Friday Finds: A Baker's Dozen

My stay lapsed into the lunch hour while visiting my dear friend Laura this Friday, and I was so delighted with the lunch that she served, that I couldn't help but take her idea, make it myself, and then post about it here. (She doesn't blog, so I don't think she would mind me blabbing blogging about it...)

On the menu: Homemade black bean burritos with rice...fresh out of the freezer! She figured that she and her hubby were losing a lot of cash when they snacked on the store-bought organic frozen burritos, so she decided to just make some herself and freeze them! Genius! Delicious, easy, and CHEAP! I just made my batch today and ended up with 13 burritos which will be great for lunches at work. The whole process took a while, but the time it will save me in packing and preparing lunch will be worth the time it took today.

It didn't occur to me to blog about this until I had them in the baggies ready to freeze so that's the only picture I have to share, but here's what I did...

• 1 c. dried black beans (I made from scratch with garlic powder, cumin, salt, and chicken bouillon, but you could cut corners and used canned beans too...I added a small can of green chiles near the end)
• 1 c. uncooked rice (I added cilantro and lemon juice after it was cooked; no lime on hand, boo.)
• 1/2 red pepper and 1 small onion, diced and sauteed
• grated cheddar and pepper-jack cheese
• salsa
• tortillas

I cooked the beans and rice earlier in the day and didn't get to making the burritos until right after Karamea went to bed, which worked out great! I think it simplified the process having the ingredients cooled for assembly. 

 

I'm so glad that Laura shared her cost-effective, time-saving meal idea with me and it makes me curious; how do you cut corners on food costs and prep time?