Saturday, January 30, 2010

How to Store Ground Beef



I bought some excellent ground beef that the butcher ground from lean sirloin steaks. Here's how I like to store it in the freezer for convenience.

1. Take about 3 lbs. of meat and put it in a freezer ziploc bag. Flatten the meat so it is evenly distributed throughout the bag.

2. Take a chopstick or long spoon and press a 3X3 grid in the meat (outside the bag). Try to go all the way through to the other side.

3. Label and freeze.

The reason this is convenient is you can easily remove just the right amount of meat you need from the freezer. Each square is a little over 5 ounces of beef, which is a good amount for hamburgers. If you need a pound, take out three squares. Also, since there is very little extra air in the bag, you are less likely to get freezer burn.

This technique works for ground chicken, turkey, and pork as well.

3 comments:

Alison... said...

I like this idea although I doubt I would ever have that much in my freezer at once.

Unknown said...

This is a awesome and wonderful idea and it saves on the expensive freezer bags!

Stephanie Carnes said...

Thank you, Katie!