Frugal Food...Or Why I DO make my own tortillas...

A while back I was reading one of the many interesting and inspiring blogs out there on the subject of slashing $s off your grocery bill...and learned that for some people certain things are not necessarily more economical if home made.  This was news to me.  It hadn't really occurred to me that there would be too much regional price variation on basics...but evidently there is.  The writer in question lives somewhere along the USA/Mexico border and can buy several dozen ready made flour tortillas for a couple of bucks.  Yes, I said several dozen! Not so up here in Western Canada.  The standard price for 10 large flour tortillas in my local stores is around the $4.00 mark, or $0.40 each.  If you're cooking for a family, that can sure add up quickly...and you haven't  even added a filling, let alone salsa etc.   What ever happened to a cheap burrito dinner to stretch the budget?

Tortilla browning nicely while the snow flies outside...

If you're like me you're always looking for ways to make things better AND more affordable.  That's where a pantry stocked with bulk purchased basics comes into play. Note, when I say "bulk purchased" I do NOT mean purchased from the bulk self serve bins in some grocery stores....they're often the most expensive way to buy staples. The most affordable way to buy flour here is by the 20kg sack from a wholesale store.  The current price works out to 0.09 cents per cup of flour, a cup weighing approximately 130 grams  Two cups of flour will make 8 large tortillas...that is 18 cents worth of flour.  Add in about $0.30 for the other ingredients, and you have a rough total of $0.50, or $0.06 per tortilla...a saving of $0.34 cents each over store bought.


For our family, eating burritos or enchiladas at least one night per week in addition to those after school refuelling wraps and quickie quesadillas, that means a saving of several hundred dollars each and every year.

Sure, it does take a little time to make them, but as with everything in life,  it becomes easier and faster with practice.  And besides, what else are you gonna do on a snowy morning while listening to The Sunday Edition on CBC radio?  This is my current go-to recipe for homemade tortillas....Don't skip the resting of the dough...it really makes all the difference: Foolproof Flour Tortillas