I’ve found that mealtime is much less daunting if I take a few minutes to prepare ahead of time. By cooking and freezing quantities of ground beef, ground turkey, or chicken breast to have on hand, you’ll cut down your meal preparation time significantly. I call it the “The Ten-Minute Trick.” Grab a ziplock bag of precooked meat or poultry from the freezer, pop it in the microwave for a minute to thaw, and then add to your favorite recipe.
Here’s how!
Chicken Breast
Grill multiple packages of boneless skinless chicken breast. Once cooled, divide into freezer bags and press to get all of the air out. Seal, and place flat in freezer. You may slice the cooked, cooled breasts before freezing, if you choose.
Alternately, fill your Crock-Pot two-thirds full with thawed bone-in or boneless chicken breasts. Add salt, pepper, about four cups of chicken broth, and enough water to cover chicken completely. Cook seven to eight hours on low. Remove breasts and allow to cool, then divide into family-sized servings in freezer bags. Add a little broth to each bag to keep the chicken from drying out, and reserve the remainder (see below). Flatten freezer bag gently to get all of the air out, seal, and place flat in the freezer. Store the remainder of the broth as described below.
Chicken Broth
Strain remainder of chicken broth from Crock-Pot through a fine sieve placed over a large bowl. (You can also strain it through a colander with a paper towel placed in it.) Divide strained broth into freezer bags; 2 cups of broth is 16 oz. (a little more than a can of broth). Press bags slowly and carefully to get all of the air out, seal, and place flat in freezer. You can use broth in all kinds of recipes. By freezing it you won’t have to buy as much.
Ground Beef or Ground Turkey
Place ground beef or turkey into a tall stockpot and break apart with spoon. I usually brown about five pounds at a time. Turn burner on low and set a timer for twenty minutes. When timer beeps, stir ground beef, then set timer again. You will follow the same pattern for about an hour or until ground beef or turkey is no longer pink. Pour browned ground beef or turkey into colander, rinse, and strain excess grease. Cool, and then divide into freezer bags. Your serving size will depend on your family. Generally a pound of beef will serve a family. I try to stretch mine and freeze in batches of ¾ pound. Press freezer bags gently to remove air, seal, and then place flat in freezer.