TWENTY MEATBALLS FOR TWO

In the second part of this series, unofficially entitled “The Evolution of Old Mother Frugal”, a serious miscalculation in meal preparation over 35 years ago led to what became the “cook once, eat twice” or "batch cooking".

For those who have not read “Saga of a Soggy Burger”, your humble blogger could not even cook a hamburger when she took her marriage vows.  There was some quibbling over the “obey” wording in the vows, but there was no mention of being able to cook and provide sustenance in the form of an edible meal.

Mom was a good cook and she cooked for a family of five. She learned from two, good cooking Italian women. Working on the premise that copying mom’s good recipes would surely make this new bride a good cook too, all mom's recipes came along with me into my new life as a young wife.

Not that I asked, but mom never taught “Meatball Math”. As the saying goes, you don’t know what you don’t know.

One week after the honeymoon, spaghetti and meatballs were on the dinner menu. I diligently followed the recipe. When done, there were 20 meatballs for dinner but only two adults.

Calling my cooking lifeline (one of my dearest best friends from high school) with this "Meatball Math" crisis, the kitchen was being overrun with these round mounds of ground chuck.

After suffering through the failed boiled burger experiment and “must cook” potatoes before mashing debacle, the new groom was facing life with 16 meatballs unless a back-up plan was in place and in place mighty darn fast. My cooking lifeline informed me to freeze the meatballs. There were enough meatballs for a month but that was okay, meatballs freeze well. Good to know.

And so it began, cook once and eat twice…or three times or four times. Meatballs with spaghetti or meatballs with mashed potatoes [see “Saga of a Soggy Burger”] or meatball sub sandwiches or meatballs parmesan, when one needs to plate 16 meatballs for dinner ideas, the options are many!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Buying meat in bulk can often save money. To save time, divide the bulk meat into smaller portions. When the meat is ground sirloin or chuck, section the meat. Use some for hamburgers, some for taco meat, and some for meatballs, enough for a meatloaf and sloppy Joes or stuffed shells. Label and freeze so that you don’t have to waste time thinking “what’s for dinner”. If you happen to have time on your side, cook ahead and freeze.