Red Beans and Rice -- The Four-Dollar Dinner That Feeds a Family of Six

I wrote a post this week about feeding a family of six on a trucker budget, and it has become my most-read piece. The numbers are simple: I spend about four hundred dollars a month on groceries for six people. That is sixty-seven dollars per person per month. That is two dollars and twenty cents per person per day. I feed my family on two dollars and twenty cents per person per day, and we eat well. We eat meatloaf and chili and chicken fried steak and pot roast and tater tot casserole and the chocolate sheet cake. We eat real food, made from scratch, every single day. And I do it on a budget that most people would consider impossible.

The secret is not a secret. It is planning. It is buying ground beef in bulk when it is on sale. It is using dried beans instead of canned because dried beans cost a third as much. It is making bread instead of buying it. It is using every part of the chicken, including the carcass for soup. It is knowing that a ten-pound bag of potatoes costs three dollars and can feed a family for a week. It is not wasting anything, ever, because waste is money in the trash and I do not have money to put in the trash.

The post got shared on Facebook and Twitter and trucker forums and mommy blogs, and I have gotten more messages this week than in the entire year before. People are hungry for this information. People are struggling. People want to feed their families real food and do not know how to make the math work. I know how to make the math work because I have been making the math work for fifteen years, and if my blog can help one mother feed her kids a good meal for two dollars, then every word I have written was worth it.

At home, I demonstrated the principle with a dinner that cost four dollars and thirty cents for six people: a big pot of red beans and rice. Dried red beans, simmered with onion, celery, green pepper, garlic, smoked sausage, and cajun seasoning, served over white rice. The beans were creamy, the sausage was smoky, the rice was fluffy, and the total cost breakdown was: beans, ninety cents. Rice, fifty cents. Sausage, two dollars. Vegetables, ninety cents. Seasoning, free because I already own it. That is a meal. That is a real meal. And it costs less than a gas station sandwich.

This is the exact meal I made the night that post went viral—the four-dollar-and-thirty-cent dinner I broke down penny by penny because I wanted every person reading to believe it was possible. If you’ve been following along and wondering where to start, start here. Red beans and rice is the meal that proves the math works, and I’m giving you my recipe so you can prove it in your own kitchen tonight.

Red Beans and Rice

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried red beans, rinsed and sorted
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 8 ounces smoked sausage, sliced into half-moons
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 cups water
• 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cups cooked white rice, for serving
• Sliced green onions, for garnish (optional)
• Hot sauce, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Soak the beans. Place the dried red beans in a large bowl and cover with several inches of cold water. Soak overnight or for at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse before cooking. If you’re short on time, use the quick-soak method: cover beans with water in a pot, bring to a boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat, cover, and let sit 1 hour. Drain and rinse.
2. Brown the sausage. Heat vegetable oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the sliced smoked sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on both sides, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove sausage and set aside.
3. Cook the vegetables. In the same pot with the sausage drippings, add the diced onion, celery, and green bell pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
4. Simmer the beans. Add the soaked and drained beans, 6 cups of water, cajun seasoning, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves to the pot. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add the browned sausage back to the pot during the last 30 minutes of cooking.
5. Make it creamy. Once the beans are tender and the liquid has thickened, remove about 1 cup of beans with a slotted spoon. Mash them with the back of a fork and stir them back into the pot. This gives the broth that thick, creamy texture. Remove the bay leaves. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
6. Serve. Spoon the red beans and sausage over cooked white rice. Top with sliced green onions and a dash of hot sauce if you like.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 22g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 56g | Fiber: 10g | Sodium: 680mg