Making Dry Bean Blends

Bean Blends:     

Beans are a great source of protein and fiber and can be used in many ways.  Dry beans are not only cheaper than canned, but the sodium content can be more controlled.  Either way, canned and dried beans are both good to have on hand. I use the dried beans most of the time, but for those last minute meals, canned beans are very convenient.

Bean blends are easy to make yourself as long as you understand the variances in cooking times with different types of beans.

Beans That Are Similar in Cooking Times-

Group 1:

• Adzuki
• Anasazi
• Black-eyed Peas
• Cannellini
• Cranberry
• Fava
• Green Split Peas
• Lima Beans, small
• Pink

Group 2:

• Black Beans
• Cannellini
• Navy
• Red Beans

Group 3:

• Kidney
• Great Northern
• Mung
• Pinto
• Whole Green Peas

Soaking Your Beans:

The biggest complaint from preparing dried beans is the amount of time it takes to soak them. You can put your beans right into the crock-pot or use a fast soak method, but the overnight soaking method will give you the best results.

Soaking Beans is Beneficial-

• Helps to remove the complex sugars and toxins, minimizing gas 
• Gives you a shorter cooking time
• Beans cook more evenly when soaked 

Sometimes lentils are added to bean soup blends.  I am not a big fan of this. Lentils don’t take nearly as long to cook as beans, so adding lentils to dried beans may result in mushy lentils. If you like the mixture of beans and lentils, french green lentils are a good choice. They take a little longer to cook than the standard lentils and they hold their shape better.

Whole grains are excellent to add to your bean blends.  Adding whole grains help get different nutrients into your diet while adding flavor and texture to the dish.  Whole grains will give you a hearty, nutty texture, making them great for stew and chili. 

Tips:

-        Try to plan your bean blends around their cooking times. Combining beans with similar cooking times will result in a more evenly cooked blend.

-        Always rinse the beans after soaking them.

-        Adding a little oil to your beans and lentils while cooking them will not only reduce the amount of foam, but will also help hold their shape better.

-        Do not add salt or acidic ingredients until after the beans are cooked.

Whole Grain and Bean Blend-

2-3 parts each of any combination of beans (Group 1: black, navy, pink, adzuki ) (Group 2: red, pinto, black, garbanzo)

1 part whole oat groats

1 part brown rice or barley

1 part wheat berries (hard red or white)

1 part grain or combination of grains (triticale, kamut, buckwheat, rye)

½ part flax or sesame seeds (optional)

Just remember from my "Lentils" post that the amounts listed are merely suggestions. Adjust the amounts and the ingredients to your personal preference.

Creating Your Own Whole Grain Blends

Soup blends, rice blends, bean blends, and multi-grain blends are sold everywhere.  Sometimes they are at a reasonable price, but most often they are more expensive than buying the items individually and mixing them yourself.  Blending them yourself is quite simple.  

A few years ago I was at my local health food store and was looking at the items that were available in their bulk section. I really wanted to try their wild rice blend, but the price was way more than I was able to spend. I looked at the ingredients listed on the bulk dispenser and noticed that there weren't any herbs or spices in the blend; just rice.  I knew I could easily make my own and for a much more reasonable price, so I did. I don't remember how much I ended up saving per pound, but I know the savings was substantial.

Making Your Own Blend Isn't Rocket Science-

Blending your own rice is quite simple, so if you are new to making your own blends, rice is a good starting point.

Typically, wild rice blends don't have very much wild rice in them. If you look at the ingredients, wild rice is one of the last ingredients you will find which is also the most expensive.

Keep in mind that when you make your blend, you do not need to be exact with the ingredients, nor do you have to have the exact proportions. If there is a grain you cannot find or is too expensive, either substitute it or leave it out.  Lundberg Farms has a specialty grain called Wehani, so finding it could be difficult. 

Rice Blends:
3-5 different types of rice are generally used in a blend.  A general rule of thumb is the cheapest grain makes up the largest percentage of the blend and the specialty grains make up the smaller percentage.

Using the ingredients as a guide will help start you off, but once you get the hang of it, be creative.  There are so many different varieties of rice, lentils, beans, and other whole grains out there. WinCo has just increased their selection of rice by adding forbidden rice, jade pearl rice, and Madagascar pink rice.  As long as you understand that cooking times vary from brown rice, lentils, and beans, the possibility of combinations are endless.


The Savings-

If you take the Lundberg Wild Rice Blend  for example, the package contains: Long Grain Brown Rice, Sweet Brown Rice, Wild Rice Bits, Wehani, and Black Japonica.

I have a local health food store that sells all of these varieties of rice.  They sell long grain brown rice and  sweet brown rice for under $1.00/lb, Wehani for under $3.00/lb, and Black Japonica for around $3.00/lb.  The wild rice is a little sneaky. If you notice, they label it as wild rice bits. If purchasing the whole, unbroken wild rice, you can expect to pay anywhere from $7-10/lb.  Broken wild rice however, can be purchased for around $4.00-5.00/lb. I have found a website that sells it for $3.65/lb (including shipping) if you buy it in bulk.

