With 3 starving TEENAGERS in my house (they are always hungry!), and trying to save money by buying fewer frozen foods, making burritos as a family and freezing them has become a MONEY SAVING snack in our home.
1. Make a huge bowl of meat, and add rice and beans to make it stretch.
2. Get the kids in the kitchen and give everyone a job. Make, roll, wrap.
3. Freeze.
Our bottom freezer is full of about 60 burritos. The kids know at any time that they can pop one in the microwave for ONE MINUTE and they have a healthy snack.
And their friends know, too.
Oh, and we also add cheese and sour cream!
What kind of money-saving snack do you prepare and freeze in advance for your family?
(Read more about rice and beans, here! Also, the meat mixture is just meat, beans, rice and seasoning! We don’t add salsa until after the burritos are reheated. If you add salsa before freezing, the burritos might become soggy. Reheat the burritos in the plastic wrap, or unwrap and rewrap in a paper towel in the microwave.)
Hi, I'm Sandy. Five years ago I stocked up on beautiful glasses from the Dollar Store. As I started writing about dinner parties, I realized that this “icon” portrays a great message. 
This is a great idea, we’re focusing on the packed lunches for me and my boyfriend here. I bought one of those huge blocks of cheese from Costco which is good value and also good strong cheddar. Then I grated it and froze it in tubs. We can just put that straight onto our sandwiches (saves a bit of time in the morning) and it can be put straight into a cheese sauce or whatever.
My main straight from the freezer snack is frozen homemade soup, which I make in batches and freeze in lunch sized tubs. They can be put straight in the microwave or taken to work.
I’ll have to try some frozen burritos or other filled wraps too.
Jade
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I make and freeze burritos too!!!
But I’ve learned to freeze lots of things to save time these days.
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I usally have muffins to grab and go in the freezer; however, with this posting, I’m definitely trying this out. Both of my teenagers love burritos.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful tip.
Peace.
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Love this idea, even though the kids are no longer at home, when they float in they always want something to eat. First thing they do is go to the refrigerator to see what is in it. I would love to have a wonderful snack ready made for them. They love burritos so this will be a bonus for them. Thanks for sharing.
Hugs,
Cindy
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As my kids grow I can see the need for something like this-something they can grab and run with. Right now our make ahead thing is muffins and other snack stuff. I usually bake these a few times a week instead of buying prepackaged things. So much healthier! (and cheaper!)
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this would be great! I don’t have a whole lot of room in my freezer, but I think this would be a hit. I would probably even add refried beans, because my youngest loves them!!!
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What a great idea!!
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that is an excellent Idea! I may have to start trying this for my husband to snack on while I am at work. (He can’t cook). The muffins are a good idea too! I would love more freezer snack ideas!
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This is a great ideas. I make several batches of burritos at one time and freeze ahead in a quantity that serves our family for a meal and some individuals for my husband’s lunches, too. I like to always have stuff in the freezer to pull out for crazy days. Right now we have about 7 dozen whole wheat buttermilk waffles in the freezer ready to go for easy breakfasts or snacks as we prepare for the arrival of our baby in a matter of days. I couldn’t resist when I found 1/2 gallons of buttermilk marked down to 39 cents. Also prepped are several lasagnas, pre-buttered garlic toast (from marked down Texas toast), pre-cooked ground beef and pre-cooked roasted turkey. Along with the meals we will get from our church family and my mom coming to help, I don’t think our household of 6 will go hungry.
And now it is time to stop since our freezer can hold no more.
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I love this idea. I like to make breakfast burritos I use sausage, southern hash browns, eggs, cheese and a little green chili, so good!
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We love cooking in batches and freezing for future meals/snacks! Muffins are one of our favorites too! We also make giant breakfast cookies, pancakes and our latest experiment was homemade frenchfries… haven’t thawed and tried them yet, we’ll see! …oh, speaking of freezing things – toss seedless grapes in a bowl and pop them in your freezer! They are a fun spin on snack time for my toddlers!
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I love this idea Sandy! I have two pounds of ground beef in the fridge just calling my name right now. Think I have tortillas too. Yay!
