There’s probably a name for this casserole but I know know what it is. It’s something I’ve made forever. It’s so easy and it makes a lot with just one pound of meat. I wanted to make hamburgers using elk but I needed to mix some ground pork with it so if I thawed a one pound package of ground elk and a one pound package of ground pork, that would be two pounds and I don’t need to make 2 pounds worth of hamburgers so I mixed the two meats, weighed out a bit over a pound (because the total was a bit over 2 pounds) and stuck that aside to make hamburgers tomorrow night.
Dinner
From the remaining pound of mixed meat, I made the ground meat casserole. It has black beans, corn, tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic . . everything came from the garden except the black beans and I had canned those! The pork came from the pig we bought from a friend’s daughter at the youth fair and the elk came from a hunter friend. Almost none of the main ingredients came from the grocery store. Love it!
Dinner
You can use ground beef or a mixture of ground beef/pork/venison — whatever suits you. This recipe makes a lot. I divided it up into four dishes and froze three of them.
Dinners for the Freezer
Can you see the #17 on top of the foil? That corresponds to Item #17 on my list of food in the freezer.
Ready for the Freezer
I keep a list of what’s in the freezer. Here you can see #16 and #17. This isn’t foolproof but it helps me keep up with what’s available in the freezer.
Food Chart
Not bad for a couple of hours in the kitchen . . 3 casseroles in the freezer, 1 bag of seasoned ground meat for burgers tomorrow, all weighed up and ready to be mashed into patties and put on the grill.
Burgers for Tomorrow
For dinner, along with the casserole, we had little rolls and cole slaw . . yummy!
Dinner!
Dottie N. says
Looks DELICIOUS!
Sherrill says
I am constantly amazed at just HOW organized you are!! WOW!
Helen Koenig1 says
Judy, I envy you your cooking ability – BIG TIME!!! I used to love to cook! But honestly, other than food preservation methods, homemade bread and soups – you’d have a very hard time believing that for these past 40 years!
JudyL says
I have to do it the way I do it because too many days, I’m too busy outside or with other things to stop and cook so the meal planning and grocery buying have to be done ahead of time. If I can pull a homemade meal from the freezer, a open a jar of home canned food, that keeps us from going out to eat. Not only do I much prefer to eat at home, but we have very few good restaurant choices, we’re at least 15 miles from town and eating out gets expensive.
Debbie King says
Love your idea of keeping a list of meals in the freezer and the details included.