How I Got 12 Freezer Meals from 8 Lbs. of Ground Turkey

Want to learn how to do bulk ground turkey freezer cooking?

When you stumble on a great bulk stock-up deal on meats, it’s a great opportunity to get creative and fill your freezer, but spread the bulk meats over many more meals than you initially think you can make just by simply being creative! In this post, we want to share some ideas for bulk ground turkey freezer cooking. 

I recently stumbled upon a great ground turkey meat sale. We are quite picky about the meat we purchase and in fact, rarely purchase in-store, unless it is a great deal/mark-down or some other promotion.

In the past, we’ve purchased a cow with other friends (usually buying 1/4-1/2 for us) and most recently, purchase beef and pork from a small family farm that delivers across the west and get our poultry from Perdue Farms home delivery (the BEST option we’ve found!). Anyway, our meat buying list is quite short. We don’t buy lunch meat because of the nitrates and other ingredients and rarely anything else. But it does happen…and when it does, it’s usually a bulk or bigger amount.

That’s why when our local Kroger had a markdown sale on Simple Truth Natural Ground Turkey, I jumped on the chance to get a good deal on better quality ground turkey.

As a side frugal and health tip…ground turkey is often costs less than the beef option of the same amount of pre-cooked pounds everyday anyway. Plus, the ground turkey does not shrink as much as beef when cooked due to the lower fat content, so you actually get a bit more after cooked meat per lb. too and it is lower fat.

So, I got this ground turkey for $2.99 per lb.

This is a better price by far when comparing to conventional ground beef that is 93% lean. It’s around $5.99 per lb. in our stores. But this ground turkey is also a more natural version. Although not organic, it is a good deal for the price. Of course I would love to buy the organic ground turkey, and I will if it ever goes for a great price, but at $6.99 per lb., it’s just not that feasible in our tight grocery budget. A more natural conventional version at $2.99 per lb. will do and be great!

So, one thing I love to do to save a little extra money is to cook half or more of the meat I buy in bulk for fast dinner options. From my own experience and from talking with many of you, one of the biggest factors for not getting dinner on the table has been the issue of having to defrost and cook meat. Well, if you cook it, then freeze it, it only takes minutes to prepare dinner!

 I’ve also made “Dump Chicken Around The World” for chicken dishes that have an American, Asian, Mexican and Italian flavors for even faster meals!

But for the ground turkey, I wanted to do something a little different.

So this was how I turned 8 lbs. of ground turkey into 12 meals:

• I made 72 meatballs. 36 traditional and 36 Mexican flavored. I used a mini-muffin pan – they are perfect meatball size!
• I made 24 single serve meat loaves. 12 traditional and 12 Mexican flavored. I used regular size muffin tins to bake these. They are perfect for a single serve meat loaves!
• I made two 2-lb. turkey meat loaves. I make these in a regular bread pan.

I baked all of these up and then froze them in meal size ziploc bags.

• • 12 meatballs per baggie = 6 meals using meatballs
  • 6 single serve meatloaves (we call them meat muffins) per quart size baggie = 4 meals using meat muffins
  • 2 two-lb. meat loaves = 2 meals from meal loaves

Eight pounds of turkey cost me $23.92 (plus tax). And since everyone knows that for most meals, the meat is the expensive part, this means that the most expensive part of the above meals was less than $2 each family meal! I will couple the meatballs with whole wheat pasta and homemade tomato sauce, or in a rice casserole with steamed veggies, or over mashed potatoes with gravy (like a faux salisbury steak in ball form). I will couple the meat loaves with potatoes, steamed veggies and bread for complete meals. It’s really fun to top the meat muffins with mashed potatoes and gravy drizzled over the top – YUMMO!

We’ve actually already taken advantage of some of these meals before I could even get these ideas posted for you. Something that my children have recently discovered is how much they enjoy a “meat muffin” for breakfast. Yes, we’ve been using the single serve turkey meat loaves for breakfast. I can pop them in the microwave for 1-minute each from the freezer, add a piece of toast and a scrambled egg with a piece of fruit. These breakfasts have been incredibly filling and helped our children make it well into the next meal satisfied and full of energy. And at only .33 each meat muffin, I am feeding my kids a 4-course breakfast for around $1-$1.50 each! Normally, I don’t spend this much on breakfast for each person, but it has been a once a week gourmet breakfast for the past couple of weeks and a nice treat for them.  I am not a huge breakfast meats person as breakfast meats are so expensive (and not very healthy to boot!).

Now that I have shared these ideas with you, let me share the quick recipes too!

Traditional Meatballs/Meat Loaf:

• 3 lbs. of ground turkey
• 1 15oz. can of Tomato Sauce (I used my homemade version from fresh tomatoes, which is fine too!)
• 2-3 eggs
• 2 TBSP Italian Seasoning (recipe HERE)
• 1 TBSP minced garlic
• 1 onion diced
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (I used crushed GF crackers)

Mexican Meatballs/Meat Loaf:

• 3 lbs. of ground turkey
• 1 19 oz. can of Enchilada Sauce

• 2-3 eggs
• 1 TBSP Taco Seasoning (recipe HERE)
• 1 TBSP minced garlic
• 1 onion diced
• 1 bell pepper diced
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (I used crushed GF crackers)
• To make a bit spicy: add red pepper flakes to taste

Simply add all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix with your hands until well blended. I start with 2 eggs and if it is not sticking to itself enough, I add another egg. If you have too much egg, you can add more bread crumbs. You can also add more of any of the ingredients to add even more flavor! It is very forgiving and flexible recipe.

Once mixed, form balls and place on a pan or in a mini-muffin tin, regular muffin tin or bread pan.

To bake:

• Meatballs: bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until nice and brown. Inside temperature of at least 165 degrees needs to be achieved!

• Mini-meat loaves: bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until nice and brown. Inside temperature of at least 165 degrees needs to be achieved!

• Meatloaf: bake at 375 degrees for 75 minutes or until nice and brown. Inside temperature of at least 165 degrees needs to be achieved!

Let them cool a bit and then freeze in whatever portions you plan to serve! When you are ready to eat, you can microwave for a minute for few (depending on size) or pop in the oven at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes until hot all the way through. You can also add them to a crockpot with sauce for reheating. Just cook for a couple of hours on low.

How would you serve these?

Here’s a printable recipe for you:

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