Now for the easy humble crumble, a how to (and recipes!)

[canadian gardener]

Boiling ground beef has a big advantage or two:

CONVENIANT: (pull out a package of pre cooked and browned "crumbles" for any recipe calling for a lb of ground beef, browned)

WAY EASIER and WAY LESS MESS! Think of it, the ease of stirring a simmering pot for 10 to 15 minutes instead of pan frying it all, splattering grease all over, when boiling it makes the same product, less fat and way less mess.

LOW FAT: It's even lower in fat than if you pour boiling water on it. This is the meat with most of the fat gone. Because of that defatting that happens, I buy the cheapest fatty regular ground beef and enjoy spectacular savings while discarding the fat in the EASIEST way possible

CHEAP: Because you can be sure of getting the fat out, you can use whatever grind of ground meat is cheaper, whether regular or lean or extra lean.

TASTES THE VERY SAME AS IF YOU WENT TO THE MESS AND FUSS OF BROWNING IT IN A FRYING PAN!!!!! Yes it does. Think of the clean ups you can avoid.

I use to season the water that I boiled the beef in, then I found out it made NO difference.

That meat still has all the normal browned ground beef flavour whether or not you use seasoning, and whether or not it is boiled or browned. Why go to the trouble of doing it any other way when doing it faster and simpler results in the same taste and less fat.

BUT WHAT ABOUT the ONIONS AND GARLIC AND STUFF??????
I simply take the chilled or thawed crumbles and add to a wok or frying pan with a little olive oil sauteeing the onions and garlic that the recipe calls for, and any seasonings and stir fry it a little to bring it to the usual stage in the recipe where it calls for browning the meat with onion, garlic and seasonings.

THAT IS IT!!!!!! Talk about simple. This way the seasonings are fresh and give the best flavour.

HOW DO I DO IT?
No seasoning, put just enough water to cover the bottom of a stock pot or big saucepan about an inch or so, add the ground meat. I do a big 5 to 6 lb package all at once.

Now bring to a boil and stir to keep from sticking on the bottom of the pot. Turn down to an active simmer. Simmer till no more pink. Take off heat.

Drain by pouring the meat and the broth into a heat proof (mine is stainless steel) colandar or sieve placed on top of a big bowl or pot.

I use my big stock pot to drain the broth into and stick the whole thing in a sink of cold water to start cooling while the crumbles are draining.

Reserve the crumbles and let cool. They will cool faster if you put them onto a cookie sheet and run a fan over them for a few minutes stirring a bit. Bag and freeze.

(Chill broth overnite and skim fat in morning. Now you have lovely jellied beef stock ready to use in diluting canned soups or for any recipe calling for broth.)

When the crumbles are cool, you pack by 2-1/2 cup measures into no name ziplock sandwich bags and freeze flat. Those are equal to a lb of browned ground beef. The ziplock sandwich bag is a perfect size.

Freezing flat is important. You can freeze faster (food safety and quality!) and you can THAW FAST TOO!!! No more frozen baseballs in the middle of a thawing ball of food, this thaws quickly and easily in the fridge or in some cold water or the microwave. FOOD SAFE!!!! and conveniant.

When freezing flat, the center of a blob of food doesn't stay warm enough long enough to grow bacteria, and the whole package remains in good quality.

More boiled beef tips--- Chill overnite in the fridge, and either package and freeze the next day, or use it making casseroles, and freezing them. Whichever you have the energy for.

Handling cool crumbles and broth the next day is easier than if they are hot still.

Chilling broth before putting in the fridge-- Set the pot with the broth in a sink of cold water and change the water every 5 minutes or so and stir the broth to cool faster. In about 20 minutes to half an hour it will be cool enough to stick in the fridge safely without making the fridge work harder and possibly warming the other food in the fridge.

If you have a secure outside porch, set it out to cool and take advantage of winter nights. In the winter I stick the stock pot lid on top of the colandar which is still on top of the stock pot and set it all out in the porch. By morning it's all nearly frozen.

Have it either way, enjoy pre cooked frozen packs of crumbles or use them the next day in a bunch of recipes and freeze the made up dishes. Whatever you have time for. Both will help.

ONE LAST TIP------- Have several freezer friendly recipes handy that use a lb of ground so you aren't left scratching your head wondering what to do with 48 bags of ready cooked crumbles. I'll be giving a few just below.

[canadian gardener]

A simple Spaghetti plan (the non tomato based crumbles plan will follow)

here are some things you can do with Ground beef crumbles made into a spaghetti sauce. I like to make one serve many. I vary it to make the following dishes BUT I do have another Spaghetti-- here it is:

Simplest of all Spaghetti is a tin of Hunts thick and rich Spaghetti sauce and a package of crumbles served on cooked spaghetti.

