Frugal Menu Mamas

If you missed Part I or my intro, follow the links.

So, if you remember from yesterday, Swister and Mom organized all the cookie sheets and ingredients the night before.

When we got the meat to the house, we started on the meatballs and browned ground beef.  I was in charge of the browned ground beef.  I used two Pampered Chef 12 inch skillets with lids and placed 5 lbs. at a time in each pan.  I browned it and chopped it using a Pampered Chef Mix N Chop.  Then I poured all the meat into a colander that was sitting in a bowl.  I drained the grease and poured the grease into an empty milk jug.  Then, depending on whose meat it was, myself or the owner divided it into the freezer containers of their choice in 3/4 lb. or 1 lb. sizes.  This was easy to do because the meat was came in 10 lb. packages and I divided into to 5 lb. groups for browning.  So, for folks who wanted 1 lb. sizes, I just divided the bowl of meat into 5 groupings.  My Swister likes her’s in 3/4 lb. packages (to save a little money) and she know that 1 3/4 cups of browned meat equals 3/4 lb., so we just measured that out.

The freezer containers we used were Ziploc freezer bags and square disposable plastic containers.  We lined them up on Swister’s bookshelf and left them open to cool (don’t want to freeze in the condensation).  We will use these 3/4 or 1 lb. packages for meals like tacos, sloppy joes, and casseroles.

While, I started the browned ground beef, Mom and Swister started the meatballs.  Swister had to measure out some of the meat for these to get the portions each person wanted, but she had already measure out the other ingredients so they could get started mixing and rolling for this. Oh-if you do this, please take off rings for this messy, slightly gross part. 

Mom and Swister had about six cookie sheets (lined with foil for easy clean up) ready.  They mixed the meatballs and then scooped them out with the Pampered Chef medium scoop (Swister and I both used to sell Pampered Chef and we LOVE their products!).  Then they took each scooped meatball and rolled it to perfection.  We fit two sheets at a time in the oven and we were rotating them constantly!  All in all, we made 310 meatballs! 

After the meatballs, Mom made 4 or 5 meatloaves for her and Swister.  I did not want any–remember I’m a picky eater!  :)  I didn’t get any photos of those, sorry.

Swister and I worked on hamburger patties.  I chose to freeze mine wrapped individually in foil and then placed in a Ziploc freezer bag.  Swister used the cookie sheets to flash freezer her hamburgers and then she will transfer them to a bag.  We made over 50 hamburger patties!

So, I received 15 lbs. of browned ground beef, 130 meatballs, and over 30 hamburger patties!  It will take my family of four a long time to get through all that!

In case you are curious, it took us about 4.5 hours to do all that and clean up.  Not bad!  We went out to eat afterward, my husband was surprised we didn’t grill any hamburgers. 

And look…

We don’t look too bad after all that work…and we still like each other!  It was fun to do this with my sister and mom.  I would NOT try to do 80 lbs. on my own.  That would be miserable.  But with friends or family it is manageable.  Plus, I am thrilled to have all those meals awaiting us in the freezer!

So, now you know what we did with the meat.  :)  So, do you think we are crazy or smart?

Happy Friday!

Don’t forget about the giveaway!