If you’ve been following my meal planning, then you know I have a different once a month cooking style than most. Rather than making the entire meal ahead and freezing it, I often just do the prep work. So if I want to have stir fry this month, I’ll cut the meat up, combine it with the marinade and freeze. When dinnertime arrives, much of the messy and time consuming part of the meal is done, but I have the advantage of a fresh tasting meal! Another advantage is that I can alter the recipe. With traditional once-a-month cooking, you often triple or quadruple a recipe and cook it completely. That means less work at mealtime, but you have to suffer meal-rerun-itis.
So today, I have compiled a list of delicious and mom-tested recipes that call for ground beef. During my once a month cooking sessions, I’ll be cooking loads of ground beef and freezing it in mealsize portions. Then each week I’ll take a look at this list to see what sounds appealing and/or calls for ingredients that are on sale! Imagine how smoothly dinnertime will go when the ground beef is cooked ahead for these recipes! I’ll be referring to this list each month when I post my make ahead meal plan, and I would LOVE to include your favorite ground beef recipe! Please email it to momsbyheartatgmaildotcom
Here goes:
- Crock Pot Chili
- Taco Bagel Bites
- Crock Pot Cheeseburgers
- Microwave Mexican Manicotti
- Burrito Pie
- Szechuan Noodles With Spicy Beef Sauce
- Beefy Jalapeno Corn Bake
- Cheesy Burger Mac
- Easy DIY Sloppy Joe Sauce
- Pizza Bagels
- Taco Loaf
- Burritos
- Beef Casserole
- Beef Enchiladas
- Siesta Fiesta Pie
- 30 Minute Spaghetti Sauce
- Deep Dish Pizza Casserole
- Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli Soup in a Crock Pot (Copycat)
- Make Ahead Southwest Cattle Rancher’s Pie
- Crock Pot Taco Soup
- Pizza Snack Cups
- Awesome Hot Dog Chili Sauce
- Easy Taco Casserole
- Pizza Roll-Ups
- Tijuana Train Wreck
- Deep-Dish Pizza Casserole
- Taco Casserole
- Mexican Stuffed Shells
- Hamburger with Mushroom Cream Sauce
- Crock Pot Stacked Enchiladas
- Taco Salad
- Cheeseburger Wraps
- Cheesy Mostaccioli
- Taco Spaghetti
- Mini Tacos
- Taco Junk
- Southwestern Baked Spaghetti
- Beef, Macaroni and Tomato Casserole
- Pizza Burgers
- Easy Pizza Pasta Casserole
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Other posts you may like:
- 30 things to do with meatballs
- 40 shredded chicken recipes
- Make Ahead Meals 101
- Lunchbox Love – free printable lunch notes and recipe ideas
- Scroll through THESE posts for more make ahead ideas
Posted in: Meal Planning
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the list of ground beef recipes. I like the idea of OAMC, but I'm trying to find the right mix of fresh and frozen dinners. I still enjoy cooking and want to express that creativity on some nights. Other nights I want to pop in a casserole and put dinner on auto-pilot.
Love your menus and OAMC posts!! My question is this: what do you find to cook 6 lbs of beef in at once? My pan fits 3, maybe, with tons of spill-overs. If you have time to respond, that would be great. scrmbld (at) hotmail (dot) com. Thanks!
I use a large wok. works great!
Hi Nikki!
I have two pans going at once. The ones I use are 12" skillets with the tall sides. Sometimes they call them "Fryers". Works great for large batches like this =)
Such a great idea! When you brown your ground beef, do add anything to it? Like spices, or onion?
Thanks for all the awesome tips on your blog!
Sara
I do add a little onion and garlic but you wouldn’t have to. Just a personal preference.
I usually chop up onions, carrots (very fine) and add garlic.
Thank you for the ideas! I get so tired making the same things over and over. I just found a few new recipes to try, thank you!
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