Feeding Teens - Eight meals from a 10lb log of Hamburg

8 hamburgers, 2 containers of cheeseburger soup, 1 meatloaf, 2 bags of taco meat & 2 bags of seasoned hamburger for goulash & chili

I love the idea of freezer cooking, but dislike all the chaos it creates.  So I scale it down.  Rather than spend hundreds of dollars and hours in the kitchen, I come home with one meat in bulk, and spend about an hour  (or less) prepping it into meals.  

This week I came home with a 10lb log of hamburg from Sams Club, and I turned it into:

1 large meatloaf
2 crockpots of cheeseburger soup (will need milk and beef broth)
8 Hamburgers
2 qt bags of precooked seasoned beef, destined for chili & goulash
2 qt bags of taco meat for taco nights


How many meals you get out of this will vary greatly by family.  I can't even know how many meals I got out of this, since with a house full of older teens, you can never be sure too far in advance how many will be home for dinner.  8 hamburgers might be one meal, or I might get two meals out of them - depends on the night.  When I say "Eight Meals" - it's really just a guess. 

A list of all the "extra" ingredients I used is at the bottom of this post.  Here is what I did step by step:


Cut the log of beef roughly in half.  Start browning about half  of  the hamburg in one pan (dutch oven sized works well)
 Season with:
Garlic
Pepper
Salt
worcestershire sauce

I put half a stick of butter in a frying pan, and then put an entire large, sweet, onion in my ninja to dice very very fine - almost pureed.  Saute the onion in the butter while browning the hamburg.  

Remove the onion into a bowl to cool, add another half stick of butter to the pan. Put a bag of pepper and onion strips (Wengers in Mifflinburg often has the bags for 99 cents, they are great to keep on hand) and dice. Saute the peppers and onions.  Set aside to cool.

The first batch of beef should be browned and ready to set aside to cool now - I just moved the pan to a cold burner.

Hamburgers

Add about 3lbs of raw hamburg to a mixing bowl.
Add:
  Egg, Salt, pepper, garlic, worcestershire sauce, shredded cheese, the sauted onion, and shredded cheese.  Mix.  Use and ice cream scoop, heaped, to measure out into 8 hamburgers.

Meatloaf

There's a lot of hamburg left in the bowl.  
Add: Oatmeal (or bread crumbs) parmesan cheese,  another egg, 3/4 a can of tomato paste and a lot of italian seasoning. Mix thoroughly. Shape into a meatloaf, top with the rest of the tomato paste, italian seasonings, and coarse sea salt.

You can put this in a pan in the freezer, on saran wrap, flash freeze it,then remove the saran wrap and wrap in foil.  

Cheeseburger Soup

I bought a case of cheap french fries at Wengers.  Using just part of one bag, I fill the ninja about 3/4 full, and pulse, just to roughly dice the french fries.  I put them in to saute in a frying pan, with just a bit of oil. Meanwhile I put carrots in the ninja and dice them very fine, then add them to the pan to cook with the french fries.

In a large mixing bowl I add about half of the cooked ground beef,  I add about a two cups of sour cream, the peppers and onions I sauteed earlier, then the french fries and carrot mixture,and a generous amount of shredded cheese.  I scoop the mixture into two larger rubbermaid containers, and set them aside to cool.  (When I make this, I'll add a little beef bouillon and water to the crockpot, enough to cover the bottom of the pan.  Some milk - maybe two cups?  And this frozen mixture.  I'll leave it in the crockpot on high for a few hours, or on low all day.

Seasoned Beef for Goulash And Chili
The seasoned, browned, beef left in the pan I split into two qt size freezer bags, to use in chili & goulash.  My pantry is well stocked with beans & pasta, and I canned a lot of tomatoes this summer. I keep Tones bouillon on hand all the time too, so these are meals I can now throw together in minutes.

Taco Meat
I put the last of the beef into the pan with taco seasoning, and brown that while cleaning up the kitchen.  I let it cool quite a bit (I typed this post while it cooled) and then put it in ziplock bags.

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Extra Ingredients:
Seasonings:
Garlic Powder
Italian Seasoning
Salt
Pepper
taco seasoning
Worcestershire Sauce

Parmesan Cheese
Bag of shredded cheese (I used about 3/4 of one 16 ounce bag of mexican blend cheese, from Sam's club)
1 can tomato paste (or you can use ketchup)
1 onion
1 stick of butter
2 cups of sour cream
3 eggs
oatmeal, or bread crumbs, or whatever you use for meatloaf
Pepper & Onion strips
french fries, or diced potatoes
carrots

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Other Ground Beef Recipes:
Shepherd's Pie
BBQ (sloppy joes)
meatballs
White Castle Style Sliders