Dear reader, I tackled a horrible job this last week, I cleaned our pantry. As the main cook, grocery shopper, and bottle washer, I like to stock my house with basic food items that can be turned into many dishes. Typically, this works out well as I can shop from my freezer and pantry, but it does have a dark side. Just between you and me I don’t think I ever mastered object constancy. That is the psychological milestone that most toddlers obtain at around age 2 when then realizes that something that is no longer in their sightline still exists. I’m more of a “out of sight, out of mind,” kind of guy. To compensate for this shortcoming I tend to be very organized in both my life and in my pantry. However, not everyone in my family follows this rule, and my highly organized pantry de-evolves into a “If there is an open spot that is where I’ll put this” scenario.

Once or twice a year, I have had enough, and I’ll take everything out of that space and sort the items into their proper spots. To be honest, I hate that job, so I usually do it over a week. One day for each of the five shelves and the floor. That week was last week.

I discovered we had 5 sealed packages of craisins. When I went grocery shopping, I bought a package because I had forgotten I’d bought one a few weeks earlier. I did that 5 times over several months. My wife wasn’t pleased, but what was I supposed to do?

However, when I clean the pantry out I also find useful things too, and so it was last week. I found a bunch of partially used bags of dried beans of all different sorts, often located on different shelves of the pantry. We are trying to eat at least one legume heavy dinner a week, so this was a real find. I had been looking for small red beans and couldn’t find them at our grocer, but I found both opened and unopened bags of said beans on my pantry purge. I decided to put one of the open bags to use for yesterdays dinner and made a “whatever” chili.

You may ask what a “whatever chili is.” Perhaps you think it is some award-winning cook-off delicacy or an heirloom dish passed down from my ancestors. Well, of course it isn’t. It is a pot of chili that I make from whatever I can hunt up from around the house. It is a moveable feast that will vary from creation to creation, but there are some basic rules. For instance, you can’t make chili if you don’t have some sort of chili powder and cumin.

I thought this would be a good exercise for those of you tackling cooking from scratch for the first time. It is impossible to screw up chili, although over time your ability to fudge a recipe will continue to improve. You can find my ingredients in the illustrative photos below, so let’s get started.

These are some of the ingredients that I dug up. I added a few more as I went. Some critical ones are the tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Personally, I think the beans are critical too, but you can leave them out if you hate beans. Canned beans are cheap, but dry beans are often 4 times cheaper and better tasting, too. Since this is only a small batch I’m using the equivalent of 1 can of beans. I cooked 4 ounces of small red dry beans in a pressure cooker the day before in some salted water for about 35 minutes. I probably could have gone around 30 minutes for firmer beans, but I like them super soft. When storing beans pack with with some of the bean juice. I only made enough for the chili, but savvy folks will turn a pound of dry beans into the equivalent of 4, 15 ounce cans of beans. Many dry beans are around a buck, which is roughly the cost of one can of beans. You are getting a better product for 25% of the price. Savvy cooks will freeze the beans in 4 portions (making sure to add some bean juice) for future meals. If you are using rehydrated beans in the next few days store them with some bean juice in the fridge. In a pinch you can use dehydrated onion and garlic. both are cheap spice cabinet staples.

I mixed up some spices. This is a small batch, so I use 1 T chili powder (mild in my case), 1 t Cumin, 1 t salt, and 1/4 t black pepper. These are must-haves. I also added 1 heaping t garlic powder, 1 scant t sugar, 1 t smoked paprika, 1 t cocoa (which adds richness without chocolate flavor), and a tiny 1/4 t liquid smoke. All of those are optional, but add a certain somethin-somethin. Buy your spices gradually. Cheap places to buy spices include ethnic grocery stores, Aldi, and Walmart (Great Value brand).

I’m using 1 pound of ground meat that I froze in a vacuum-sealed bag months ago. I freeze hamburger as a flat card because it stores more compactly, and it can thaw on the counter in just a few hours (or less). I buy meat in bulk (on sale) divide it up and vacuum seal it. I have used meat that was frozen two years before with excellent results using this method.

