How I process large quantities of ground beef…
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I don’t always brown my beef this way, sometimes I use the traditional method of cooking it in a pan and standing over it chopping, stirring, chopping, stirring…yeah sometimes I do that. One thing I ALWAYS do though, is cook large batches at once. I never just cook enough for one meal.
I prefer to brown at least five to ten pounds at once. I then drain off the grease, cool it, and package it in small freezer bags in whatever amount equals enough for a family meal of spaghetti or whatnot. For my family, this usually means a cup to a cup and a half of ground beef. I freeze it and whenever I need it for a meal, simply thaw in the microwave or with whatever I am cooking and I’ve cut out a major step and a decent amount of mess!
If you end up having a meal such as tacos, which required extra beef, simply grab two bags.
Why get out the skillet, thaw, brown, and drain over and over when you can do it once and save yourself tons of time and repeated messes?
This is one of my favorite ways to cook beef as it doesn’t require the attention that a skillet browning does. Also, you can get those nice little granules of beef without having to chop, chop, chop….Its great for large quantities of beef as well and I find the cooking process is done in half the time, with a lot less fat left on your finished product.
Begin with ground beef. Why do I use ground beef instead of ground chuck or lean ground beef? Simple, its cheaper. Grocery prices have been rising rapidly, gas is through the roof and I still have to feed a family of four with the same amount of money as I had before all of this. Ground beef it is!
Using your hand, take a clump of ground beef and submerge it.
Bring to a boil. You’ll need to stir it just a time or two until its all nice and browned and done.
Until I have a whole bowl like this. At this point, I will get a one cup measuring cup after it has cooled and put one cup servings in individual freezer bags to have on hand whenever I need ground beef for a meal.
And look at all this you left behind!! ewwwww
I don’t know if my prep is neater/cleaner but I brown my ground beef, spoon it into my colander, and rinse it with hot water before freezing it. It’s easy for me to pour off the grease into an empty can and I don’t feel like I’d be pouring all that greasy water down my drain to possibly clog it.
don’t waste the fat….. http://www.almanac.com/content/bird-food-recipe-suet
This is genius! I always portion out the large packages of ground beef from Costco and then freeze them raw. This method will save so much time! I’m tickled to pieces that I found your site, Christy!
I accidentally overthawed some ground beef in the microwave. Rather than wate it I put it in the food processor and pulverized it. I wound up with fine browned and drained hamburger. Saves a lot of work.
I’ve eyed this post for years. Well, last week I finally pulled the trigger on actually doing it and WOW! Total game changer for us. We both work long hours and cooking at the end of the day usually seems like too much work. We kept doing take out. ☹️ Very expensive and not very good food. This week was a whole other experience! Between the already ready already beef and a few slow cooker nights I’m happy to say we’ve had a take out free week! Once again, thank you so much. You rock Christy!
I am so glad you decided to finally try it!!!!
I have been given deer meat and wanted to know the best way to season so you get gamey taste out.
Hey Nancy!
A lot of times, if someone isn’t really used to eating deer meat regularly, it will taste “off” to them. However, some deer taste more gamey than others. Even the way the deer is killed can affect the taste of the meat: If it isn’t a quick kill the deer releases more lactic acid which can make the meat taste different as well as being a bit tougher.
I like to slow cook my deer meat. That allows it to marinate and absorb the flavors of whatever sauce or gravy I cook it in. My favorite is to slow cook it in beef gravy with some sliced up onions and mushrooms (if you like those). The most important thing, if you want to affect the flavor, is to marinate it in something with a flavor that really appeals to you.
Another thing that a lot of people do is marinate it in buttermilk for several hours before cooking it however they normally would (even in the gravy like I mentioned before). A lot of success has been reported with the dairy helping to leech out undesired flavors. I just go straight to the slow cooker with gravy though.
I put in onions and salt. I then put the broth in the fridge and next day throw away the fat on top. What is left is a very gelatinous beef broth that is delicious. Really! I have been reading a lot about bone broth and its healing properties. The more it gels the heathier it is. Cheap hanburger meat must have some bones in it!