10 Ways to Use Pre-Cooked Ground Beef {Batch Cooking}
Ground beef is one food that I always have in my freezer. It is versatile and family-friendly, making it a staple in my cooking.
When I finally noticed how frequently I was browning a pound or two of ground beef to add to various dishes, I started cooking a large batch and freezing the extra for future meals. Using pre-cooked ground beef from the freezer is such a time-saver on a busy night . . . and it reduces the amount of dirty dishes, too! Cheers from my children!
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How to cook ground beef for the freezer:
Add the desired amount of ground beef to a large skillet (I use a Cuisinart Stainless 5-1/2-Quart Skillet to cook six or seven pounds of ground beef at one time). After cooking the meat, drain it well and allow it to cool to room temperature. Stirring the warm meat occasionally will help it to cool more quickly.
When the ground beef is cool, measure it into quart-size freezer bags or containers. The quart-size freezer bags will hold up to two pounds of cooked meat. If you turn down the top of the freezer bag an inch or so while filling, the zipper area will stay clean and will seal much more easily.
Use this handy measuring tip for ground beef: one pound is equivalent to two and one-half cups of cooked ground beef.
After filling the freezer bags with meat, remove as much air as possible and seal. Label each bag with a permanent marker. Lay flat in the freezer to freeze.
I love the convenience of pre-cooked ground beef! It makes my life as a homeschool mom so much easier.
Once you’ve experienced the convenience of using pre-cooked ground beef, you’ll want to be sure to have some in the freezer all the time!
Stumped for ideas on how to use pre-cooked ground beef? This list is for you!
10 Ways to Use Pre-Cooked Ground Beef
- Sloppy joes
- Chili
- Spaghetti with meat sauce (add ground beef to Homemade Spaghetti Sauce)
- Hamburger Vegetable Soup
- Tator Tot Casserole
- Tacos
- Sloppy Joe Pizza
- Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta
- Shepherd’s Pie
- Baked Spaghetti
What favorite ground beef recipes would you add to this list?
Great recipes! I always freeze the bulk hamburger in one-pound sections, but never pre-cook it. It would be such a time-saver to do that. Thanks for the idea!
I freeze ground beef in 1 or 1 1/2 lb. portions uncooked, and use it as meatloaf sometimes as well as some of the above listed ideas.
Great ideas! We also use ground beef for quick stir-fry when we have leftover veggies and rice in the fridge. Add some hoisin sauce to the skillet after everything is heated up!
Fabulous ideas! The only things we tend to use them for are Sloppy Joes and tacos, but we tend to make the whole thing up front (Sloppy Joe or taco meat) and then freeze it. That way, we have a really quick dinner.
I’ve often thought about freezing sloppy joes or taco meat, but I always fall back on my old stand-by of plain ground beef. Either way, it’s such a time-saver!
If I am extremely busy, which is all the time, I put 10 lbs. ground beef in my slow cooker and throughout the day, break it apart with a potato masher. When it is finished, I use a slotted spoon (to drain off any fat) and place in freezer bags. It makes 10 1cup bags. I will also put in chopped onions.