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$5 Dinners | Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals

Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals and Cooking Tutorials for the Busy Home Chef

Save on Groceries in 2025

Recipes for “Rice and Beans Budget”

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rice and beans budget

While nearly all of the recipes posted on this website cost me less than $5 to make for my whole family, it’s the rice and beans recipes that can be made for less than $3 and $4 total…for the whole meal…for a family of 4.

The recipes in this list use only grains and legumes…like rice, quinoa, beans, lentils, etc. They are all frugal in nature and making them regularly will definitely help you reduce your overall grocery budget.

But before we get to the recipes…a few helpful tips and tricks!

slow cooker tips for adding rice and pasta

  • How to Cook Dried Beans
  • When to Add Rice to Slow Cooker

Favorite Rice and Beans Recipes from $5 Dinners

Slow Cooker Black Beans and Rice

  • Rice and Bean Soup
  • Mexican Bean Soup with Spanish Rice
  • Dominican Rice and Beans
  • Rotel Beans and Rice
  • Slow Cooker Black Beans and Rice
  • Coconut Rice and Beans
  • Ranchero Black and Pinto Beans
  • Red Quinoa with Avocado, Black Beans and Corn
  • Brown Rice with Black Eyed Peas and Greens
  • Red Beans and Rice
  • Black Bean and Barley Soup
  • Southwest Wild Rice Pilaf

One Dish Dinner Rice and Beans Recipes

spicy-quinoa-4

  • Fiesta Beans and Rice
  • Spicy Quinoa with Red Kidney, Corn and Lime
  • Four Bean Salad with Quinoa
  • Lentil Minestrone Soup 

And here’s where you can find the rest of the “beans recipes, “rice recipes,” and “quinoa recipes” that are posted here on $5 Dinners.

Plus there are LOTS more in my cookbooks and Viral Meal Plans using ingredients from Costco!

I hope this list helps bring a little creativity to your dinner table, as you continue on your penny pinching journey to get out of debt or make your financial dreams come true!!!

See more Rice & Beans Recipes on our Pinterest Board:
Follow $5 Dinners {Erin Chase}’s board Rice and Beans Budget on Pinterest.

rice and beans budget rice and beans budget
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Comments

  1. Denise says

    September 9, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    Love that:) We are shifting back more to beans and rice to pay down the mortgage!

    Reply
    • Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says

      September 9, 2011 at 8:29 pm

      Good for you Denise! What a fabulous goal…blessings as you strive for it…day in and day out!

      Erin

      Reply
  2. susanne says

    September 9, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    right on time! I appreciate having all this in one place! thanks!

    Reply
  3. Crystal Lane says

    December 6, 2011 at 5:46 am

    I am not a mom… but I am a college student, and this has helped tremendously! I will definitely be recommending this website to some friends and younger siblings 😉 Thank you so much!

    Reply
  4. SONJA HANSEN says

    January 22, 2012 at 11:32 pm

    I have had a problem cooking the small white beans. When I soak them some of them swell and some remain hard. I have even tried cooking them and it is the same – Try picking the hard beans out of a whole batch! Do you have any experience or am I just going to have to discard that bunch of beans. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Brenda says

      November 9, 2012 at 2:37 pm

      Sonja, I cooked some of the small beans the other day in the crock pot. This was my 1st. bean cooking in the crockpot and it turned out good. I spread my beans out on a clean dish towel and picked out the rocks, dark, and cracked beans. Really any bean that I didn’t want to eat. I would keep lightly spreading my hand over the beans to be able to see any object. Put your good beans into a bowl to wash. Do not pick the towel up and dump beans into bowl or you get the trash that stuck to towel. After washing, I put them in crockpot with my meat for seasoning and cooked all night. Goooood!! Usually, I go by directions on bag and cook on stove.

      Reply
    • Christine Seip says

      March 17, 2013 at 1:12 pm

      If you wait and add your salt at the end of the cooking time, that really helps with the hard bean problem.

      Reply
    • Kyle says

      September 8, 2013 at 10:42 am

      Try adding a tablespoon of Baking Soda into the beans when soaking. Then drain and cook. This works great with beans that are old and been stored for a while.

      Reply
  5. Joyce says

    February 10, 2012 at 10:21 pm

    The recipe I will be making is Coconut Rica and Beans. I think that the ingredient combo in this recipe would be refreshing. Thank you.

