Looking for an easy way to fill your freezer with a dinner freezer meal starter?! Look no further, it doesn't get any easier than this Batch Prep Taco Meat recipe made with homemade taco seasoning!
My best tip for streamlining once a week meal prep is to always have a few freezer meal dinner starters in the freezer. I have a whole post about freezer meal starters here.
There are a few things I always batch prep to have in the freezer to make dinner come together quick.
This Batch Prep Taco Meat is one of them!
This is such a simple recipe, and I make mine without the store bought seasoning with a million ingredients.
I make a scratch made seasoning that is portioned perfectly for this 3 pound batch prep.
Once you have your taco meat in the freezer, the time intensive part of dinner is all done.
You can then easily throw together tacos, burritos, a taco soup, a taco casserole, taco breakfast casserole, Tex Mex Gnocchi Skillet, Meal Prep Turkey Black Bean Salads, or even a quick batch of sweet potato nachos!
My personal preference is to freeze my portions in foodsaver bags with this Foodsaver system.
Once it is sealed, I use a rolling pin to get it all flat. I then freeze flat. This is a really space efficient way to freeze your meals!
Are you ready to fill your freezer with taco meat!?
Batch Prep Taco Meat
Ingredients
- 3 lbs lean ground beef or turkey
- ¼ cup water
Taco Seasoning
- 3 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tsp cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
Instructions
- In a large pan or a dutch oven, brown the meat on medium heat until no pink remains. Drain the excess grease, if necessary.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine all of the seasoning ingredients.
- When the meat is cooked, add in the seasoning and water. It should be around 5 tablespoons of seasoning. Stir to combine.
- Simmer on medium heat until the water is nearly evaporated.
- Remove the taco meat mixture from the heat and allow to cool.
- Transfer the mixture in to freezer safe containers, label, and freeze for up to 6 months. The portions per container are completely dependent on the size of your family!
Nutrition
So, there you have it, a really simple way to fill your freezer with batch prep taco meat to get dinner on the table in no time!
If you make this recipe, I want to see it! Tag me @mealplanaddict over on Instagram, or come post a photo in the Meal Plan Addict Community!
Steph says
Thank you for sharing! When you get ready to use the frozen taco meat how do you recommend warming it up? Thanks for your help!
Steph says
I simply microwave, or you could fry it with a couple tablespoons of water!
Wanda Stagg says
Good idea. But looks like it would need more water
Debbie Bragnalo says
Love your recipes 😋 and great recipe organizing. Thanks for sharing 👍 😊
Anita says
How would you say the spice factor compares to McCormick’s original taco seasoning? I’m a spice wimp to where the Trader Joe’s taco seasoning is much too spicy but McCormick is perfect level.
Steph says
Not at all spicy!