I’m pretty lazy. I cook, and sometimes I even enjoy it. But I’m all about making things as easy and inexpensive as I can, and with the least amount of effort.
So, this is how I do hamburger.
I go to Costco and buy it in bulk. Costco’s meat is far better than the meat from the grocery store, and their regular price is less expensive than Publix’s sale price, at least most of the time. I also make sure to buy the least expensive package they have out because I’ll likely have the same number of patties either way, albeit fractionally smaller.
When I get home I go ahead and season the meat. I’m not very creative in the kitchen, so I season it the same way every time, more or less:
- Garlic powder (occasionally fresh garlic)
- Salt
- Pepper
- A splash of teryaki (my secret ingredient!)
- Onion flakes
- Lawry’s Salt
- Italian Seasoning
- Whatever else I feel like throwing in
Then I immediately form hamburger patties. This package was $14.18, and I was able to make nineteen patties, bout 75 cents apiece.
I then package them in groups of three, two or one so that I can use only what I need for each meal. There are three of us and Husband eats two burgers, so I need four if we’re having hamburgers. If I’m using it to make meat sauce or homemade Hamburger Helper I need two patties. You get the idea.
Then I stick them in a bag in the freezer. This saves me so much time, and on a day like today when 5:15 pm rolls around and I have no idea what I’m making for dinner, all I need to do is pull out two patties, make some spaghetti and once I plate the leftover salad I have dinner in twenty minutes with minimal effort.
Just the way I like it.
Are You Going To Be This Way The Rest of The Time I Know You? 
January 15, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Great work! I do something similar, but avoid tinfoil so I can defrost the patties in the microwave.
Hamburger must really be expensive in your parts! Hereabouts, Costco’s hamburger is higher than Safeway’s, per pound. But CC’s most certainly DOES taste better. However…sometimes Safeway puts roasts on sale for MUCH less than the regular price at either store. If asked sweetly, the butcher will grind these into hamburger for you, free. The result is better even than Costco’s, and sometimes the price is a third of CC’s. Last week I got ground chuck using this strategy for a dollar a pound less than Safeway’s on-the-counter hamburger.
January 15, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I often defrost in the microwave, too. If you open the foil while holding the frozen burgers under the faucet it comes off nearly as easy as if it wasn’t frozen…