Freezer Full of Beef; Need Recipes!!

Updated on February 03, 2011
R.D. asks from Haysville, KS
9 answers

Hello everyone,

I grew up on a ranch, where we raise cattle and evey so often we have one butchered. Well, my parents still always give my husband and I about half of a cow, which is a TON of meat!! We just got our latest order, and it is mostly ground beef, hamburger patties, steaks, roasts....a little bit of everything, but the majority is ground beef. It's so great to have free meat, but I don't have a ton of recipes to use it all and we are getting tired of the same 'ol thing. I was wondering if anyone had some recipes they would be willing to share? I'd like them to be somewhat healthy, but if not it's not a huge deal. We just literally have a whole deep freezer filled to the brim, plus our freezer upstairs! It's just my husband, me, and our almost-two year old, so it's going to take awhile! Thanks in advance!

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M.J.

answers from Sacramento on

I used to work for the meat industry and do recommend going to www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com for recipe ideas. This is the National Beef Council's "Beef, It's What's for Dinner" ad campaign site and it's full of recipes.

Also, for healthy recipes, try the site for CookingLight magazine. Their recipes are always winners and I'm sure you'll find some wonderful meal options through them.

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L.K.

answers from Detroit on

Allreceipes.com Check it out and you can try Kraft.com. I have enjoyed what I have made off these sites. Have fun!!!

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T.K.

answers from Dallas on

I like to make homemade salsbury steak. Just cook hamburger patties in a skillet on the stove. Remove from skillet when they are medium rare. Add sliced mushrooms and worsteshire sauce to the skillet and saute until mushrooms soften a bit. Add 1 can of beef stock or beef broth. Add the patties back and make a slurry of corn starch and water. Add to the skillet to thicken and make gravy. Serve over buttered noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes.

I'm not that big on ground beef, but one thing I do like is taco meat. You can make a ton of it and freeze it in ziploc bags. Then anytime you want, pull out a bag and defrost for quick tacos, taco salad, quesadillas, nachos, chile rellenoes.

I make the simplest, best chili you ever had. Rotelle makes a variety called "Chili Fixins" You just pour a couple cans of that and some tomatoe sauce into a pot of cooked ground beef or chili meat. It's just perfect as is. Easy, cheap, and super flavorful. I make cornbread to serve with and put a little cheese on top of the chilli - damn I want soem right now!

Have you ever made Sheppards Pie? It's layered mashed potatoes, gravy, cooked ground meat, and veggies. You can find a lot of good versions on Allrecipes.com

The roasts - straight into the crock pot. I like to make pot roast with carrots and potatoes to eat on day 1. I shred the leftovers and add bbq sauce for bbq sandwhiches for day 2.

What a great problem to have!

1 mom found this helpful
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M.!.

answers from Columbus on

we do the same - but only get a quarter of the cow which equals 50 lbs of hamburger and the rest steaks and roasts.

We do:
Tacos
Meatballs
Spag w meat sauce
Hamburger
Lasagna
Chili
Beef tamales
I cant think of name but its the egg noodles w hamburger and sour cream and mushrooms. Hamburger Helper has something similar but we make ours homemade

Also we got to betty crocker and they have a section where you can type up to 3 ingredients and a ton of recipes pop up. You can try that too.

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K.L.

answers from St. Louis on

A recipe I created that remains one of my husband's all time favorite meals is what I call burrito pie. I'm one of those cooks that doesn't measure anything, so I'll do my best here:

2-3 T. olive oil
1 small onion chopped
2-3 stalks celery chopped
1 small bell pepper chopped (optional)
1 lb ground red meat (I often use bison or venison)
12 to 1 cup corn meal
1 can fat-free refried beans (fat free means it's all beans, no shortening added)
2 tsp. cumin (chili powder can be used instead of cumin & cayenne)
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. hot hungarian paprika (if you only have mild paprika, you may wish to add more cayenne)
1/2 cup mild salsa
1 T. honey
Salt to taste

2 pkg. Jiffy cornbread mix
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
2 T. honey
1-2 tabs butter or olive oil spray for greasing pan