A simple blend of:
1 lb - long grain brown rice - ($1/lb)
1 lb - sweet brown rice - ($1/lb)
1/4 lb - wild rice bits ($5-7/lb)
1/4 lb  - wehani ($3/lb)
1/4 lb - black japonica ($3-5/lb)

These numbers are rough estimates of course, but if I were to purchase wild rice and black japonica at the low end, one pound of my wild rice blend would come out to $1.73/lb and  $2.09/lb at the high end. Buying wild rice at an even better price will only increase your savings.  My local health food store sells a similar blend for over $5.00/lb. The cheapest I could find this exact Lundberg Wild Rice Blend for is $2.87/lb, but only if purchased in 6 pound increments.

Blends to Try-

The types of rice and the amounts are only suggestions. Feel free to adjust accordingly. Store rice blend in an airtight container.

Cooking Instructions-
Add 1 part rice blend to 2 parts water/broth and any seasonings you prefer. Cook in a rice cooker for 40-45 min.  If cooking on the stove-top, bring the water/broth and the rice to a boil, cover and simmer for 40-45 min. Turn off the fire and let stand 10 minutes before removing lid.

4 parts Long Grain Brown Rice
2 parts Wehani
1 part Black Japonica

Whole Grain Rice Blend

3 parts Long Grain Brown Rice
3 parts Short Grain Brown Rice
2 parts Forbidden Rice

2 parts Long Grain Brown Rice
2 parts Brown Basmati Rice
1-2 parts Red Rice
1 part Japonica Rice

Sweet Brown Rice
Short Grain Brown Rice
Long Grain Brown Rice
Wehani
Black Japonica, Forbidden, or Wild Rice

WinCo Bulk Price List

The WinCo price list is so lengthy that I gave it its own page. Feel free to click here or on the heading at the top of the page.

WinCo Foods has labeled themselves as the "supermarket low price leader".  In my opinion, certain departments carry great to reasonable prices, but you need to be aware of prices already.  Almost a year ago, I compiled two WinCo Price Lists from the bulk department; one being an all inclusive list and the other only being a condensed version. The condensed version just contained items that I was interested in purchasing.  I emailed the condensed price list to a friend so she could compare WinCo prices to other bulk suppliers.  A month or two later, I found the list popping up on different websites, not realizing it was so useful to so many people. WinCo does not spend the money to advertise, nor do they post current sales on their website.  Because of this, it's hard for people who are budget conscience to shop at WinCo blindly. People want to know if it is worth spending their gas and time at a store that may or may not have prices they are looking for.  It currently costs me $10 in gas round trip drive to my nearest WinCo. There are many stores that I can choose from that are within reasonable distance from my home, so if I want to buy something at WinCo, I want to be sure of the price.

One year ago I was an advocate of WinCo Foods to my friends and neighbors. Their bulk foods department had unbeatable prices, with a decent percentage of their food being organic.  Now a year later, the economy has changed, and so have the food prices. Their bulk prices are completely different.  Most of the nuts and seeds have had $4-$5/lb increase, certain dried fruit has had $2-$3 increase, and crazy enough, some of the items in the herbs/spices section have had a $10-$15/lb increase. Just so you don't misunderstand - it's not just WinCo's prices that soared, it was nationwide at every food store.

With that said, WinCo still has competitive prices, but I have found a handful of items at Costco that are a better price. Here are just a couple of items that carry a better price at Costco as well as a better quality:

 Item:                Winco:                       Costco:
Pistachios          $6.46/lb                    $4.99/lb
Cashews            $7.44/lb                    $6.49/lb (and dropping)
   (Whole)
Dried Apricots    $4.39/lb                     $3.15/lb
Dried Blueberries $10.73/lb                $7.98/lb (I've only seen bad reviews on Costco's blueberries, so I've never tried them. I only buy the frozen blueberries)
Craisins              $3.67/lb                   $2.16/lb
Pinenuts             $15.32/lb                  $12.67/lb
Almonds (raw)    $4.18/lb                    $3.32/lb


Of course this is not an all inclusive list, but hopefully you can get the idea. For me, it's important to familiarize myself with prices, so I can determine what is a good price and what is not. The prices used to be in my head, but when there was foretelling of significant price increase, I stocked up and built up my food storage to prepare for what was possibly to come. I purchased nuts and seeds in bulk and stored them in my freezer. Now that my supply is diminishing, I am becoming more aware of the current prices and need to re-familiarize myself with a handful of products and their current price/lb. Prices are constantly changing, so I am wondering if the drop in price with the Costco pistachios and cashews are foretelling of possible price decreases at other stores as well.