OAMC / Bulk Cooking: The Hamburger Plan

By Kim Tilley

Here is my "Hamburger Plan", probably one of my most used so far. I love having all of my favorite recipes in one place, and I find myself referring back to it often.

Game Plan

Since hamburger is loose and you don't have to cut it up into different sections (such as chicken and turkey), it is much easier to handle in large quantities and very versatile. I make master recipes of some things that can be used in many recipes.

Here are many ideas pertaining to hamburger, "master recipes" are on the left, "secondary recipes" are indented - you assemble these from the master recipes. You can also freeze the portion of the master recipe that is required in the secondary recipe and assemble the secondary recipe on the day you want to eat it. I do this a lot when trying and/or learning new recipes.

Hamburger Plan Recipes:

1. Hamburger Patties (use raw hamburger)
2. Perdenales River Chili (make a BIG batch), also used in:
   • taco meat
   • 5-way chili
   • Burritos for the freezer
   • Ravioli filling
   • South of the Border lasagna
   • Deep Dish Mexican Pizza
   • Chili Pot Pies
   • Empanadas
3. Freezer Stash Meatballs and
4. Lean Meatballs, used in:
   • Italian Meatball Subs
   • Spaghetti and Meatballs
   • Easy Meatball Stew
   • School Night Meatball Soup
   • Meatball Minestrone
   • Baked Ziti and Meatball Casserole
   • Chili Meatball Supper
   • Scandinavian Meatballs
   • Sweet and Sour Meatballs
5. Beef Porcupines
6. Italian Meatloaf
7. Italian Meatloaf sandwiches
8. Mexican Meatloaf
9. Bierrocks
10. Cheeseburger turnovers
11. Maid rites (crumbly hamburgers)
12. Simple Salisbury Steak (Campbell's soup recipe)
13. BBQ Beef (Beanless Sloppy Joes)
14. Easy goulash
15. Tortilla mini Burgers

Hamburger Patties

Using raw meat, I added some onion powder, garlic powder and some seasoning salt, or sometimes I put in a half packet of onion soup mix for each pound of hamburger. I use rubber gloves to handle the hamburger (I hate trying to get that stuff off of my hands!) Anyhow, I made about 40 patties from six pounds of hamburger. I stacked them between waxed paper and froze on a cookie sheet. After freezing, put in a Ziploc bag.

Perdenales River Chili

I think this one could be adapted to a crockpot recipe. I am going to tinker with it, let you know how it turns out!

• 4 pounds coarsely ground chuck (I use lean hamburger)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Combine meat, onion, and garlic in a large Dutch oven; cook over medium heat until meat is browned, stirring to crumble.

Drain off pan drippings. Add remaining ingredients, mixing well.

Cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Yield: about 12 cups. (May want to double if you want to make all of the following recipes)

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About the Author

Kim Tilley, a tightwad at heart, is a wife, a mother of three active boys and the founding editor of Frugal-Moms.com. Frugal by force and later by choice, Kim cut her income by 60% to stay at home with her children and discovered that anyone can live better for less. Her work has appeared in print publications such as The Tightwad Gazette. In her free time, she entertains herself by chasing kids and finding ways to create something from nothing!

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