Burittos and sloppy Joes....every cooks "day off" entre.....
By coffeebreak
@coffeebreak (17797)
United States
June 3, 2012 7:33pm CST
I have been doing this for years..when the kids were home. Now, no kids and just me and husband.. I don't do it often, but when I do.. it lasts and I think "why am I not doing this more often?"
I make a big batch of burger meat ground up... I use 80%/20%. Anything less is dry and tasteless and anything more is to greasy.
But I can also use left over steak or tri-tip.
Anyway, I cook up the meat, cut it in half, flavor half with Taco seasoning and then take a package of 10 flour tortillas and add some cheese and roll t make burittos. I roll them in saran wrap and put them in a gallon size ziplock baggie and into the freezer they go! TO eat... take one out (great for snack too!) unwrap the saran wrap, roll the frozen buritto in a napkin and depending on your nukers temp and how large the buritto is.. I nuke it for 1 minute, 15 seconds. Instantly hot and ready to eat and NO MESS!!!!! You can add chopped onions or anything else you like to the meat. But what a great quick and easy way to make a healthy dinner or snack!
I also use half the meat (I usually fry up about 3 lbs) and make Sloppy Joe meat. Put serving for 4 in a ziploc baggie and freeze. Why the ziploc? Cause if you put the mixture in there and then flatten it out the length of the baggie to get the air out you don't have freezer burn issues and then the meat thaws very quickly as it is a thin layer! So... 4 servings is one per family of four, or 4 meals for one! Quick and easy and healthy!
Just had to mention that.. did it this weekend, and I love burittos so I have had 2 already and really like sloppy joes, so I have had 2 of them! I dont' have a problem eating the same thing 2-3 meals in a row...sometimes I just get tired of always making full meals and always something different. and I just want a break of something new, and NO dishes, NO mess and quick so I can go back to what I was doing. Or eat fast and then get going!
So I just thought I"d share this with you all... and maybe help someone out with something quick, easy and different. These are both also great snacks for after school snacks for when the kids are home alone and you don't want them to touch the oven/stove but still want them to have something hot and healthy!
6 responses
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
4 Jun 12
My make it in advance and dump it in the freezer comfort food is turkey (or chicken) noodle casserole. I put the partially filled ziplock bags in shallow baking dishes so that they freeze in the shape of the dish and then take the dishes and stack the frozen meals. When I need one I just take it out of the bag and it fits right back into the dish. Since they are shallow, they reheat fast (10 minutes in my infrared counter top oven with no preheating) I do this will scalloped potatoes, too.
1 person likes this
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
5 Jun 12
What is a brillo pad? Just kidding, I have heard of them but do not keep any in the house. Well, I saute and bake in Todd English green pans and never scour anything. Somebody on eBay sold a set with 2 sauce pans, 2 fry pans, 3 saute pans, and all the covers for $75...what a deal! Some reviewers online said they had gotten food to stick on them and even discolored them, but nothing like that has happened to me...yet. Once I forgot and left the burner on while talking on the phone for some time and the inside of one pan was completely black, but it all came off fine with no scouring.
We must use different techniques for freezing the turkey, because mine comes out great. I would not try to freeze turkey lunch meat, nor would I freeze plain pasta. But the prebaked casserole comes out of the freezer even better than it went in, and I can heat it up in 10 minutes with no dishes to wash whereas the baked casserole from scratch would take me almost an hour, even in my infrared oven, and with a mess to clean up besides. Say, maybe the reason they freeze so well is because they were baked with different technology. My home doesn't even have a regular oven.
I am curious, though, have you ever tried to freeze a tamale pie? This I have not tried to freeze yet and am wondering how you think it would come out.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17797)
• United States
5 Jun 12
I have not had any luck freezing cooked chicken or turkey. Even frozen turkey lunch meat is disgusting and flavorless. And noodles or any pasta..again.. no luck freezing. So I just make the sauce and then boil the noodles as needed. One pot to wash that had nearly nothing but water in it...I'll take that over scowering with a brillo pad anyday!
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17797)
• United States
6 Jun 12
Never even made a tamale pie before! Not even sure what's in it! I have made home made chicken pot pies tho... they are great...but have not frozen them. I freeze the pie crusts and then used frozen veges and chopped chicken and a can gravey. Still quick,easy and healthy.
