Burger - Food Storage

"What's for dinner?" "Oh, dinner. Right...TACOS"except it takes you 20 minutes to defrost a pound of beef. Not anymore... 

Costco sells beefs in two ways one large brain looking thing or sectioned off into what some people mistakingly assume are patties (these weigh 8oz+ each). I purchase the "patties" and roll from there. I'll explain why:

First off I get as close to 6 pounds as possible. 6.15lbs? That'll do! Honestly I never make ANYTHING gourmet out of burger meat. It just doesn't happen around here. So if there is a little less or a little more beef in a certain dish NO BODY NOTICES.

As I mentioned each "patty" is 8ish ounces. I grab six 1 qt freezer ziploc bags and write "1# Beef date".  While not necessary, if you fold the tops over you greatly reduce the amount of raw burger stuck in the zipper of the ziploc bag. This may not be important to you but it is very very very important to me. 

Note: the "#" is not a hashtag...it is called a pound sign and I have two little boys itching to get their grubby hands on my sharpie. I can use the pound sign to indicate pound and move on with my life.

Place two patties in each bag and wash your hands. YOU ARE DONE TOUCHING THE MEAT!

Seal the bag most of the way and while safely hiding behind the plastic you can now manipulate the beef into a perfectly flat airless blob. Flat is important for storage space and airless is important to eliminate freezer burn.

Stack the meat and freeze. Can you believe that is 6 pounds? That's a lot of tacos.

Mine fit perfectly below the bottom shelf. Yes that is my only freezer space. Now you know why I am a storage snob. 

If you are particularly OCD you may place the bags on a cookie sheet to freeze flat prior to stacking. Personally I like the grooves in the bottom package...it's on less thing that attacks me when I open my freezer.