Basic cookng question -mince beef - only if you want a laugh!

[lavender11]

Young(ish) mum working from a resource of a freezer
Tonight (monday night) taken out mince beef (fairly large portion but frozen) - babies just in bed, husband snoring - just about to taken washing in from line (I am so grateful for this good weather everything dries so quick and no need to use tumbledryer)
Anyway I am a bluffer at cooker (means I am rubbish!)
Please help - I only ever saw my mother come home from work 6pm-ish and fry up onions and mince beef before serving with potatoes and veg - it is now 11pm and i have frozen beef
Aside from me not living up - can I put frozen beef in slow cooker with veg and stock and let it defrost overnight (there will be water/liquid) and then turn it on tomorrow or is failing to "brown" the mince and to use onions fatal.
I will get up extra early tomorrow to brown the mince tomorrow (although I dont have any onions but I know about sealing in the flavour)
Any thoughts much much appreciated i have no one else to ask (including my own mum) thanks

You need to brown it or it'll be too watery with stock etc. just fry it off before you cook it tomorrow night? No need to leave it marinating in anything. Why not add jar of dolmio or similar and voila ... Spam bol

thank you QOD you are a God send

Don't let it defrost overnight in the slow cooker, as the slow cooker will not get up to a high enough temp to kill the bugs and nasties that might grow in it whilst defrosting.

Leave the mince in the fridge overnight. In the morning, IF it has defrosted, fry it off and put into slow cooker.

If it hasn't defrosted overnight, you could just cook it when you get home in the evening (it doesn't take long to cook). You could buy an onion on your way home if you did it that way!

It should defrost in the fridge by dinner time tomorrow if you put it in there now - and will be much less likely to give you food poisoning than leaving it at room temperature overnight. Dolmio etc is a good idea if you're not a big fan of cooking!

Brown the mince until all the watery liquid dissolves and then the fat from the mince really browns it properly. Don't stop as son as it all looks greyish. I learned this from Phil Vickery on telly and my mince dishes have been transformed!

When I cook mince in the slow cooker, I just chop an onion, throw it in there, with garlic if you like it, and a carton of passata or tin of tomatoes, then chuck the mince in, give it a stir round, and leave it. I do two 800g packs as there are lots of us to feed, and it only takes 4-5 hours on high. Skim the fat off, unless it's best expensive mince. I add gravy granules if it's "just mince" or if it's for chili, put the chili powder and seasonings in at the beginning and add the kidney beans (tinned) about an hour before you serve it.
It's quicker to do mince in a pan though, it doesn't take very long, do it the same as in the slow cooker but, well, in the pan on the hob
Or mix it with chopped onion/seasoning/breadcrumbs and form it into burgers instead.

amistillxexy - what if you have 3 menaces under the age of 3.5 years who all go to the care of another whilst i work and who all need feeding and bathing before you even get to your husbands dinner time around 9pm (this is typical - how shit for him is this?)
i admit i am ineffiecient without a doubt and i will admit to that
but after all that stuff
is there any way i can pre-prepare it tonight
I have mince (which I could defrost and then fry) veg and beef stock but no onion
I guess this is a no go for pre prepared but all i really want is a frank ("do it this way") answer
thank you in anticipation
am off in garden now to get sheets from babies beds wchich in washingmachine today

so from all your lovely ladies (thank you so much for responding at this hour) I am getting that there is now "night before" short cut and i need to set my alarm

• this is equally useful information i just need to know it

thank you

by the way you are all the best ever for being there
now i am off into my garden to collect (hopefully dry) baby grows (about 7) is it still warm out there
and then try to do something with this mince maybe wait till 5.45am tomorrow

You could defrost in microwave and go from there!

Oh bless

I just stick raw mince, (onion) carrots water & a stock cube in a casserole for about 2 hours

Then I put 2 tablespoons of flour (maybe a little less) and about 6 table spoons of water into a jug stir until smooth & mix in to the hot mince

I imagine the same/similar method would work in the slow cooker thickening (flour/water) at the end

Or add an egg curry powder & some breadcrumbs (blend 2 slices of bread) then put in a loaftin in the oven for about 1.5 hrs (serve with a sauce made of tomato sauce, brown sugar, butter water & worcester sauce (about the same amounts of each & check to see which it needs more of by taste)

katy mac you are the best thankyou

Catch me at the weekend & I'll write out some easy tasty recipes for you

I teach them to all the youngsters that work for me & they then have really easy meals for when they are away.

Busy now writing a proposal - but catch me at the weekend

so the summary is, i need to brown the mince tonight before i put it in any kind of slow cooker/casserole dish - confirm because i am off to do this having now put clothes away hurrah!

thank you - you have helped me

How about meatloaf? Can be cooked in the slow cooker, no browning required, onion optional, will reheat well and makes nice sandwiches.

Here's a recipe,, I haven't tried this one, but it looks fairly straight forward.

You can brown mince when it is frozen. It takes a while though, and you have to keep turning it over and scraping browned bits off to expose the uncooked surface to the heat, and a little chopping down of lumps.

the magic ingredient for all my mince based dishes is worcestershire sauce - a good few shakes of the bottle and I have also cooked mince from semi-defrosted, so long as you cook it for long enough its fine