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Freezer Cooking: Ground Beef Taco Meat

February 26, 2013 By Ligia

This week I bought a few meats on sale to do a mini freezer cooking session. I cooked some chicken breasts for tacos or enchilada pie. I also bought a tray of ground beef to make taco meat. I usually buy 1 large 2-3 pound tray and cook 3/4 of it and freeze the other 1/4 for use with new recipes that I may want to try.

Mini Session: Ground Beef Taco Meat

1. I brown the ground beef. I remove all the “fat juice” not sure what else to call it. I once read about “washing” the ground beef.  As long as there are no spices added to it, you can wash the fat away. I don’t do this since I want some fat but not cups of it. Yuck.
Ground beef
2. I add McCormick taco seasoning. I learned last year that Lawry’s is NOT gluten free so now I only use McCormick. I usually use 1/2 of the envelope. We don’t like our meat too spicy. It asks for water so I do add a bit of liquid but not as much as the envelope says.McCormick

3. For dinner we have tacos! The rest of it I freeze in containers for other meals.
Taco Meat
I can use the taco mix for another night of tacos, taquitos, beef enchilada pie, or taco salad.

Ligia

Filed Under: Gluten Free Living, Homemaking

Grocery Budget Goal: Reduce by 10%

January 28, 2013 By Ligia

I’ve been faithfully cutting my coupons and buying sales items only, but I still have a large grocery bill. Part of my problem is that I have to shop gluten free. The gluten free products are ALWAYS outrageous! Just today I went to Safeway and I bought a box of Betty Crocker’s Gluten Free Chocolate Chip cookies and I paid $4.79! Okay, yes that is my fault for actually paying it. I should make it from scratch, yet it is so tempting to just mix it up.  Especially since I have a wonderful recipe that I love from www.glutenfreely.com.

So here is my goal. Reduce my grocery budget by 10% starting in February.

1. I found a really cool app called Budgeteer that helps me add up my groceries during my shopping trip and now I know exactly how much I am spending. I used it today and I loved it. So I am going to stay within my weekly budget of $125.00. (yes that is high compared to some extreme couponers. I don’t get to use many coupons because I don’t buy pre-packaged food due to our gluten free diet).

2. I am going to faithfully have Clean the Pantry Week. This week is at the end of the month. What I do is eat only from my pantry. I can buy fresh fruit and vegetables and dairy. I have to plan all my meals around what is in my pantry/freezer. I have planned the first one of 2013 for January 28-Feb 1. This should save me $100 right there!

3. Finally, I am going to plan all my meals one month in advance so I can get things when they go on sale. If I know I will be making a certain dish in a couple of weeks I can buy items as they go on sale.

Filed Under: Homemaking

Freezer Cooking Planning

January 21, 2013 By Ligia

I just food this awesome article at Money Saving Mom called How I Plan My Freezer Cooking Day. I really liked her printable forms. I already to Freezer Cooking but I have not been consistent with the planning part. She says in her article that Planning is the Key for a successful Freezer Cooking Day and that is so true. Here are some great websites to help with planning your day:

Money Saving Mom

30 Meals in One Day

30 Day Gourmet

 

I am planning a cooking day in 2 weeks so I need to revamp my recipes and set up my freezer cooking folder so I am more organized. I’ve shared some of my recipes here and here.

Ligia

Filed Under: Homemaking

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About me

Welcome to my blog! I'm a homeschool mom of two kiddos. I'd love to share what I 've learned and continue to learn as a busy mom trying to do it all!

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