Great Grandma’s Meatloaf

Summer is almost here and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am always looking out for fast and delicious dinner ideas! You know you have a real gem when a recipe has been handed down from your great grandma. This has been one of my go to easy recipes for years and the best part is you can turn it into a freezer meal!!! SCORE! Meatloaf and potatoes with a salad or fruit make an easy thrown together meal that the family will love. And guys… this meatloaf is good. Really good.

To start gather all of your ingredients and a large bowl to combine them in.

Dump all of the ingredients into the large bowl. Eyeball the pepper and dried onions. I usually add 1/4 tsp pepper and 1-2 Tbsp dried onion. It is all personal preference on those items.

Use your hand and squish and mix all of the ingredients together.

The meat and ingredients should start to all clump together and look consistent throughout.

It should look something like this when it is all combined. Make sure to wash your hands after handling the raw meat.

The normal way to bake meatloaf is in a bread tin. I make it like this when I have a big group to feed or want to use most of the meatloaf in one meal.

My favorite way to make meatloaf is in the form of ice cream scoops! Lay a sheet of tin foil on a baking sheet to start.

Scoop balls of the meatloaf mixture on to the cookie sheet.

At this point you have two options. Bake or Freeze them! I will usually only bake enough for one meal, keeping in mind how may scoops each person will eat.  If I am freezing them I will fill the pan with as many meatloaf balls as will fit, and then throw them in the freezer!

If you decide to bake them right away, set your oven to 400 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check the center of one of the meatloaf balls to make sure there is now raw meat inside. If you are baking them in a bread tins you will want to cook them for 45-60 minutes, also checking to make sure the inside is not raw before removing them from the oven.

If you decide to freeze the meatloaf balls, leave them in the freezer for about 24 hours. Remove them from the freezer and peel them off the tin foil. Place them in a freezer bag for storage and then put them back in the freezer! When you are ready to use them for dinner place them on a baking sheet covered with tin foil. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 30-40 minutes. The timing will vary for the frozen meatloaf balls depending on the ball sizes and how frozen they are.

Simple as that! Dinner is served!

What are some of your favorite fast summer meals?

Great Grandma’s Meatloaf

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Ingredients

• 3 lbs hamburger
• 1 can canned spaghetti
• 1 tsp salt/per lb of hamburger (3 tsp)
• pepper
• dried onion
• 3 shakes of worcestershire sauce
• 2 eggs
• 1-2 handfuls quick oats
• 1/4 cup ketchup

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and squish/combine until it clumps together and looks consistent throughout.
2. Scoop Meatloaf onto a baking sheet covered with tin foil using an ice cream scoop, or fill a bread tin with the mixture.
3. Set the oven to 400 degrees.
4. Bake meatloaf balls for 20-25 minutes until the center is fully cooked, or Bake in the bread tin for 45-60 minutes until center is fully cooked.
5. Meatloaf can be frozen. Freeze meatloaf balls for 24 hours before removing them from baking sheet. Once they are removed place them in a freezer bag and put them back into the freezer till they are ready to be used. Bake frozen meatloaf balls at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until center is fully cooked.