soy sauce in between dark and light, or is normal soy sauce the same as dark soy sauce? What about thick soy sauce? A Balinese acquaintance made some absolutely amazing fried rice that was topped with thick soy sauce and I've been hunting it ever since.
  
  If anyone has any questions, ask away.
  

just make it yourself. it has better shelf life, sodium & spiciness you can control.

Pearl River Bridge Yang Jiang Flavor Preserved Beans with Ginger 454 g/16 oz./1 lb. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUB4W8K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mtHAzbNRQWJWP

wow that's ungodly expensive. Its like only $2 at a asian grocery store.

chop garlic, ginger, chili and the black bean. Or just throw everything in a mini food processor and just need to pulse till u have it finely minced. i like chopping bcz by the time i finish taking the food processor out and clean all the parts, I am long done with a knife and chopping board.

i used to be hooked on the LKK brand black bean sauce till I made it fresh. it brings your steam and stired fry dishes to another level.

You don't have to eat plain to save money. Just make your own food. Making your own meat substitutes is way cheaper.

This can of vital wheat gluten is $22 for 45 servings. This four pack of beans is $18 for 64 servings. This pack of tofu is $21 for 48 servings. That's 157 servings of protein for $61. Lentils are crazy cheap as are oats, whole grain pastas and breads. Flax seed is cheap (gives you your omega-3s and works as a binder in recipes). Nutritional yeast is sold pretty cheap in bulk sections in some grocery stores as well.

Frozen fruits and veggie are sometimes cheaper than the fresh stuff. I live in CA so I can get some pretty cheap fresh produce. A lot of vegan cooking involves some planning. For example I always keep cashews soaking in the fridge for when I may need a creamy or cheesy sauce.

DIY sauces are the best. Here is my go-to stirfry marinade. I don't generally measure the quantities; just keep tasting until I find a ratio that works:

• Soy sauce
  
• Gochujang (Korean chili paste - definitely spring for this stuff if you can find it, it's a unique combo of salty, sweet, and funky)
  
• Lime juice or rice vinegar
  
• Honey
  
• Chopped ginger and garlic
  
• Sesame oil
  
  Sometimes I replace the gochujang with Sriracha or another chili sauce, and add fermented black beans--this is another wonderfully versatile Asian ingredient that adds a salty funky kick to your dish.

Put a pound of riced cauliflower in a skillet with a bit of liquid to get things started, and steam it with the cover on.

Once it's cooked through, add about 1/4 cup of some sort of starch. The starch must be designed to cook quickly and soak up water. Turn off the heat, put the cover back on, and let it sit. After a couple of minutes it'll be ready to eat.

The key here is the ability to play around with the ingredients:

• The liquid could be water, soy sauce, or broth. You could add a packet of soup base as well.
  
• The starch could be oat bran, fine bulgur, dehydrated bean flakes, instant lentil soup, or anything else. (You could be an ironic hipster and add instant rice to the riced cauliflower.)
  
• You can add whatever other herbs, spices, and other flavors you want. Add diced meat, should you choose.
  
  Chicken soup flavoring, oat bran, and sage make something like stuffing. Black bean flakes, cumin, and red pepper is like rice and beans. Toss in curry lentil soup mix, although you'll need to punch that stuff up with some extra curry powder.
  

It's pretty easy to nearly double the value of the McDouble.

Bob's Red Mill Black Turtle Beans with subscription

All natural,
Kosher certified,
Trans fat free,
Cholesterol free

Calories per dollar: 634.5

Protein per dollar: 42.3g

McDouble

GMO,
Definitely not Kosher,
Trans fat 1g,
Cholesterol 65mg

Calories per dollar: 390

Protein per dollar: 23g

Livestock Subsidies in the United States totaled $4.1 billion from 1995-2012.

*Excluding sales tax

Also, I would suggest ordering from your local food co-op or buying club rather than Amazon.com. You will probably get a better deal, but that's just convenient for comparison.

Maybe don't shop exclusively at Whole Foods if you're concerned about price? Hell, you can live off of healthy food mostly from Amazon. Start with rice: $24 for 25 days worth of food @ 1600 kCal a day. Add in dried beans - high fiber and quite tasty, for about $2 per pound.. Add frozen vegetables from your local store - and in NYC, that's not difficult at all, thanks to awesome public transportation - and you're eating healthy on way less than $40 per week.

Instant Pot Chipotle Black Beans (so easy!)

Canned beans, schmanned beans. Nothing is better than cooking your own DRIED beans from scratch! These Chipotle Black Beans are SO easy (and cheap!) to prepare in your Instant Pot and the flavors outperform any can of beans. It’s a win-win.

Full recipe (with notes) found at....https://veggiechick.com/instant-pot-chipotle-black-beans/

• 2 tablespoons water (or vegetable broth)
  
• 1/2 medium Spanish yellow onion, diced
  
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
  
• 3 cups water (or unsalted vegetable broth)
  
• 1 cup dried black beans, not soaked beforehand*
  
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
  
• 1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
  
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon chipotle powder (adjust amount for desired spiciness)
  
• 1 tablespoon lime juice, optional
  
  

  INSTRUCTIONS
  

  
  

1. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté. Add the 2 tablespoons water (or vegetable broth), chopped onion and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the onions are soft and translucent
   
2. Next add the water (or 3 cups vegetable broth), dried black beans and all spices.
   
3. Press Stop to reset the Instant Pot and then press the Bean/Chili button (or Manual/Pressure Cook) and set the time to 35 minutes. The Instant Pot will start to build pressure and after pressurized, it will cook for 35 minutes. After cooking, it will need to sit for awhile to release pressure (about 15 minutes).
   
