Batch Ground Beef

Ground beef is the workhorse of batch cooking - cheap by the pound, fast to cook, and the base for more weeknight dinners than almost anything else in the freezer. Brown a big batch once and you've got the starting point for tacos, pasta, nachos, chili, and a dozen other dinners that don't need a second thought.

Everything here follows the 24/48 method: cooked within a day of buying, portioned and sealed within two, so it pulls from the freezer ready to drop straight into the pan. No thawing a brick, no guessing how much you've got - just grab a portion and build.

Start with whatever you already make most. The browned beef is the same every time; what you do with it is where the week opens up.