Burritos! A Staple in the Kilcoyne Home!

Burritos! One of the most economical meals also happens to be one of our family favorites and what’s not to love? They are easy to make, nutritous, and cheap eats!

We eat all kinds of burritos in our home, the combinations are endless! With 3 teenaged boys, 2 growing girls and a husband at home, burritos are excellent for quick, nutritious food. And when you make them in bulk, they can be frozen for up to four months in the freezer for an even quicker meal!

A Staple in our Home

Burritos are an staple for my large crew and part of my regular monthly menu plan. As long as I have the freezer space, I bulk make them for quick and easy meals. My teenaged boys love them as snacks and my husband takes them for work. There are four main types of burritos that I make for our family: breakfast burritos, bean and rice burritos (recipe below!), shredded chicken burritos and vegan burritos.

Burritos Ingredients

I purchase ingredients in bulk at our local Costco, sometimes I’ll prepare dried beans the night before, if I’m really being budget conscious.

Other ingredients for burritos include:

• rice
• refried beans
• cheese
• chicken, beef or pork
• salsa, hot sauce
• seasonings
• tofu
• veggies

You also need flour tortillas in burrito size.

How to make them them in bulk

In our home, we have a burrito assembly day where we bulk make burritos for the freezer. Then, all month long, we have quick snacks and meals available to us!

**A great base burrito will have refried beans because the beans serve as a “glue” for the rest of the ingredients.

1. Lay out a pan to place your burritos on and assemble packaging supplies. We use ziploc freezer bags and a sharpie to label each bag for the freezer. I’ve also individually wrapped them before in foil for on–the-go meals, this way they can go directly from the freezer to the oven and staright in a thermal bag if needed. But I only do this if I know we will have early morning outings.
2. Cook all of your ingredients ahead of time- beans, rice, tofu and meats should be cooked, mashed/shredded and placed in seperate bowls to make your ‘assembly line” of ingredients.
3. All veggies should be chopped and ready to go if you have not cooked them with your other ingredients.
4. Stack your flour tortillas at the beginning of your assembling line.

Once you have everything prepared, it’s time to get comfortable and assemble burritos! I usually ask a teenager to help and we get it done in no time. After the burritos are assembled, we package them and load them into our freezer.

Here’s a basic bulk recipe to get started:

Bean and rice burritos ingredients:

2 lbs of cooked beans (we like black and pinto)

1 pound refried beans

4 cups rice

1 cup salsa

about 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning, more if you like it spicy

1 can of green chiles

shredded cheese

flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients well into a large bowl.
2. Spoon mixture onto the center of the tortilla
3. Top with cheese
4. Roll burrito and repeat until all burritos are made.
5. Package and label your burritos and freeze.
6. Enjoy!

**NOTE- this recipe makes ALOT of burritos. You can also add shredded chicken, beef or pork. When i am making the vegan ones, I love to add greens like kale or spinach!

You can also assemble your burritos on a tray, place in the freezer and freeze till firm, pull out and transfer to ziploc gallon freezer bags, label, and return to freezer. I just put them in the bags asfter assembly and freeze without issues.

To use your burritos:

When we want to use them, we pull out how ever many we need, place them on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until heated through. Note- you CAN heat them in the microwave, but we don’t like them that way. We like them with a crisper outside, so we bake them. You can also slightly thaw them and cook them on the skillet in little oil if you like them that way.

We serve them with sour cream and more salsa to “dip” them in, but they are just fine on their own. Your can also throw them in a baking pan and cover them in enchilada sauce for quick enchiladas!

Enjoy and tell me- what’s your favorite kind of burrito?