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Done! Sandy, as soon as I read your post I gathered up my family and we made the burritos. Of course, my teenage sons had plenty to eat in the process.
I had ground beef waiting to be cooked so the timing was perfect. Thanks!
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Sandy…I JUST did this for school lunches!
my daughter said they were too dry, though I added pineapple/tomato salsa when building the burrito. It’s worse when they are too soggy, but any tips there?
thanks! Deb
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and, i wrapped mine in parchment which we like better for microwaving at school.
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to answer your question:
I keep pre-mixed cinnamon/honey/ butter in a container for after-school hot toast.
Not super healthy, even though the toast is whole grain, but I don’t send added sugar foods to school. Something sweet is a real treat for downtime.
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Great idea. my hubby will love these
We save money by packing healthy lunches. but not a sandwich every day.. that gets a little borrin. leftovers jazzed up with peppers and cheese, soups, homemade breakfast parfait, etc. Not only does it save me money, but it makes my husband very happy when he knows I took time ot of my day to love him through a meal
~ Emily N. from “too Blessed to Stress”
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What a wonderful idea! Do you freeze them with the sour cream and cheese, or add those after heating them?
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What a great idea. I no longer have the kids at home, but that would be great to make and take to my son who is in college, and to keep some when husband and I are busy, to keep from eating out. We are making a greater effort to eat at home, and out less, even less than we have been. Do you add any seasonings to the filling? Jackie
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Why oh why didn’t I ever think of this?? Thank you.. we have two teens, but our house is where a lot of their friends “hang”… we go through sooo many frozen burritos and quesadillas… Thank you again!
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Just wondering if you could share the recipe for this wonderful idea and if you might have a breakfast burritos recipe also. This would be a big help in our household . Thanks
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Super idea! Love having things ready to go in the freezer. I almost always have muffins or sweet bread of some kind and some sandwiches my mother used to make. Ham, cheese, mustard mixed with butter and poppy seeds, enclosed in a hamburger bun. I wrap it in foil and toss it in the oven when we want them.
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I have a question, or two, similar to above question (from Deb Meyers)…
You wrapped them in plastic wrap (according to the pictures) – Do you unwrap them first before throwing them in the mic for one minute? Do you rewrap in wax or parchment paper, at all? How do prevent sogginess?
I think this is a great (frugal) idea – and maybe kids don’t care about sogginess… I have tried to do this before and couldn’t get past the soggy fact. However, what I had tried was to put leftover ‘fried’ chimichangas into the freezer for a later time… yeah… a little too soggy.
BUT, maybe it’s all to do with the way you reheat them?
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I’ll have to try this. Your blog looks interesting, and I’m going to subscribe. Plus, the title fits me perfectly. I’m 46 and am finally starting to get over kitchen jitters and entertaining/hosting other families over.
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I’ve totally done this!! They are SOOO much tastier than the store-bought processed junk. Great minds think alike!
I’m glad you found my blog and in turn I have found yours! I look forward to looking around more.
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Totally awesome idea! Glad you decided to share this with your readers.
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This is one of my favorite ways to stretch our budget. Our house seems to be the magnet for all 14-17 year old boys. Having a huge stack of individually wrapped burrtios in the freezer has saved me on more than one occasion. I also make *huge* batches of rice which all they have to do is heat up and put soy sauce or cheese on top. I’m telling you~~this is a teenage boy’s dream (or maybe one of them)
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Awesome idea! I have a teenage son and I have to make 3 PBJ’s each morning for him to eat with his lunch…otherwise he order THREE lunches! That’s over $8.00/day!! I’m gonna make these burritos tonight! Thank you!!! (can you freeze PBJ’s?)
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Question – how do you prevent hard tortillas? We did a bunch of breakfast burritos and froze them, and they were pretty good, but the ends / edges of the tortillas ended up very dry and hard after reheating. Did you have this problem? Any idea how to prevent?
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This is SUCH great idea. This will make packing lunch for my husband super easy!!
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Would love answers to everyone’s questions! I don’t want to waste time nor $ to get soggy food.
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