Whenever I'm making ground beef or pork and I don't want the meat in big clumps...I use my potato masher and gently (so as not to scar my non stick pan) mash the meat, when it's almost completely browned. It really does a great job for meat sauce, sausage gravy and sloppy joes.
If your meatloaf gets greasy, place two pieces of dry bread in the bottom of the baking pan. The bread will absorb the grease and keep it away from your meatloaf. When you take the meatloaf out of the pan, toss the bread, and grease, away. This really works!
If your cooking ground meat and you have trouble draining the grease off without dumping the meat down the drain too...and you don't want to dirty a strainer, just sop up the grease with a piece or two of bread and throw it away (or give the dog a treat)
When you bring home ground beef from the store, immediately divide it by the amount you think you'll use (I use about 1 1/2 pounds per bag) into Ziplock freezer bags. Leave a corner of the bag open (to let air escape) and roll the meat flat in the bag...using a rolling pin. Then, press out extra air and freeze flat. After the meat is frozen, you can store it in the freezer in an upright position, just like a book on a shelf. This saves A TON of freezer space!
Have leftover raw ground beef that's getting brown but you don't want to refreeze it (because it was frozen before and that would be unsafe)? Brown the ground beef, seasoned if desired, and then refreeze it. Later, when you need to make sloppy joes or a quick casserole, it will be there, ready to defrost. Keeps for about a month.
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