Every Saturday night is Mexican night. We generally alternate between tacos and quesadillas. Occasionally, we switch tacos to nachos, since I make them essentially the same way.
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First, the soft taco shells.
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2 cups whole white wheat flour ($0.32)
3/4 teaspoons salt ($0.03, if that)
1/4 cup shortening ($0.25, softened butter, but you can use whatever)
1/2 cups water ($0)
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Now, I use whole white wheat because my husband and I are more accustomed to white flour tacos than whole red wheat flour, and this gives less of a wheaty flavor. I use King Arthur brand flour because they have pledged not to use genetically modified wheat. Its also the cheapest whole wheat at $3.16 for 5 lbs.
Mix all ingredients together. Next, how many tacos do you want? We use 10, which is enough for my husband to take leftovers for lunch at work. So I make 10 balls out of the dough. I use my kitchen scale, because Im anally retentive, but it is not necessary. The dough comes to about 16 oz, so my scale reads close to two oz. each.
Next, roll the dough. If it doesnt roll easily, add a little more water to the mix until it does roll easily. It doesnt need to be a perfect circle, just symmetrical. The circle will come with time.
Then the frying. I dont use fat on the pan because it makes the taco shell crisp, almost like a chip, and it is less flexible and may crack when you fold it. I cook over a medium high heat, maybe 30 seconds on each side. Bubbles will appear when it is time to flip. You dont want to leave it too long, or it will crisp up, which is how I make nachos.
Once youve got your stack of tacos, you can start frying the meat. Im using my Walmart ground beef from a sale a few weeks back, $1.30 per pound. I wish I knew that sale was coming because my freezer was pretty full of my previous "deal" of $1.38 per pound beef, but I made room for more.
I bought bulk taco seasoning long ago. I compared it to the taco bell packets, which were $0.50 at the time, so thats what I will price mine at. Im looking for a good homemade taco seasoning replacement, but have yet to find one to my liking. My husband liked the last one, so Im using it in his snack burritos, but Im still using the bulk seasoning.
I also add peppers and onions. I get frozen chopped rainbow peppers and onions from the Dollar Tree for $1.00 per pound. I thought it would be all onion, but I gave it a try anyway. Its about half and half, so I keep it on hand. Im using 2 oz, for $0.13.
I fry all of this together and divide it into the tacos.
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I add a half slice of cheese to each taco, before I put the meat on so it melts, which is $0.42. After the meat, I add a spoon full of GV hot salsa, for maybe another $0.40.
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If you have fresh tomatoes or lettuce from your garden, that makes a great addition as well.
There are a lot of things you can add to tacos to make them more expensive: sour cream, store bought fresh lettuce and tomatoes, even peppers, guacamole, olives, and assorted cheeses. These will not increase the taste of the food in proportion to how they increase cost.
