Crockpot full of fresh ground beef

My favorite way to save time with cooking is to do some of the time consuming and messier tasks all at one time.  One of the ways you can do this is by cooking up your ground beef in advance and freezing it in measured out portions.  When you need cooked beef for a recipe you pull it out, thaw it a little bit, and you are ready for the next step.  I started doing this several years ago and just this one activity saves our entire family a lot of time throughout the month.

Once we are down to our last bag or two of cooked ground beef in the freezer it’s time to do another big batch a crockpot ground beef.  I can fit several pounds of ground beef into our crockpot at one time.  One crockpot of cooked ground beef will usually last our family at least a month or more (it has lasted up to 3 months for us on more than 1 occasion).  Typically we have about one ground beef based meal per week whether on the week days or weekend.  My husband was a little skeptical about this at first, but after a few months he has come to enjoy being able to pull out a bag of cooked ground beef and proceed forward to the next step of cooking the meal.

This works really well if you want to cook up a larger batch of ground beef at one time.  It would not be as useful if you are wanting to cook 1 pound of ground beef for a meal later that day (doable, yes, just not as efficient).   I always try to keep an eye out for ground beef deals whenever I am at the grocery store.  If I find a good deal I stick it in the deep freezer and when it is time to cook up the next big batch of ground beef I always have plenty to fill up the crockpot.  This helps you save money in the long run too because you don’t have to pay full price for ground beef (which has gone way up in the last couple of years).  It is a good idea to be home while the ground beef is in the crockpot because it typically only takes 3 to 5 hours and you want to break up the ground beef throughout the cooking process.

By doing this you make the mess of cooking ground beef once a month (or every couple months) and your done.   No more weekly cooking of your ground beef will also save you more time and clean up mess than you realize!  Seriously!!!  This especially works well if you have an upcoming busy season that you want to prepare for or having a baby soon or summer break or just trying to utilize your time more efficiently.

Cooking Ground Beef Using a Crockpot Recipe:

• Several Pounds of Ground Beef (I usually do between 5 to 10 pounds at a time).  You can use traditional beef, grass fed beef, or whatever combination you want.  You can also use whatever percentage of fat you want as well.  Although, the fattier the meat the less actual meat you will have at the end because the fat will be drained off.  We like to buy 93% lean or higher, but at times we do pick up a lower one if it is at a great price (we always stick to 85% or higher).

1.  Fill your crockpot up to the top with ground beef (every crockpot holds a different amount, but try to fit in as much as possible).  I have put in frozen ground beef (pulled directly from the freezer) as well as thawed ground beef (either way will work fine), but you will be able to fit more of the thawed ground beef into your crockpot therefore creating more meals out of your finished product.

2.  Put your crockpot on the low heat setting and cook for 3 to 5 hours.  The time will vary depending on how much meat you put into your crockpot and whether or not it was thawed or frozen.   Place the lid on the crockpot and let it cook for an hour.

3.  After the first hour of cooking add your spices (whatever you typically use to season your ground beef).  We like to keep it simple by adding minced onions and Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning.  Other good seasonings that compliment the ground beef are salt, pepper, garlic seasoning, etc…  After adding the seasonings take a straight edged spatula or wooden spoon and break up the meat so it starts forming the ground beef crumbles.  Place the lid back on the crockpot and allow it to cook for another hour.

4.  After the 2nd hour remove the lid and break up the meat again.  This will help it form the nice uniform ground beef crumbles that work well in recipes.  If you do not stir it regularly than the ground beef will form larger clumps of meat which do not work as well in many of the recipes that call for ground beef.  You can still break up the larger clumps at the end, but it will take longer and they will not be as evenly seasoned or as uniform.

5.  Repeat step #4 every additional hour until your ground beef is cooked thoroughly.  You should have a nice brown color and your meat crumbled into fairly even size pieces.

6.  Once the hamburger is cooked turn off the crockpot.  Place a small holed strainer on top of a large metal bowl and pour your cooked ground beef into the strainer.  The strainer will keep your cooked meat in it while the oils will drain into the large bowl underneath.  Allow the hamburger to drain for 10 minutes.  Blot with a paper towel to get rid of any access fat.

7.  Allow the meat to cool completely.  Once it is cool divide the meat up into individual bags or containers by measuring out 2 cups of meat per container (this is approximately 1 pound of ground beef per bag or container).  If you get to the end and you don’t have enough for an additional 2 cups divide the remaining meat equally between the individual containers already fill.  Typically, I have between 2 to 2 1/2 cups of cooked meat per bag or container.  Every time you have a recipe that calls for 1 pound of hamburger all you have to do is pull out 1 of these bags or containers and use it.  Each one of these is used in a family meal.     If you have 6 bags or containers this should get you through your next 6 meals that use cooked ground hamburger.  Say you do 1 meal like this a week this should last you 6 weeks before you have to cook ground hamburger again!

This allows you to pull the meat out prior to dinner, make your meal, and eliminates a lot of time and mess.  Which means you can spend more time with your family or doing something you enjoy!

Cooke ground beef is now ready to be drained and divided up into individual bags for later consumption.