WHEN I WANT TO DO UP A NUMBER OF TOMATO BASED RECIPES HOWEVER this is what spaghetti night looks like:

Large vat of Spaghetti Sauce adapted from Sue Gregg's cookbook Main Dishes. This is a useful basic recipe, the sauce is the basis for a number of other meals so it's worth making a lot.

Basic Spaghetti Sauce
In a large stock pot combine:
3--28 oz cans of diced tomatoes
3-- 6 oz cans tomatoe paste
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP oregano (dry)
1 TBSP Basil (dry)
1/2 head of fresh garlic crushed in clove by clove.
3 cups fresh or frozen mushrooms or 3 cans sliced
2 fresh or frozen diced green pepper
3 medium onions or 2 big ones chopped

6 cups or a bit more of ground beef crumbles or 3 frozen packages.

Bring to boil, turn down to a simmer and simmer 20 minutes.

The first night I serve this, as spaghetti sauce. Later I will assemble a lot of other dishes from it.

French Bread Pizza is simply this sauce spread on loaves of French bread, split lengthwise, with extra chopped onion, mushroom, red or green pepper, topped with grated Mozzarella cheese and wrapped in plastic and frozen for a pizza night. A friend of mine shared it with me, and I've seen this recipe on 30 day gourmet.

Almost Lasagna is simply this sauce combined with a container of cottage cheese and cooked multicolour pasta spirals or Rotini. Makes a yummy casserole.

Boil 4 cups Rotini

Mix with 3 cups of this sauce above (or 1 pkg crumbles and 1 tin Hunts spag. sauce)

and 2 to 3 cups cottage cheese (I use a carton that contains 750 ml or 3 cups)
Dump in a 9x13 casserole OR in a freezer ziplock and freeze.

Thaw and bake in the casserole for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes at 350, longer if frozen, till the center is hot and cooked thru.

Real live Lasagne goes together like this:
Layer sauce then
Uncooked lasagne noodles (the ordinary ones)
Cottage cheese (mix cottage cheese with frozen spinach, squeezed almost dry, some parmesan and mozzarella cheeses and egg and oregano and garlic for a nice variation)
Uncooked noodles again
Lots of sauce on top to cover
Repeat till done but don't over fill the pan, it tends to bubble over when cooking
sprinkle with grated mozzarella and parmesan.

Freeze in baking pan, and THAW before baking. Lasagna is notoriously dense and difficult to bake in the middle without burning the edges if you don't thaw it first. Bake till center is cooked. This will take a while. I allow an hour and a half at a lower heat like 300 to 325 if it's not thawed thru. If it's reasonably thawed then an hour at 350.

YOU DON"T HAVE TO PRE COOK THE LASAGNE NOODLES. The freezing and baking does it for you. No more burnt fingers or wrestling slippery sheets of wet noodle.

Manicotti is simply:
Fill UNCOOKED NORMAL MANICOTTI SHELLS with the special cottage cheese mixtrue above. Cover WELL with Sauce. Freeze and follow instructions above for reheating.

Mindless Moussaka:
Take 3 medium eggplants and slice. Salt them and let them sit in a colandar to drain the bitter out for 1/2 an hour. Rinse well. while they sit make the sauce below so it's ready to use.

Layer with the spaghetti sauce in a 9x13 pan

Cover with the following white sauce which you make in the microwave.

white sauce part:
In a big microwave proof bowl melt:
3 Tbsp Butter
Mix with 6 Tbsp flour and microwave till bubbly.
Add 2-1/2 cups hot milk and nuke on half power stirring with a whisk every few minutes till thickened.
then add
1/2 cup Parmesan.
Spread on top of the spaghetti sauce and eggplant and bake at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes.
This doesn't freeze, it is simply something I like to make with this sauce.

If I don't have the spaghetti sauce, I mix up a can of Hunts with a pkg of frozen crumbles and proceed with this recipe.

Sloppy Joes:
4 cups of the sauce (add more crumbles to make it nice and thick)
and about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup ketchup (squirt by eye)
a spoon of dijon mustard or yellow mustard
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
some chopped celery
1/4 cup brown sugar
Freeze in family serving sizes

Shepherd's Pie:
In a big freezer ziplock bag combine:
One package of crumbles or 2 cups fresh
2 cups frozen mixed veggies
2 cups of the spaghetti sauce approximately (another measure by what looks right)
any other veggies you want to add to use up
Freeze. Thaw in baking dish and pour out into dish when you can, chopping the frozen chunks up a bit.
Cover with mashed potatoes
Bake at 350 for half an hour or till bottom is cooked and bubbly, and topping is browned.

Tamale Pie:
SAME AS FOR SHEPHERDS PIE BUT
Instead of frozen mix veggies use FROZEN CORN
AND ADD 1 to 2 TBSP of CHILI POWDER to taste (cayenne if you need it hotter)
When you thaw it, simply top with either a recipe of corn bread or mix up some polenta, stiff cornmeal mush and bake a THIN layer on top.

