Penny Pinching Parent: PPP Picks: Itty Bitty Budget- Beef & Bean Burritos

I hope you enjoyed last week's first Itty Bitty Budget recipe from one of my favorite sites, Itty Bitty Bistro. If you missed it, be sure to check it out... in fact, be sure and check out the whole site while you are over there and add it to your list of weekly reads!

I am really excited to help bring this new series to Penny Pinching Parent readers. I know most of us out there want to feed our children healthy and nutritous meals, which can often be a challenge on a "itty bitty" budget. I know personally, there are times when I feel like I am in a rut cooking the same old things because they are healthy and nutitiuous, but also because they are quick and easy... so I am so glad to get to try out some new budget friendly ideas.

Here's a look at this week's latest Itty Bitty Budget creation from Kara at Itty Bitty Bistro...

Beef & Bean Burritos

This week in our Itty Bitty Budget series, we're making beef & bean burritos! Ground beef is one of the cheapest red meats out there, and you can stretch that dollar even further by cutting the beef with beans (a mere $0.89 a can - less if you make your own from dried beans). As a bonus, the beans add fiber and protein without additional fat! Using Ro-Tel tomatoes gives your burritos some heat and seasoning without having to take the time to dice up jalapenos and onions yourself – less to buy, less to prep, and Ro-Tel routinely goes on sale for $1 at my grocery store.

I made my own tortillas, which brought the cost of this dinner way down. From-scratch baking is a great way to cut down on costs, if you have the time. I almost always make my own bread, tortillas, dinner rolls, and hamburger rolls – they taste fabulous, and I know they are HFCS-free if I made them myself.

So what was the cost?

This recipe made 8 burritos, which fed my family for two nights (well, more than that, because my kids barely eat enough to keep a bird alive – but we’ll say this would feed the average family of 4):

1 lb ground beef - $1.99 (I stock up whenever ground beef hits $1.99/lb or less)

1 15-oz can Goya black beans - $0.89

1 can Ro-Tel - $1 (sale price)

1 bag Kraft shredded cheese - $2.00 (sale price)½ cup brown rice - $0.182 cups flour (for tortillas) - $0.50

Total $6.56, or $3.28 a night!

For the full recipe, visit Itty Bitty Bistro!

A big thank you again to Kara and Celeste over at Itty Bitty Bistro for sharing this week's new recipe and helping us moms on a budget feed our families some great new options!

P.S. They have the recipe for making your own whole wheat tortillas on Itty Bitty Bistro... I am really looking forward to making those to go with this!