I try to only purchase meat when it’s on sale and in value packs. It’s nice to always have some meat in the freezer. I freeze my ground beef in 1-ish pound portions in a freezer bag.
There’s one thing I don’t like about freezing ground beef though. If you don’t have the forethought to pull it out of the freezer far enough in advance you have to defrost it in the microwave and it doesn’t defrost evenly. By the time the inside isn’t rock-solid the outside has begun to do that weird thing where it starts to cook – gross.
So here’s the tip. I freeze my ground beef flat. I used to (and I think many people do) freeze it in a ball-shape or a round-ish chunk. I find that if I freeze it flat that it defrosts quicker and evenly. Ta-da! (Yeah I know … this is the ground-breaking stuff you read my blog for isn’t it? 
)
Why I do what I do ~ I made muffins for the girls today. My youngest niece (age 2) came up to me and said, “More muffin man please.”
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
You’re right, freezing meat flat in freezer bags does work great. My mom taught me to do that years ago. It does help it thaw pretty quickly.
When I’m in a real hurry to thaw my ground beef, I find that if I run warm water (not hot) in the sink and put the meat in the water, it thaws really quickly without cooking the edges, like it does in the microwave.
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I freeze my ground beef flat, too! And yes, this is the ground-breaking information I seek from your blog. : ) Thanks!
@Susan – LOL! Thanks
I too hate when you defrost ground beef and the edges cook yet the middle remains frozen. I do freeze chicken this way but hadn’t thought of opening up the ground beef and storing it flat in ziploc baggies. Great tip! It’s so obvious now
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I usually thaw mine in the frying pan. I just scrap off the edges as they start to cook until it’s all thawed. I should really try the microwave sometime though. Thanks for the tip!
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The flat freezing is a great suggestion.
In practice, I’m with Momstheword. We are lucky enough to be able to buy our beef by the 1/2 cow, the ground beef is in 1.5lb loafs. If I happen to forget to pull it out in advance, I just thaw it in the frying pan. The caveat, I wouldn’t just toss it into the slowcooker on low as a solid chunk, with the low heat parts of the meat could remain at an unsafe temperature for too long.
This is a great tip! We do this too, not only because it defrosts quicker, but also because we also buy our ground beef in bulk, so freezing all those one pound packs is so much easier when they are all flattened. Takes up way less space in the freezer.
Also, if I forgot to pull meat out to thaw I fill up this tall, rectangular Tupperware thing we have (I think it’s really supposed to be used for storing cereals or pasta or something) with cold water and put in the frozen meat pack. The water covers the whole thing, and the cold water doesn’t cook it, but does defrost it. So convenient for all those many times I don’t plan ahead!
Nikki, if you’re not in too much of a hurry to defrost youe meat (maybe you have 45 minutes), put it in a heavy-bottomed skillet. Somehow the metal communicates the cold away from the meat, and it thaws MUCH faster!
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Great idea. I’ll have to be sure to do this next time I buy bulk ground beef. I do come here for the ground breaking stuff. You have inspired me to bake our own bread for the last 6 loaves. Yesterday’s batch was the most delicious with a perfect cutting texture and crust. Yum!
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I’m so happy to hear that about the bread! Glad I could help
This is probably counter productive to the whole “being frugal” thing, but I buy our ground beef in the 1 pound chubby packs and when I need them, I sit them in a bath of hot water for 10-15 minutues. For me, it’s more a matter of convenience over being frugal. My utter laziness outweighs my frugalness sometimes.
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This is a good tip. Like Courtney wrote, it takes up less space and a crowded freezer can be a real pain in terms of fitting stuff in there. I always seem to have trouble locating the actual frozen item I am looking for.
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I do this too…including premade hamburger patties. I buy the ground beef in bulk, come home pat out the burgers, and then put them in ziploc bags. Then, they can just be tossed on the grill!
A tip my sister gave me is that she does on big “fry” of hamburger meat. Then, she throws it in the freezer in ziplocs. When she needs some for a meal (like spaghetti) it is already cooked and it just has to be heated. Pretty cool!
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Like Lori mentioned, I will fry up a giant batch of ground beef. I dump it into a colander in the sink, give it a quick rinse with some hot water to get a lot of the grease off and then I’ll drain on cookie sheets that have been covered with paper towels.
I’ll measure out 1-lb ziploc freezer bags full, flatten them when I freeze them and then whenever I need ground beef at the last minute I can grab one of these packages, microwave at defrost 1-lb and then dump into whatever I’m making (spaghetti, sloppy joes, chow mein, cabbage soup, chili, etc.).
What size ziploc do you use to freeze one pound of meat?
Tim, I use a quart-size freezer bag.