Freezer Meals

The end of August and start of September is one of my favourite times of the year.  I think that for me the real 'new year' will always be September 1st, and not January.  I love everything about the start of fall...cozy sweaters, the beginning of soup season, fall vegetables, going back to work...ok, maybe not so much the going back to work, but everything else is great!  I went to the huge St. Jacob's Farmer's Market to get ready for canning and to buy some other veggies.  I bought red and golden beets for pickling, baby cukes for making dill pickles, yellow zucchini for making my delicious vegetable macaroni and cheese, a whole bunch of basil to make pesto, and some patty pan squash that I'm excited to cook up.  I feel the need to get my freezer and canning shelves full!  I have already canned 7 jars of pears from my pear tree and have made a bunch of freezer meals that I will soon be adding the pesto to. 

I wanted to have some quick lunches available to me for the times that I don't feel like making anything, as well as a few things to make dinner time easier.  I made Curried Carrot Soup, Meatball Stew (from this site), 44 Clove Garlic Soup (from this blog), mashed potatoes with gravy on the side, ground beef with onions and garlic, and some strawberry puree for quick smoothies in the morning. 
I divided the soups and stew into small bags for individual servings.  I divided the mashed potatoes into bags for 2 people, with a small baggie of gravy in with each, and I froze the strawberry puree in ice cube trays so that they would be easy to blend.
For the beef mixture (recipe below), I divided it into different sized amounts so I could use it for a variety of recipes.  I put 3 cups together to make my chili with, another bag with 2 cups to add to a pasta sauce, and a small bag of a cup and a half for making Jamaican patties.  And when I see ground beef on sale I am going to keep these bags replenished.

So here is the recipe for the ground beef:

2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 onions, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Brown the beef in a large skillet, drain.  Return meat to skillet and add in the onion and garlic.  Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, and then drain.  Put the cooked meat in a large container or bowl and leave in the fridge until cooled down.  Divide into freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months.  Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using.