The Easy Way to Defrost Ground Beef

Up until a few months ago, my freezer was overrun with bulky packages of ground beef. I would lose some in the back, go buy more, and realize I have no room! I started thinking about buying the bulk packages of ground beef. Ya know, the 5 pound kind? It’s usually cheaper by the pound if you buy in bulk.

But where was I going to put a log of ground beef? So I had this great idea to start breaking the ground beef up into pound increments and packing them in freezer bags. You all are probably thinking, “duh Lauren. I’ve been doing that forever.” Well it took me a while! 🙂 Still the problem of bulky ziploc bags continued to haunt my freezer. Until my husband, (I can’t take credit for this one) took out the 5 pound package and started dividing it up like usual.

Then he did something crazy. So crazy I hugged and kissed him! He closed the freezer bags and smashed the ground beef as flat as he could get them. 

You wouldn’t believe the space I now have in my freezer for everything else!! This takes up way less space than the way I had been doing it. Not to mention, when I take a package out of the freezer to thaw (I know each one is a pound and most recipes call for a pound) it doesn’t take up much room in the fridge if I am thawing overnight. To add to the awesomeness, if I need to thaw a pound in a hurry, I just fill a large bowl or my sink (if there’s room) with hot water and within 30 minutes, it’s thawed. No more putting it in the microwave to defrost only to have it cook half of it before it’s done. No more wasting money buying more ground beef than I need! No more bulky freezer storage.