Ground beef is one of my favorite freezer preps to make because I do them all at the same time!
With my busy schedule as a teacher mom, plus also a dance teacher, there are days I have to have an easy prep meal, especially when I don’t remember to make my crockpot. 🤦🏻♀️🤣 #thisismylife So those days I grab one of these and can have dinner done in 30 min or less!
MUST HAVE KITCHEN ITEMS TO MAKE THIS EASIER: FREEZER MUST HAVES!
Freezer Bag holders hold up and open your freezer bags to put the meat in!
This mean I don’t need to ask and wait for help! I can get this done right when I need to! Colorful bag holders options are now available! 😍 Or neutral bag holders are now available too!
A small ladle has helped move the meat into the bags with less of a mess! Trying to fit a large spoon into the quart size bags- no bueno! (No good 😉in case you don’t read Spanish)
I use regular quart size freezer bags, the large pack actually, but Ziplock came out with these specially designed freezer bags that fold down and stand up on their own. They are called Stay Open Freezer Bags!
This is my prep plan:
Before you start you need to have two large skillets and an Instant Pot. Or you can put the spaghetti in a crockpot and let the sauce cook on low for 4 hours. But you still need to make sure you brown the ground beef before putting in the crockpot.
I start by getting a 10 lb pack of ground beef at Sam’s Club or Costco, but you can also buy smaller packs at any grocery store.
My plan is to make the following:
3 lbs Taco meat
2 lbs Spaghetti sauce
5 lbs Plain ground beef for additional recipes
First one! Add the trivet into your Instant Pot. Cut 1/2 of the ground beef and add that into an Instant Pot. Cut it into smaller chunks about 1 lb each. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and add 1 Cup of water to the Instant Pot. Close your Instant Pot and close the steamer.
Click MANUAL and add timer to 25 min.
WHILE INSTANT POT IS DOING ITS THANG, START THE SPAGHETTI!
You can do this 2 ways: the “easy way” or the “more effort homemade way”.
Start with browning your ground beef!
I do 2 lbs because my family doesn’t love a meat sauce, but I do, SOOOO I don’t add too much but insist there is some!
EASY WAY: Add 3 jars of spaghetti sauce and simmer the meat and sauce together! If you want to add in a can of crushed tomatoes or diced tomatoes, you are able to! Simmer 15-20 min.
HOMEMADE WAY:
Use your favorite spaghetti recipe! This is the one I use:
Let simmer for 25-30 min.
IF YOU PLAN TO USE THE SPAGHETTI SAUCE FOR DINNER TONIGHT, start the spaghetti/noodles!
Let the sauce cool, then separate into bags based on your families amount they will eat. I usually get 3-4 bags.
3rd prep is taco meat!
In an additional skillet, start to brown the rest of the ground beef! Break apart the meat. Add 1-2 Cups of water and 1/2 Cup or more of the seasoning. I like lots of seasoning, so I do 1/2 C now and then in a few minutes stir in another 1/2 Cup. Simmer for 5-7 minutes.
Let cool and then separate into bags!
LABEL YOUR BAGS with the date to help you remember it needs to be eaten within 3 months. I stopped writing the date because we ate them without a problem. 😜
Good Luck with Life! I hope this ground beef prep plan makes life just a little bit easier!
Check out my Chicken Bag & Go recipes!
