I love having prepped meals and meat in our deep freezer. But most of the time I forget to get it out early enough for it to thaw by the time I start making dinner. My sister showed me this way to freeze ground beef, or any ground meat, that will save your dinner every time. It thaws in less than 5 minutes! And doesn’t take up much space!
My sister Sabrina will sometimes buy the 10-lb package of ground beef from Costco. That’s A LOT of meat! But it’s ultimately cheaper than getting individual 1-lb packages.
I like to get a 3-lb package of ground beef. That way I’m not spending a huge portion of our budget on meat, but I’m still saving a little.
Sabrina would cut the whole package into 10 sections, making ten 1-lb portions. She would use one for dinner that night and then freeze the rest in individual 1-lb ziplock bags.
But she soon realized that it took too long for the chunks to thaw, so she came up with this EASY way to freeze and thaw your meat.
Get out your pen and notebook because you will never go back to any other method again.
Prepare
This step is important because sometimes it’s difficult to write on ziplock bags when there is food already in it. So label each bag with the quantity and date, and contents if you think it would be helpful.
We also like to prop them open so they’re ready to fill. When you have one clean hand and one dirty hand to hold the meat, having them already open is very helpful.
Divide the meat
Cut your meat into whatever size you want. We divide it into 1- or 2-lb portions because those are the amounts we use for most meals and they thaw pretty quickly.
Bag it
After putting the meat in, remember not to seal the bags yet. This will help with the next step.
Flatten the meat
Use a rolling pin to spread the meat evenly throughout the bags. Once it’s flattened and most of the air is out, then you can seal it up.
Freeze
They are ready to go! Now that your bags are flat, they can conveniently fit into your freezer.
I like to freeze them in my fridge freezer and then transfer them to the deep freezer. It’s easier to get them flat that way because the deep freezer doesn’t always have enough flat space.
Thaw
When you’re ready to use some, just fill the sink a little bit with warm water. Let the bag sit in it for a few minutes and it’s ready to go!
I’m always amazed at how quickly it thaws because I’m used to waiting at least an hour for a hunk of meat to thaw. This is a lot better!
How easy is that?!
I’ve never done it any other way since my sister Sabrina told me about it.
Let me know how it turns out for you!
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wow! this is such a great tip! I’m going to start doing this! thank you!
I’m so glad you think so, too!
We don’t usually eat meat but this method is really helpful!
That’s okay, this way of freezing could apply to other foods as well! I froze some bags of tomato pieces last fall and I laid them flat as well. It definitely helped with trying to fit them all into the freezer. Almost like Tetris!
Love your post and so helpful! I never thought of doing this but now gonna save space in my smaller freezer! Thanks
So glad you’re going to try it out!
This is great. Meat in the freezer always takes forever to thaw so I will definitely be trying this out.
I wish we could freeze chicken breasts like this, too, but unfortunately it can’t spread out like this, haha!
You almost can.. not as thin as your ground beef but these packs still save you some time:
https://newleafwellness.biz/2015/06/24/10-freezer-to-grill-chicken-packs-in-20-minutes/
I know I will be saving a ton of money doing this.. bye bye unhealthy fast food.
The thing is I tend to think about food when I’m hungry, not the day before, and then it’s usually too late to take something out of the freezer.. but this could work 🙂
Wow, those freezer bags look like they’d make delicious meals. And same here, half the time I don’t have meals planned out, so whatever I make needs to be able to thaw quickly.
Wow what a great idea! Going to try this!
Thanks, Sarah! You’ll love how quickly it thaws!
How do you measure your meat out? How do you know it’s a lb?
If I get a package of 3 lbs, I just divide it in thirds. I just guess. Sometimes I make it go farther by rounding up, meaning if it’s 3.5 lbs, I will divide it into 4 bags for 4 different meals.
I’ve been doing this for a while. What a time (and money)saver!! We don’t have a freezer anymore since we downsized.
I just recently used this method for homemade mashed potatoes. There are only the 2 of us so making a big batch of mashed potatoes once, then freezing them in quart ziploc bags works so well. The only adjustment I had to make was to add more fat along with the butter. I used a block of cream cheese but sour cream would work too.
Also froze spaghetti meat sauce this way.
Hi Gramma B, that’s neat that you use this method for mashed potatoes! I usually end up making more than we can eat, too. So I’ll have to try this next time I make them. And also spaghetti meat sauce!
What size bag are you using there?
Hi Jenifer, I use gallon sized bags. 🙂