Simple, Cheap Meal Prepping

[sky]

I have found a way to have food on hand at all times which is easy to prepare and which fits my idea of healthy, cheap food.

Frozen Mini-Burritos

Mix the following cooked items to make a filling:
pinto beans
mashed potatoes
sweet corn
hot salsa
shredded cheese

Roll the filling in tortillas to make mini-burritos.
Lay the burritos on a tray and put in freezer for 4 to 8 hours.
Put the frozen burritos in a plastic bin, store in the freezer.
When hungry, take two or three burritos and heat in microwave.
Let stand 5 minutes until hot lava is cooled down a bit.
These burritos are far better than store-bought frozen burritos and probably cheaper.

Why this is a good method:
Two hours of work makes about 12 - 15 meals.
You can easily portion your meal by taking 2, 3 or 4 burritos.
This combination of ingredients makes me feel good after eating.
It fits my belief of what is healthy food (you should choose your own preferred ingredients).
It only takes 10 minutes to prepare a meal, with very little effort.
The only waste packaging is the original packaging of the ingredients, a cheese bag, a salsa bottle, a corn can and bags of potatoes and beans.
It is cheap to make.
It is very satisfying to eat.
I look forward to eating burritos and prefer them to restaurant food.
It is a healthy convenience food.
When I don't have time or energy to cook, I have an easy to prepare meal on hand.
I don't mind eating it for any or all meals in a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner.
There is minimal clean up after cooking and eating.

Here are details on how I make it and some hints. You should choose your favorite ingredients!

1-1/2 cup dry pinto beans:
Soak overnight.
Rinse and add 4 cups water.
Add 1 Tbs taco seasoning (mix your own from bulk food store, recipes on the net).
Pressure cook 10 minutes.
Drain and salt to taste.

3 to 4 medium potatoes, peeled.
Simmer in water about 20 minutes.
Mash.
Possibly could be cooked together with beans (I haven't tried this)

1 can of sweet corn, drained.

1 bottle of hot salsa, drained.

1 bag of shredded cheese.

A few squirts of hot sauce.

Mix together to make a filling.

40 tortillas, regular size. It would be good to have some extra.

Fill each tortilla with just under 1/4 cup of filling and fold like a burrito, fold the bottom up 2/3rds of the way, fold the sides over, flip over while folding the top over. Don't overfill with filling, this causes a number of problems.

Set burritos on a tray and freeze them.

When frozen put in a plastic box, store in freezer.

Microwave 3 burritos for 4 minutes, then let stand for 5 minutes.

A microwave tray with raised ribs works well.

What is your favorite simple, cheap meal prepping recipe?

[daylen]

One thing I will do is cook enough pinto or red beans to last about a week, and use them for two or three different sub-preparations during the week. The sub-preparations will contain..

1. flax seeds, rice, pasta, or lentils
2. ground beef, pork sausage, eggs, cheese, or chicken (sometimes a combo)
3. something green (broccoli, frozen spinach, and green beans are common)
4. sometimes other vegetables like tomatoes, corn, carrots, etc.
5. something with a kick (hot peppers, onions, garlic, and ginger are common)
6. spices

Meals are usually unique, and I never use a recipe or measure anything. Beans are cooked in a pressure cooker once a week. Sub-preparations are done 2-3 times a week. This is just a general routine and fluctuates quite a bit, but I find that it is moderately efficient while also allowing me to expand my skill set. I probably go to the store once every two weeks on average (give or take a week).

[horsewoman]

Thank you for that! I've just this moment put a large batch of soaked beans in the pressure cooker so this is very timely.

Usually I freeze all of the cooked beans in smaller portions so that I can add them to meals while cooking.
But this burrito recipe would be perfect for my kids school lunches, I'll give it a try!

[EdithKeeler]

I do something similar for breakfast burritos: whole wheat tortillas, scrambled eggs, fill with a lot of sautéed veggies (usually stuff I need to use up in the fridge—onions, peppers, zucchini, squash, etc....), cheese, bacon or sausage if you like. Roll up, and wrap mine in foil and then put on a large ziplock bag. Easy to grab and nuke when I get to the office.