Frugal Freezer Burritos

I recently froze some homemade bean and cheese burritos after my sister mentioned this idea she saw on Pinterest. Since the refried beans were homemade and I got the tortillas on sale, I felt very frugal. I do make my own tortillas, but we had eaten all of the homemade tortillas the night I made the beans. Making tortillas is less expensive, but let's face it, it can be time consuming. A few days later, I froze some leftover breakfast burritos, and now I have come up with yet another frugal frozen burrito idea...

I used leftover bean soup to make more burritos! Ever notice how homemade soups and chilies thicken in the refrigerator? That consistency is perfect for spooning onto tortillas for burritos! 

Ingredients:

Flour tortillas
shredded cheese
leftovers (bean soup, chili, refried beans, scrambled eggs, meats, etc.)
hot sauce or salsa


Directions:

Spoon those thick, cold leftovers onto a tortilla, sprinkle with cheese and perhaps a little hot sauce, and wrap it up. I wrap each burrito in foil, and then I place several of the foil wrapped burritos into a plastic bag to prevent freezer burn. Label them with a permanent marker if there are more than one kind, and then throw 'em in the freezer.

Most flour tortillas are pliable enough to roll at room temperature, but you can heat them before wrapping if you are having trouble with them ripping. Since soups are moist and flavorful to begin with, they don't really need any hot sauce or salsa, but, in my opinion, the cheese is a must! You'll be surprised how many burritos you get out of that leftover soup that you were probably going to throw away. Sure, it was going to do some obligatory time in the fridge, but you were secretly hoping someone else would eat it. Even if you normally freeze leftover soups and chilies like I sometimes do, the burritos are much more convenient to pop into the oven on a busy day than a container of soup.

Since I have a large family, I heat several frozen burritos at a time in the oven which is one of the reasons I wrap mine in foil instead of  plastic. If someone wants to heat just one in the microwave, they can unwrap it and put it on a plate. Whatever your heating method, Melted cheese and flour tortillas will transform your leftover bean soup or other leftovers into flavorful burritos that only cost a few pennies to make!



bean burritos



School lunch idea: Sometimes I send a couple of heated, foil wrapped burritos in my teenage son's lunch so he can enjoy a hot, homemade meal at school. I put them in an insulated lunch box to keep them warm which works very well since they start out piping hot.


If you like frugal burritos, you might also be interested in my post about saving money by shopping at ethnic grocery stores.





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