Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don’t need multiple salsas. You don’t need $7-9 in guacamole, when Wholly brand or a few avocados will do.

Rice is a staple bought in 5-12lb bags. Beans are purchase when they are on sale for $.30-.50 per can. Chicken and steak should be bought in Value packs of 3-6lbs and you should have made plenty to have leftovers for burritos, salads, etc. another day. If you bought the meat at Whole Foods, that probably cost you 2x of a value pack at Harris Teeter or Giant.

Cooking at home is cheap when you -
1. Buy staples in bulk.
2. Cook with 1-3 common flavor profiles so you already have spices and vinegars / oils on hand. Not spices you buy for 1 recipe and then never use again.
3. You meal plan an integrated menu for the week that shares ingredients and preparation steps.

At some point you have to ask yourself whether the point is to recreate a fast casual burrito bowl or to spend as little money and effort as possible creating something that almost resembles a fast casual burrito bowl.

I don't think anyone is saying it's impossible to mix a seasoning packet into some ground beef and beans then slop on jarred salsa and guac for a couple bucks a person, families have been doing white people tacos on the cheap for generations. OP's point is that trying to make something of similar quality to Chipotle doesn't really save you any money.

[Anonymous]

Beans for .30 a can on sale? I am a very thrifty shopper and I have not paid anything less than .80 on sale for many years. Where can I get those prices? Genuinely curious!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a related note I made fish tacos yesterday and paid $58 at Whole Foods to create 5 tacos.

Not tacos for 5, five tacos. Granted $11 of that was for charcoal but even $47 for 5 tacos is absurd.

At Lidl that might have cost $10. It matters where one shops.

I'm sure you could probably make "fish tacos" for $10 at Lidl but I'd rather pay $10 a taco for decent grilled fish than eat whatever fish stick on a tortilla abomination you'd make from Lidl for free.

DP

It’s ok if you’re not a savvy shopper. “A fool and his money are soon parted…”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a related note I made fish tacos yesterday and paid $58 at Whole Foods to create 5 tacos.

Not tacos for 5, five tacos. Granted $11 of that was for charcoal but even $47 for 5 tacos is absurd.

At Lidl that might have cost $10. It matters where one shops.

I'm sure you could probably make "fish tacos" for $10 at Lidl but I'd rather pay $10 a taco for decent grilled fish than eat whatever fish stick on a tortilla abomination you'd make from Lidl for free.

Right? I love how all the cheaper dupes remove all the meat choices and/or use street vendor meat, all the salsas, don't bother with limes or cilantro, etc. What American family wants to eat such crap for dinner? Sounds worse than the grub on a Boy Scout camping trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Dr of Dietetics. Your version had a lot less sodium, so I call that a win.

Chipotle and places like it like to disguise their food as healthy alternatives, but their options often include more sodium than Big Macs.

-signed a big hater of Chipotle, Panera, and Cava

Let's leave my Cava out of this list.

Cava is nasty!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids love Chipotle so I figured I could easily whip up burrito bowls last night. Family of 4. Steak and chicken. Whole Foods guac. Good salsas. Corn. Rice. Beans. Herbs and spices. Cheese, which I shredded. Onions and peppers. Leafy lettuce. It was over $50, took me well over an hour to prep and cook everything, tons of cleanup, and tasted fine but nothing special. Everyone finished their plates but no rave reviews.

Chipotle is $9-12 per person. And the kids and my husband would prefer it over what I served. Did I do something wrong or does everyone sort of know this and when the family craves burritos or burrito bowls you all order out?

since when is a chipotle bowl with steak and the added quac 9-12$ was just there with my 4 teens and for 4 of them; it cost me almost $60.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids love Chipotle so I figured I could easily whip up burrito bowls last night. Family of 4. Steak and chicken. Whole Foods guac. Good salsas. Corn. Rice. Beans. Herbs and spices. Cheese, which I shredded. Onions and peppers. Leafy lettuce. It was over $50, took me well over an hour to prep and cook everything, tons of cleanup, and tasted fine but nothing special. Everyone finished their plates but no rave reviews.

Chipotle is $9-12 per person. And the kids and my husband would prefer it over what I served. Did I do something wrong or does everyone sort of know this and when the family craves burritos or burrito bowls you all order out?

shops THE MOST expensive grocery store for premium ingredients and compares against the cost of low quality fast food ingredients and becomes shocked. 🤣

Honey, you need to learn how to shop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TIL that people buy Whole Foods “guac.”

If you do your weekly grocery shopping at WF, why wouldn’t you buy their fresh made guacamole? It’s maybe a couple bucks more than mid-range grocers charge for a large container. It’s not shipped in, the employees told me they don’t carry it at times because it’s so labor intensive in the back. They make it fresh.

Because it is extremely easy to make at home more cheaply and exactly how I like it? Guacamole is literally one of the lowest effort-highest rewards dishes to make at home.

plus WF puts something off tasting in their guacamole that i can’t pinpoint.

I also make it fresh. I have 4 teen boys at home and shop weekly at costco. One item is a bag of avocados that are now $8.99 for 5-6 large avocados. I always have cilantro, red onion and limes as kitchen staples. probably realistically costs me $12 to make 2.5-3lbs of guacamole each week. Being a family of 6, 5 of who are men, I would never be able to shop at whole foods for everyday items and expect anything about it to be economical or comparative to dining out anywhere. There is not a single place within this country i can take my family to eat that is cheaper than making it at home.