4 Roma tomatoes chopped (reserve for topping)
1 bag shredded iceburg lettuce (reserve for topping)
1 bag shredded chedar cheese (reserve for topping)
Sour cream and/or salsa (reserve for topping)

In a large skillet, saute about equal amounts of onion celery & bell peppers in olive oil with a pinch of the seasonings on low/med heat. Add ground meat, corn meal, and the rest of the seasonings at once and mix well while browning. (If beef is fatty, you may need to brown separately and drain fat.) Add refried beans, salsa, and honey. Salt to taste. Turn off heat and allow to cool slightly while heating oven and mixing cornbread.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Beat egg, add milk, then stir in mix and then honey. Pour batter into greased/oiled large (about 13X9 in.) casserole pan. Spoon the meat/bean mixture onto the cornbread batter, leaving about 1/2 inch of batter around the edges for a crust. Bake about 20 minutes, until cornbread is golden brown. Remove from oven and top with cheese, allow to cool about 5 - 10 minutes.

Cut into squares, place servings onto plates, top with lettuce and tomatoes and garnish with sour cream, salsa, and/or extra cheese. Tortilla chips are a nice addition.

This keeps well in the fridge and can provide about 3 nights of meals for a family your size. If it seems like too much, you can freeze half of the meat/bean mixture and use 1 box of cornbread mix in a smaller casserole dish. It is just my husband and I now that our son is grown. We get 2 meals from this half size.

This is a little trouble to make, but it is quite good and makes great leftovers.

Keep in mind, also, that people rarely donate enough meat to local food pantries. If it really is too much read meat for your health, you might want to share the wealth. There are a lot of families that get very little meat.

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C.T.

answers from New York on

I have two recipes that use ground beef that I love and the best part is being able to freeze them!

Beefy Mac and Cheese (with Green Beans):
Prep:25 minutes
Cooking: 1 to 1.25 hrs (if frozen)
Temp: 375F

2/3 c Elbows or corkscrew mac
12 oz lean beef
1/2 chopped onion
(1) 10.75 oz can of mushroom soup
1/4 c. milk or water
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder or use garlic pieces (which I prefer)
9 oz cut green beans
1/4 c. shredded cheddar

-Cook pasta till al dente to slightly hard
-If using frozen green beans, slightly defrost by draining pasta over them.
- Place pasta and green beans into pot
- Brown meat and onion (and garlic pieces if using) in seperate pot. Add mixture to pasta/green bean pot.
- Mix soup, milk (or water), basil and garlic powder into pasta.
- Stir well and spoon into 10x6x2 foil pan.
- Cover with foil, seal and freeze.
- Bake till thawed. Stir evey 30 to 45 minutes. Add extra milk, if needed. Top with cheese and allow to melt prior to serving.

Hamburger Macaroni Skillet
(This one you make up and freeze the "sauce" only.)
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 35 min
Temp: None - stove top only

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can tomato soup
1 can water
1 Tblesp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic
1/2 lb macaroni

-Brown meat. Drain and rinse fat, if needed.
- Brown onion.
- Add all remaining ingredients, except macaroni.
- Bring to a boil. <- Can be frozen at this point, once cooled.
- Add macaroni. Cover and cook over low heat about 35 minutes or until macaroni is soft.

Variations: Add 1c. whole kernel corn. Top with 1/4c. Parmesan cheese.

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S.H.

answers from Jacksonville on

Campbell's Soup has recipes for most of their soups on the backs of the cans. I'm sure you could go to the website also.

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B.S.

answers from Kansas City on

HAMB CASSEROLE

1LB Hamb -1 8oz can tomato sause- 8oz sour cream-8ozs cottage cheese-1/2 pkg wide egg noodles-1tsp each(onion-garlic salt) can add more for a stronger flavor,shreaded cheese:Brown hamb,drain,add tomato sauce,salt-pepper to taste. Cook noodles,drain,In same pan mix noodles with sour cream, cottage cheese, onion-garlic salt. Layer meat & noodles in cass dish-top with cheese-reheat in micro wave until cheese is melted.

D.H.

answers from Kansas City on

My hubby bought a ton of ground beef and burgers were out of the question since he also bought patties. I went and googled ground beef recipes..Pillsbury has good ones. Hope this helps. Our cow will be coming soon...Yay!

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