Last month, I went halfsies with a friend on a Zaycon order of lean 93/7 ground beef. (Zaycon is a company which sells meat direct to consumers. They offer super high quality products at very good prices. If you want more info, click here.) She received the order on Saturday, and I picked it up this morning. Now I have these two HUGE 10 pound tubes of hamburger, and I need to decide what to do with it.
These are huge tubes of beef! 10 pounds each! See that orange next to them?
I could be boring and just cut it up and freeze it (and I am seriously tempted to be boring), or I could do something fun like use my handy dandy pressure canner (I have this one) and can hamburger. Or I can brown it all before I freeze it. Hmm… What should I do? My fridge is overflowing with ground beef, and I must do something with it very soon! Any suggestions?
Not a super attractive picture, but you get the idea. These tubes take up the entire bottom shelf of my fridge.
If all I had to do was decide what to do with my ground beef, it would not be a problem. But, on a whim, I bought these while coming back from the beach last week.
Some of these are “less than perfect” on the outside, but they are yummy on the inside!
I passed right by some farmer’s markets, and they were only $7 total, so I couldn’t pass them up. I’m planning to make some marmalade, but I don’t know if I really need as many jars of marmalade as these will yield. I turned to my friend, Google, and found an interesting recipe for candied orange peel. I may try my hand at that, but I have no idea what to do with the rest of the oranges. The boxes looked so much smaller when they were in the market.
So, I’m begging you! Help! What should I make with my plethora of oranges and hamburger? Best suggestion (for either oranges or hamburger) with a recipe (it can be your own or something found on the Internet) wins one of my homemade jars of marmalade or one of my other jam, preserves, or jellies. If I select your idea/recipe, I’ll let you choose one of the following:
Orange Marmalade
Vanilla Pear Preserves (click here to see my post about serving it over goat cheese with crackers)
Strawberry Preserves (click here to see how I made it)
Strawberry-Vanilla Preserves
Apricot Preserves (click here to see how I made it)
Ginger Pear Jam
Carrot Cake Jam (weird sounding, but, oh, so good!)
Blueberry Marmalade
Blueberry Conserves
Blueberry-Lime Jam
Cherry-Almond Preserves
Watermelon-Lime Jelly
What’s the catch? You only have today and tomorrow to enter my contest and make a comment on this post (comments made after midnight Pacific daylight time on Wednesday, April 16th are appreciated, but are not eligible for the contest), and you must have a shipping address within the continental USA. (Sorry, no APO/FPO/DPO.) I’m not responsible for equipment or Internet failures. And, of course, no purchase is necessary. Other than the info above, the same rules apply for this contest as my April giveaway. Click here to read the rules and to enter my April giveaway.
Some of my homemade jam, jelly, and preserves.
So, tell me… What should I make?
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My Foray Into Food Storage 
April 14, 2014 at 4:38 pm
Laurie I’d make something with the orange pulp of the oranges and use the orange peels for making an all-purpose citrus cleaner
http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2012/04/diy-all-purpose-citrus-cleaner.html
For the 10# of ground beef; can one tube and make a freezer meal with the other tube (having a ready-made meal to grab and heat up in a hurry).
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April 14, 2014 at 4:55 pm
I personally think that fixing a soup with it would be the best option. You can make big batches of it and it lasts you a while! What I personally like to do is brown the meat, then add cut up veggies (my faves are zucchini, broccolini, red bell pepper or other bell peppers) and chicken stock. Add some salt, pepper and whatever spices you like for a healthy version. A soup though that really uses a lot of meat and used to be a favorite of mine before I found out I had tons of intolerances was a hearty cheeseburger soup. Basically you brown the meat, add onions and herbs (parsley, basil) and cook it. Add potatoes and broth and wait for the potatoes to soften. In the meantime heat up butter and add some flour. Pour that mixture to the soup. Lower the heat and add cheese, milk, salt and pepper to liking. In the end add sour cream. So delicious and creamy, but definitely not something I could eat all the time. 🙂 Hope you find a good recipe to fix! Oh, or you could make filled zucchini! That’s the last suggestion haha
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April 14, 2014 at 4:57 pm
Oh and as to the oranges, if you have a juicer, I’d juice them. It uses up a lot of the oranges, is full of nutrients and makes you feel energized!
