I love breakfast burritos. Really, I love pretty much anything wrapped up in a tortilla. What I don’t love though is washing a skillet and spatula every morning that I want to eat one of these for a breakfast-on-the-go. So, what is the easiest way to eliminate that daily grind of dish washing? Make them in bulk and freeze!

This is definitely not a new idea. I have seen variations all over the Internet, and I have made several batches myself, but I thought it would be interesting to see how cheap they really are when you look at the per-burrito price.

Timing this venture into freezer cooking allowed me to get several of the ingredients at very nice prices. For example, Meijer was running a big special with eggs for $0.88 for a large dozen, and I snagged a jar of salsa that was on clearance for $1. The cheese was 2 for $3, and Sav A Lot always prices tortillas at $0.99 for a package of 10. Obviously, your prices will vary, but it is not very difficult to find those types of deals if you are willing to look.

The whole process was really pretty simple, but it does take a little bit of planning to coordinate everything being ready at about the same time. Sure, I could have used canned black beans, but that would have made it more expensive. Besides, cooking beans is essentially all inactive time. Just get them going, and you can leave the kitchen for a couple hours. Aside from giving yourself plenty of time to cook the beans, the only other thing to really note about preparation is with scrambling the eggs. With a large quantity of eggs like that, it is necessary to stir them constantly to avoid sticking and burning.

These did end up freezing well, and I love being able to just grab one from the freezer and toss it in the microwave whenever I want a quick breakfast-on-the-go. In order to avoid a dripping mess later, you will want to pull out as much liquid from the mixture as possible. You can do this by slightly overcooking the eggs, and adding the salsa during the last few minutes of cooking.

Final Breakdown

So, in the end, I wound up with 45 burritos, each with roughly 291 calories and 12g of fat. While it is definitely not low fat/low cal, it is not all that bad of a breakfast if you only eat one, and pair it with a piece of fruit. Yes, these numbers could have been changed significantly by using just the egg whites, low fat cheese (or completely omitting it), and leaving out the chorizo, but I wasn’t going for low fat/low cal. this time around. Besides, some of those changes could have completely changed the taste, and these are fairly small, so the per-burrito totals were within an acceptable range for me.

This was the fun part. All together, I used less than $14 worth of ingredients, making each burrito cost only $0.30 each. I realize that I could have made them cheaper by making my own tortillas, but given that I was making 45, I didn’t want to spend all night in the kitchen, so I decided $0.10 per tortilla was a good trade for the time it would have cost me.

I should note that I did chop up two or three green onions and tossed them into the skillet before adding the eggs, and also dropped in a tablespoon of cumin. Both of these were things I already had on hand, and when divided by 45 servings, added an insignificant cost or calorie value, so I omitted them from the above tables.

Bulk Breakfast Burritos

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INGREDIENTS

• 45 flour tortillas (burrito size)
• 16 oz. shredded cheese (we used cheddar and hot pepper)
• 3/4 lb. dry black beans, cooked as directed
• 40 large eggs
• 12 oz. chorizo sausage
• 12-14 oz. salsa
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. ground cumin

METHOD

1. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the green onions, and cook in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Stir constantly! During the last couple minutes of cooking, add the salsa and cumin.

2. In a separate skillet, cook the chorizo, chopping with a wooden spoon to separate into small chunks.

3. Combine the egg mixture and black beans, and spoon about 1/3 – 1/2 cup onto each tortilla. Top with a small bit of the shredded cheese, and roll into burritos.

Note: I highly recommend warming the tortillas prior to rolling. I found that the method that worked best for me was to fill them, and then place in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. This softens the tortilla making it much easier to work with, and significantly less likely to break or tear.

4. After assembling the tortillas, place them on cookie sheets or in baking pans, and freeze. Once frozen, remove them from the pans and place in large ziploc bags. Alternately, you could place them in individual bags before freezing, but I find it wasteful to use that many sandwich bags. I simply re-used the tortilla bags after freezing them on the trays.

5. When ready to eat, place in the microwave for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes. You will have to play with the actual time, because microwave temperatures vary.