We cooked up 17 pounds of ground hamburger to make our lives easier on future dinners. It is so nice during the crazy days of life to know that something tasty is already coordinated for dinner and will require limited effort on my end to get it to the dinner table.

These aren’t fancy and are probably very similar to recipes sitting in your cookbook drawer already. For me, the magic of freezer meals is not having to think about “What’s for dinner?” at the end of the day.

Our 17lbs made freezer 8 freezer meals and left a few bags of cooked frozen ground hamburger to use however we want. Depending on the recipe – we generally use one or two pounds of hamburger for each recipe.

Instant Pot Hamburger Helper
– 1 lb ground hamburger, cooked
– 1/2 onion, diced
– 2 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce
– 1 teaspoon minced garlic
– salt and pepper to taste (I did 1/2 teaspoon each)
Combine ingredients above in a labeled freezer bag to save for cooking day. On cooking day, add the freezer meal to the instant pot along with 3 cups uncooked macaroni and 2 cans of beef broth. Cook on manual for 4 minutes and do a quick release. You may need to drain a little bit of the liquid and you’ll be sure to want to add some of your favorite shredded cheese. For this cooking method, I used the idea from the macaroni and cheese recipe found here.

Instant Pot Taco Mac and Cheese
– 1 lb ground hamburger, cooked
– 1 1/2 tablespoons taco seasoning
– 1/2 can rotel
Combine ingredients above in a labeled freezer bag to save for cooking day. On cooking day, add the freezer meal to the instant pot along with 3 cups uncooked macaroni and 2 cans of beef broth. Cook on manual for 4 minutes and do a quick release. You may need to drain a little bit of the liquid and you’ll be sure to want to add some of your favorite shredded cheese. For this cooking method, I used the idea from the macaroni and cheese recipe found here.

Ground Beef Tacos or Walking Tacos
– 2 pounds ground hamburger, cooked
– 3 tablespoons taco seasoning
– 1/2 can rotel
– 1/2 cup beef broth
– 1/2 onion, diced
Combine ingredients above in a labeled freezer bag to save for cooking day. You can simmer this easily on the stove with a little more broth until the onions are cooked through or you can toss in the crockpot on low for a few hours.

Chili Frito Pie or Chili for Chili Dogs
– 1 lb ground hamburger, cooked
– 14.5 crushed tomatoes
– 14.5 oz pureed tomatoes
– 1 chili seasoning packet
– 1/2 onion, diced
– 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
– 1 cup beef broth
Combine ingredients above in a labeled freezer bag to save for cooking day. On cooking day, cook in the crockpot on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Sloppy Joes
– 2 lbs hamburger, cooked
– 1 small onion, diced
– 1/3 cup ketchup
– 1 tablespoon mustard
– 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
– 3/4 cup water
– 1 teaspoon brown sugar (on cooking day – taste and see if you want to add a little more)
Combine ingredients above in a labeled freezer bag to save for cooking day. On cooking day, toss into the crockpot for 6 hours on low or thaw it out the night before and simmer it on the stove until the onions are fully cooked. This is my recipe posted a few years back that I’ve turned into a freezer meal. Click here for the same day stove top directions.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great day.