Freezer Cooking: Ground Beef

Freezer Cooking

When I do Freezer cooking I do it more in a bulk cooking day than making a bunch of meals to freeze. I find this is a great way to take advantage of great sales I find on meat.

When I find ground beef on sale I like to cook part of the ground beef up. I will usually chop up two carrots, two celery ribs and one medium onion in my food processor.

Then add it to my electric skillet put the 2-3 pounds ground beef or ground turkey on top set it to 300. Then put the lid on and let it cook. As it cooks I stir occasionally to break it up.

 

Once it is cooked and no longer pink then I drain any fat and place it in a bowl to cool in the fridge. Once cooled I place the cooked ground beef in Ziploc bags. I usually put 1-2 cups in each bag. Then I put all the smaller bags into a freezer gallon bag and put in my freezer for use later.

Then when I need to make spaghetti and meat sauce I just thaw one of the cooked ground beef and put it in with sauce as I am cooking it. If I am making tacos I take a package out and add some taco seasonings and heat it.

This saves some time when I am making dinner. By cooking up a large amount it saves me time and clean up not having to take the extra step of cooking the meat each night I need some. Having some items like cooked ground beef or chicken in the fridge helps to keep us from resorting to going out to eat. If I have forgotten to thaw meat for dinner or don’t have everything  I need for a certain meal, I have these pre-made foods to help me out. It is like having your own convenience foods but with out all the preservatives. Also with the added veggies you get fiber and it is a sneaky way to get your kids to eat more veggies without them knowing it.

By the way if you don’t own an electric skillet you can use a regular skillet with a lid and cook on medium on the stove top.

Do you have any time saving cooking tips? Please leave us a comment about your tip.