Shopping in my kitchen and a recipe that came from it

If you're going to get serious about grocery shopping, saving money, eating right, etc...it's going to take some planning. A good place to start is in your own kitchen. Don't you hate it when you open the fridge and think, "Of for the love of God, there's a fridge full of food and nothing to eat!" It's usually worse in the pantry. Cans of stuff and nothing to really eat. Time to think through step one. Inventory time. I've read a bit on the mom blogs and there is great advice out there on having a better grocery budget, but it's a little out of order in my mind. I think starting with an inventory of what you already have is the best place to start. A piece of notebook paper will work just fine, but if you want to print out something snazzier here's a link to Money Saving Mom's inventory worksheet. Your paper should have 3 columns: stuff you have, stuff you think you could make from it, stuff you need to make it happen. You can probably tell where I'm going with each column, but today it's just about seeing what you can do with what you have. First look in your freezer and write down what you have. Then do the same with the fridge and the pantry.

The go to column 2: meal ideas. See if any meal ideas come to you. Some might be really easy. Pasta, spaghetti sauce, broccoli on the side. Others might get more involved. Last weekend did a fridge and freezer inventory. I didn't even do the pantry shelves, because it was too overwhelming.

I realized I had tortillas, shredded cheese, and frozen ground turkey.I was thinking burritos or tacos could be in my near future.. As it turned out, there was a recipe on some blog that day for lunch bag burritos. After looking on the pantry shelves, I realized I had refried beans, but I didn't have enchelada sauce. No problem! Time to improvise! I had tomato sauce, cumin powder, and I had sriracha sauce. Bingo. I threw in some garlic for good measure and half an hour later I had a bunch foil wrapped burritos in my freezer! Here's the recipe. It will probably remind you a little of el cheapo frozen burritos, but I promise it will taste much better!

Photo rights attributed to http://www.flickr.com/photos/frozenfoodjournal/

Lunch Bag Burritos
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 can refried beens
1 cup shredded cheese
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 tbs cumin powder (basically it's taco seasoning. If you have a packet of taco seasoning, that would work too!)
1 tbs minced garlic (I really like garlic!)
2-3 or more tbs sriracha sauce
6-8 large flour tortillas

In a decent sized pot or pan, brown the meat. Pour off the grease when it's done. Then add everything else. If it's not spicy enough, add more sriracha sauce or another hot sauce of your fancy. Let it simmer about 15-20 minutes so all the flavors have a chance to get to know each other.

Meanwhile, get some paper towel and rip off pieces of aluminum foil about 10 inches long.

Scoop the burrito filling onto a tortilla and fold up the burrito. Make sure the filling is oozing out any corners. Wrap the burrito in a paper towel, then in a piece of aluminum foil. Then put them in the freezer. When you're running out the door in the morning, grab a burrito and throw it in your bag. Grab a piece of fruit while you're at it! At lunch time, take the foil off, but leave the paper towel. Microwave for 1:30-2 minutes. I haven't had any trouble with the paper towel sticking to my burrito. It helps keep them from drying out during microwaving. Yay for a way super easy lunch!

I can't find the original recipe online, but I know some lady wrote it for her church cookbook back in the 80s. If she ends up reading this, I'll totally give her credit for the recipe!