One of our local grocery stores marks yesterday’s “old” fresh ground beef down in the morning, so I save a lot of money by buying multiple packages at one time! I like to make hamburger patties and freeze them, so they are ready for BBQs, baseball nights, and nights when no one feels like much cooking! By doing this often, I discovered an easy way to freeze hamburger patties so they don’t stick together in the freezer!
This week, I bought 7 packages of fresh ground beef one morning. With about 3 pounds of ground beef in each package, that was several meals I could prepare in advance. I browned some, cooked meatballs for spaghetti, and then made hamburger patties to freeze.
Having individual hamburger patties in your freezer is so easy and convenient. When you’re ready for dinner, you simply pull out however many patties you need and grill them up.
Start by laying a large cookie sheet next to your work area. I like to line my cookie sheet with parchment paper, aluminum foil or wax paper. Now you’ll want to get your hands dirty by mixing your ground beef with your desired seasoning. (I like to start with two eggs, 1/4 cup of bread crumbs, a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper. Sometimes I add in a packet of onion soup mix.)
Begin to form hamburger patties and place them on the lined cookie sheet as they are made. Continue to lay the patties side by side on the cookie sheet, until it’s filled up. If you need to start a second layer, just add a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil (or wax paper) on top of the patties and continue.
I like to put a top sheet of paper on top, before sticking the cookie sheet in the freezer. Since they will only be in the freezer like this for a few hours, this step probably isn’t necessary.
Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 2 hours, until the patties are frozen.
Take the cookie sheet out of the freezer and gently remove each patty from the paper, placing into a large freezer-style ziploc bag. Since the patties are already frozen, they will not stick together and it will be super easy to take out only what you need to cook! I can usually fit about 12 hamburger patties in each large ziploc bag.
