How to minimize taco mess?

[KungFuPanda]

Has anyone figured out how to make/store/reheat taco and burrito bowl fixings so that you don't dirty EVERY bowl and spoon in the kitchen?  I swear they need to make some kind of compartmentalized container 20 compartments for all of this stuff.  Maybe my family is just getting greedy with the "must have" ingredients, but I just reheated leftovers for dinner and it looks like I cooked a holiday meal in there.  I've fantasized about buying squeeze bottles for sour cream and salsa, but I never actually followed through.  Do you store it in one container and let everything touch? Or do you make a ridiculous mess like me?  

[Farrar]

Ridiculous mess.

I do tend to toss a number of the elements into the same bowl sometimes, but mostly because I know dh will eat anything. He just comes behind us and finishes our leftovers, which... half the time he's not there for the meal in the first place, so that's probably for the best.

[alisoncooks]

Sometimes I just slice tomatoes and shred lettuce on paper towels. 😳 Then just toss when done (there's usually not leftovers.) Cheese is bagged, jalapeños/salsa is in a jar. Sour cream we scoop straight from the tub. Those just go back to the fridge. 

[KungFuPanda]

32 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

We just don't use lots of ingredients, and in particular don't use many that need to be reheated.

 

When I have taco filling to reheat, I just pull out the container, take the lid off and nuke it.  If its particularly packed or stubborn, I dump it into a bowl.

 

Taco tortillas, be they crunchy or soft, are always new and so heated as such.  If we have left over crunch shells, we use them as chips.  Leftover tortillas just get shoved in a bag and used however we might otherwise use quesadillas.

 

My younger two eat their tacos with shredded cheese.  Nothing else.  DD11 likes lettuce, tomato, cheese and olives, and that just requires dirtying a cutting board and knife.

 

NOW..........if DH wants guac...........that's a bit more complicated, with the food processor and measuring spoons and such....But I don't make his guac often, he's the only one that eats it.

 

I will also say, I have lots of the deli/take out containers (ordered in bulk) and so much like you might see a show on food network use them (I think they use lots on Worst Cooks) I put chopped toms, sliced olives etc, in those things.  I mean, it's still dishes, but in terms of putting back in the fridge afterwards.....I just slap a lid on and toss it in the fridge.  

 

 

ETA: I do want to say, I make lots of mess in other ways.  From scratch biscuits, bread out of the bread machine that I have to slice (which leaves crumbs everywhere) chicken that I have to bake in 2 separate dishes, some with sauce and some without, etc etc.  So, not taco mess, but man, I tend to do like 3 or more loads of dishes every day.  Part of that is that we don't use paper cups or plates or any of that stuff, but the other part is that yeah..............cooking makes a mess.

 I'm a hopelessly messy cook too, but most meals dirty fewer dishes when you reheat.  Tacos seem to uniquely dirty just as many dishes when you reheat.  I just pulled out rice, meat, beans, cheese, salsa, spinach, avocados, jalapenos, sour cream, cilantro, green onions, and sauted bell peppers.  Everything needed a utensil and a container.

I guess it was less messy when the kids just wanted hard shells, meat, and cheese, but we seem to require a full buffet now.  

ETA, I have tossed the leftovers in the rice cooker and reheated while making rice for everything burritos, but that doesn't work when Dd is home.  She doesn't eat beans or salsa.

Edited December 30, 2019 by KungFuPanda

[gaillardia]

Yeah, it can get gross. Sometimes we put the all chopped veggies together on one large plate, cheese goes in a ziplock bag, then there's a bowl each for the meat and the refried beans, the sour cream and salsa stay in their store-bought containers (sorry!). We use one fork for the veggies plate, spoons for salsa, refrieds, and sour cream, forks for meat.

It is nice to have the seven layer taco dip once in a while though. 

[Sneezyone]

I chop and store everything in separate bags. I have a set of small metal bowls that I use to serve. I do store the lettuce and cilantro together tho. Same with cooked onions and peppers. Rice, beans and meat are separate. We only cut and eat room temp/countertop tomatoes w/raw onion and cilantro. The fridge ruins the flavor of tomatoes. Same with avocados.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Sneezyone

[unsinkable]

10 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

Has anyone figured out how to make/store/reheat taco and burrito bowl fixings so that you don't dirty EVERY bowl and spoon in the kitchen?  I swear they need to make some kind of compartmentalized container 20 compartments for all of this stuff.  Maybe my family is just getting greedy with the "must have" ingredients, but I just reheated leftovers for dinner and it looks like I cooked a holiday meal in there.  I've fantasized about buying squeeze bottles for sour cream and salsa, but I never actually followed through.  Do you store it in one container and let everything touch? Or do you make a ridiculous mess like me?  

I bought the squeeze bottles for taco sauce (and A-1)  when the kids were little and they were well-used and worth every penny.

I feel the same way about reheating BBQ and sides and Turkey dinner and sides...It isn't as much work as the original meal bc it is oddly much more annoying.

[SamanthaCarter]

This is why tacos are more of a special occasion here. 

Maybe something like this for serving and storing? https://www.wayfair.com/decor-pillows/pdp/rebrilliant-extra-large-party-divided-serving-dish-rebr4851.html?

Edited December 30, 2019 by SamanthaCarter

[Joker]

I think taco leftovers are why I have so many small mason jars. I now put most of the toppings directly into the jars after chopping / washing / cooking and everyone spoons out what they want. Then I just pop a lid on and into the fridge it goes. 

[Jentrovert]

This is only a small part of it, but there are now squeeze bottles of sour cream available. They are more expensive, but I've found it to be worth the extra expense. So much easier for the kids to use, and no food mixed back in to the sour cream tub from spoons. Ugh. And the squeeze tubes are the no drip kind, so they're not messy. Easy to pop in and out of the fridge as needed.

[Annie G]

19 minutes ago, Jentrovert said:

This is only a small part of it, but there are now squeeze bottles of sour cream available. They are more expensive, but I've found it to be worth the extra expense. So much easier for the kids to use, and no food mixed back in to the sour cream tub from spoons. Ugh. And the squeeze tubes are the no drip kind, so they're not messy. Easy to pop in and out of the fridge as needed.

For me it’s not more expensive because nobody is dipping a dirty spoon into the sour cream, which contaminates it. Which means one day I open it and it’s got green stuff growing in it and it gets tossed.  Since switching to the squeeze sour cream I haven’t had to throw any out. It seems to stay fresher in the squeeze container since there’s not a lot of air in it like there is when the tub kind is only a quarter full. 
‘But maybe mine was going bad because I use Daisy and it doesn’t add preservatives. 
 

As for the OP question-when we have leftover tacos usually one or more component of the original meal has all been eaten, so there are fewer thing to get ready. I replace cheese if it’s all been used, but if there is no more rice, avocado, or diced tomatoes, we have leftovers without that. Sometimes we have meat, cheese, beans, and shells left and that’s our leftover meal.  If you have all the components left then yeah, you’ll have a lot of containers. 

[wintermom]

If dc want lots of toppings, then dc take a major role in food prep and clean up. There, problem for you is solved! 😉