So, when I began spliting the ground meat in my recipes for half chicken/half ground beef I needed to find a grinder. I would LOVE to have the one that attaches to my Kitchen Aid stand mixer but it is $50 and I realize in the long run I would still be saving money but I just couldn't put out that kind of money just yet. A recent trip to a kitchen store in the mall led me to a manual grinder for $25...half the price but still...... Then I thought, FREECYCLE!!! (Click the link to see if there is a group near you.)
I've given and received many things on Freecycle over the last couple of years (including enough canning jars to get me started on my canning last year) so there was no reason to think that there wasn't someone out there who had one of these lovelies just sitting on a shelf begging to be put to work. SCORE!!! One of my Freecycle friends came thru.
Introducing Bealah Mae:
She's such a hard worker. In no time flat she can turn this:
Into this:
After Beulah Mae has done her part, it's my turn. I've been getting my 95% lean ground beef at our local IGA for about $3.46/lb. BUT I've also been blessed to find it recently with 75¢ coupons attached because it needs to be sold within the next day or two. I always get right at or a little under a pound which ends up being between $2.60-$2.75 for a package.
This is two packages of ground beef with 1.9 lbs ground chicken breast.
Using my Pampered Chef Mix 'n Chop, I break down the meats and brown.
Eventually it will look like this.
After it cools, I will divide it up into baggies, label and freeze flat. When is it completely frozen, I will move it to my deep freeze and stand it up on it's end like a book. When I need it for a meal, I just take it out and let it thaw which takes MUCH less time when it is cooked than when it is raw.
I hope you enjoyed meeting Beulah Mae! Some day soon I will introduce you to her best friend Betty (aka my Kitchen Aid mixer).
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