Our freezer went out in a storm and we just discovered it. We now have completely thawed, but still cold grass-fed beef that needs to be prepared pronto. We have 2 chuck roasts, 2 rump roasts, some stew meat, 3 packs of rib-eyes, filets, lots of liver, and probably 20 pounds of ground beef. I'm going to start browning ground beef and making hamburger patties, but really don't want to lose out on all this fabulous meat. I would love any suggestions on how to do this well and any recipes that freeze especially well. Thanks!
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If you can pile meat into the oven and slow-cooker, pots, etc., once it's cooked (ground beef) or thoroughly seared while still rare (roasts) you should be able to freeze it again and whatever goes into the fridge cooked should keep at least a week. After all, frozen dinners feature a lot of cooked meat. Do you have friends, neighbors and/or family who can cook and return some of the meat for re-freezing? |
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"We have 2 chuck roasts, 2 rump roasts"- slow roast in oven and refreeze in manageable packages. "some stew meat" Cook in crockpot and package to refreeze "3 packs of rib-eyes, filets" Eat some tonight, then make the classiest stew ever- refreeze "lots of liver" cook and use to make pate sealed with fat "probably 20 pounds of ground beef" cooked patties, spaghetti sauce- freeze in portions Just happy you caught it before it spoiled- if it had, would your insurance cover it?
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So here's what we did: Steaks: We had way too many steaks to eat up ourselves, so I emailed our little Whole 30 local community and offered some for sale for 1/2 what people can get locally. We were going to keep some for ourselves for dinner today and tomorrow, but my husband thought I had already set some aside for us (I hadn't) and sold all the rest of them. Oh well, less cooking for us I guess... Ground beef: browned ground beef for future meals, made spaghetti sauce, chili, meatloaf, and hamburgers. Stew meat and roasts: pot roast, beef stew, rogan josh. Still haven't figured out what to do with the livers and soup bones, but feel pretty productive right now. I just need a cleaning crew to deal with the mess! |
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Grab your BBQ grill and have a cookout. Invite your friends and neighbors. |
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I'm assuming the fridge is working now? If not, maybe buy ice to keep it cool? So you don't stress out about cooking it all in one day? Other than that, for the ground beef, I've not had any issues browning it then refreezing it. Made a nice base for chili's and the like. Steaks, cook rare, slice into strips/chunks and refreeze (and use for fajitas and stews) Liver, to be honest, I can't stand liver. If I had that, I'd be saying "Darn, the liver went bad, we can't save it". :) Or feed it to the dogs/cats. :) |
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For some of the ground beef, I would make a big batch of ground beef jerky. I've yet to make it, but it should be easy enough to find a recipe that sounds good to you and that way you have a shelf-stable and protein-rich snack that will last a good while. For the tongue, I always braise it for several hours (it gets niiice and tender that way and can be done either in a crock pot or on the stove over low), peel it, then shred it and top it with homemade barbecue sauce (Son of Grok's). Eat it for the week or freeze it in the sauce for a quick frozen dinner. I have a fantastic beef stew recipe that calls for 4 lbs of stew meat and it freezes well, but it also calls for 2 lbs of bacon so I'm hesitant to tell you to go buy more meat haha. But I'll share it if you want it. |
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Beef jerky? That way it will last forever. |
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How many crock pots do you own? I agree w/ Nance. I cook broth in the crock pot for 2 to 7 days at a time. Check out perpetual broth recipes. You can buy a few days at least that way w/ whatever makes sense to slow cook. |
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You can can meat, if you've got jars and a way to heat the jars to boiling for 30min I think. Basically whip in the meat, some veg, fill with water, and then boil the cans for a long time to sterilize and seal them. They should last a long time then. |
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