Save a Little Time During the Week

One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen to save time is cooking and portioning off meat that I plan on using in my recipes for the upcoming week.  I just went grocery shopping today, so before I freeze my meat, I'm going to work on cooking, prepping, and portioning.

I bought 6lbs of ground beef, 2 cornish game hens, and 2 bags of frozen chicken breasts.  I am just going to focus on the ground beef in this post.  The chicken breast are individually frozen in the bags, so there is no need for me to portion them.  I can just grab how ever much I need straight from the bag without defrosting the whole thing.  The cornish game hens will be used later in the week for a recipe, and since they are frozen solid, I'm not touching them today.

This is what I plan on making with the ground beef:


1 lb of taco meat
1 lb for chili
1 lb cooked off and frozen for future use
2 lbs portioned off for meatloaf
1 lb portioned off for burgers



This can take a little while to do, but it will save you time later on. I start by cooking off my 1lb of ground beef I plan on freezing for later use.  I like to keep 1 lb of unseasoned ground beef in the freezer for random days I don't have anything planned.  I can use it in a variety of dishes, and since its already cooked, I can defrost it and add it in to whatever I'm cooking.

I cook the ground beef for my chili next.  I always cook it with green peppers and onions (one of each).  It adds a little extra flavor to the beef.  I make a very tasty chili.  I'll post my full recipe for this one later on in the week, so make sure to check back in.

The last one I cook off will be the taco meat.  Since it is the most seasoned, I save it until the end.  I'll be using this one to make a taco salad.

Make sure you drain the fat from the meat prior to placing it into a container to freeze.  I like to use microwave safe containers, but you can use quart size freezer bags.  Make sure you label and date your foods, especially if you plan on freezing them for later.

The remaining 3lbs of ground beef I decided to just portion off and freeze.  I could have made these ones in advance, but I also plan on doing future blog posts about these items, so I left them plan for just that reason.

Total time spent in the kitchen was a little more than an hour, but just this little bit of work ahead of time will save me so much more time when I go to cook later on in the week.