    Reply
  6. J.bahny says

    April 22, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    I love your cookbooks and I love your site. I hope to to become more organized so that I can start a meal plan and actually stick to it.

    Reply
  7. M. Porter says

    July 25, 2012 at 8:18 pm

    I have been wanting to buy your cookbook for a while but every time I go to buy one at the bookstore you are sold out. I love your site as it is so useful and encouraging for families on a budget such as mine.
    The wonderful thing about this website is that you give us instant recipes and meal plans so that it makes life easy for the busy mom or dad that is always on the run with life’s every day craziness.
    This will hopefully help me save money in the long run for the upcoming holidays. Again, thank you for the information!

    Reply
  8. Christine Bishop says

    July 29, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    I wanted to thank you so much for the time you but into your blog. I’m excited to try some of your recipes. I am trying very hard to get the cost of of groceries down..and it’s hard !! My hubby and I have five boys…..LOLOLOL…and they can eat !! THANK YOU !!

    Reply
  9. Steph says

    January 3, 2013 at 8:16 am

    I am trying to incorporate more beans into our diets. My oldest son, however, hates beans and refuses to eat anything with them in it. Any thoughts on how to disguise them?

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      March 29, 2014 at 12:31 pm

      to disguise beans for your son who doesn’t like beans, after they have cooked and cool down, put them in a food proccesor then add to soups. he won’t see the beans

      Reply
    • Crystal says

      May 28, 2015 at 8:02 am

      I used to hate beans and have learned to love them! I had to just make myself try a little over and over…and over…. 🙂 but now I even prefer them over meat! There is hope, just make him keep trying them, even if they are hidden, lol. Try using lentils often, not just beans. I find cooked lentils (the dark greenish brown ones, not the orange “red” lentils) kind of have a look like ground beef. Black beans are like that, too, to some extent, if they’re chopped or mashed up just a bit with sauce or seasonings. Try lentil marinara; lentil tacos, black bean tacos or tostadas; mashed or refried beans of all sorts in or on dishes, as a thickener for soups and chowders, or as a spread on sandwiches or wraps; hummus with veggies or crackers; lentil loaf (like meat loaf-google a recipe); any number of vegetarian curries; even vegan black bean brownies! (super healthy, no flour, just fiber-filled goodness!)

      Reply
  10. Joseph says

    June 7, 2013 at 1:17 am

    Steph,
    I have a kid that refused to eat beans also….But after not eating a few meals he decided beans are actually pretty good food…..I simply decided to be the parent and told him “fine your not hungry then don’t eat”.. I am NOT RUNNING A ODRDERING COUNTER ….This is the menu !

    Reply
  11. Brittany says

    June 14, 2013 at 12:28 pm

    Would love some more recipes that are “Rice and Beans” Budget that aren’t necessarily rice and beans. All of your recipes are so cheap, but we are in a place where sometimes even $5 a meal is too much!
    thanks!

    Reply
  12. Caity says

    June 22, 2013 at 6:03 pm

    I’m also not a mom, but a recent master’s degree graduate with a husband, mortgage, and a whole lot of student loans. Cutting down on expenditures is daunting, but this website gives me hope that I won’t be eating bowls of rice for every meal! Thanks for the rice and beans recipes. They’ve given me some good ideas!

    Reply
  13. Caleb says

    December 5, 2013 at 11:58 am

    Rice and beans is a very good meal and you can make it your own.

    Reply
  14. Tammy Atkinson says

    January 9, 2014 at 5:33 pm

    Cant wait to get them!!!

    Reply
  15. aqui says

    January 25, 2014 at 8:32 pm

    You have to try beans brazilian made! They are the best!

    Reply
  16. Ron3 says

    September 23, 2014 at 5:39 am

    Great jumping off point! I was looking for something to make with stuff i had around the house. I tweaked your red quinoa and black bean recipe. The result, red bean and white quinoa with jalapeños, red peppers, corn and alittle onion. The cilantro and lime flavor with avacado garnish has a cool guacamole feel. I cant wait to try your version after my next grocery run.

    Reply
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  19. Acelerar o Metabolismo says

    January 10, 2015 at 9:30 am

    Thanks for your tips that have helped me to make interesting dishes in Brazil.

    Reply
  20. Acelerar o metabolismo says

    January 19, 2019 at 3:02 pm

    Good tips. I love your recipes! Thank you

    Reply

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