It’s August, and that means that while it’s still summer, I’m deep in my home preparing for back-to-school. I’m deep cleaning my house, I’m purging all the things we don’t need anymore, I’m making sure my kids have everything for back-to-school, and most importantly, I’m stocking my freezer with meals and meal starters.
I have a lot of goals for myself this next school year. My youngest child will be turning ten in January, and my children are at a place where they don’t need me as much anymore. I’ve been waiting for decades to put myself on a full-time working schedule to grow my career as a food writer/video presenter. So, now’s the time. Having meal starters and full dinners in my freezer will enable me to, say, spend my day creating a cake video while also getting dinner on the table for my family.
Whenever I decide to stock my freezer, I start with this easy batch seasoned ground beef recipe. It only takes me about an hour to season and brown ten pounds of ground beef. This makes me feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. MOMENTUM is extremely important when you feel you have a huge task ahead of you.
This seasoned ground beef is the starter for many dinners at my house.
- Tacos
- Nachos
- Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
- Beef Strogranoff
- Taco Rice (an Okinawan specialty)
- Taco Salad
- as an addition to vegetable soup
- Baked Potato topper
- Roasted potato topper
- Mashed potato topper
Bulk Prepped Seasoned Ground Beef for the Freezer
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef I use 80% (which has a higher fat content) for flavor. Of course, you choose which is right for you.
- 1 tablespoons olive oil approximately – just a good "glug"
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine as much garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, salt and pepper as you plan on using. I usually brown 2 or 3 pounds of ground beef at once, so I scale up my quantities of seasonings as necessary. Pre-measuring your seasonings is a great way to be efficient and increase accuracy.
- In a skillet, heat the oil and add the ground beef. Break up the ground beef while you're browning it. Add the seasonings when your beef is partially browned.
- When the beef has browned sufficiently, transfer to a plate. If you plan on freezing this beef, let it cool before transferring it to a gallon-sized freezer bag.
- I usually find that two pounds of ground beef fits best into a gallon-sized freezer bag, but three pounds works in a pinch, especially if you plan on feeding a lot of people.
- Label each back with the month and the day you assembled it's contents. Use within three months.