@justcrafttalk (108)
• United States
5 Jun 12
Great idea!
I simply love "bulk" cooking
the kids in my house are grown now,too but that freezer still works great for me and my husband!
nothing like a little homemade tv dinner!
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17797)
• United States
6 Jun 12
Yeah, it used to be good "bulk" cooking when the kids were home as I was also a full time working mother...both of the household and an office! So bulk cooking was a must. Now, just me and my husband...I dont even like to cook for just two. So bulk is the way to go so I don't have to clean the mess and cook all the time!!! Guess it's good for the young and old, working, not working, kids or no kids!
@peavey (16936)
• United States
4 Jun 12
I don't do it exactly like that, but I usually make extra taco meat and freeze it for later. If I just freeze the meat, I can make tacos or taco salad or even taco soup from it. I also make bigger roasts than I will eat in a couple of days and slice and freeze it. I usually make gravy with it, so I have frozen sliced roast with gravy over it. I put it in small bags and stand them upright until they're frozen, then put them all in a ziplock.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17797)
• United States
5 Jun 12
I've done taco meat too.. and speghett sauce. Just enough meat for 4 servings or 4 tacos. Works great. I have not done frozen gravey...but then again my home made gravey isn't very good so I just pop a can open! Having the meat ready for any meal cuts the prep time in half and the mess clean up time too!
@trinale (1479)
• United States
4 Jun 12
That is some great advice for the single guy who often comes home from work and don't feel like cooking Coffeebreak! You should seriously consider throwing together an ebook of more of these quickie recipes. I'll be first in line to purchase!
Cheers,
Stan
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17797)
• United States
5 Jun 12
Thanks for the encouragement. I put it in my blog but never got any comments about it so I never thought anyone cared to much about it! I am glad you like ti...read some of my responses here and there are a few more things you can do to make quick healthy meals. Spend on saturday cooking for the entire week or longer! I make 24 of the burittos at a time! I also make breakfast sandwiches...biscuit, cheese, salsa and a sausage patty. They are better than any fast food ones! But my problem with those... I literally could eat them all day long! I love them best! I made 20 at a time as t here are 10 biscuits in a tube (pop open) and 10 patties of sausage in a 1lb roll. Quick and easy! Glad to know you will be eating healthy and quick from now on!!!!!LOL!!!
@happythoughts (4109)
• United States
4 Jun 12
We do that here too. I love to make freezer meals. There are some days when I am in the mood to cook and I can spend some time on it. Its so worth it to us when I spend those days and fill our freezer with easy and cheap meals. Its nice to be able to buy things in bulk and spend less on the foods we are going to eat anyway. We have burritos in our freezer right now.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17797)
• United States
5 Jun 12
Nothing like healthy homemade "tv dinners"!!! I did try that once...got those plastic containers with compartments and put things in each space..but..to much air in there makes freezer burn so I didn't do that anymore! But a buritto and some chips...or a salad..sounds good to me! And it doesn't take that long a time to make it all up at once like it does to do it every night! Good grief.. one mess for the entire week? I can deal with that!!!!!
@psychoartist (756)
• United States
4 Jun 12
ooh, thanks coffeebreak! i like this idea with the burrittos! love burrittos and now we have moved to an area where there are no mexican/spanish food restaurants like before when we lived in florida! i think quick, easy, and healthy is definitely the ticket!
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17797)
• United States
5 Jun 12
I started doing it cause it was a quick and easy healthy snack for my kids after school. Then it went to dinners and now..like you.. i live where there is no good mexican resturants so this is my mexi fix! I love tacos and enchilladas too but other than the meat for the tacos, I can't do those "ahead" of time. But give it a try! Also good for using up left over meat. I started out buying a huge rump roast. cooked it in my electric skillet until rare...slice it enough for 2 meals (one that night one to freeze for next week) and then the rest, I'd grind in my food processor and make buritto meat. For the tacos I use hamburger and also for chili. BUt I made some burittos this week using left over tri-tip. Tri-tip is good on its own, but it wasn't that "beefy" tasting as buritto meat. Just didn't seem to mix the flavors together. So... burger meat or rump roast are the best in my book
