How to Batch Cook 3 Weeknight Meals with Ground Beef
Cooking for a family on a budget or have ground beef in your freezer? We have step-by-step batch-cooking instructions on how to prepare 3 weeknight dinners for under $50.
Since ground beef is so versatile, we created three meals that are family friendly and don’t require many ingredients. Make delicious tacos, spaghetti, and sloppy joes with these super easy recipes.
Ground beef comes in various grinds, or lean-to-fat ratios. For meals like tacos, spaghetti and sloppy joes we picked a leaner grind of 93:7%.. For more information on shopping for ground beef, click here.
Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef
- Taco seasoning
- Tortillas or taco shells
- Toppings (pico de gallo, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, etc.)
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef
- Spaghetti sauce
- Noodles
Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- Green bell pepper
- 1 can (14 0z.) unsalted tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp. dry mustard
- Hamburger buns
Other Items:
- 3 plastic or glass storage containers
We were able to buy all of these ingredients for under $50, since you might already have some staple items in your kitchen!
Start by browning 3 lbs. of ground beef at once with 3 cups of onion. If you don’t have a skillet large enough, you can brown it in batches. Once it’s browned, separate into thirds and add ingredients for the meals. All that’s left is putting the beef mixtures in storage containers, and they’re ready to be chowed down on later that week!
Learn how to crumble beef quickly with this tutorial:
Now, you have 3 delicious make-ahead meals that the whole family will love! Taking a few hours on the weekend to batch cook saves time, money and stress. Spend less time in the kitchen during the week and more time doing what matters most to you!
Looking for more meals that include pantry and freezer staples? Try our recipe generator.
If you have any batch cooking tips or meal solutions, comment below!
