If you’ve read any of my menu plans, you know that I pre-cook my ground beef. It totally works for me!
I sometimes wonder why I ever didn’t do this. For us, as a busy family, it means I can have dinner on the table within ten minutes. That’s faster than I could run out for fast food, or bake a frozen pizza. And these are “real” dinners.
I thought I’d share a list of the ways I use the pre-cooked ground beef. I took some pictures of last Saturday night’s easy supper. Does your husband roll his eyes too when you get your camera out to photograph dinner?
Things I could make right now in 10 minutes with the beef plus what I have in the pantry/freezer:
Spaghetti
Nachos
Things I could make in 20-30 minutes:
Pizza using canned pizza dough, canned biscuits, English muffins, bagels, or whatever.
Pizza pockets (pics below)
Tater tot casserole
Mexican casserole
Beef Stroganoff
Just a reminder, when you thaw the frozen, cooked ground beef, don’t put your microwave on full power. It defrosts amazingly quickly, and you’ll end up cooking it again, making it rubbery. On my microwave, I punch in 1:00, and then hit power, and then hit 1, and then start, which cooks it on 10% power. If it isn’t thawed after this, I do another minute at a time until it is. Most of these meals involve the meat being further heated, so I just need it thawed.
The nachos were something I made last night when we had Chicken Tortilla Soup. My husband and I love the soup, but it’s a little spicy for the kids, so I usually make nachos to go along with it so they will have something that they (and my husband) like. I normally open a can of ranch style beans to put on the nachos for some protein, but I was out. So I thawed some of the beef, and sprinkled it onto the chips before I added the cheese.
The pizza pockets in the picture above are one of our favorites. THey are perfect for a Saturday night meal that needs to be made quickly in order to stifle the urge to eat out!
I use Pillsbury pizza crust. I like the thin crust, because I don’t have to roll it out as much to make it big enough for 4 pockets. I thaw the ground beef, and sprinkle it onto the raw dough which I’ve cut into quarters with my pizza cutter. Then I add mozzarella cheese.
I fold up the sides, and then flip them to put the pretty side on top.
Since the meat is already cooked, I just bake according to the crust’s package directions.
I serve with dipping cups of marinara sauce. For my family of 5, I use two cans of dough and make 8 pizza pockets. My boys are growing fast, and I may have to make 12 before too long.
As someone who constantly struggles with keeping my house under control, this is a coping mechanism that I have developed. It’s very important to me to feed my family at home, but with my deficient organizational skills, I can get very overwhelmed by this. Having a large variety of meals already half-prepared by having the meat cooked saves me so much stress. It totally works for me!
Check out lots of other ideas at Works For Me Wednesday.
