Cooked Ground Beef is a great staple to have on hand for your meal planning! Cook it ahead of time for easy meal assembly. Here are 7+ Easy and Delicious Recipes with Ground Beef!

Life is busy. Kids are busy. Work is busy. Just trying to stay on top of laundry, schedules, appointments, and school is tough enough, but then we have to deal with meals! But don’t worry, I want to help you. By taking the time to do meal prep ahead of time, you can save yourself a lot of stress during hectic weeks.

When I can, I like to set aside an afternoon on Sundays and do some meal preparation. I’ll cook up a batch of ground beef, prepare some cooked shredded chicken, chop vegetables for lunches, make a batch of cookies, all in an attempt to make our week ahead easier on everyone. It can seem daunting, but the pay off is SO SO worth it. The kids have ingredients at their fingertips for lunches, and I have meal prep taken care of, so when 4:00PM rolls around, I’m thankful I did most of my meal prep on the weekend…it’s such a relief.

Recently I shared how making shredded chicken ahead of time for meals was a life saver for me, and now I’m going to share another one of my favourite meal planning time savers…cooking ground beef ahead of time. Ground beef is a staple in our home, especially on busy weeknights. I like to have batches of cooked and seasoned ground beef in the freezer that I can take out and add to soups, stews, tacos and casseroles. It’s so hand to have ready to use.

How to Prepare Cooked Ground Beef

I like to buy the big packages of lean ground beef (the ones with about 8 lbs of meat), and cook it with diced onion, minced garlic, salt and pepper. That way when I need to use the cooked beef it’s already seasoned, and ready to use right away. Once it’s cooked I will store it in ziplock bags or plastic containers and freeze it, usually 1 1/2 to 2 lbs per package, so it can go right into a recipe.

How to make a big batch of ground beef

Print Recipe

Cooked Ground Beef is a great staple to have on hand for your meal planning! Cook it ahead of time for easy meal assembly. Here are 6 Easy and Delicious Recipes with Ground Beef!

Author: Jo-Anna Rooney
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: -26861535 minutes
Total Time: 50 minute
Category: Beef

Ingredients

Scale

8 lbs ground beef
1 large onion
1 – 2 cloves garlic (minced)
salt & fresh ground pepper

Instructions

To a large skillet on medium-high heat, add the ground beef, onions, garlic and salt & pepper.
As the beef cooks, use a spoon to break up the meat so it cooks evenly.
Cook until the ground beef is no longer pink.
Drain the fat.
Now you can portion the meat into 1 – 2 lb portions and use accordingly.

6+ Easy and Delicious Recipes with Ground Beef

Now that you’ve got all of this cooked ground beef, what are you to do with it? Here are some of our family favourite recipes:

Cabbage Roll Soup

This Cabbage Roll Soup is a hearty, healthy and delicious dinner…and it tastes just like cabbage rolls! Ready in 1 hour. GET THE RECIPE

Classic Lasagna

This is a classic and delicious recipe for lasagna! Made with layers of rich tomato sauce and ground beef, noodles, ricotta cheese and loads of shredded mozzarella and parmesan. GET THE RECIPE HERE

Hamburger Soup

Hamburger Soup is a simple and delicious weeknight meal! It’s hearty because it is loaded with seasonal vegetables and ground beef. This recipe is great because it makes a big batch. GET THE RECIPE

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

This spaghetti sauce recipe is simple to make, and results in a big batch of sauce that makes enough for two meals (love that!). It’s great served over spaghetti or in lasagna recipes. So good! GET THE RECIPE

Easy Ravioli Lasagna

This Easy Ravioli Lasagna is just what it says…easy. Taking a few simple shortcuts with the ingredients, and you can have this hearty and healthy dinner on your table in just over an hour. GET THE RECIPE

Pizza Pasta Bake

This Pizza Pasta Bake is made with a rich layer of ground beef, pepperoni, mushrooms, tomato sauce and noodles, all topped off with melted cheese and more pepperoni. Ready in 40 minutes! GET THE RECIPE

Taco Seasoning

Homemade taco seasoning is so simple to make, and tastes so much better than the store bought packages. Use it to season the ground beef for tacos on a taco night. GET THE RECIPE

Best Beef Chili

Chili is one of our family’s favourite meals! It’s easy to make, it’s filling, delicious and so versatile! Serve it with homemade cornbread or rice. GET THE RECIPE

30 Minute Korean Beef

This 30 Minute Korean Beef is ready and on your table in 30 minutes or less! Sweet, spicy and delicious served over steamed rice. GET THE RECIPE

Mexican Dinner Bowl Recipe

This Mexican Bowl Recipe is a fun, delicious and healthy dinner idea! Serve everything buffet style so everyone can create their own bowl. GET THE RECIPE