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A few years ago Costco used to have EVOL egg and green chile breakfast burritos, and they were the most delicious breakfast burrito I have ever eaten. The downside was that they would explode in your microwave while cooking, almost every time. That was a small price to pay for something that was reasonably priced with perfect flavor and texture.
These burritos still exist at Costco, but in name only. At some point they fixed the explosion problem, but ruined the burrito in the process. The flavor went from a 10 to a 6, the tortilla became kind of hard and chewy, and the overall texture suffered.
It was around this time that I began experimenting with my own homemade breakfast burritos. They require a lot of labor to prepare the homemade tortillas, but they have become my preferred breakfast burrito.
Ingredients
This makes about 15 burritos. You will end up with an extra half block of cheese to either freeze or use elsewhere.
| Ingredient | Amount | Units | Usage Cost | Cost Explained |
| Eggs | 24 | large egg | $3.29 | $3.29 for two dozen at Costco |
| Black Beans | 1 | can | $1.00 | $1.00 per can at King Soopers |
| Pinto Beans | 1 | can | $1.00 | $1.00 per can at King Soopers |
| Hatch Green Chile | 2 | cans | $2.13 | $12.79 for 12 4oz cans at Costco |
| Monterey Jack | 12 | oz | $3.00 | $2.00 for 8oz block at King Soopers |
| Tortillas | 15 | tortilla | $0.60 | $0.04 per homemade tortilla |
| Total: $11.02 |
Prep Steps
The total time including making the tortillas is about 75 minutes, but making the tortillas alone is 60 minutes of that.
- Make the tortillas
- Scramble two dozen eggs and then remove from heat
- Rinse and drain the beans, and then add them along with the hatch green chile to the eggs, mixing thoroughly
- Grate the cheese to a medium thickness
- Add the egg, bean, and chile mix to each tortilla with some grated cheese
- Fold the burrito, wrap in aluminum foil, and freeze
When ready to eat a burrito, microwave it from frozen for about one minute on each side.
The Numbers
The full $11.02 batch makes about 15 burritos at $0.73 each. Ignoring nutrition deficiencies, a full month’s worth of calories from these at 2,000 calories per day would cost $113.33.
| Calories per burrito | 389 |
| Cost per burrito | $0.73 |
| Cost per 1K calories | $1.89 |
| Cost to eat nothing but this for one month | $113.33 |
EVOL Comparison
The homemade burritos are better than EVOL on cost, protein, and sugar. EVOL has the edge on fiber because it includes potatoes.
| Homemade | EVOL | |
| Cost per 1K calories | $1.89 ✅ | $4.65 |
| Protein (g) per 1K calories | 52 ✅ | 37.2 |
| Sugar (g) Per 1K calories | 2 ✅ | 6.2 |
| Fiber (g) Per 1K calories | 9 | 15.5 ✅ |
Every batch of homemade burritos saves $16.26 over eating EVOL burritos. You are effectively making an hourly rate of $13 for your labor.
Looking at it in terms of FIRE, what would you save by eating these every day instead of EVOL? Let’s start by assuming you’re eating a reasonable number of calories for breakfast, about 700 – a little less than two homemade burritos or a little more than two EVOL burritos. The homemade burritos will save you $1.99 per day. That’s a little over $18,000 less needed in investments based on a 4% withdrawal rate.
Notes
The prices shown here are current as of September 17th, 2026. The numbers for calories and macronutrients were pulled directly from the product labels.
There is also a cost for the aluminum foil, however it’s not significant enough to include. You can reuse the aluminum foil across several batches.
You will have to get a feel for how much of the egg mix and cheese to put in each burrito. It is 1/15 of the full amount, but I haven’t measured it beyond that.
A swing ingredient that you could eliminate is the hatch green chile. It’s nearly 20% of the cost, and contributes very little to the macros. Cutting it drops you to about $1.53 per 1,000 calories. It also stops being a green chile burrito, so I would keep it.
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