How to Batch Prep Taco Meat + Recipes to Make with It!

Want to fill your freezer with ready to cook and eat dinners and meals? I've got you covered! Today we're tackling how to batch prep taco meat complete with recipes to amp up your taco Tuesday.

One of my favorite ways to simplify dinnertime is using meal prep techniques a few times per week. If you know me, you know there's nothing I love more than a well stocked freezer full of breakfast and dinner options!

You can check out all things freezer meals here.

Living out here in the country, it's incredibly important that we have batch prepped meals in the freezer.

Why, you ask?

Well, for one, we don't have a big grocery store right down the road where we can run and grab missed ingredients.

And with our farm lifestyle, sometimes during harvest and planting, I don't even have the time to get to the grocery store. Well, until it rains, and then we go gangbusters trying to catch up!

So now, more than ever, I feel like we need to get batching and freezer meal prepping!

How to Batch Prep Taco Meat

Let's start by making our homemade taco seasoning.

You likely have all the ingredients you need in your spice cabinet and pantry. It costs pennies to make and you can customize it to your family's taste!

Want it spicy? Add more cayenne!

Need lower sodium? Reduce or omit the salt.

Cook 3 pounds of taco meat

You can pick as much meat as you want to batch prep this taco meat. Personally, and for illustrative purposes, I'm making three pounds of meat in this batch.

Want to use ground turkey? Go for it. There is NO STRESS allowed when we're talking tacos, friends!

I'm cooking one pound of meat for tonight's traditional tacos.

I will freeze the other batches of taco meat and pull them out for taco quesadillas, taco salad and taco stuffed sweet potatoes.

How to Store Batch Taco Meat

My mom loves here FoodSaver system and I agree, it's pretty awesome!

But you can just as easily do what I do and add each pound of cooked and cooled taco meat to a gallon or quart size freezer bag.

To label, a simple sharpie marker does the trick!

Lay the contents flat and remove as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn.

Place the bags on a cookie sheet and lay flat in your freezer until frozen solid. Then, don't forget to reclaim your cookie sheet.

What to serve with tacos

Oh my gosh, there are so many ideas! If you're going the balanced diet route, try my Mexican Chopped Salad. And of course, you can serve with guacamole, a simple pico de gallo, and refried beans.

Recipes to use taco meat

Try using this easy batch taco meat to make tacos, of course! But also think about pre-making it as a started to taco pasta salad, taco soup, are more!

Batch Taco Meat

Deanne Frieders

Want to fill your freezer with ready to cook and eat dinners and meals? I've got you covered! Today we're tackling how to batch prep taco meat complete with recipes to amp up your taco Tuesday.

4.85 from 19 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Main Dish Recipes

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 3 pounds

Calories 640 kcal

Ingredients

  

.5x1x2x

• 2 tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 3 pounds lean ground beef
• ½ cup water

Instructions

 

• In a small bowl, combine all spices and stir to mix.
• In a large pot or skillet, brown ground beef over medium high heat, breaking up with a spoon. Drain excess fat.
• Add spice blend to meet mixture, stir to incorporate. Add water, bring to a boil, then simmer for 10-15 minutes until most of the water is evaporated.
• Use immediately or break into 3 portions and freeze in labeled quart sized freezer bags.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gramsCalories: 640kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 98gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 281mgSodium: 2288mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1g

This Farm Girl Cooks is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

Tried this recipe?Mention @ThisFarmGirlCooks or tag #thisfarmgirlcooks!