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Herbed Meatballs Recipe

Posted By Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom On In Batch Cooking,Beef Recipes,Budget Friendly Recipes,Freezer Recipes and Freezer Meal Plans,How To Cook,Savings | 23 Comments
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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.

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!)

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Herbed Meatballs Recipe

Easy and perfect for busy weeknights!
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Servings - 4 servings

Ingredients 

  • 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.

Instructions

  • In a mixing bowl, combine the ground chuck, eggs, bread crumbs, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper. Form into 1"-ish size meatballs.
  • Brown on all sides, then add spaghetti sauce and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until meatballs have cooked through.
  • Serve Herbed Meatablls over pasta noodles with spaghetti saucesauce and frozen veggies.
  • (Alternative: Bake the meatballs at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until cooked through. Add sauce over the top before serving.
  • To Freeze: Flash freeze and then transfer to a plastic freezer baggie.