Friday, June 15, 2012

Friday Freezer Cooking-Meatball Edition

Aside:  Does anyone else HATE the word meatball too?  It just makes me cringe to hear or say it. 

Anyways, today I worked on freezing meatballs for future meals.  We have been using a lot of meatballs lately for Merry, Merry Meatballs, spaghetti, and my version of Porcupine Meatballs.  I would link to them, but my blog is all catawonky and won't do what I want it to do.  Imagine that.

I can buy meatballs already made at the store for $8.97 for 54 meatballs.  This comes to .17 cents a meatball.

I used a recipe from my MOMYS cookbook, which if you don't have I don't know how you cook anything, because I use it ALL THE TIME.  Sorry, I am a rambling fool today.  I ended up making 178 meatballs for .12 cents each. 

 I already had all the other ingredients here at the house (onion, green pepper, cornstarch, bread crumbs) but they did cost something, so I will round each meatball up to .13 cents.  Still a money-saver.

It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes though to make the balls, cook them, and then package them.  I got enough for four meals and it is a great feeling to know they are in the fridge just waiting for me, but it was very time-consuming to make them all.  I'm not sure if I will be doing this again. 

I will most definitely be doing the freezer burritos again.  They were a hit and I will be taking Lisa and Anke's suggestions and not wrapping in aluminium foil-to just freeze on a cookie tin and then package in plastic freezer bags.  I can then reuse the plastic bags.  I think you will still need to wrap them in a paper towel because that is what keeps the tortilla from drying out when you reheat them.  I learned that lesson the hard way. 

I think next week I would like to do a couple of casseroles or easy dinners to have in the fridge.  Any suggestions?  I"m going to put Abbie in charge in more breakfast burritos next Friday too so we can get twice as much done in the same amount of time. 

5 comments:

  1. we love an enchilada cassarole i sorta invented. tear up strips of tortillas (flour) and layer like a lasagna with shredded chicken, cheese, green enchilada sauce and beans and rice if you want. let the last layer be cheese (chedder or monterey jack) and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes. yum! (i make big groups of shredded chicken breasts when i think of it by putting a chicken breast with a little olive oil and garlic salt on a piece of foil, wrapped up, and baked for 40 minutes at 425, then shred.)

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  2. Good Work, Mama Hen! Hope you get your blogger problems figured out soon!
    any news on Sadie? did she make it to her new home?

    Bethany

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  3. Bethany-yes Sadie is at her new home in Boston. They have sent pictures and videos and she is really doing well. Her leg is healed up from the amputation and she is getting around well. They say she is being very laid-back and fitting in well. We bought some dog treats yesterday to send to her :)

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  4. I'm sure she will be up and around again soon. Thanks for this good report!

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  5. Oh Mama hen, I need to rent you for a day, or a week.
    I would love the recipe/link to the porcupine meatballs. I loved them as a kid. I've tried them a few times, but always get crunchy rice, or falling apart meatballs=(.

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