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April 14, 2014 at 5:14 pm
For the ground beef, I would freeze it in one pound segments, but that is me. Easiest and I love having one pound ziplock bags of ground beef. Easy to thaw in the microwave and use in a recipe when you need it.
As for orange, I would do an orange beef recipe for dinner one night. My husband has done that with some orange juice and some orange peel. I also have a yummy bread recipe that uses a bit of orange juice too. But neither of these would use many of the oranges.
Looking forward to seeing what others have to say.
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April 14, 2014 at 5:21 pm
Laurie…my suggestion for the meat would be for one tube to brown it in batches (gallon freezer bags). To 3 batches I would add cooked rice and onion. When you need a quick meal you could make stuffed peppers with one batch, cabbage rolls with another batch, and lastly stuffed zucchini. I would then make a few bags with the meat/onion/peppers and freeze for later use for chili, goulash, and homemade hamburger helper. Make a few bags with just the beef and keep for use in soups and spaghetti with meat sauce. The other 10 pounds I would freeze raw for meatloaf, hamburgers on the grill, beef stroganoff, bbq beef (sloppy joe), tacos, lasagna, shepherds pie, and meatballs!!
The oranges I would definitely freeze as much of the zest that you can, I would make orange juice and the candies peels and I have a friend who flash freezes slices. I am not sure of her method but she found it on google and she orders a crate of oranges every December from Florida.
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April 14, 2014 at 6:15 pm
I saw a recipe online that looked good!
For the oranges:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/orange-tofu-and-broccoli_n_1057196.html
For the beef, i’ve tried this recipe and love it!
http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/cheeseburger-crescent-casserole/039f0f1d-769d-4b4d-812a-1626e1e3188a
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April 14, 2014 at 6:23 pm
I also forgot to mention that we have a hamburger patty maker, so I tend to make some hamburger patties of whatever weight I prefer and put them in an old bread bag separated by wax paper. Then the next time you want to grill some hamburgers, you have some frozen patties easy to separate and to cook however many you need all of a fairly uniform size.
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April 15, 2014 at 11:24 am
Great idea!
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April 14, 2014 at 6:21 pm
I like the comments that suggest using the orange pulp! I would suggest making meatloaf with the burger and orange pulp (and some of the juice too – there are creative recipes out there, I will let you google!) Also, thinking about canning meatballs! It’s something that I am planning on for some ground venison. In fact, you could mix up a huge batch of the meatloaf recipe and make and freeze some cooked meatloafs as well as make and can meatballs from the same mess! Good buys! Good luck with whatever you decide on!
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April 14, 2014 at 6:27 pm
How about summer sausage for the ground beef? I made some last year to give as Christmas gifts. Tastes wonderful, keeps well, easy to make. I still have a couple of rolls in the freezer, kept there for freshness, and still tasting great.
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April 14, 2014 at 6:28 pm
Oh, here is a recipe that could be adapted: http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Pork_-Orange-And-Sage-Meatloaf-Recipezaar
Substitute the burger for the pork and add a good portion of orange pulp for the breadcrumbs. Experiment first before committing to a large batch, of course!
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April 14, 2014 at 6:35 pm
If it were me, I’d freeze most of the meat in 2 lb packages then mix up some maple sage sausage to freeze as well (There’s a recipe for that at the bottom of this post – http://cheffingit.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/muffins-in-a-skillet-the-english-way/).
As for the oranges, you might find this post helpful – http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2013/03/what-to-do-when-life-gives-you-lots-of-oranges.html 🙂
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April 15, 2014 at 2:11 pm
Oh! Why didn’t I think of this before? Orange curd! You know like lemon curd, only orange! That would be amazing and would use up lots of oranges. 😀
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April 14, 2014 at 7:15 pm
Dry can it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBEjwlV-czE
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April 14, 2014 at 7:16 pm
The hamburger, I mean.
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April 16, 2014 at 8:58 am
I’ve never tried dry canning, and I am hesitant to do so, because I am not aware of any safety tests done on dry canning. If you know of any, I’d love to read them.
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April 14, 2014 at 7:39 pm
Last month when I visited my Memom, she had a bunch of hamburger she bought on sale and wasn’t going to eat right away, so she had us grill up patties for her. She froze them and now she thaws one every day to eat on her lunch break. Simple and easy, but still a bit boring.
