Thursday, March 02, 2006

The Daily Grind

My kids love meatloaf, end of statement. Running out of meatloaf in the freezer is a sort of national emergency around here. The nice things about it is that meatloaf is really easy to make in large quantities and pop into the freezer to stave off such emergencies!

So here’s a set of a variety of meatloaf recipes. None are glazed, that doesn’t freeze well. If you want to glaze them, pour the glaze after they are thawed and you are heating them up for dinner.

Start with 9 lbs of ground beef. I have found that the leaner beef does better in the freezer. Place meat in 1 1/2 lbs increments into mixing bowls. To each bowl add 3/4C of your favoring binder (bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, rolled oats…) and 2 eggs

Then add:

Traditional Meat Loaf
1/4C milk
dollop ketchup
1 can drained mushrooms (4 oz.)
1 envelope onion soup mix

Taco Meat Loaf
1 envelope of taco seasoning
1 can (1 C) corn kernels, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, drained

Ranch Meat Loaf
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
Handful shredded parmesan cheese
Handful dry minced onions

Asian Meat Loaf
Handful of dry minced onions
And either:
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
Or 1/2C sesame ginger salad dressing or marinade

Italian Meat Loaf
1/4 cup ketchup
1 table spoon Italian-style seasoning
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

BBQ Flavor Meat Loaf

1/2C BBQ sauce of your choice
Handful of dry minced onions
A couple of handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese

Mix well. Turn each into a baking dish and bake 30-40 minutes at 350. Do not over load the oven, but usually 4-6 of these will fit comfortably at a time. If you are short on baking dishes, get disposible foil loaf pans while you are at the store. They are worth the investment for the time savings alone. You can wash them out and reuse them a couple of times if you want to boot.

Let the loaves cool, bag or wrap, label and freeze.

4 comments:

Alise said...

Meatloaf is evil.

All the time.

People who eat it and like it are weird.

That said, someone once, long ago, gave a recipe for a banana meatloaf on TMB. Most bizarre thing I've ever heard of in my life.

Really. Blech.

;-D

Anonymous said...

Sounds good, but what is the best way to reheat?

Love your stuff.

Sylvia

grace said...

There is a thawiing and rehating link on the right hand side bar.

For the meatloaf though, either I put it in the fridge overnight or I thaw in the microwave on low heat until it is thawed throughout.

Then you can heat in the microwave, 70% power, 3-5 minutes to start with, then add time as needed. Or you can put it in the oven, covered so it doesn't dry out, or glazed if you like, for 20-30 minutes at 350F.

Hope that helps.

grace

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, as a pregnant woman in her third trimester looking for some freezer meals that won't take all day to prepare, these meatloafs look like a great idea. Can't wait to try!