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Dear Heloise: Here’s a really quick and nonmessy way to prepare ground meat for the freezer:

Divide the ground meat into serving-size amounts and spoon each wad into one of those cheap, fold-over, plastic sandwich bags. With the palm of your hand, mash the wad into a flat patty, and put these prewrapped patties into a gallon-size freezer storage bag, then pop the bag into the freezer. Take out as many as you need for a meal. Because they are already in patties, they can go right into the frying pan or thaw quickly for use in other recipes. – Peg H., Washington, D.C.