Last weekend we had the opportunity to make some meals in a jar which are without a doubt the ULTIMATE in time-saving inventions since sliced bread was invented. 😉 Actually, they’re far more useful and convenient than even sliced bread.
Anyway, meals in a jar are also great for when you’re feeling lazy and you want a healthy meal but don’t want to take the time to cook which was the case for us the other day. It was simply a matter of deciding which meal to make and heating some water.
In this case we opted for Thrive Beans & Rice which would have been plenty and tasty enough but my wife also wanted to add some broccoli and cauliflower and so I did…. yes, I cooked dinner which is a fairly rare occurrence because I generally do not like doing so.
Meals in a Jar: Ingredients
Note: FD = “freeze dried”
- 1/2 cup Instant Pinto Beans
- 1/2 cup Instant Black Beans
- 1/2 cup Instant Red Beans
- 1/8 cup Beef Bouillon (we used Chicken Bouillon)
- 1/4 cup FD Tomato Dices
- 1/4 cup FD Green Chili Peppers
- 1/4 cup FD Celery
- 1/4 cup Carrot Dices
- 1/8 cup FD Chopped Green Onions
- 1 tsp FD Cilantro
- 1/2 cup Instant Brown Rice
Meals in a Jar: Directions
It couldn’t be simpler. Add quart jar ingredients to four cups of water then cook on medium heat until mixture comes to a full boil. I actually ended up using eight cups of water because I also added 1 cup of freeze dried broccoli (which requires 3/4 cup water to re-hydrate) and 1 cup of freeze dried cauliflower (which requires 4 cups of water to re-hydrate). I figured eight total cups was enough and it was.
Here’s what it looks like while cooking (notice all the green and which, much of which is broccoli and cauliflower that we added in addition to the Beans & Rice):
And here’s the finished meal:
The meal was quite tasty and everyone seemed to want more! We even had a bit leftover which may not have been the case if we didn’t also add the broccoli and cauliflower. If we had eating only the Beans & Rice meal in a jar then it probably would have worked out just fine.
To Make This Meal in a Jar
To make as a meal in a jar, just add all the ingredients as noted above to a one quart mason jar. You can layer it to make it pretty as I did or just mix and match if you don’t care.
One thing to note: if you’re going to vacuum seal it with a FoodSaver (and you should for longevity) beyond a year or two then be sure to put anything that is powdered at the bottom of the jar. If you don’t then you’re going to suck up the powder into the foodsaver and gum it up which isn’t good.
For storage, treat it like any other food storage item and keep out of the light, away from moisture, etc.
If you choose to make up several of these meals in a jar then you’ll always have a handy, tasty, and healthy meal for those times when ordering pizza or fast foods seems like the best option.
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