I don't have a link for this. I did get it from a friend I only know online, and I barely see her around anymore. It's simple. And Andy and I work together to get this put together and in the freezer so that on chili day, all we need to do is grab a bag from the freezer, pop it in the crockpot, open 4 cans, add a few spices, and let it cook all day.
2 lbs. ground chuck
1 or 2 med. onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 to 4 sticks celery, chopped
1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 cans kidney beans
1 tsp. pepper
3 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp.
garlic salt
When I buy the ground beef, I end up going to Sam's Club and getting a
10lb. tube. Sometimes I use the whole thing and just make up 5 batches
of chili. Sometimes I split it up for other things. Depending on how
much room you have, you can make however many you want, and you get all
the prep work done at once, and putting it together is a cinch. It's
worth the extra time.
Andy cooks up about 2-4 batches of ground beef, 2lb. at a time. He drains the grease, puts the beef in another dish to cool while he starts cooking another batch. Then he puts the cooled beef in a gallon freezer bag.
While he's doing that, I chop the onions, green pepper & celery for the equivalent number of batches. I put the chopped veggies on top of the ground beef, and we label the freezer bag and put it in the freezer.
Since the canned goods have a long shelf life, I usually buy enough of the canned goods so we have them on hand. Then, if we want chili on a whim,we don't have to remember to plan for the rest of the ingredients.
On chili day, we combine all the ingredients in the crockpot. We've started using 1tsp. of chipotle chili powder and 2tsp. of regular chili powder, and it gives it a nice kick, but not too spicy. We let it cook for 6-8 hours. In the past we've served it with corn bread or muffins or corn casserole, and we've ended up with quite a bit left over for lunches. But lately, we've just been putting a little bit of cheese and oyster crackers on it, and that has been filling us up plenty.
