Simple Mexican Beans and Rice

Uh, no, it won’t look quite THAT good!  But it’s still pretty tasty, and very simple to do with 2 pots.

That picture is from a Mexican restaurant in Pinedale Wyoming, the night after a few days in the Winds last fall.  I swear that platter was something like 15 inches wide and had enough food to feed me three times under normal circumstances.  However, in this particular case my hiker hunger totally owned the whole thing.

You take a box of La Preferida Spanish Rice, easily found in any supermarket

And a pouch of Sante Fe Instant Refried Beans, which you can find in some grocery stores, or on Amazon

And you need packets of dehydrated pico de gallo and queso from Packit Gourmet

That’s a total weight of 17 ounces and enough food to easily feed 2 people.  You can dress it up with some tortilla chips if you like, or make this a side item for 3-5 folks if you cook something else like quesadillas as the main course.  You could also roll it all into a tortilla and make some credible burritos.  Just adjust portion sizes as needed and follow the directions on the containers the food came in.  Make the rice first and set it aside in a pot cozy, rehydrate the pico in it’s pouch and set aside, boil some water to add to the queso pouch and set it aside in a cozy, and then make your beans.