This recipe is featured in the 21 Freezer Cooking Recipes from Costco Meal Plan #5.
This recipe was originally posted in 2011!
A few weeks ago, I shared what I like to do when I get ground meat from the grocery store. (See Batch Cooking – The Ground Beef Edition!) This is part 2, if you will.
$5 DINNERS TV
Last week, I purchased 2 packages of ground chuck and 2 packages of ground turkey. Seeing that most of my January meal plan is from the pantry and freezer, I knew that I wouldn’t use up all of this meat for meals last week. I did make the Turkey Kasha Chili on Friday night, and while that was simmering on the stove, I set to work on preparing the rest of the packages of meat.
First up, I combined the 2 packages of ground beef into meatloaf/meatballs mixture. With about 2.4 lbs, I was able to make 1 meatloaf and 16 medium sized herbed meatballs. (Recipe below.) I put the meatloaf in the freezer. And also did a flash freeze of the meatballs. Once they were partially frozen, then I transferred them into a plastic freezer baggie.
And with the other package of ground turkey, I made some Turkey Meatloaf Bites, similar to these BBQ Mini Meatloaves! I baked them in my mini-muffin tin and then let them cool completely before adding to the freezer.
Now we’ve got a meatloaf, meatballs and some Turkey Meatloaf Bites in the freezer for next month!
One Step Ahead!
(If you’ve read my Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook, you know what that means!)
Herbed Meatballs
Ingredients
- About 1.25 lb ground chuck
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup bread crumbs, homemade or store bought
- 2 Tbsp Italian seasonings
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 lb. pasta noodles
- 3-4 cups spaghetti sauce
- Frozen veggies, as side dish.
Directions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the ground chuck, eggs, bread crumbs, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper. Form into 1″-ish size meatballs.
- Flash freeze and then transfer to a plastic freezer baggie.
- Or brown on all sides, then add spaghetti sauce and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until meatballs have cooked through.
- (Alternative: bake the meatballs at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until cooked through. Add sauce over the top before serving.
- Serve Herbed Meatablls over pasta noodles with spaghetti saucesauce and frozen veggies.
Can’t wait to try these herbed meatballs.
neither of the the turkey kasha chili links work.
I may run the risk of sounding dumb but i have to ask: How did you flash freeze the meatballs?
Maria,
Put the meatballs on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer until partly frozen…atleast frozen enough to keep form when you pick them up. Then put them in a freezer ziploc bag and back into the freezer until you need them for a recipe.
There’s no such thing as a dumb question! You just place them on a cookie sheet or other flat surface and put them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Long enough for the outsides to start to freeze. Then you place them into a plastic storage bag or container. This keeps the meatballs from sticking together and making one giant meatball in your freezer!
I have a better way of cooking meatballs especially if you have a lot for entertaining or freezing. ~Bake them in the oven on large broiler pans.
How do I bake them? For how long?
Meatball stroganoff. I also make my own sausage meatballs for breakfast, soup, etc.
A fast and easy way to cook meatballs is in a metal colander over a pot of boiling water. How long depends on their size. After several minutes over the water, I lift the colander and shake it gently. When they cool, the meatballs look as though they have been baked and much of the fat has drained into the water.
So you are steaming the meatballs over the water?
Silly question but I often have trouble judging the right amounts….how much spaghetti sauce do you add?
I always use a very large jar of sauce, I can’t stand dry spaghetti. I honestly don’t think you can have too much sauce. Even if you had too much you can refrigerate or freeze the left overs. I’m not speaking for the recipe in question, just my personal opinion.
You should try substituting Oatmeal for the bread crumbs. It eliminates the gluten and makes the meatballs taste even better.
Allison, how much oatmeal would you add per pound of meat?
Tracey I would just put a cup of oats per pound of meat.
Funny enough I cooked my homemade recipe – not too different from these – and I discovered I was out of bread crumbs. I substituted oatmeal and I could barely taste the difference.
I like to cook my meatballs in the slow cooker with the spaghetti sauce. The meatballs have so much flavor and are so moist and tender. I cook on low for about 6-8 hours.
Is the sauce greasy from the fat? This would be such an easy lunch with the frozen meatballs!
I’m not counting 20 meals here. What am I doing wrong?
You may be failing to take into account that some of the meals are repeated…
Where do you find such low prices? Nothing in my area is that inexpensive!