Homemade Meatloaf

Frugal Meal – Homemade Meatloaf

This recipe is a definite favorite! This meatloaf has made “Meatloaf Haters” beg for it over and over again…YUM!

** I may earn from qualifying purchases when you use the links on this page at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support. **

This recipe makes (7) 2 lb loaves of delicious meatloaf. Wrap and place in your freezer for quick meals in the months to come. I don’t know how long it will last in the freezer, as it never lasts long enough to go “bad”.

You will need:

9-10 lbs ground beef (93/7)
2 yellow onion – diced
4 stalks celerey- diced
4 Tbls garlic- minced
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 lb bacon
1 cup BBQ sauce (homemade or your favorite brand)
1 cup ketchup
4 eggs
3 – 4 cups Old Fashioned Oatmeal
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Tbls Italian seasoning

Sauce:

8 oz BBQ sauce
16 oz Ketchup
1 cup light brown sugar

Dice the bacon, onion, celery and garlic. Using a manual food processor is fast and easy! Slice the mushrooms. Don’t forget to save your vegetable scraps for making stock.

Begin with slowly cooking the bacon. By using a low heat, you render out the fat to use for cooking the vegetables.

Add onion, celery, mushrooms (I also added a handful of dried morels I had on hand).

Cook until onion becomes translucent and all the vegetables are thoroughly cooked through. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining the sauce ingredients and allowing the sugar to dissolve.

Mix until a smooth sauce is formed. Avoid lumps or leaving the sugar grainy.

When the bacon and vegetables have cooled, add to the ground beef and mix well. Hands are the best tool for mixing meatloaf!

Next, add the BBQ, Ketchup and spices. Mix well.

Crack the eggs and combine well with the meatloaf mixture.

Finally add the oatmeal and thoroughly mix. You are wanting to see an even distribution of the oatmeal throughout the meatloaf.

Fry a small amount of mixture for a taste test. Analyze the flavor as well as the texture. If the mixture is too loose, add more oatmeal. If the mixture is too tight, add another egg. Adjust seasoning to your liking if needed.

Weigh 2 lbs of meatloaf into foil loaf pans. This recipe makes 7 meat loaves.

Use a chopstick to poke holes into the meatloaf. This will allow the sauce to seep into the meat and create tasty pockets throughout the pan.

Ladle 1/2 cup of sauce over each meatloaf and spread to cover the loaf.

Add generous amounts of salt and pepper to the top.

Wrap with plastic wrap. I usually double wrap.

Ladle remaining sauce into pint size freezer bags.

Label with directions. Wrap again in plastic wrap and place in freezer until ready to cook.

For best results thaw in the refrigerator before baking. Pour the additional sauce into an oven proof container, cover with foil and bake along side the meatloaf.