Our Favorite Ground Beef, Ground Turkey and Chicken Recipes

Ground meats are a frugal way to cook and stretch the ever increasing grocery prices. Save money and follow some of these yummy family friendly ground beef, turkey and chicken recipes. Our Favorite Ground Beef, Ground Turkey and Chicken Recipes will save you money but more importantly your family will be happy when you serve up these scrumptious family friendly recipes.

Ground Meat Recipes:

1. One Pot Slow Cooker Supper

2. Crockpot Turkey Meatballs

3. Freezer Breakfast Burritos
4. Easy Notsagna
5. Greek Chicken Burgers
6. Homemade Meatballs
7. Cheeseburger Quesadillas
8. Taco Salad
9. Mexican Meatball Soup

And here is a great tip on lowering the fat content in your ground beef and pork: Tip to lower fat in ground beef.
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Freezer Lasagna - Cooking For The Holidays

Welcome to my holiday freezer cooking series. Let's see how we can save time and what to make ahead and freeze for the busy Christmas season.  Today is Freezer Lasagna - Cooking For The Holidays.

Processing And Freezing Bulk Ground Beef

About every 6-8 months I order 40 pounds of grass fed 93/7 ground beef from a bulk order.

Here are my tips for processing and freezing ground beef.

Frugal Friday Flashback - Saving Money And Time Freezer Cooking

I have been dusting off very slowly all my old posts starting from the beginning (six years ago). One I worked on this week is worth sharing again for saving money and time freezer cooking. The cook once eat twice or three or four times adage, is really a time saver and money saver.

Say you put a pork roast you found on sale (buy lots at that time) into the crock pot for shredded pork sandwiches, put two or three times what your family will eat. Remove the extra meat before you add sauce or whatever and freeze that in batches for tacos, enchiladas, soups etc. Be the money saving mom expert with freezer cooking. For us it is a way of life to save money with freezer meals.

Go ahead and check out the brushed up post where I added some of my favorite freezer meal recipes.

Do you have a favorite meal for freezing? Let us know in the comments.

Super Simple Mexican Meatball Soup

This is a wonderful soup you make using leftover Spanish rice and meatballs from your freezer. For nights when you don't have much time to prepare dinner, this satisfying easy soup recipe will help you put dinner on the table in minutes.

The seasonings in the Spanish rice and the salt in the chicken broth are enough seasoning for me but go ahead and add pepper or some hot sauce to spice the soup to your liking. Great leftover rice soup recipe.

Mexican Meatball Soup

Recipe by Elaine Lewis @ sunnysimplelife.com

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup each chopped onion, celery, carrots
• 2 cups leftover Spanish rice
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 1 lb frozen meatballs
• 1 cup chopped cilantro

Cooking Directions

1. Saute onion, celery and carrots in a little bit of oil. Add chicken broth and meatballs. Simmer until veggies are tender. Add rice and heat thoroughly. Garnish with cilantro when serving. This soup freezes well.

Little Steps to Save Money in the kitchen

We have been so busy around here lately that you often in a rush do what is easiest and not what is the most thrifty thing but I am recommitted to trying to save as much shopping as I can. 

In our house though, I try to do small things that will save me money in the long run. Can you believe the price of dishwasher tabs? I find these Finish tabs work the best to keep that film from building up on my glasses, but they are expensive. Here's a tip, cut them in half. A friend of the family who is an appliance repair man once told me to only use half of the recommended amount of dishwasher detergent. He said it is easier on the dishwasher. My dishes come out clean and I have been doing this for years. I also use vinegar in the rinse holder as well. It helps with spots and to keep your dishwasher deodorized. 

Do your counters ever look like this? Yes, I re-wash my large Ziploc bags. These babies are so expensive that I wash and rinse them to be able to re-use them. If they had meat in them though I just toss to play it safe.

And how about a tip on saving money on groceries? Take a small basket or two and place in your freezer to catch all those little packs of leftover food. This way you can see what you need to use up and they don't get buried in the freezer wasting food.

Find more of my frugal tips.

Kitchen Quick Tip - Freezing Chopped Onions

In my quest to never throw away food, I have learned what freezes well and onions are one of them. So here is how I freeze onions that are getting old.

If you have an onion in the drawer and it is getting old and ready for the trash, get it out and chop it up as fine as you like it. Take all of the onion and put in a plastic bag and seal and just pop in the freezer. When you need to cook, just break off the amount you want to use, and put the rest back in the freezer. The onions saute up nicely or you can toss in soups and sauces. This is how I never throw onions away and frugally freeze onions for use later. This is also a great time saver, perfect for Thanksgiving meal preparations. A reader suggested freezing the onions flattened in the bag so it is easier to break off exactly what you need. Genius! Check out all of the time saving tips in the quick tip series by searching quick tips on this blog.

Simple Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

Simple chicken pot pie is a  quick easy meal to prepare and this is one of our favorites when the weather starts cooling down. Simple chicken pot pies freeze well and I keep pre-made pie crusts in the freezer bought when they are on sale. Look for the pie crusts to be on sale around the holidays.

Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 6-8

Prep time 20 minutes

Bake time 25-30 minutes

Recipe is for two pot pies. Double or triple as needed. These freeze wonderfully.

Two pie crusts plus tops.

2 cups cooked diced chicken or turkey ( you can be more generous with the meat is you like)

2 cups of mixed frozen vegetables

1 can cream of mushroom or chicken soup ( I use low sodium)

1 can milk or half and half

pepper to taste

egg white 

 Take the bottom parts of the pie crust and prick a few times with a fork. Bake the bottom portion of the at 375 degrees for ten minutes and then put one cup of chopped meat in bottom of crusts.

In a large bowl mix the veggies, cream soup and milk and a dash or two of pepper. Pour over meat. Top with crust and pinch edges. 

Brush top with egg white and bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown and pie is bubbly.

I love my silicone brush for brushing with egg white, brushing the tops of bread with butter and spreading sauce when hubby barbecues.

Easy Enchilada Pie

My husband loves enchiladas but I don't like to make them so I modified the way I assemble them a long time ago. I make the enchiladas in a super fast easy way.  No rolling. Layers are the key.

Easy Enchilada Pie
Flour tortillas
1 pound of ground beef or turkey cooked and drained and seasoned how you like
1 large can of red enchilada sauce
bag of grated cheese or grate your own
Sliced olives and sauteed onions (optional)

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with oil or Pam.
Open the can of sauce and heat in a saucepan. I don't fry my tortillas first. I heat them on the stove and then dip in the warm sauce.
Start with one layer of dipped flour tortillas covering the bottom of the baking dish. Spread a layer of meat and cheese and olives and onions. Repeat with another layer of tortillas and the meat and cheese. Top with a final layer of dipped tortillas and pour any remaining sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle some cheese on.
Bake at 350 degrees until hot bubbly and slightly browned on top. And remember to double the recipe and make two pans for easy freezer cooking. You can see my post on how I do it here.

Serve with my Simple Spanish Rice.