How to Batch Prep your Ground Beef in 3 Easy Steps
Let’s do a quick thought exercise…which feels easier to use for dinner tonight? Just imagine you open your freezer to pull out some meat for tonight’s dinner. Are you more likely to choose the prepped taco meat or a frozen 3lb chub of ground beef? I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that you chose the prepped taco meat, and you would be RIGHT!! One of the biggest mistakes people make while trying to stock their freezer is coming home and sticking their fresh meat straight into the freezer. WHY? Because while it’s easier on the front end of grocery shopping, it’s infinitely harder when you go to actually use it! Now you have to thaw the meat (which, let’s be honest, is where most dinner plans go awry), but you also have to season, shape, and cook it. (Which feels like a lot of work at the end of the day, am I right?!) It’s actually much easier to come home from grocery shopping and assign it a job, then you’ll know just how to use it (which gives it a better shot of not collecting freezer burn in the back of your freezer) but it also helps you feel like dinner is EASY…which is the ultimate goal we’re all going for here.
TWO SUPER EASY HOMEMADE PASTA SAUCES
Okay, I’m just going to say it….bottled Alfredo sauce just isn’t good and did I mention it’s also expensive? Bottled spaghetti sauce is great (especially when you catch it on sale…like 99-cents is a great price!) But sometimes you’re caught without it or you need more of a chunky marinara sauce, not just the run-of-the-mill Ragu stuff.
QUICK & EASY HOMEMADE GNOCCHI
*This post is based on a LIVE Instagram Meet Up I did on April 8, 2020, you can catch the video HERE in the private Outsmart Dinner Facebook group*
Looking for a fun dinner party idea, something to do with your kids while you’re on quarantine, or just a quick 4-ingredient substitute for pasta, this quick and easy gnocchi will knock your socks off.
5 EMERGENCY BAKING SUBS FOR WHEN YOU CAN’T MAKE IT TO THE GROCERY STORE
Have you ever started a recipe and half way through realized you’re out of a crucial ingredient? And when that happens, are you excited to drop everything and run to the store? My guess is no. Having a back-up plan for basic baking ingredients is actually really smart and strategic…for more reasons than people panicking over a virus. So should you find yourself out of one of these ingredients, here’s a few options that will keep you from making an emergency trip to the store.