[Anonymous]

I was actually surprised to discover that for a lot of minimally processed stuff (nuts, etc) WF is the same price or cheaper than Aldi. It’s the prepared and processed foods, and obviously the meat/fish/produce, where the price is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to figure out where people are buying such expensive chicken. I’ve never paid over $1.99/ pound for chicken leg quarters.

We aren’t buying chicken leg quarters; that’s gotta be the worst possible cut of a chicken to deal with or eat

DP

Only if you have no imagination. Dark meat is light years better than all of that tough breast meat.

Food Network and Anthony Bourdain nonsense. "This throwaway cut is ACTUALLY the best ... try it at my restaurant for $30 a plate ... or fly around the globe to have it from a street vendor."

This is actually true. Have you ever had oxtails?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t need multiple salsas. You don’t need $7-9 in guacamole, when Wholly brand or a few avocados will do.

Rice is a staple bought in 5-12lb bags. Beans are purchase when they are on sale for $.30-.50 per can. Chicken and steak should be bought in Value packs of 3-6lbs and you should have made plenty to have leftovers for burritos, salads, etc. another day. If you bought the meat at Whole Foods, that probably cost you 2x of a value pack at Harris Teeter or Giant.

Cooking at home is cheap when you -
1. Buy staples in bulk.
2. Cook with 1-3 common flavor profiles so you already have spices and vinegars / oils on hand. Not spices you buy for 1 recipe and then never use again.
3. You meal plan an integrated menu for the week that shares ingredients and preparation steps.

At some point you have to ask yourself whether the point is to recreate a fast casual burrito bowl or to spend as little money and effort as possible creating something that almost resembles a fast casual burrito bowl.

I don't think anyone is saying it's impossible to mix a seasoning packet into some ground beef and beans then slop on jarred salsa and guac for a couple bucks a person, families have been doing white people tacos on the cheap for generations. OP's point is that trying to make something of similar quality to Chipotle doesn't really save you any money.

I think if your goal is to make something of “similar quality” to fast food at home, you should probably just go buy the fast food. But if what you want is to get better at healthy, tasty, economical home cooking, PP made some good suggestions (none of which involved packaged taco spice).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a related note I made fish tacos yesterday and paid $58 at Whole Foods to create 5 tacos.

Not tacos for 5, five tacos. Granted $11 of that was for charcoal but even $47 for 5 tacos is absurd.

At Lidl that might have cost $10. It matters where one shops.

I'm sure you could probably make "fish tacos" for $10 at Lidl but I'd rather pay $10 a taco for decent grilled fish than eat whatever fish stick on a tortilla abomination you'd make from Lidl for free.

Right? I love how all the cheaper dupes remove all the meat choices and/or use street vendor meat, all the salsas, don't bother with limes or cilantro, etc. What American family wants to eat such crap for dinner? Sounds worse than the grub on a Boy Scout camping trip.

It’s called home cooking. If your approach to dinner is to make “dupes” of fast food, then you’re going to end up like OP - confused by why it’s so expensive and takes so long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TIL that people buy Whole Foods “guac.”

If you do your weekly grocery shopping at WF, why wouldn’t you buy their fresh made guacamole? It’s maybe a couple bucks more than mid-range grocers charge for a large container. It’s not shipped in, the employees told me they don’t carry it at times because it’s so labor intensive in the back. They make it fresh.

Because it is extremely easy to make at home more cheaply and exactly how I like it? Guacamole is literally one of the lowest effort-highest rewards dishes to make at home.

plus WF puts something off tasting in their guacamole that i can’t pinpoint.

I also make it fresh. I have 4 teen boys at home and shop weekly at costco. One item is a bag of avocados that are now $8.99 for 5-6 large avocados. I always have cilantro, red onion and limes as kitchen staples. probably realistically costs me $12 to make 2.5-3lbs of guacamole each week. Being a family of 6, 5 of who are men, I would never be able to shop at whole foods for everyday items and expect anything about it to be economical or comparative to dining out anywhere. There is not a single place within this country i can take my family to eat that is cheaper than making it at home.

What does your Costco cart look like? Must be impressive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was actually surprised to discover that for a lot of minimally processed stuff (nuts, etc) WF is the same price or cheaper than Aldi. It’s the prepared and processed foods, and obviously the meat/fish/produce, where the price is different.

365 brand is solid. I will occasionally do WF meat or cheese or bakery if I want a really nice meal but it’s really for 365 staples.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t need multiple salsas. You don’t need $7-9 in guacamole, when Wholly brand or a few avocados will do.

Rice is a staple bought in 5-12lb bags. Beans are purchase when they are on sale for $.30-.50 per can. Chicken and steak should be bought in Value packs of 3-6lbs and you should have made plenty to have leftovers for burritos, salads, etc. another day. If you bought the meat at Whole Foods, that probably cost you 2x of a value pack at Harris Teeter or Giant.

Cooking at home is cheap when you -
1. Buy staples in bulk.
2. Cook with 1-3 common flavor profiles so you already have spices and vinegars / oils on hand. Not spices you buy for 1 recipe and then never use again.
3. You meal plan an integrated menu for the week that shares ingredients and preparation steps.

At some point you have to ask yourself whether the point is to recreate a fast casual burrito bowl or to spend as little money and effort as possible creating something that almost resembles a fast casual burrito bowl.

I don't think anyone is saying it's impossible to mix a seasoning packet into some ground beef and beans then slop on jarred salsa and guac for a couple bucks a person, families have been doing white people tacos on the cheap for generations. OP's point is that trying to make something of similar quality to Chipotle doesn't really save you any money.

Laugh. PP used “quality” and “Chipotle” in the same sentence.