Before I share this great, mom’s best meatloaf recipe, I need to tell you that I rarely make meatloaf these days. Don’t misunderstand; I whip up this recipe all the time. I just don’t put it in a loaf pan anymore. Here’s why:
While everyone in my family will eat meatloaf the first time around, no one ever eats the leftovers. Because I can’t stand to throw food away, I now make just enough to serve one time. Muffin tins are the perfect size for a single serving–no more, no less. I form the rest of the mixture into meatballs to freeze and serve later with spaghetti. That way, I can use one batch of this basic recipe for two or three different meals, with no leftovers and no waste!
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
½ lb. ground sausage
¾ cup oatmeal
1 cup milk
2 eggs
¼ cup dried, minced onion
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. mustard
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup ketchup
2 Tbs. Frank’s Red Hot Sauce – optional
8 Ritz crackers, crushed
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ground beef, sausage, oatmeal, milk, and egg in a large bowl. Mix in onion, seasonings, and crushed crackers. Pour mixture into a loaf pan and spread additional ketchup over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours.
Note: If making meat muffins, pour the mixture into muffin tins instead of a loaf pan and cut the baking time to 1 hour. If you choose to make the rest of the mixture into meatballs, form mixture into small balls and drop onto a large cookie sheet. Bake for ½ hour at 350 degrees. Let meatballs cool on the pan, then transfer them to a freezer bag to serve with spaghetti later.
I’ve also been trying to do more of this kind of coonikg. It is great for time and the budget! When I am menu-planning, I ll look for more than one way to use an ingredient. Like bell peppers, for example. I almost never use a whole bell pepper in any recipe, so I’ll choose two or three meals that use them and chop the whole pepper with the first meal and put the rest in a baggie to use later. I do the same thing with large cuts of meat that I find on sale. This week I found pork tenderloin on sale. I roasted it and we ate half with potatoes and a veggie the first night and saved the other half for Pork & Black Bean Empanadas later in the week.