Ground Beef Mixture 6 Ways

Do you need a basic recipe that will make plenty of meals for your family at one time? Ground Beef Mixture 6 Ways is a get-er done, helpful family recipe.

This recipe is not for the faint of heart. You’ll need to dig your hands into a large batch of raw meat mixture. However, it is not difficult, and when you are finished, you will have many meals on hand for your family for weeks to come.

My family loves this recipe. I love this recipe. This is comfort food at its finest.

Plus, in one day you can knock out, depending on how much your family eats, at least 6 meals. If you are brave and have the budget and freezer space, you could easily double this and make enough for 12 meals at once.

Ground Beef Mixture 6 Ways

When you make the ground beef mixture, you really just need to throw everything together into a big bowl and mix. DO NOT OVERMIX. The more you mix, the tougher the end result.

Mix just enough to combined well.

Tip: Be sure you take off your rings first. I always seem to forget until after my hands are already in the mess. Yuck.

All the serving sizes in the recipe are approximate. My mom taught me how to make meatloaf, and when I ask her for serving sizes, she would say, “Oh, about this many. Whatever you want to do.”

I realize that may not be helpful when you have no clue where to begin, but the truth is this is an old-fashioned recipe that can be stretched. On weeks that money is tight, use more breadcrumbs. When you have more income for meat, you can be more generous. The egg is the what binds it together.

Oatmeal can be substituted for breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs can be made out of gluten-free bread, crackers, or whatever is needed for your family’s diet.

Once you have the ground beef mixture completed, here are options for recipes.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf is comfort food at its finest! Did you grow up eating meatloaf with onion soup mix?

One key to a great meatloaf is to not handle it too much. The more you mess with it, the more dense and dry it will be.

Meat mixture (approx. 2 lbs ground beef worth)

1 can tomato soup or 1 cup ketchup

1 loaf pan

If freezing: foil and saran wrap

Line loaf pan with foil, overlapping the sides by enough that you will be able to cover the top of the meatloaf completely. Then line again with saran wrap.

Form a meatloaf and place inside the pan. Wrap the loaf with saran wrap and foil. Freeze completely. (Do not cook.)

Once fully frozen, remove from loaf pan and place in a ziplock bag. This way your foil pan will not be kept stashed away unable to be used in your freezer. The meatloaf also stays more fresh this way.

One – two days before serving, thaw meatloaf in refridgerator.

To prepare: Carefully unwrap meatloaf from foil and saran wrap. Place inside of loaf pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour or until done throughout. Top with tomato soup or ketchup and bake for 10-15 minutes more.

If you do a lot of freezer cooking, check out this nifty bag holder.

Salisbury Steak

Salisbury Steak gets a bad rap from back in our grade school days of mystery meat, but these are really tasty! Our whole family likes them.

I cheated for the gravy and use the jarred kind from the grocery store, but I also included a link to packets of an organic brand for a clean eating alternative. Of course also feel free to make your own healthy version!

Form ground beef mixture into the number of patties you want to make. (Make about the size of hamburger patties.) Fry in a skillet over medium heat with a little bit of oil.

Cook until completely done in the center.

If freezing: double bag in a ziplock bag. Tip: I freeze these on a cookie sheet first, then place them in a ziplock bag, so they don’t all freeze together in one big lump. Then you can pull out the number you need at serving time.

To serve: 1-2 steaks per person

2 jars brown gravy or check out this organic brown gravy mix as a healthy alternative.

Reheat steaks in a skillet. (Just to reheat since they are already cooked.) Add gravy. Serve over mashed potatoes or rice.

Meatballs

These meatballs are made for the next couple recipes.

Make as many meatballs as you’d like with the ground beef meat mixture. Try to make them about the same size for equal cooking time.

Baking them in the oven is much more effective than cooking them in a skillet, and also requires no extra oil. Bake in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes. Cut one in half and see if it’s done throughout. If not, give them 5-10 minutes more.

To freeze: Cool cooked meatballs. Move to a fresh cookie sheet and place in the freezer for at least one hour. This way they won’t stick together in the freezer in one bit lump, and you can pull out as many at a time as you need. Once frozen, place in a ziplock bag. (I double bag for maximum freshness.)

Meatballs — Swedish Meatballs

This is a quick “cheat version” of Swedish meatballs for a busy family.

1 serving meatballs (about 1 lb ground beef worth), thawed

4 cups Greek yogurt or sour cream

2 jars brown gravy or check out this organic brown gravy mix as a healthy alternative.

(You want approximately equal portions of yogurt and gravy.)

In a small saucepan mix the yogurt and gravy together over medium heat. Whisk briskly to combine. Continue to stir often so the yogurt doesn’t burn. Once hot, add the meatballs.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

Meatballs — Spaghetti and Meatballs

1 serving meatballs (approx 1 lb ground beef worth), thawed

1 jar spaghetti sauce, or 1 homemade recipe sauce

1 box spaghetti noodles

You can’t get too much easier than this recipe. For nights you need a quick meal, boil some noodles, open a jar of spaghetti sauce, pull out your already cooked meatballs, and you can have a meal on the table in about 15 minutes.

If you are brave enough to make your own sauce, check out Jen’s Easy Peasy Paleo Meatballs and Sauce. It’s really not that difficult.

Meatballs — Meatball Subs

Meatball subs are another fast and easy recipe using the meatballs you baked. This is one of my personal favorites because it tastes like something from a restaurant or sub shop, and not something I typically think to make at home. Once you’ve made the meatballs in advance, this comes together in minutes.

Meatballs (approximately 1 lb ground beef worth), thawed

1 jar spaghetti sauce, or use Jen’s recipe to make your own

2 cups shredded mozzarella or provolone cheese, or 6 cheese slices

6 sub sandwich rolls

To serve: Heat meatballs and sauce in a small saucepan until hot. Serve in rolls and top with cheese.

Meatballs — Sweet N Sour

The final version of meatballs is to serve them sweet ‘n sour. I personally would love them, but my husband is allergic to soy so we don’t eat them this way in our family. This is what you will need, though, if you want to add them to your rotation:

1 serving meatballs (approximately 1 lb ground beef worth), thawed

2 jars sweet ‘n sour sauce (Such as this Sweet n Sour Sauce) or check out this recipe for homemade sweet and sour sauce for meatballs.

Serve over rice and with a side of stir fried veggies.

Homemade Onion Soup Mix

Want to make your own healthy version of the onion soup mix for this recipe? Click here for my recipe for Homemade Onion Soup Mix.