I turned my electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot clone) to sauté and browned the hamburger. The cooker that I’m using doesn’t have a sauté button, so I used one of the pressure-cook programs and left the lid open. It did the same thing. Get to know your equipment; you can often coax it into doing things once you know how it works.

I then added a chopped up onion and garlic. Why a red onion? Because that is what I had. I’m pretty lazy about mincing garlic, so I often use jarlic. In this case, one heaping spoonful. I kept cooking and stirred occasionally until the onion looked a bit translucent. As far as the onion is concerned, I used an entire one, but some may prefer 1/2 of an onion. You do you. Can you eliminate the jarlic? Sure, but I think it is a necessary ingredient. In a pinch and you don’t have any garlic? Just use more powdered garlic. In fact, you can use dehydrated onion too if you are desperate. Naturally, you would add these with the spices. Oh, if you have a sweet pepper, that is a good addition. And for the “heat” lovers a chopped up hot pepper (avoid the seeds) may be just what the doctor ordered.

I added a little salt and pepper to the meat mixture.

In goes roughly 2 cups of beef broth. I’m using my usual Better-Than-Bouillon. This is super useful stuff to have around. If I didn’t have beef, I’d use chicken or even vegetable broth. Could I have used water? Sure, but the resulting dish would not be as rich. You could also use bouillon cubes or boxed broth.

Now, a large can of crushed tomatoes, puree, and all. Don’t have a large can? Use a small can. Don’t have crushed tomatoes, use whatever tomato product you have on hand. Heck, you can even use a can of condensed tomato soup. In many formal chili recipes a combination of tomato sauce and diced/crushed tomatoes are used. I guess I’m going a bit rogue.

I found this can of corn in the pantry. I drained it and added it. Naturally, the corn is optional. Could you use frozen corn? Why not!

In go the small red beans that I cooked and refrigerated the day before. Since these are homemade, I added the bean juice. If these were canned beans, I would have drained and rinsed them before adding. This is the equivalent of 1, 15-oz can. If I needed to stretch the meal, I could have added the equivalent of two cans of beans. Traditionally, chili uses Kidney Beans, but you can use any bean that you have. Never try to cook dry kidney beans in a slow cooker. The temperature doesn’t get hot enough to deactivate its toxins. However, normal cooking and pressure cooking does. Don’t freak out about kidney beans, once cooked they are a powerhouse of fiber, protein, and minerals.

I always wipe down the edge of the inner pot to ensure a good seal.

I closed the lid on my pressure cooker and made sure that the pressure regulator was in the sealing position. I set my timer to 19 minutes (ignore the 9 minutes in the photo). You could use any time from 15-20 minutes depending on how hungry you are. After the time was up I let the contents sit for around 15 minutes. This will prevent spraying when you open the regulator valve. Then I opened the regulator valve and made sure the float pin was down before I opened the lid. Always follow your manufacturers safety instructions.

I check for seasoning at the end. This batch needed more salt, a bit more garlic powder, and some tomato paste to boost the tomato flavor. After these additions, I deemed the chili delicious.

Here it is with some cheese and oyster crackers, plus some of my homemade bread. Cornbread is a nice addition. Those little boxes of Jiffy Mix are cheap and easy to make. Additional toppings could include diced onions and sour cream.

Inflation will not come down as long as tariffs and the war in Iran continue. Cooking from scratch is one concrete way to stretch your budget. The above recipe is simple, cheap, very flexible, and can be stretched. Yet, it is filling and delicious. I hope my commentary encourages you to start cooking. The more you do it the easier. it become.

I love one-pot meals (I’m a lazy guy) for so many reasons, and using an electric pressure cooker makes everything faster and easier. You don’t have to spend $100-$300 for a new one. I’m in the process of writing an extensive post on electric pressure cookers and I’m picking up ones at thrift stores for as little as $4.99. This one was around $12, and was likely used only a few times before it was given away.

Enjoy your day… and as aways, Peace.

Mike