Kitchen Meets Culinary Clutz

I just threw the lasagna in the oven and set the timer for 22 minutes. I was thankful when I found a 12 oz pack of pre-cooked ground beef in the freezer. Then I got to thinking, I need to share this quick tip!

There was one thing I learned when our family quickly expanded from having 1 - 2 kids to having a bunch more is creating simplicity and establishing inovative habits.

We buy our ground beef in bulk. We freeze half of the meat immediately. The other half we ground up in a large stock pot and freeze into 12 oz. and 18 oz. and 24 oz. packs.  I love my Food Saver. It get's a lot of use in our home.

You may be asking yourselves, "Why 12/18/24 oz. packs? Why not full 1 - 2 lb packs?" Well when the fat burns off and the meat is drained, you wind up with less than one or two pound packs. Plus, if you're thinking on a budget, you may want to stretch the buck somehow, right?

I label my packs depending on the weight. The 12 oz packs are labeled: Spaghetti, Lasagna, Hamburg Helper, etc. The 18 oz. packs I label: Enchiladas, Sloppy Joes, etc. The 24 oz. packs I label: Chili, Tacos, etc. .

On ultra busy days it's handy to to have pre-cooked ground beef available in the freezer to prep our suppers with! It cuts down on cooking time too!

My very good friend, Jen, gave me a great tip one day. She has a family of six also, so she knows the importance of being frugal with your spending as well as meal planning. When whipping up those ever so quick-fix Hamburger Helpers for a large family, mix one pound of ground beef to two boxes of Helper! It's the noodles that the family favors anyway, plus less red meat means healthier meals!