Packed with protein, fiber, and flavor, beans are a pantry staple that stretch your dollar without sacrificing taste or nutrition. Here are five easy, hearty meals featuring our Camellia Brand beans that are perfect for the busy back-to-school hustle.

Vegetarian Pinto Bean Chili

A cozy chili is always a win when the week feels long. This Vegetarian Pinto Bean Chili is a meatless marvel that’s hearty enough to satisfy everyone at the table. Made with pantry staples and plenty of spices, it’s a great make-ahead meal that reheats beautifully—perfect for lunchboxes, busy weeknights, or freezing in portions for later.

Budget Tip: Bulk it up with frozen corn, extra beans, or chopped zucchini for even more servings.

Instant Pot Pinto Beans with Ham Hocks

If you’ve got an Instant Pot, this one’s a no-brainer. Pinto Beans with Ham Hocks come together quickly in the pressure cooker and deliver deep, smoky flavor with minimal effort. Serve over rice, scoop into a thermos for a hot lunch, or use leftovers in tacos or burritos.

Budget Tip: Ham hocks are affordable and flavor-packed. Can’t find them? Try smoked turkey necks or a splash of liquid smoke.

Simple Southern Lima Beans

This recipe is the definition of Southern comfort food. Simple Southern Lima Beans are simmered low and slow with just a few ingredients, but they’re anything but plain. Creamy, filling, and soul-warming, these beans are great as a main dish or as a side.

Budget Tip: Serve over rice or cornbread to stretch this meal even further. Add a green veggie and you’ve got a complete dinner.

Beans & Greens Soup

When you’re craving something nourishing and light, this Beans & Greens Soup hits the spot. It’s packed with leafy greens, creamy beans, and comforting broth—perfect for thermos lunches or after-school pick-me-ups. It’s also endlessly customizable based on what’s in your fridge.

Budget Tip: Use frozen greens instead of fresh, and toss in leftover veggies from the week to avoid waste.

Pantry Red Beans & Rice

No time for a grocery run? No problem. This Pantry Red Beans & Rice recipe uses shelf-stable ingredients to bring you all the flavor of the classic dish in a super budget-conscious way. It’s quick, easy, and the ultimate meal prep hero.

Budget Tip: Double the batch and freeze portions for future meals. Serve with hot sauce and pickled veggies for a quick flavor boost.

Make Beans a Back-to-School Staple

From chili to soups to Southern classics, beans are a smart way to fuel your family through the school year. They’re nutritious, filling, and incredibly versatile—plus, they’re easy on your wallet when grocery bills start to pile up.

So stock up your pantry, pull out your favorite pot, and get cooking. Your future self (and your back-to-school budget) will thank you.

Sharing tips and tricks for her favorite New Orleans dishes from her custom pink wheelchair, Amelia Labeaud is a fun-loving New Orleans native raised in the 7th ward who has always had a passion for her city’s food and culture.

Not long ago, her viral video for red beans and rice — made with pickled pig tips and Camellia Brand Red Bean Flavor Infusion — got people talking. “What are pickled pig tips and where do you get them?” commenters asked.

Pickled Tips

Popular in the South and especially among Louisiana cooks, pig tips are the meaty chunks from the underside of spare ribs that contain cartilage but no bone. When a rack is trimmed to make ribs, the boneless strip of meaty rib ends (or tips) remains. A form of pickled pork, pickled tips are inexpensive and used as a flavoring agent in many iconic Southern dishes such as red, white and lima beans, including all manner of stewed vegetables. And you can buy them packaged at many grocery stores and butcher shops.

Amelia, (who goes by ‘Melia’) loves using pickled tips and cooking them low and slow in dishes from red beans to cabbage to greens. “I think they give a really good, buttery, salty taste. It gives the food really good flavor,” she says. Check out her recipe for Red Beans with Pickled Pig Tips.

An Adventure on TikTok

Melia’s adventure on TikTok started a few years back, when her daughter pleaded, “Mom, let’s get on this TikTok trend called ‘things New Orleans people see’.” So for kicks, they created a New Orleans-themed video, and the next day, her daughter exclaimed, “Mom, it’s gone viral!”

“You know, kids get excited about every little thing, so I kind of brushed it off,” says Melia. But when she looked at how many people had reacted to her video, she was amazed. As she experimented with posts to see what grabbed folks’ attention, she noticed that fans were gravitating to her New Orleans-style cooking videos.

