Make-Ahead Meat Sauce

I've become a huge fan of make-ahead dinners. Best thing is, they're great for just about anyone who wants to save time and money. Let's face it, none of us really feel like cooking at the end of the day, so why not make ahead dinners you can just come home to?

I only buy ground beef if the grass-fed/organic stuff is on sale and this week it was at my local Sprout's,  so I had to figure how to cook it all up and make it last. Answer: meat sauce. Now this recipe uses prepared spaghetti sauce in a jar (gasp!), but I'll publish my homemade marinara sauce recipe later (it's ridiculously cheap to make).

We eat a lot of spaghetti. It's fast and it's something everyone will eat. Last night, I made a huge batch of meat & veggie sauce and froze what we didn't use for dinner. Easy peasy.

Make-Ahead Meat Sauce

1.5-2 lbs ground beef 

4-lb. 3-oz. jar of Prego spaghetti sauce (I get the enormous jars at Sam's Club)

2 zucchini, diced

1 C bell peppers (red & green), diced

1 onion, diced

1/2 tsp garlic salt (approx)

2 Tb olive oil

You could also throw in...

1 C chopped fresh spinach

1 C diced carrots

1 can of diced tomatoes

... go crazy with the veggies!

In a large pot, cook veggies & ground beef in the olive oil until vegetables are soft and ground beef is browned. Add entire jar of sauce and stir. Voila! Use what you want for dinner that night with some whole wheat pasta and freeze the rest in containers or freezer bags. When you need a quick dinner in the weeks to come, just thaw out a package and cook up some pasta.