Why Preppers Always Talk About Rice and Beans
- Joshua Sutton
- Jun 16
- 4 min read
If you have ever looked into emergency preparedness, you have probably heard somebody say to store rice and beans.
It sounds simple, maybe even too simple. With all the emergency food buckets, freeze-dried meals, survival bars, and expensive preparedness products out there, people still come back to rice and beans and there is a reason for that. Rice and beans work.
This idea did not come from one prepper book, one YouTube channel, or one person trying to sell survival food. It came from real life. Families have used foods like rice, beans, corn, oats, peas, lentils, and flour for generations because they were cheap, filling, and easy to store. Long before people used the word “prepper,” families were already doing this. Poor families, farming families, rural families, churches, and communities all over the world stored simple food because they knew hard times could come. A bad winter, a lost job, a storm, sickness, or a local emergency could make food hard to get.
Rice and beans became popular because they made sense. They are cheap, you can buy a little at a time without spending a lot of money. A bag of rice and a bag of beans can feed a family for several meals, and they cost a lot less than most emergency food kits.
They store well when they are kept dry, sealed, and protected from heat, bugs, and moisture. White rice stores better than brown rice because brown rice has natural oils in it that can go bad faster. Dry beans also store well, but the older they get, the longer they can take to cook.
They are also filling. Rice gives you calories and carbohydrates. Beans give you protein, fiber, and minerals. Together, they make a basic meal that can keep people going.
That is why disaster groups, churches, food banks, relief organizations, and preparedness families have used foods like this for so long. They are simple, affordable, and practical. But here is where people get it wrong.
Rice and beans are a good base. They are not a foolproof emergency food option.
You still need water. You still need a way to cook. You still need fuel. You still need salt, oil, seasoning, and other foods to go with them. Dry beans can take a long time to cook. If the power is out, the water is limited, or your family is already stressed, cooking dry beans from scratch may not be realistic right away. That is why you should also have ready-to-eat food on hand.
Canned beans, canned meat, peanut butter, crackers, canned fruit, canned vegetables, protein bars, soups, and other easy foods matter. During the first day or two of an emergency, people may not have the time, energy, or setup to cook a full meal. A good emergency pantry should have both. You need quick food for the first 24 to 72 hours, and you need bulk staples for longer problems.
If you are going to store rice and beans, store the things that make them useful.
Store water. Store a manual can opener. Store cooking fuel. Store a safe way to cook outside if the power is out. Store salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, bouillon, hot sauce, or whatever your family will actually eat.
Store some kind of fat, like cooking oil or shortening, because fat adds calories and makes food more filling. Store canned chicken, tuna, spam, beef, or other shelf-stable protein if you can. Store vegetables and fruit so your food plan is not just plain starch every day.
Also, do not forget comfort food. Coffee, tea, drink mixes, candy, snacks, and familiar foods may not seem important until people are tired, scared, and stuck at home after a storm.
The real lesson behind rice and beans is not that every family should live on rice and beans. The real lesson is that preparedness does not have to be expensive. You do not have to buy everything at once. You do not need a huge survival bunker. You do not need to start with a $300 emergency food bucket. Start simple.
Buy one extra bag of rice. Buy a few cans of beans. Add peanut butter. Add canned meat. Add water. Add a flashlight, batteries, and a way to open cans. Then build from there as you can. Preparedness is not about panic. It is about making sure one bad day does not turn into a full crisis for your family.
Rice and beans became famous in prepper circles because they are cheap, simple, and proven. They are a strong foundation for an emergency pantry.
Right down to business, how much rice and beans do you, the reader need to buy to reach one year's supply? The math done here is based on a person who would eat NOTHING but rice and beans for one year.
*Disclaimer-Dont attempt to survive off of rice and beans alone. Even with your daily caloric intake met and a multivitamin, this diet would have a huge psychological effect on you. Variety is the spice of life.
Eaten together at a rice-to-bean 2:1 ratio, a year's supply of rice and beans based on 2000 cal diet-
2000 cals per day across 365 days is 730000 cals
486180 rice 243090 beans
(10) 5 gallon buckets of rice or 292 lbs
(5) 5 Gallon buckets of beans or 155 lbs.
Rice: 1, 5 gallon bucket=30 lbs
50k Cal, last approx 25 days once opened, use white rice as the oils in brown rice will break down in about a year, causing the rice to rot
Pintos: 1, 5 gallon bucket= 30 lbs
47k Cal, last approx 24 days once opened. Old beans may need a pressure cooker as beans lose ability to soften in water after excessive storage
CLEAR CREEK Certified Glyphosate Residue Free Pinto Beans | 25 lbs | North American Grown | Non-GMO:
Palouse Brand Certified Glyphosate Residue Free Wheat Berries | 100 LBS | Hard White, Soft White, Hard Red Winter, Hard Red Spring Wheat Berries [25 lbs each]
Ralston Family Farms Traditional White Rice, 25 lb Bucket - Long Grain, Non-GMO, Gluten-Free - American Grown, Emergency Food Supply & High-Volume Pantry Staple
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