How a Giveaway Turned Into a Business

Melia continued to create cooking videos, and in hopes of reaching a few hundred thousand followers, she offered a giveaway — a box full of iconic New Orleans snacks that she grew up enjoying, filled with products like Mama Noodles, Big Shot Cold Drinks, Elmer’s CheeWees, and Zapp’s Chips.

Fans were clamoring for the goods, which is how her giveaway turned into a flourishing business called The Original New Orleans Snack Box. She now sells New Orleans snack boxes and homemade spicy bowls to fans far and wide.

And when she’s not hustling, selling, and shipping, she’s cooking and eating. Want to see what she’s up to? You can follow Melia on all of her social media platforms @RollingWithMelia — on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Bigo.

Get ready for a week’s worth of delicious meals full of versatile, plant-based protein. With great make-ahead bean recipes and so many ways to serve them, you’ll fill your fridge and satisfy your family – whether they’re hungry for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Below, find our make-ahead favorites – cooked on the stovetop and in the Instant Pot – plus lots of tips and recipes that use those beans in everything from snacks and dips to tacos, pastas, salads, and sandwiches. Read on for a nutritious taste of what’s on the menu.

Easy Make-Ahead Pinto Beans

This is an easy stovetop pinto bean recipe that yields 5 cups of perfectly cooked beans. Toss some of those cooked pintos into hearty Bean & Bacon Breakfast Tacos with scrambled eggs and shredded cheese, and start your day off right. 

Bean & Bacon Breakfast Tacos

Want lots more ways to use those savory pintos? Find out how to turn 1 pot of pintos into 5 meals. 

Instant Pot Black Beans

This recipe is super fast and cooks a pot of beans with no hands-on attention required. Take 1 ½ cups of the cooked black beans, and whip up a Black Bean Quinoa Salad with corn, red bell pepper, and spices for a tasty, protein-packed lunch.

Black Bean Quinoa Salad

Still hungry? Check out Easy Instant Pot Black Beans = 3 Delicious Dishes for more ways to use them.

Instant Pot White Beans

This basic recipe is perfect for flavorful beans that can be used in many different ways. One of our favorites is White Bean Hummus – cool and creamy, with a slight green tint from the addition of fresh parsley and green onions. Enjoy it as an anytime, healthy snack.

White Bean Hummus

Put all those white beans to good use. Check out how to turn 1 pot of white beans into 5 dishes.

Why not get creative with your make-ahead beans? With more tasty recipes like Easy Refried Beans, Black Bean-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes, White Bean Pesto Pasta, and Tuna White Bean Salad, the possibilities are endless.

Dried beans might just be one of the most versatile foods around.

Basic Storage Guidelines

By following basic storage guidelines, dried beans will stay fresh, tasty, and ready to be cooked into creamy perfection. Of course, you can store Camellia Brand beans right in the iconic cellophane bags they’re packaged in, just be sure to store them in a cool, dry, dark place away from sunlight — like your pantry.

You may notice that some Camellia Brand beanbags have a ‘Best By’ date stamp, but they’re safe to use after that date. In fact, according to foodsafety.gov, dried beans can be consumed within 1-2 years if they’ve been stored in a pantry from the date of purchase, or within 1 year if they’ve been opened and then stored in a pantry. Dried beans are considered ‘non-perishable’ foods, which means they have a long shelf life and can be stored at room temperature.

Tips for Storing Dried Beans in Containers

If you prefer using other types of storage containers such as glass or plastic jars, the key is to make sure they’re food-safe and have tight-sealing lids. In addition, you might want to consider:

• Using containers that hold the typical amount of beans you tend to cook at a time – for example, 1 pound or 2 pounds.
• Labeling your containers with the date you purchased the beans, so that you know how long they’ve been in your pantry.

Beans That Have Been Stored Longer Than A Year

Cooking and eating beans more than a year after purchase is perfectly safe, but they might require a longer cook time to become tender. Adding ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to each pound of beans while cooking can help make them softer.

Storing Cooked Beans in the Freezer

Feeling industrious? Double your favorite red beans & rice recipe, then enjoy with your family, and freeze the rest. You’ll thank yourself at a later date — when you don’t have the time or energy to cook. Another worthy idea is to cook dried beans in large batches, portion 2-cup increments along with some cooking liquid into small storage bags, and freeze. Then, when you need the equivalent of a can of beans for a recipe, just grab them from the freezer instead. Cooked beans in the freezer should last up to six months.