I also like to make meatballs and freeze them for later (if they last long enough to make it to the freezer!). Here’s a though: make orange-glazed meatballs and freeze in batches or can them. That would use up both the oranges and the meat. Also, have you tried dehydrating oranges?
Here’s a recipe for the orange meatballs: http://www.cooks.com/recipe/ay7de5xq/orange-meatballs.html it calls for turkey and canned tomato bisque, but I’m sure it would be just as good with beef and regular ole’ tomato soup!
And here’s one for dehydrating oranges in the oven: http://www.marthastewart.com/332252/oven-dried-orange-slices I think maybe I’d peel them first, kind of like the ones you find in trail mix.
Now you got me wanting orange-glazed meatballs. We have a huge bag of oranges and a freezer full of deer meat. Hmmmmm…
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April 14, 2014 at 8:07 pm
If you can’t think. Of anything else to do with all those oranges why not squeeze and freeze? I do make a killer tortilla soup that has orange juice in it.
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April 14, 2014 at 8:32 pm
Laurie, I have always wanted to can spaghetti sauce with meat. But I need a credible method since I am so rusty on canning (haha rusty …canning). Sooooooo, why don’t you try it, and let me know how it works out. 🙂
http://www.simplycanning.com/canning-spaghetti-sauce.html
PS I can run down and pick up the jelly/jam and save you the postage!
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April 14, 2014 at 10:15 pm
I find that seasoning ground beef – to then make meatballs, for hamburgers, or meatloaf is a huge time saver and leaves me options for what I feel like making and eating. I also love, love, love the ease of having frozen seasoned and cooked ground beef for a very quick meal of tacos or spaghetti sauce. I liked the cleaner idea for oranges….I always love fresh OJ.
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April 14, 2014 at 11:12 pm
love your post but as in united kingdom I can only agree with some of the other ideas could make juice jam, meat loaf
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April 15, 2014 at 12:44 am
I would freeze one tube in 1lb chunks, and turn the other tube into a giant batch of chili to freeze.
As for the oranges, make homemade orange chicken, YUM! That dish is my weakness and I need to learn how to make it.
You can even dry out orange rings for decoration (think garland for your Christmas tree). It’d be pretty with some cranberries!
Also for the oranges, sangria! If you don’t drink, treat a friend to a homemade batch of sangria. 🙂
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April 15, 2014 at 8:08 am
Do you have recipes for any of these?
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April 15, 2014 at 8:19 am
My chili recipe is top secret. 🙂 I haven’t tested out an orange chicken recipe, sorry!
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April 15, 2014 at 7:02 am
Fill up your freezer with ready meals: ground hamburger for spaghetti, lasagna or pizza. Meatballs for appetizers or Hawaiian meatballs or pasta. Meat loaf. Cook up some and season with taco spices for tacos, burritos, taco salad and of course taco pizza. Thats a big hit at my house. Hamburger soup. Finally make a Shepherds pie and freeze it for later! While you are doing all of this food prep make some chili for dinner in your crockpot http://www.foodtasticmom.com/2013/11/08/jimmy-fallons-crock-pot-chili/ Squeeze oranges and freeze in ice trays for drinks, sauces and marinades.
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April 15, 2014 at 7:26 am
Summer sausage!!!!! What better way to store meat?! Plus it’s delicious.
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April 15, 2014 at 7:49 am
Do you have a recipe?
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April 15, 2014 at 8:03 am
I’ll hunt it down, my father in law makes some every year and my brother in law makes his out of antelope.
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April 15, 2014 at 7:49 am
How about an orange curd or custard? It will only help in small batches and would need to be frozen if not consumed right away, but it would be delicious! Also get some more fruit and mix the oranges in with mint and sparkling water for fruit salad this week 🙂
For the meat, I’d also recommend making some quick meals to freeze. Maybe some chili (so easy!) and shepherd’s pie so you can have easy but healthy meals down the road.
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April 15, 2014 at 7:50 am
Do you have a recipe?
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April 15, 2014 at 8:50 am
For which? I only have recipes for lemon curd, but I imagine you could use orange in its place. I will be honest; I haven’t personally tried it, though I’ve been considering it.
