Make Your Own Meal Starters: Hamburger
I’m not the kind of person who is good at making meals and freezing them, although I will do it if I know ahead of time that I will need the meals (like before I have a baby). And once a month cooking is just WAY too exhausting for me – as if I have that many free hours in one day to cook anyhow.
So I found a little way to save some time in the kitchen without having to set aside 4 hours. I’ve started making meal starters which basically means that I prepare a large portion of the meat, bean or rice part of my meal ahead of time and then freeze it. Then when it comes time to make dinner, it cuts my work in half. Not only that, but it also helps me to cook last minute meals instead of eating out.
The first meal starter you should make is hamburger because it’s cheap and can be very versatile. It takes me about 30-45 minutes to prepare 6 lbs of hamburger and for our family, that lasts anywhere from 2 – 4 weeks. I’m telling you, it’s a HUGE timesaver.
What you’ll need:
6 lbs. hamburger
1 onion, chopped
3t minced garlic
3t salt
15 oz can diced tomatoes
8 oz can tomato sauce
Use a large stock pot and start browning the meat, adding the onions while it’s cooking. When the meat is done, you’ll need to drain the grease off of it. Add garlic, salt, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and mix well.
Let it cool a little and then spoon it into 6 quart sized freezer bags, dividing it evenly between the bags. How much meat you end up with will depend on the fat content of the hamburger you choose. Label the bags with “hamburger mix” and the date and stick them in the freezer.
This meal starter will work well in dinners like spaghetti, lasagna and chili.
Great Insight,
I am definitely going to try it.
That’s great. It saves lot of time. Yummy recipe too.
Thanks for this.
I know my Mom would be appalled at us liberated women not having the time to cook meals.
But, then, sometimes I wonder if she was the liberated one.
She had time to play bridge with the girls on Wednesday afternoons, and she was always there for her kids (me and my brother Bobby) when we got home from school.
She was always relaxed at our events and was always there too as Dad slaved at the office.
Then I got it into my head to get liberated, and now my guy expects that I will work outside the home, as well as take care of the needs of the children.
No wonder the divorce rate has gone over 50% in this country.
We gals have MAYBE screwed ourselves.
I know one thing for sure. My kids don’t have anywhere near the kind of natural affection for me as I had for my Mom. Mom was as I said always relaxed, had time to cook good meals for us and actually enjoyed doing it, was able to paint and read to her heart’s content, and live a nice life.
It was my Dad’s duty to earn the bread, and he didn’t have to compete with an office full of females wanting to be with their kids to do it.
It was almost unheard of in my neighborhood for a divorce to happen. It almost never did. I can only remember one and that was because of a drinking problem in the home.
Anyway, thanks for this recipe. I’ll enjoy doing it.
I just wish I had time to make the wonderful chocolate chip cookies Mom used to always make from scratch. Not me. It’s Safeway all the way dragging tired kids up and down the isles.
My Mom always did the shopping while we were in school after, of course, we had reached the age of five. Before that I have no recollection except being picked up by Mom who ALWAYS responded to me in the crib.
Dad was never expected to do that. His job was to be the successful hunter and my Mom’s job was to take care of the hearth.
It worked well. We weren’t rich or anything. Just middle class. The guys competed with each other at work, and took care of their families financially.
Mom was the heart and Dad was the heat.
Come to think of it, I loved my family life as a child.
What the hell have I done with my attitudes?
Am I fulfilled. Hell no!
Beth
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This is a great idea and I need to do it more often — very good time saver! Thanks for the tips
Maria (WAHM)´s last blog ..What Makes a $1,000+ eHow Article?
Instead of going to these unhealthy places like mcdonalds and burger king I make my own burgers for the kids and i call them mcmummy’s burgers lol they love them.
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