NEVER MIND CLOUDY, IT'S RAINING MEATBALLS

Meatball multiplication and division. It’s a problem that originated over 40 years ago.

As a young bride, Old Mother Frugal brought to her bride kitchen recipes from home.

Among those recipes was one for Italian meatballs.  It was most likely a recipe passed down from one generation of Italian mothers to another in our family.

Back from a most memorable honeymoon, it was time to begin testing those non-existent cooking skills with a basic meatball recipe.

When the first batch was done, there were 20 tennis-ball sized meatballs for the bride and her groom. That was Old Mother Frugal’s first lesson in freezer cooking “cook once/eat twice”.  Alas, what else does one do with all those meatballs!

Fast forward 40 years to a few weeks ago when those gastric juices beckoned for Italian Wedding Soup. 

The freezer was stocked with half pound packages of ground chuck but that was too much for the soup.

Only two adults were dining that night. Defrosting two hamburgers seemed to be the obvious solution.  From there began the formation of tiny meatballs for Italian Wedding Soup.

Here is where the multiplication and division came into play….

Two hamburgers weighed half pound.

D-u-h…yes, the same half pound weight as in the packages of ground chuck.  Half of those hamburgers, one-quarter pound or one hamburger, would have been sufficient to make meatballs to feed 2 adults.

By the time the meatball mixture was made and the meatballs rolled into dime size balls, there were no less than 41 tiny meatballs for 2 adults.  Meatballs had taken over the kitchen.

As was learned over 40 years ago, the cook once/eat twice strategy is a frugal path to saving time and energy.  Old Mother Frugal just needs to revisit the lessons from her youth  of multiplication and division!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s Tip:  Serving a homemade soup before or with a meal is a healthy meal extender when trying to stretch food dollars. Soup is very filling; you need less of your entrée when serving your family or guests.