Tater Tuesday: Chili Taters

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

It is freezing outside here so something to warm me up sounded good, and what is better than spicy mashed potatoes for a nasty day?

Chili Taters:

In a quart freezer bag put:
3/4 cup instant mashed potatoes
1/4 cup freeze dried corn
2 Tbsp dry milk
1 Tbsp instant refried beans
1 tbsp dry onion
1 Tbsp Southwest Taco Mix (or any taco seasoning)

Also take 1 ounce cheddar or Mexi-blend cheese.

Add 1 1/4 cups boiling water and stir well. Put in a cozy for 5 minutes. Add in the cheese, diced up, and stir well.

Serves 1.

[Adam Rothermich]

Wow, that sounds really good! I'm doing some camping this weekend with the Collegiate Eagle Scout Assoc and I may have to make some of this. Now to find some instant refried beans…

Adam

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

You can get them from Fantastic Foods. Look in the "natural foods" section for them. They make both pinto and black bean versions. Check for them near the instant hummus and Falfalel mixes.
Some natural food places sell them in bulk as well.

Btw, the taco mix I used was by Simply Organic.

[P. P.]

I live totally in the sticks. Is there an online source for instant refried and black beans? I'd hate to have to do all the work myself. ;-)

[Adam Rothermich]

–I live totally in the sticks.–

Me too. We mid-Missourians know little about fantastic food, much less a store that might sell it :P.
The closest city I can think of that might have a store like that is St. Louis, which is an hour and a half drive. Being in a college town (however small both the town and college are) we do have 1 or 2 specialty food store that I've noticed. Maybe its about time I stopped in to see what's available.

Adam

[Joshua Mitchell]

J/K ;)

Amazon Grocery carries Fantastic Foods – it's even eligible for free shipping!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Lol….

You guys don't even have one little hippie hut loitering around selling 'natural' foods? Look harder :-) If not, yep Amazon and also you can get it online through Fantastic Foods themselves.

As a back up you can always use instant bean soup instead (Though if you can't find FF, finding Nile Spice soup cups might be hard as well!)

[Jim Colten]

Fantastic Food's web site has a store locator page.

[Adam Rothermich]

Hmm… I checked the store locater and the closet 'authorized' store is 66 miles away. I know there are some specialty 'hippie' food stores in town that may have a suitable alternative though. Thanks for the tip about Amazon as well. I had completely forgotten they sell groceries too.

Adam

[Dicentra OPW]

Looks like you order right off of their website!
http://www.fantasticfoods.com/

Try the "natural foods" aisle (aka the hippy aisle) in your stores too.

[Jim Yancey]

Adam, Clovers market (two locations, no less!)in Columbia, MO has a variety of Fantastic products. I regularly buy instant black beans and refried beans there. They also have falafel mix and no-meat "sloppy joes" mix. As I recall, there is at least one natural foods store in your town that would probably have something similar.

[Adam Rothermich]

Yep, I saw the store today. I think its simply called 'Natural Foods'. Anyway, I didn't have time to run in today as I was a little busy, so I may try to drop in tomorrow and see what they've got. I did scour Kroger and Wal-Mart today looking for anything that might work. Oddly enough the 'ethnic foods' aisle was mostly Pace, Old El Paso, and Taco Bell products. Very authentic… Hopefully I'll have better luck at the other store. Its a little hole in the wall place, if you weren't paying attention you would easily miss it.
Ordinarily I would have no problem just ordering some online and waiting a few days, but as I said I'm camping this weekend and would kinda like to try it out then. Oh well…

Adam

[Kathleen B]

I have bought dehydrated refried beans from the local Albertson's grocery store. I had to wait until I got home to check the brand before jumping in to this discussion. The brand is Santa Fe. They come in several flavors (I have instant southwestern style). The 7.25 oz. bag has their website on it: santafebean.com. Fantastic may be fantastic, but they have contenders.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Oh yeah, the brand you got? Those are good Kathleen! They show up at some Super Walmart's as well. Look in the Hispanic section for them.
They are like refried beans that you get at eatery :-)

[Adam Rothermich]

Well, I stopped by the 'hippie' foods store today. Turns out its called 'Foods for Health'. Anyway, they didn't have any instant refried beans, but they did have a few different offerings from Fantastic Foods. There was hummus and something else. They also had a wide selection of Clif Bars and the like. I'm definitely going to check back in there from time to time, if only to get a wider selection of energy bars. Maybe I'll try the hummus a little later too. I've never had it before and it didn't look too bad.

Adam

[P. P.]

Thanks for the heads up about Fantastic Foods and being able to buy from them online. It sure beats driving 180 miles round trip with gas over $3 a gallon!
Anybody try their soup cups?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I got lucky and found those soup cups at the Grocery Outlet for 4 for $1. Woo! I stocked up (er, and for my friend Ldyblade as well!)

They are pretty good. They won't fill you up though. Best idea? Make the soup and have it over a serving of instant rice, mashed potatoes or couscous. That is good and filling!

[Anonymous]

Adam,
You should definitely give the hummus a try. It is made from powdered chickpeas, ground sesame seed paste, lemon juice, and garlic, with other seasonings that vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Traditionally, it is served as a dip with pita bread or, outside the Middle East, with crackers, bread, and/or raw veggies, in addition to pita. For backcountry use, I have found that it also works great thinned to a soup consistency and heated up or added to the above mentioned refries to create a mixed soup. Hummus has an important advantage over refries or black beans because the sesame seed paste, which is high in fat(good variety), gives it a higher calorie count per ounce. Plus, as the Colonel says: "It's finger lickin' gooooood".

[P. P.]

Well, I'll still gladly pay $1.69 online and stay out here in the sticks. ;-)

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

P.P., I agree. Gas here is running $3.79 a gallon currently (gasp)! Even though I drive biodiesel, it isn't cheap.

I have started buying more and more online and having it shipped. It is often a lot cheaper than driving to 4 or 5 stores (and takes so much less time!). I get what I need and call it a day.

Places I spend too much online:

Harmonyhousefoods.com
Justtomatoes.com
maryjanesoutpost
fantasticfoods
amazon
Minimus

And btw, if any of you have tried Mary Janes Farm stuff, they sell black and pinto bean flakes btw!

[P. P.]

I agree Sarah. I can just shop a bit, hit the enter key and go hiking! :-)
Retirement is wonderful!

BTW, which source do you prefer for instant beans, FF or MJOP?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

FF beans :-) And the black bean version over the pinto.

Though totally off topic, I love Mary Jane's black bean hummus mix, though it can give you horrible acid reflux! I have black bean corn salsa coming soon via UPS. Woo!

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