Crock Pot Make Ahead Ground Beef

Excellent idea. Pinned it on my Good Recipes. I will definitely try this very soon.

Karen-

Thank you SO much for pinning our stuff! We really appreciate it. Enjoy!!

This will be perfect for different recipes!

Yes! I use it all the time. Just this week I made some quick sloppy joes and a deep dish pizza with it. Enjoy!!

Thanks so much for this idea. I will definitely do this right away. Don’t know why I hadn’t already tried it, have always done it on the stove but, this will be much easier for me. Thanks again.

Joyce-

It is TOTALLY my favorite way. We have made it up in big batches for years, but this is by far the easiest way to do it. Enjoy!

WE ALL HAVE SUCH A BUSY LIFE, IT SEEMS, THAT

THIS IS WHAT WE NEED…PERFECT IDEA.THANKS FOR

SHARING IT.

WISH I HAD SOME TONIGHT, AS I HAD SURGERY YESTERDAY.

HUBBY COULD MAKE WHATEVER HE WANTED.

PAM IN KC, MO.

Pam- We just love having it on hand! Hope you recover quickly!

THIS IS SO CLEVER. GREAT IDEA.

I LOVE MY CROCK POT. USE IT ALL THE TIME.

WILL MAKE THIS RIGHT AWAY. SAVES USING THE

STOVE IN THE HEAT

THANK YOU , SO MUCH

Do try it Wanda– you will love it!!

Such a great idea to add the consume. I’ve done this before, and LOVE the technique…now I must try it using the consume. Thanks for sharing.

Marsha-

It adds such a great depth of flavor! Enjoy!!

Beef Consume contains too much salt – I use homemade beef stock instead. Made the beef stock in my slow cooker too!

Hi Karen- Glad you found what works for you. We love the consume and don’t find the beef to be too salty, especially since it is drained off with the fat at the end. However, we totally understand folks have different tastes. Either way, hope you enjoy!

Great idea! Why wasn’t it mine? And ground beef is on sale this week!

Oh I love a good sale! Enjoy!

Do you know how long it would be good in the freezer for?

Kristin- I usually use mine up within a month or a little more. Enjoy!

So it’s ok to refreeze ground beef, I have always heard you can’t refreeze

Hi Kacy-

I would never refreeze raw ground beef, but I always have once it is cooked. Hope that helps. Cris

this is going to be great. Doing it tomorrow.

My family doesn’t like onions BUT, I can put onion powder in things and they don’t complain. How much onion powder would be equivalent?

Hi Angel-

You can leave it out if you’d like or I would just add as much onion powder you normally add when cooking up a pound of beef x4. So if I normally use 1/2 tsp, I would add 2 teaspoons when batch cooking. Make sense?

This idea is going to help me out tremendously!! Won’t have to constantly stir, so much easier!! I am cooking my hamburger meat as we speak! Thanks a bunch!

Check out this recipe for how to make a large batch of ground beef in your slow cooker and freeze for later use! Our Crock Pot Make Ahead Ground Beef is perfect for everything from tacos to pizza to casseroles and makes dinner prep super easy in the evenings!

I just love this recipe and I use it ALL. THE. TIME.

Mikey even made a video to show how easy it is to throw together!

For years I have thrown prepared ground beef in my freezer for quick dinner prep, but I first got the idea for making my ground beef up in my slow cooker from my bloggy (and real life) pal Leah.

And since learning how, I have never turned back! You guys will have to check out Leah’s version too– she even makes hers with sausage in it.

Crock Pot Make Ahead Ground Beef

My version is different from Leah’s, but we love it just the same.

I LOVE that you can throw frozen or fresh ground beef in the slow cooker and let it cook up while you are away, then drain, cool, scoop into bags and freeze!

On Soapboxes and Judgement

Speaking of throwing it in the crock pot and leaving it to cook while you are away… That is exactly what I did the other day when I had promised Miss Add that I would take her to Barnes and Noble that afternoon.

***WARNING: We interrupt this recipe for a soapbox moment*** Scroll to next section if you want to skip my ramblings

Barnes and Noble is an occasional treat for Miss Add who loves to read… We are regulars at our library and she has a plethora of books on her kindle, but every once in a while we head to Barnes and Noble for her to find that special book that she will devour in less than 24 hours and will be all her own on her bookshelf to treasure and revisit in the future. All day Miss Add had been anticipating her selection process and we had been joking about how it would take longer for her to decide which book to choose then it would take her to read it cover to cover.

We get to the store, relish the selection and –oh!– the choosing! Once we have THE BOOK in hand, we practically skip all the way to the cashier’s line. It is in that line that we begin teasing each other again, and I say to her that I bet she will have the book read before she goes to sleep!

At this point, the woman behind us reprimands me… like I was Matilda‘s mom and thought my child’s reading was a nuisance.

She felt obligated to remind me as a parent, my daughter’s love for reading is a good thing and that I should appreciate it.

Totally caught off-guard I agreed with the woman and bought my child her book and walked out of the store feeling a bit like I had been in a hit and run by a judge-mobile.

Stunned, I had to remind myself that this woman I had no idea what the “reading culture” is like in my home. She just overheard what she thought was a parent griping about spending money on a book that wouldn’t last long and she decided to act upon that “knowledge”. She did not know that my daughter and I were joking all day about her appetite for books and that part of that joking is completely intended to encourage reading, not detour it. I felt like I wanted to explain myself but couldn’t… that I had been… well judged unfairly.

Isn’t that how most of us feel when we have been judged? That someone has taken incomplete information and made a decision about us?

Don’t get me wrong, it is soo easy to do… but this little incident has made me want to really try to stop and think before I judge someone. I don’t know who they are or what they are going through. It reminds me of that quote…

“Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.” (Some folks attribute it to Plato but apparently lots of folks have said it ). Everyone has something going on that not everyone knows about… so I am going to try (and I will fail… believe me) to show kindness and grace to my fellow folks out there… even the lady behind me in line at Barnes and Noble ;).

Back to the Beef

Well now that I have talked your ear off… your ground beef should be about done!

Oh wait! You still need the recipe Here ya go!

2-3 Small Onions, Chopped

4 Cloves Garlic Minced

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Place beef in slow cooker and top with remaining ingredients.

Cook for 2 hours(on high if frozen, low if fresh) and then chop to crumble.

Cook for 2-3 more hours until meat is fully cooked.

Drain and sprinkle on cookie sheets to cool.

Divide into four freezer bags and push all air out before freezing

Recommended Tools

We loved using our 6 Qt Crock Pot for this recipe as it gave us enough room for everything.

We also used our Chopstir Nylon Chopper halfway through to break up the beef very easily.

At the end, we sprinkled our beef out on a couple Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker’s Half Sheets to cool.

If you don’t like clean up with the crock pot, you can also consider using this slow cooker with a non-stick surface OR the very popular Slow Cooker Liners.

Affiliate links and lots of opinions were used in this post

Original article and pictures take http://recipesthatcrock.com/crock-pot-make-ahead-ground-beef/#_a5y_p=3805054 site