Beans. There is an old saying, "Beans, beans, good for the heart, the more you eat beans the more your health will improve." All varieties of dried beans except split peas and lentils need to be soaked before cooking. Beans tend to retain their shape better with a long soak. Cooking Dried Beans. To prepare dried beans (1 pound of dried beans = about 2 cups raw or 5 to 6 cups cooked), place washed beans in a pot with 2 to 3 times their volume of water (1 pound of beans needs 4 to 6 cups). Let stand 8 to 12 hours. To quick soak, bring water and beans to a boil and allow to boil 2 minutes. Cover pot and let stand 1 hour. The time required for cooking beans is generally 1-1/2 to 2 hours, but this depends upon the variety of bean and the length of time they have been stored. Check beans often as they begin to get tender so they don't get mushy. Cook at a gentle simmer with the lid tilted to retain shape. If beans foam up during cooking, add a tablespoon of oil or fat to the water or cook with a small amount of fat pork or bacon. If a recipe calls for tomatoes, lemon juice or vinegar, add when beans are almost tender or acid will slow the softening process. Beans can also be prepared for quick-cooking in camp like minute rice. Cook them normally until tender, drain and dry them in a food dryer or spread them on a flat pan and dry in a warm oven or in the sun. Store in airtight canisters. They can then be reconstituted in water by boiling about 20 minutes. Trench Beans 1 lb. dry pinto beans, cooked 1 tbsp. seasoned salt 1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp. A-1 Steak Sauce 1/8 tsp. Tabasco 1 tsp. lemon pepper 1 tsp. onion powder Soak and cook beans. When tender, add seasonings and simmer an additional 30 minutes. Battalion Baked Beans 1 large can pork and beans 1/2 cup tomato catsup 6 small onions (or 1 jar small onions) 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. vinegar 2 tbsp. molasses 1 tsp. dry prepared mustard bacon strips Combine all ingredients except bacon and spoon into a casserole dish. Cover with strips of bacon. Bake at 300 degrees to 350 degrees for 1 hour or until the bacon is done and the beans are bubbly. Secession Baked Beans 2 cans pork and beans (or 3 cups cooked dry beans) 1/4 cup molasses 1/2 cup tomato sauce (3/4 cup if more liquid is needed) 1 medium onion, sliced into rings 1/2 tsp. dry prepared mustard 1/4 tsp. salt (or more to taste) dash of pepper 3 strips of bacon, cut in half (optional) Combine everything except bacon. Pour into 1-1/2 quart casserole dish. If you use bacon, arrange on top of the bean mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours or 375 degrees for 1 hour. Baked Beans 6 cups cooked dry beans (2 cups raw) 1 small chopped onion 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tbsp. molasses 1 tbsp. salt 1/2 tsp. dry prepared mustard 2 slices fat pork or bacon Place half the cooked beans in a bean pot place chopped onion on top. Add remaining beans. Mix brown sugar, molasses, salt and mustard and pour on top of beans. Lay fat pork or bacon on top and cover beans with hot water. Cover bean pot and bake in a slow oven (250 degrees) for 6 hours. Uncover last hour to brown. Rice and Beans. Like the cornbread and beans diet of the Confederacy or the fish and rice staple diet of the Orient, rice and beans combine incomplete proteins from two different foods to form complete proteins. The combination of rice and beans is a staple diet for much of the world's population. You can top the Carolina Red Rice recipe with cooked dried beans (seasoned to taste). Use the recipes for Hopping John (a colonial dish served on New Year's Day to insure good luck) as guidelines and substitute whatever type of beans you have available. Try adding canned chili and tomato sauce or salsa to cooked rice (or make your own chili with meat, tomato sauce and chili seasonings) and add it to any rice and bean mix (seasoned to taste with hot sauce). Cooking Rice. Instant or minute rice, while good for cooking in the field, won't store for long periods (without vacuum or nitrogen packing) since it has already been cooked and then dried. To prepare regular long grain white rice (1 cup uncooked rice = about 3 cups cooked rice), rinse lightly and drain the water. Add one cup of water and 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt (or meat stock or bouillon) for each cup of rice. Optionally, add one teaspoon of butter or oil for each cup of uncooked rice. Bring to a boil over high heat and allow to boil one minute. Cover pot, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes more. Don't open lid while cooking. Bean-Rice Casserole 3 cups water 1 cup uncooked rice 1/2 cup quick-cooking black beans (see previous section for instructions on preparing quick-cooking beans or substitute cooked dried beans or a can of cooked beans) 1 tbsp. instant beef bouillon 3 tbsp. margarine 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots 1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple Put all ingredients in a frying pan and mix. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Don't stir while it's cooking because that will make the rice gummy. When the water has been absorbed, test rice for doneness. If it's still a little chewy, add a little more water and cook a few minutes more. Carolina Red Rice 1/4 lb. bacon 3/4 cup chopped onions 2 cups cooked rice 2 cups canned tomatoes (or reconstituted dried tomatoes) 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. pepper 1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce Cook bacon, remove from pan and crumble. Cook onions in bacon fat until tender. Add rice, tomatoes, seasonings and crumbled bacon. Cook on low heat about 35 minutes, stirring well. Stir with fork several times while cooking. Check after 15 minutes and add water if needed. Hopping John 2 cups cooked black-eyed peas 2 cups cooked rice 1 chopped onion (optional) 2 tbsp. butter dash salt, pepper and hot sauce Blend and heat slowly about 30 minutes. Hopping John Soup 1 cup dry black-eyed peas ("southern caviar") 8 cups water 6 slices bacon 3/4 cup chopped onion 1 clove garlic, minced 1 cup regular rice 2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper Rinse black-eyed peas. In a large saucepan add the peas and water, bring to a boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 1 hour. Drain, setting aside 6 cups of the cooking liquid. In heavy saucepan, cook the bacon, onion and garlic until the bacon is crisp and the onion is tender but not brown. Remove the bacon, drain on paper towels: crumble and set aside. Stir the black-eyed peas, raw rice, salt, pepper and reserved cooking liquid into mixture in saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat. Simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Stir in crumbled bacon and it's ready to serve eight regular folks or two good ol' boys. Bread and Biscuits. In case of a power outage, bread bakes just as well in a dutch oven with hot coals or charcoal briquets (cooking time should be roughly the same as in your home oven). If you don't do a lot of baking, you might want to invest in a set of no-stick air-bake insulated baking pans and cookie sheets, which will lessen the chance of burning your baked goods. Bread can be prepared from stockpiled staples and can be served with any meal. However, note that due to their oil content, items like wheat germ and whole wheat flour or other unprocessed flours will turn rancid without refrigeration (or freezing). It's best to store whole grains, get a hand cranked mill and grind your own flour. In the face of an expected long-term power outage, you will want to preserve or use up the perishables in your refrigerator. Baking bread is a good way to use your milk, eggs and butter (substitute melted butter in recipes that call for vegetable oil) before they spoil and will give you something to put your peanut butter and jelly on or sop up some gravy. To ease this task, you may want to keep a stock of Jiffy Muffin Mix on hand (rotate periodically by using and replacing). These mixes are easy to use and are very versatile. For example, the corn muffin mix package has instructions for preparing as muffins, cornbread, corn sticks and corn pancakes or waffles. Any Jiffy Muffin Mix can be extended using the following recipe: -