Homemade "Rice a Roni"

My fellers love Rice a Roni but seriously I cannot see paying over a dollar a box for one cup of rice stuff and flavoring.  So what do I do?  I make my own and it's only costing me about 0.32¢ a "box", I don't factor in the cost of butter or oil and water, we are just comparing what comes in the box to what I pay for the individual items.  I'd also like to note, if at all possible buy your items in bulk, this will make the total cost cheaper.  The only thing I've not been able to buy in bulk would be the orzo pasta.  Only buy the items in bulk if you know you and your family can use them before they go bad on you, if you aren't sure, buy smaller amounts and test it out.  I know in our house we use these items up so there is no waste.  This will make a large amount(15 cups/"boxes") so make sure you have a big container to store it in.  I'm all about re-purposing/up-cycling when at all possible so I've found that one of those one gallon ice cream tubs makes a perfect fit.
My current prices are as follow: Last time I checked I think Rice a Roni was going for 1.29 a box.  So...15 boxes of Rice a Roni is gonna come out to $19.35.  20 pound bag of  rice $8.59 at Sam's Club, 2.2 pounds of bouillon for $4.98 at Kroger's, and 16 oz of orzo for $1.29 at Kroger's.  Total price for all these would be $14.86, already saving $4.49 and plenty more rice and broth to use for other things, but lets delve deeper  and get a side by side comparison.  There is about 48.25 cups of rice in a 20 pound bag we are only using 12 so that makes our rice price $2.27.  In the bouillon there are about 83.3 Tbs, we will use 15 of those which makes our bouillon price 0.89¢.  Then there is the $1.29 for the orzo pasta.  Making our grand total for 15 boxes $4.90!! I'm totally digging the nearly 75% savings!

You will need:

12 cups rice plus a partial cup*
16 oz box of orzo pasta
15 Tbs of granular bouillon(I just keep it in the container until I'm ready to make it)




In a large bowl or dish measure out 12 cups of rice. I've only ever used the parboiled rice for this recipe and not sure how other rice will do.  Then measure out 2 cups of orzo and add that to the rice.  *There will be a bit of orzo left over put that into the measuring cup then top it off with rice to make it an even 1 cup, this way you will have an even amount of "Rice a Roni" instead of having a tad bit left over to try and guess work how much more water and seasoning to add to your last batch and so you don't have a bit left over and are fully rotating the whole batch.

Mix, mix, mix! Just dive right in with both hand and mix till its all nice and evenly blended.  Pour into your container and you're all set.  I added directions right to the top of the container which makes it easier for us and so we don't have to hunt down the directions.

Directions:

1 cup rice mix
2 Tbs butter or 1 Tbs oil
1 Tbs granular bouillon
2⅔ cup water**

(Microwave)
Put the rice mix into a microwave safe dish.  Hard plastic dish is best, if its a soft plastic it could melt. I wouldn't use a glass dish, learned the hard way when I added water to something I was cooking in a glass dish years and years ago.  Next add your butter or oil and microwave for 1 minute, stir and microwave 1 more minute.  Then add your bouillon and water stir and cover, if you don't have a cover for the dish just use plastic wrap and poke a hole into it for ventilation.  Return to the microwave 19-20 minutes and depending on the wattage of your microwave.  My microwave is 1100 watts and the timing is perfect.

(Stove-top)
 First get all your ingredients ready before hand.  **Reduce the amount of water you need to 2¼ cups.  Melt and heat butter or oil a bit and add the rice mix to a pot or saucepan.  Brown the rice and keep stirring to make sure it doesn't start to burn, once its brown enough to your liking add the water and bouillon.  This is why you want to have your water ready just in case you need to quickly bring the temperature of the pot down so you don't burn the rice mix.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for 17-22 mins or till the rice is tender.


I hope you enjoy both this recipe and saving some money!