I made two shelf-stable meal kits for our community’s Little Free Pantries and I’m already sick of beans. I’m thrilled to report that when I went around town to donate some things on November 1, the first day that many folks had to do without their SNAP benefits–they were so much more full than I’d ever seen them!!! Hooray!!!

Every single pantry has tons and tons of beans. Which is great! Because beans have so much fiber and protein and they tend to be incredibly affordable. Win. Win. Win! But in that case, I feel like I don’t need to add more beans to the stock. So I added another rule to my personal guidelines for this project.

The meal kits I’m creating must:

1. Be completely shelf-stable
2. Make 4 servings
3. Cost no more than $10 ea
4. Contain no beans

Now, I do have a few ideas for meals that don’t follow these rules and occasionally I’ll let myself bend them–but that’s fine because they’re made up anyway.

But for day one of the Bean Free Challenge we’re making SPAM Fried Rice!

Each one of these meal kits contains:

• 8.8 oz pack of 90 second Jasmine rice $1.38
• 15 oz can stir-fry vegetables $2.08
• 12 oz can luncheon meat $2.00
• 8 oz can pineapple tidbits $1.23
• 4 oz cup of diced carrots $.55 ea (but comes in a 4-pack for $2.22)
• 1 oz packet of fried rice seasoning $1.26

Each kit costs around $8.50 and serves 4. Prices reflect my local Walmart at the time of this posting.

If you make these for your local pantries or to gift to loved ones or organizations, go ahead and print out my recipe card to go along with it! You can fold it in half and make sure to put the title facing the outside so people know what they’re getting.

Let me know if you try this!