Another way to do tamale pie is adding crumbles to leftover chili, add frozen corn and freeze. Top as above.

NO you wont' get all of these out of one batch of spaghetti sauce, but you can pick and choose from these variations on the spaghetti sauce theme

[canadian gardener]

OK so now we are sick to death of spaghetti sauce and it's marvellous variations on a theme, what can we do with crumbles that ISN"T tomato based.

Ground beef Stroganoff from the Friendly Freezer:
Dump into freezer bag and freeze the following:
1 pkg crumbles (2 to 2-1/2 cups remember?)
1 cup fresh sauteed mushrooms (or frozen or canned)
1 cup beef broth (I save the broth from boiling the crumbles for soup or something like this)
3 Tbsp red wine
3 Tbsp lemon juice

To serve: thaw and heat the meat mixture.
Cook a bag of noodles till tender then combine with the meat and a cup or so of sour cream.

Serve (you can reduce the amount of noodles if you like)

Curried Creamy Zucchini:
1 pkg crumbles thawed stir fry in a Tbsp of olive oil with:
1 to 2 tsp to Tbsp of curry depending on what you like
Mrs Dash to taste
1 chopped onion
1 big honkin zucchini all chopped
till everything is nicely sizzly then add
1 can mushroom soup or 1 cup yogurt or sour cream depending on what's on hand.

Spinach Beef Biscuit Bake from Taste of Home by Bonnie Bootz: this is a FAVOURITE!!!
Combine the following in a big ziplock freezer bag and goosh to mix before freezing:
1-1/2 packages of crumbles or 3 cups fresh
1 small to med onion diced
2 eggs
1 pkg spinach thawed and squeezed dry
1 can sliced mushrooms (I use about 1/2 cup frozen sliced)
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 to 2 cloves garlic crushed.
pinch of salt and pepper.

Goosh well and freeze.

When it's time to bake I make up 2 of my homemade Bisquick biscuit recipes for biscuits and line a 9x13 glass pan with the biscuit dough. Pour in the thawed filling and bake at 375 for 30 minutes or a bit less.

I'll include a homemade Bisquick mix later in the OAMC section in a separate thread.

I am hoping you can see the possibilities in a humble and cheap package of regular ground beef once you defat it.

[canadian gardener]

I hope you will forgive me liberally cutting and pasting from my big OAMC thread over in Homestead Gardens, but it might be easy if I present these as separate lessons.

I treat this sort of thing as component cooking really, which is what I call my OAMC variation. (once a month cooking for those new to the OAMC term)

I can't cook all in one day for a whole month, PERISH THE THOUGHT! No, I much prefer to deal with a batch of a particular protein and do a bunch of components like crumbles so I can pull out a package of pre cooked and browned ground beef, that has been THOROUGHLY defatted and ready to use.

More threads later!

[bamamomto4]

Wow Margery! Thanks so much!! I'm going to boil some meat to keep on hand and do the spaghetti sauce!! Wonderful recipes!!!!

[Katybird]

I always boil my burger, it is so much easier and less messy than frying it in a pan.

Thanks Margery for sharing all your hints and tips with us! You are such a wonderful blessing for our Village. We are so honored to have you here and as a moderator!

[guest2]

Thanks for posting this here Margery!!! I printed off all the info when you first put it up at the homestead garden site and I'm so glad I did. My printer just broke and this info is worth it's weight in Gold!!!

[SewCrafty]

Thanks Margery, I'm going to try this too next shopping trip.

[Heather]

I do this all the time now and it is so much easier! Thanks to you Margery. After I did a few batches I thought to myself, '"This makes life so much easier, WHY hadn't I thought of this before??"

[Ellise]

I always boil my Hamburger

[Michelle]

I have boiled mine ever since I read this post, Margery. I will never pan fry it again. Thanks!

[Missy]

I broached this to dh once before, and he about had kittens. I think I will do it when he isn't home and i bet he'll never know the difference. What dh doesn't know.....

[SewCrafty]

Originally posted by mrsengeseth
I broached this to dh once before, and he about had kittens. I think I will do it when he isn't home and i bet he'll never know the difference. What dh doesn't know.....

So did Jack Missy, but I did it anyway and he couldn't tell the difference.

[Logansmom]

great tip! thanks

[canadian gardener]

glad it's a help. I started doing it back when I was quite ill and tired all the time, and I did Once a Month style cooking and freezing in order to have cheap nutritious tasty meals without a lot of effort at supper time.

I've kept doing it because not only does it save time and energy but it speeds my supper prep.

I have a little section in my recipe box of last minute things to do with crumbles. They are SO fast to microwave/thaw.

They are my emergency last minute type dinners.

I have the recipes either here in the OAMC thread or in my big OAMC thread over at Homestead Gardens. (our sister site)