Community » Cooking on a Budget

Subject: Burger

Hi, i'm trying to find new and family friendly ways to use our over-abundance of hamburger. We recently purchased a 1/4 of a cow, and ended up with more hamburger than anything else. We'll find a different butcher next time, but in the meantime I could really use some suggestions on what to do with all of this.

Holy cow

Wow, that's a lot of ground meat!

For starters, I'd suggest:

Chili, it freezes very well
Casseroles, including Ground Beef
Burritos
the BigOven Leftover Wizard, with Ground Beef.

Good luck!

[edited April-2-2009]

[edited April-3-2009]

You could also make sloppy joes, meatloaf, spaghetti and meatballs, and tacos.

I got a really amazing deal about a year ago for 80% burger at 49 cents/lb but I had to buy 10 lbs, so I understand

Here's what I did:

Mini meatloaves... make your favorite/usual meatloaf and then scoop the mix into individual servings using a muffin tin. Then freeze them and pop them out into a freezer bag. 1 or 2 per person is usually enough. You can cook them for about 1/3 to 1/2 the time you would a full-sized loaf and they look really cute.

"Crazy" Burgers... take any seasoning mixes (Mrs Dash or whatever) or dry rubs that you use on a regular basis and put about 2-3 Tbsp of mix/rub per 1 lb of burger. If you want to get interesting with it, mix in some blue cheese crumbles or shredded cheese too. Then make 1/4 lb patties and freeze them. Label them carefully so that you don't lose track of which is which. This also helps out if you have several family or household members with different tastes because they can each pick a flavor they like!

Porcupine Meatballs... www.bigoven.com/36061-Beef-Porcupines-recipe.html I add a tsp of cayenne and a 2 tsp of worcestershire sauce to the tomato sauce.

I also made lots of chili, bolognese, and lasagna.

Also, don't overlook the helpfulness of just having plain burger in the freezer (depending on your household size, in 1-2 lb units) to use in whatever new & enticing recipe you might find. You're usually good to keep it frozen for up to 6 months (This is according to most references I found. I am not an expert. Don't sue me!)

Good Luck