A frugal recipe, especially for poor students

Frugal eating!

Especially good for students with limited time, money, and equipment

Burritos with potatoes

I got the idea for this from a McDonald’s free offer a while back. McDonald’s offered a free breakfast burrito with purchase of a medium drink. So my dear husband and I stopped by en route to work and ordered a medium coffee. The woman in front of us ordered a medium drink and was offered the burrito by the nice cashier. The customer said no thanks…and I moved in for the kill. She was so happy to give me her burrito!

I love burritos with potatoes, preferably home-fry type. But there’s nothing more tedious than peeling potatoes (hate it!), cutting them (hate it!), and frying them (takes a long time). It’s even worse if you’re cooking in a tiny college cooking facility. The room gets smoky …etc.

You can buy a bag of home-fried potatoes in the frozen section at most grocery stores. I got mine at Dollar Tree (two pounds for $1) but they should be relatively cheap at any grocery chain. I also had a tube of frozen breakfast sausage (which I got for $1 on sale) and eggs.

This is a very high fat recipe—only suitable for active college students ON RARE occasions. It is a sub for fast food, not for vegetables!

There really aren’t any particular things you need to do; this recipe is nearly fool-proof! Throw the potatoes in a pan with some of the sausage. Break up the sausage into pieces and cook the two together. Once the potatoes and sausage are browned to your satisfaction, break the eggs into the pan and cook up with sausage fat. Lastly, wrap it in a flour tortilla (the Mi Casa brand tortillas at the dreaded Wal-Mart are actually quite good and cheap) and serve. Your portion size can vary: I’d probably only use one egg and a small bit of sausage but my hungry son can easily eat a two egg burrito. A general rule of thumb is that one egg makes enough filling for one tortilla.

This is really a no-stress recipe so have fun with it! Some variations you can try: throw in some beans, black, kidney, or pinto (if you use a can of beans, make sure to drain them). If you want to make the recipe a little healthier you could substitute mashed up beans for the sausage or for the eggs.

Oh! This is critical: don’t forget the salsa! Salsa is a rip-off, by the way. Try a can of diced tomatoes and chilies—the brand that’s cheapest in my area is Rotel but any generic equivalent will do—in lieu of salsa.

Even if you shop at the dreaded Wal-Mart at their regular prices, you can feed a bunch of people two burritos apiece for under $1 each. Maybe even three each if you’re the hungry college type like my dear son.

Bon appetit!