To start out, look through your favorite recipes calling for your main ingredient. Begin to make a list of these recipes and the ingredients needed. Decide how many meals you would like to serve each recipe. Make at least two meals from each recipe, for better time-management. For example, your plan for hamburger might look like this:
Lasagne (3)
Tacos (2)
Hamburger-noodle Casserole (2)
Meatloaf (3)
Hamburgers (3)
Hamburger Pizza (2)
Assuming each recipe called for one pound of ground beef, you would need to purchase 15 pounds of ground beef. At the same time, make a shopping list of the other ingredients that you will need to prepare the recipes. There might be certain ingredients you would want to leave out of this shopping list, such as tortillas and hamburger buns, which you would want to purchase nearer to the date you will serve those meals.
Now the game plan: quickly jot down the order in which you will prepare these items. You might decide to make the hamburger patties first, since they don't require cooking at this time, and put them in the freezer while you are preparing everything else. The meatloaf can also be mixed, shaped into loaves, and frozen without cooking first. Of course, you would only be able to do this if you are purchasing fresh ground beef. Don't refreeze uncooked meat once it has been thawed. Next you might decide to brown the remaining ground beef to use in your other recipes. Add onion and any seasonings as you brown it. You can package some of it "as is" to use in tacos and on the hamburger pizza, and prepare the lasagne and casserole with the remainder.
Cooking with the "plan" method is one of the many ways you might choose to cook ahead. Search the links on this page to find many other plans, or come up with your own plan, based on your family's favorite dishes.
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