Monday, September 21, 2009

Browned Hamburger

I really don't like to cook. It takes a really long time and the clean up is a pain, too. In analyzing this a while back I decided that I prefer making recipes that are just "dump and go". That's not possible with recipes that call for browned hamburger or cooked chicken.... or is it????

Today's tip.... Browned hamburger - frozen and ready to go.

1. Buy a lot of hamburger meat. I usually buy at least the 5 lb package.

2. Brown the hamburger meat in a big skillet. I never add any onions or flavoring because it will be used in a variety of recipes. I can always add the flavors when I defrost it later.

3. Rinse the browned hamburger in hot water. I'm very serious - this is the trick so it doesn't go rancid. I put the browned hamburger in my colander and run hot water over it until the water draining out the bottom runs clean. Sometimes I need to stir it a couple of times to make sure I get everything rinsed.
4. Spoon the browned, rinsed hamburger meat into ziploc bags. For most of my dishes, 1 1/4 lbs of hamburger is about the right amount. The five pound package of hamburger meat yields 4 bags of browned hamburger. Now, when I am cooking dinner I don't have to worry about pulling the meat out the night before and putting it in the fridge or browning it in the afternoon so I can have dinner ready on time. I can just grab a bag of cooked meat, throw it in the microwave to defrost for two minutes and put it in my casserole.

I do something similar with chicken. HERE
Happy to post this tip on....

Tip Junkie
Tackle it Tuesdays
Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays

2 comments:

  1. Great Idea! I am not one for freezing any meat other than ground beef. Any other meat (chicken, stew meat etc) I like to use when I purchase it. So this beef idea is perfect for me.

    Robyn
    Mom All Day
    http://momallday.blogspot.com/

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  2. Hi,
    I brown my ground beef and freeze in zip lock bags too. I brown mine overnight or for about 6 hours during the day in the crockpot instead and then do the drain/rinse thing in the colander.

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