Living in an incredibly impatient and busy society I think we can all agree that we're often looking for shortcuts and easier ways to get things done. Freezing food is a great way to save money by buying in bulk and time because you're not making ten trips to the store in one week. However, defrosting is a definite downfall due to the time it takes.
When I take my monthly trip to the Italian Market in Philadelphia I really stock up on meat. The crowds are typically overwhelming and standing in a butcher shop isn't high on my favorite things so I tend to want to make those trips few and far between. I've found that freezing the meat is the only way to make sure I can utilize each and every pound I purchase.
Sometimes I find myself cooking for just one and it's incredibly frustrating to have to defrost an entire pound of meat for just one portion; that's why I find freezing individual portions to be such a genius idea. I've done this with chicken breasts before and feel so relieved when I find a perfectly portioned frozen piece of meat that can easily be defrosted after a long day of work — but honestly, never even considered it in terms of ground meat.
Flatten out the ground meat in the ziplock bag as thin as possible and be sure to get rid of any air bubbles. Next, use a chopstick (or skewer) to press individual portions into the meat. This way, you can easily break off single portions instead of having to defrost the entire package. Plus, since the meat is spread so thin, it'll defrost in half the time!
• Get More Information: Lunch In A Box
Related: Weekend Project: Freezing Fresh Produce
(Images: Lunch In A Box)
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Elizabeth Apron fro...
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Instead of freezing ground meat raw, I prefer to cook it all up, then freeze it. I cook it, drain it really well, then freeze in individual containers. I use the small sized sour cream containers. These can be thawed in the microwave in minutes, or even thrown into a sauce as they are and they will thaw in there.
I totally agree - this great for freezing and defrosting anything, meat or otherwise. When we pick blueberries in the summer, we freeze them in pint and quart freezer bags and pull them out when we want them. It makes life much easier.
the chopstick trick is brilliant! My husband and I routinely freeze two-person portions in smaller no-name Ziploc-type bags (pretty much every time we buy meat...) but this is a way to use FAR less bags
(and yes, the flattening helps to store it in the freezer flat and defrost fast... we've made "square burgers" many times!
never thought of this - nice!
Whenever I buy bacon in bulk, I let it thaw and individually wrap 4-8 slices of bacon in cling wrap. I find it easier to thaw whenever I need bacon for any dish.
Isn't this the second time this "tip" has been published on the Kitchn? I keep seeing it again and again with the same pictures. It's a good tip, but the repetition hardly seems necessary.
You can just skip reading this post if you've already seen it in the past. No need to point out the obvious...thanks for the tip, as I didn't see the previous posting.
Now, that is brilliant.
What a great idea. I always vacuum seal and freeze but the bags get expensive. This is a great way to use ziplock if I'm only going to freeze for a few days.