I will have to look up a custard recipe I have, then I would use the oranges to create a juice to flavor it.
As far as shepherd’s pie, I make it from scratch with a rue, flavored with a beer (also tastes good if a cider or whiskey is used), seasoned with pepper and salt to taste. I prefer to add rosemary to the rue as well. Then mixed veggies and ground beef (I normally make it was venison) and topped with mashed potatoes. But I’m assuming that’s not the recipe you were looking for!
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April 15, 2014 at 9:30 am
My favorite garnish for cheeseburgers is a slice of orange instead of tomato…but that won’t really solve your dilemma. Orange marmalade would be delicious for some of the oranges. Do you have kids old enough to have an orange juice stand instead of a lemonade stand? They could make a little money, have lots of fun, and use up some oranges. – Fawn
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April 15, 2014 at 9:42 am
with large amounts of hamburger I would make chili and or a hot dog chili sauce … you know one with beans one with out and freeze or can both for later… the orange juice could be made into home made orange Liquor… if you don’t mind buying some Vodka and of course Juice pops or ices… if it is getting hot where you are?
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April 15, 2014 at 9:57 am
It’s pretty warm this morning. I’d guess it’s already in the 80s, and it’s a little before 10 am.
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April 15, 2014 at 10:30 am
Hi Laurie, this is what I will do with that amount of ground beef; meat loaf , picadillo cubano, meat balls, beef empanadas or tacos. All of these will hold very well in the freezer, and it its plenty for a long time. I have this recipe out of my cooking school classes, it was named and created by my Charcuterie and Meat Fabrication instructor, Chef Michael, “Flying Out the Door Meatloaf”, and you can figure out why. The recipe needs 11 pounds of meat, and it will yield 4 or 5 loafs. For the oranges I will squeezed them for orange juice, that also freeze well, do some orange peels marmalade, candied orange rings, and orange liqueur. Here is the recipe for the meat loaf:
5#pork ground meat
6# beef ground meat
4 green bell peppers small diced
6 slices of white bread torn by hand
2# onions small diced
3 oz. garlic
8 oz. parmesan cheese
8 oz. worcestershire sauce
2 T. tarragon
2 T. marjoram
1 cup of eggs
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup black pepper
tomato sauce
tomato pasta
Mix all the ingredients, form the logs, and cover them with the tomato sauce and paste. If possible seal air them for longer life. Bake at 350F, until 160 internal temp. Hope this is of any help.
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April 15, 2014 at 11:02 am
I think dehydration would be a good start for boyh the meat and orange zest/peals.
http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-dehydrate-ground-beef
Of course first, I’d make my favorite ground beef recipe and have fresh oranges for dessert!
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April 15, 2014 at 3:06 pm
I’ve read that you can make your own orange juice concentrate by freezing orange juice. When it thaws, the juice concentrate will thaw before the water so here is a procedure I found: http://www.ehow.com/how_8090559_make-orange-juice-concentrate.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask Then, with the concentrated juice, you could freeze it to use in recipes that call for orange juice, dilute with water for orange juice, or my favorite: add to smoothies. I love orange flavor in my smoothies but adding just orange juice requires way too much liquid to get a punch of orange flavor. Adding OJ concentrate allows you to get way more bang for the amount of liquid you add. I highly recommend some OJ concentrate, strawberry, and vanilla yogurt smoothies.
And I definitely love candied orange peel. It’s great in the dead of winter when you haven’t had anything bright and citrus-y for a while. Suuuuper time consuming though but if you make a big batch, you’ll have a lot of payoff for your effort and could even use as gifts for the holidays.
As for the hamburger, chili! It freezes great and when are you ever going to turn down a big bowl of chili? Just make in your crockpot using your favorite recipe and package in individual servings in zip top bags and freeze. Any day you don’t feel like cooking or didn’t pack a lunch for someone, just toss them a bag o frozen chili and it’ll thaw enough to dump into a bowl by lunch and microwave it.
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April 16, 2014 at 10:08 am
I would patty up all of it and freeze. This way you can use the ground beef as hamburgers or for dishes that require the beef. Scott
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April 17, 2014 at 7:27 am
Those pots of Jelly & marmalade look really good!
I made some grapefruit marmalade recently.
I saw other commentors have already made great suggestions on what to do
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