Awesome Food-Storage Tacos! Yay!

Every time I make tacos, Devin says "We should have tacos once a week."  And he's right.  They're a crowd-pleaser, they incorporate some vegetables, and they can be as simple or as fancy as you like.

I grew up thinking tacos had to be made with ground beef, since that's the only kind my family ate - and they were still great.  Even now I sometimes sub-consciously think, 'Too bad we can't have tacos tonight.  No ground beef.'  But there are so many more options out there!  And with toppings, too - the possibilities are endless!

This is good news for me because 1) I don't really like ground beef that much, and 2) it's always so stinkin' expensive!  Most the time I just can't bring myself to pay $3.99/lb or whatever only to watch half of it melt into grease.  Besides, I don't really like touching the stuff and it just generally sort of grosses me out.

So.  More options.  Right.  I make some creamyish lime chicken tacos sometimes, and of course there's sweet pork ala Costa Vida, etc. etc.  But my new thing is making food storage tacos from canned roast beef.  I got the idea here.  Thanks, Crystal!  I haven't seen a ton of her stuff but it seems like a great food storage site.

Basically, 2 cans beef (with some or all of the broth) + 1 can green chiles (drained, so the kids don't moan about spiciness) + something for flavor (taco seasoning, dehydrated onion, cumin, whatever) in a pan for a bit and you're done.  I've been using beef from Costco, but I'd like to find a cheaper option.  I swear it used to be $10 for 4 cans and now it's $15!  And when I opened it up last night, it looked like this:

I admit that I had already drained some broth. But still!

I should have weighed it on my kitchen scale* right then to see if it really was 12 oz, but I just dumped it in the pan instead.  Oh well.  Next time!  Anyway, I love this stuff.  And it goes with any toppings you have around.  I think we'll officially start having Taco Tuesdays around here.  And with Pizza Movie Night on Fridays, and Devin's new suggestion to have hot dogs once a week (not sure I agree with that one though), that's a significant chunk of meal planning I won't have to do.


*This was a Mother's Day gift from Devin "to me" but really mostly for him.  He's been wanting one for a long time and I've been resistant to the idea because I figured it would win me over to measuring ingredients by weight and then I'd become a baking snob or something.  Well... ya.  It's happening.  Measuring by weight is magical!  And you dirty a lot fewer dishes!  I am kind of in love.  But I promise to keep in touch with my teaspoons-and-cups-and-close-enough roots.