Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:34
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
The worst is when you buy avocados, and they are terrible quality once you wait for them to ripen. A total waste of money on the east coast.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:33
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
We make Chipotle dupes at home. But my kids don't necessarily want all the ingredients so here is what we have:
Chicken
Rice
Black beans
Home made tomato/onions and jalapenos type mixture.
Lettuce
Shredded cheese
Sliced avocadoes if we have those on hand
Frozen corn for those that want that.
For the most part, these are all ingredients we have on hand on the regular in our kitchen. Granted it is a lot of small bowls but no big deal.
Chicken
Rice
Black beans
Home made tomato/onions and jalapenos type mixture.
Lettuce
Shredded cheese
Sliced avocadoes if we have those on hand
Frozen corn for those that want that.
For the most part, these are all ingredients we have on hand on the regular in our kitchen. Granted it is a lot of small bowls but no big deal.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:30
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Anonymous wrote:Shred some oven baked chicken or get a rotisserie. That’s 2 meals plus a carcass for soup. Skip the steak. Beans and chicken is enough. They make salsa with corn, so you don’t need extra.
Respectfully, those rotisserie chickens do not have the flavor for Mexican food. And they’re also usually greasy and/or full of salt. You can make a decent mash potato bowl with rotisserie chicken, like a KFC bowl dupe.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:30
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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?
When we do burrito bowls at home it's rice, chicken, frozen corn, sale salsa, guac I make myself if avocados are on sale or no guac otherwise, sour cream, canned beans, cheese, onions, peppers, and lettuce. 2 lb of chicken will set us back about $8, the beans will be about $1.50, guac will cost about $3 to make, salsa about $3.50, onion about $1, peppers about $2-3, frozen corn about $2, lettuce about $4 and we'll hopefully use the rest of it on salads the rest of the week. Rice, sour cream, and cheese are things we always have on hand, but we typically buy the sour cream at $2.50, cheese at $2.50, and a big thing of rice at $10. That's still only setting me back $40 and I've got rice, lettuce, sour cream, and cheese to use for other things still when I'm done.
But yes, burrito bowls are a pain to make because it's a ton of frying pans or a ton of time layering flavors in the same pan. Plus you have to assemble them at the table.
You don’t use fresh lime juice or cilantro in your guacamole? That makes it more than $3.50. And avocados are only 2 for $3.50 if they’re on sale.
No fresh lime juice (refrigerated bottle) and you're right that I forgot the cilantro.
As mentioned, we skip guac entirely when the avocados aren't on sale.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:28
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Anonymous wrote: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?
When we do burrito bowls at home it's rice, chicken, frozen corn, sale salsa, guac I make myself if avocados are on sale or no guac otherwise, sour cream, canned beans, cheese, onions, peppers, and lettuce. 2 lb of chicken will set us back about $8, the beans will be about $1.50, guac will cost about $3 to make, salsa about $3.50, onion about $1, peppers about $2-3, frozen corn about $2, lettuce about $4 and we'll hopefully use the rest of it on salads the rest of the week. Rice, sour cream, and cheese are things we always have on hand, but we typically buy the sour cream at $2.50, cheese at $2.50, and a big thing of rice at $10. That's still only setting me back $40 and I've got rice, lettuce, sour cream, and cheese to use for other things still when I'm done.
But yes, burrito bowls are a pain to make because it's a ton of frying pans or a ton of time layering flavors in the same pan. Plus you have to assemble them at the table.
You don’t use fresh lime juice or cilantro in your guacamole? That makes it more than $3.50. And avocados are only 2 for $3.50 if they’re on sale.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:27
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Anonymous wrote:Shred some oven baked chicken or get a rotisserie. That’s 2 meals plus a carcass for soup. Skip the steak. Beans and chicken is enough. They make salsa with corn, so you don’t need extra.
Shredded rotisserie chicken is not even close to being the same. That's fine for replacing BBQ chicken from Mission BBQ, but not for a Chipotle dupe.
- not op, but I agree with the premise
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:26
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's cheaper at home, but you have to just pick one main ingredient- not steak + chicken. Add a can of beans to fill it out. Making guac is super easy instead of buying it. Put one of your kids in charge of this. One kind of salsa. This isn't hard.
Chipotle offers 4 fresh salsas which honestly adds a lot of complexity to the flavor. If you just have 1 salsa it tastes flat.
A nice salsa verde is my go to. Late July has a good one, stock up when it’s on sale and too lazy to make my own.
Aren’t Chipotle salsas made fresh in store? If yes, they have to be healthier than shelf stable salsas.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:23
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Look at the ingredients list for the restaurant food. The stuff you made is a lot healthier.
Salt wise or seed oil wise?
I was thinking about the additives but oil quality is another good point.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:22
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
You probably used better quality protein than they used.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:21
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Shred some oven baked chicken or get a rotisserie. That’s 2 meals plus a carcass for soup. Skip the steak. Beans and chicken is enough. They make salsa with corn, so you don’t need extra.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:17
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
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?
You had two proteins, guac from Whole Foods, and multiple salsas. Of course that increased the expense and time. If you want to replicate different dishes that you find in a restaurant, it's going to be expensive, and a pain. If you do it again, use just chicken, and one salsa. You'll likely save $15. Plus, you'll already have the herbs and spices.
Also, if it takes you a full hour to prep and cook what you describe, you need a little more practice.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:15
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's cheaper at home, but you have to just pick one main ingredient- not steak + chicken. Add a can of beans to fill it out. Making guac is super easy instead of buying it. Put one of your kids in charge of this. One kind of salsa. This isn't hard.
Chipotle offers 4 fresh salsas which honestly adds a lot of complexity to the flavor. If you just have 1 salsa it tastes flat.
A nice salsa verde is my go to. Late July has a good one, stock up when it’s on sale and too lazy to make my own.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:14
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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?
Does this need a thread?
Yes, because I figured this was a cheap, easy meal but it's really not. Unless I'm missing something, might as well let the Chipotle workers handle this!
Sure if you like salt bombs.
Doesn’t avoiding the tortilla help limit a lot of salt?
No
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:13
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
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?
When we do burrito bowls at home it's rice, chicken, frozen corn, sale salsa, guac I make myself if avocados are on sale or no guac otherwise, sour cream, canned beans, cheese, onions, peppers, and lettuce. 2 lb of chicken will set us back about $8, the beans will be about $1.50, guac will cost about $3 to make, salsa about $3.50, onion about $1, peppers about $2-3, frozen corn about $2, lettuce about $4 and we'll hopefully use the rest of it on salads the rest of the week. Rice, sour cream, and cheese are things we always have on hand, but we typically buy the sour cream at $2.50, cheese at $2.50, and a big thing of rice at $10. That's still only setting me back $40 and I've got rice, lettuce, sour cream, and cheese to use for other things still when I'm done.
But yes, burrito bowls are a pain to make because it's a ton of frying pans or a ton of time layering flavors in the same pan. Plus you have to assemble them at the table.
Anonymous
04/15/2025 11:13
Subject: Burrito bowls for a family of 4 costs $50? Might as well just order Chipotle next time, right?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Chipotle is not a great value, Mexican food is disgustingly cheap to make. You people may not know how to cook.
Compared to a lot of take out it is a good value. And, as OP said, we’re also considering the time involved in cooking at home.
So you’re lazy, wasteful, AND a bad cook?
Chipotle it is.
So ordering take out makes you lazy and wasteful?