Save time, money and space with Hamburger

I have many job titles; including mom, wife, teacher, chauffeur, and chef. But, generally, I would describe my primary job as "home economist". This means it's my job to make sure that my household spends less money than my husband makes.

So, I am always searching for tips and tricks and ways to save money, stretch money and even make a little money. When we first were married, I read "The Tightwad Gazette"  and that really got me started on a life of frugality. I think it is the best gift for a newly married couple or for a baby shower - totally practical and useful and life changing and far longer lasting than any cute little baby dress or toaster. And, yes some people think I'm crazy when I give this gift. But, I'm okay with that. The benefits that I know the book will bring to the family (assuming they read it) are well worth the reputation as OneCrazyLady.

Anyway, to the point of this post - which by the way is not to promote Amy's book. I want to talk about one way that I save time, money and space when it comes to feeding my family.
1) I buy hamburger in bulk when it is on sale.
2) Then, I cook it. All of it. At once. This will save me countless hours cooking a pound or two at a time for each meal.

UPDATE (02/21/2014): The photo shows my meat cooking up in a frying pan, but now I buy it in 10 lb packages and cook it in a stock pot all at once. I add a little water to keep it from sticking to the bottom, drain it through a colander when cooked and check the temperature (160 is the safe temp. for cooked hamburger). It's quick and easy.

3) I drain the fat. Getting rid of this fat means the meat is better for you, and it will take up less space than if you had frozen it raw.
4)I let it cool a bit, then I put it into Ziploc bags. I use gallon bags; we are a family of 8 and one bag will give us about 2 meals, plus leftovers when thawed.
5) I lay these flat in my chest freezer.
6) After they are frozen stiff, they stack very nicely, like books in my upright.

Tip: I put the hamburger in the bags, then use a rolling pin to make it flat. Some of the items pictured are actually freezer meals that I made in advance and froze the same way. But, you can see how nicely they stack. I have 8 meals on one shelf in the freezer of a side by side unit, and room for more.
7) After filling up the freezer bags, I take whatever cooked meat is left, put it into a Tupperware or similar container for my refrigerator to be used that night. Get deals on freezer bags here.