4. When the pressure is released, remove the lid. The beans will be sitting in some liquid; taste to make sure they are cooked through and to your desired spiciness.** If desired, add a little more chipotle powder and/or lime juice and stir. 
   
5. Use a handheld strainer to remove the beans. Save the liquid for adding to recipes if desired. Makes 3 cups.
   
6. Store these beans (with or without liquid) in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. 

I've read these beans are even better (keep them whole or mash):
Amazon, preserved black beans

This is the tofu I used the first time I made mapo and I think it's still the best I've had. Silken is definitely the way to go, Firm to Extra Firm. It's shelf stable and this is a great price.
Mori-Nu Silken Tofu, Firm, 12.3 Ounce (Case of 12)

Agreed on the chili oil, it's delicious but easily cut for diet.

Edit: added more info on thebtofu

Buy an instapot pressure cooker and get some dried beans of all varieties. Pair the beans with rice and you have a complete protein! I am in romantic love with my pressure cooker. I'd recommend making chili in it right off the bat. (You'll need diced tomatoes, beans, onion, chipotle peppers and chili or taco seasoning. Split pea soup is also stupid easy and very affordable.


You can also get a seed sprouter and the seeds for it for some produce in your diet. I also like sprouting mungbeans. And it's getting a little late in the season to plant I think but consider starting a tomato plant.

I get beans in boxes, don't know if it's actually safer but hope so.
https://www.amazon.com/Jacks-Quality-Bean-Black-Sodium/dp/B01FRQPZ3I

Mapo Tofu - an authentic Szechuan Chinese dish. Hot and delicious AF! Recipe can be made without the minced beef/pork. Only issue some may have is to order Doubanjiang, Douchi, and Szechuan peppercorn. They are really must-haves for this.

Actually rice and beans is significantly cheaper than instant ramen.

A 12 pack of top ramen costs about $9. That's about $0.75 per meal.

These beans cost $15 for 104 oz dry; a serving of beans is roughly 2 oz dry (you soak them and get about 4 oz), so that's about $0.07 per meal's worth of beans.

This rice costs $26 for 240 oz dry. One serving of rice is about 3 oz dry, so that's about $0.32 per meal's worth of rice.

Even just eating rice and beans on their own is significantly more satisfying than instant ramen, I've found. So that's about 1/2 the cost for a better meal.

And in fact, if you're not a complete idiot and just go to the store and buy your supplies, you'll probably pay a lot less.

The downside, of course, is you need to know how to cook and you need to have enough free time to actually do it - without a crock pot, beans can be a giant pain in the ass, and without a rice cooker rice can be similarly frustrating.

You can pick up dried rice and bean packages in most supermarkets that only need to be simmered for 20-25 min. You will be able to make them with water and some canned tuna or chicken.
A pack of 12 is $25 from Amazon. Or about $2 for a meal. That makes 4 cups for about 800 calories, so you might be able to get two meals out of it if you add a veggie steamed in your rice cooker. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FDN6Q2?pc_redir=1411189704&robot_redir=1

The interwebs delivers! http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Douchi-Fermented-Black-Beans/dp/B003K3KOM8

http://www.amazon.com/Fantastic-Foods-Instant-Black-1x3-3-3/dp/B001KWAYXU

I suppose the 'freeze-dried' bit is me misremembering; but I remember eating black beans that came from black bean flakes as a kid. My parents would get it in bulk from the local hippie store; I don't imagine they would have gotten it if it wasn't really inexpensive; at the time my parents were extremely frugal.

25lbs of rice for $20, which is just a little over $1/kg, my bad for slightly overestimating.

I literally bought 1kg of chicken breast for $10 last week, and that was at a more expensive supermarket. Easily find it for cheaper at the local butchers or market.

Almost 50kg of beans for $15

Love the (just slightly inaccurate) name calling, really helps your shitty arguments.

That's kind of ironic :) I would expect Italy to have every kind of pasta ever! Though maybe Italian standards for pasta are higher and aren't welcome to this non-wheat pasta?

I found it on amazon.it though. And like /u/CatEarsAndButtPlugs said, they make other products, too

I don't mean to be a kill-joy, but I'm skeptical of their nutrition label (from Amazon).

It shows 6g fat, 11g protein, and 1g net carb (8g total - 7g fiber).

Problem is the calorie math for that doesn't add up. They show 120 calories, but from the macros I only get 102 (6x9+11x4+1x4 = 102). So that leaves a missing 18 calories or potentially 4.5g of carbs.

Something smells fishy.

> 25lbs of rice for $20, which is just a little over $1/kg, my bad for slightly overestimating.

Costco. Not everyone has access to one dumb fuck. Add membership fees and it's not .80 lbs. Nice try though dummy.

> literally bought 1kg of chicken breast for $10 last week, and that was at a more expensive supermarket. Easily find it for cheaper at the local butchers or market.

Sure you dud chubbs. I bought 2000 KG of coke for 19.99 at the most expensive dealer last week. Trust me. I 'm on reddit.

>Almost 50kg of beans for $15

You can't be this dumb or can you? If you are a not so clever troll then you are the dumbest most shut in loser i Met here. Not an easy task friend.

This was your link:Almost 50kg of beans for $15 : https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Turtle-26-ounce/dp/B004VLVJP4/ref=redir_mobile_desktop/135-2788632-8712266?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=mh_s9_acsd_zgift_b16U6F_c_x_1_w&th=1

Bob's Red Mill Black Turtle Beans, 26-ounce (Pack of 4)- $15.28

So fucking dumb. SO fucking shut in.

>Love the (just slightly inaccurate) name calling, really helps your shitty arguments.

Nah. It's 100% accurate. You just proved it.