The concept of cooking up several pounds of burger for the month is not a new one to many people.
Perhaps my way of accomplishing this is.
I decided to purchase 2 -10 lb chubs of ground beef from Winco. An easy $40. I knew I wanted it cooked up, drained and divided.
Next:
How to go about doing this without being in the kitchen forever.
My biggest pan is only just big enough to handle a 5 lb. chub and that is pushing it.
Last Christmas I was fortunate to receive a turkey roaster. You know, one like this:
Little did I realize I would be using it for more than just turkeys.
I figured out that it was perfect for cooking 20 lbs of burger.
I put the 20 lbs of burger into my roaster, broke up the burger a bit with a spatula and turned the roaster on to 375 degrees F.
Every 20 minutes or so I would go in and stir and break up the burger then allow it to cook for another 20 minutes.
I kept bumping (by accident) the dial to 400 and 450 degrees and wouldn't realize it until I got back to it 20 minutes later. So my times of cooking this are going to be a guesstimate.
I let this cook for about 3 hours. If the temperature stays at a constant 375 degrees it will take a bit longer. You could do as I did and "accidentally" bump the dial to 400 or 450.
As you are cooking this, you may notice that the burger sticks to the sides of the roaster. Be sure to scrape all sides every 20 minutes. Get the meat in the middle off the bottom and distributed.
It is safest when the burger is at or above 160 degrees which you can use a meat thermometer for. I tested in various depths and areas to ensure the meat was thoroughly cooked. I like this meat thermometer because its sheath has the food safety temperature guide on the side. Easy to remember what everything needs to be.
Because I am cheap I purchased meat that was 27% fat. Yuck! Last week we had some of that meat and I forgot to drain it. Oh yuck!
So! If you have anything fattier than the leanest meat you can find, drain it and if you want even less fat, rinse it with hot water.
The fat content can be significantly reduced when you drain and rinse, as explained here.
So, carefully move the roaster pan onto hot pads right next to your sink.
Get a large bowl, one or more colanders and a large measuring cup.
Gallon freezer storage bags are what I use to store approximately 4 lbs cooked and drained meat.
Scoop out the cooked burger into a colander. Rinse under hot water. I go until the drainage isn't milky with fat. Let drain into large bowl.
If you have a second colander, fill it, rinse it and then set it to drain under the first colander.
Scoop meat from the first colander into baggies til they are the desired weight or amount.
Do the above steps until all the meat has been rinsed, drained and bagged.
Lay flat in freezer.
If you put a butter knife or dowel rod on top or between bags, you can more easily divide the meat into portions. So my 4 lb bags I would divide in two because we typically use 2 lbs for a meal. If you need 1 lb. you can divide a 4 lb bag by placing on x or t with the dividers.
This can be a quick add-in for spaghetti, stroganoff, sloppy joes, sweet and sour beef over rice, or anything you would typically use browned ground beef in.
Unfortunately you won't be able to make this into meatballs or patties, but if you wanted to make those with the raw meat, you could.
Til next time!
Jennifer, Mom of 5
