Odds and ends tips

Keep checking back because I'll keep adding to this

@;-- Buy Hamburger in "bulk"
    try to find packages that are either 3bs or 4 lbs maybe a little over but close enough to devide fairly evenly. Now here comes the crazy part... if you plan to use it in recipes where it needs to just be browned hamburger (tacos, hamburger helper, ect.), brown the whole thing at once.... then devide it into what would be one pound amounts... remeber they aren't going to be one pound each. so if the original amount was 3 lbs then devide the cooked hamburger into 3 equal parts. Lable and freeze. when you want to use it it only needs thawed out enough to get out of the container and in the pan... when making tacos I put the seasoning in while it's still frozen in the middle... it makes it alot easier to work with :)
@;-- If your going to use hamburger for other things where it needs to be raw when you start.... still buy in bulk but devide, shape (for something like hamburgers), then freeze... it just makes things easier when you get ready to cook.

The easiest way to melt butter or margarine
put in a jar...like a canning jar (pint) cover with a paper towel and secure with a rubber band then microwave as normal.  The paper towel keeps splatters down and the rubber band wont react in the microwave but keeps the napkin from falling off.