Happy Valentine's Day! This post has nothing to do with romance. Unless you love ground beef and Italian sausage ๐
I'm going to talk about meatloaf.
See, when you have put “meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas, applesauce, rolls” on your menu list, you can actually make the menu lists of future weeks a lot easier if you make enough to produce two meatloaves plus a tray of meatballs.
I bring this up not because I think the world needs another meatloaf recipe, but because I want to get back to talking about dinner, and I do think that the world does need a little talking to about how to be a bit more efficient. At least the part of it run by moms who do it all with a baby on each arm and two on the knee….
{I will explain the above photo. This is the panade — bread crumbs (homemade from leftover bread of course, kept frozen in a zip bag until I need them) soaked in milk. According to Cook's Illustrated they really do make the meatballs/meatloaf more moist, because the crumbs' chemical structure changes to attract the proteins of the meat and bind them so they don't bind themselves into toughness. So our grannies were right, hmmm?}
Are you like me? No matter how many articles I read about it, it's never going to happen that I get all my food using coupons or that I cook once a month and freeze all my meals. In almost 30 years of doing this it hasn't happened. But I'm still frugal and I'm still fast. I'm almost never on time, but I am fast. ๐
First, I'm committed to fresh, simple, delicious food, and I'm very efficiency-minded, being an engineer's daughter. If I find a coupon I'll use it, because I like saving money, but coupons are not a system. Not a food system. They don't get your dinner made every single day!
Then, bulk cooking is efficient in one way, but doesn't address certain issues. One is that if you are like me, you get tired easily. (I bet you are stronger than I am, though!)
Food is better made fresh, for the most part. So I just can't go there. And with a very large family I just don't think one person can do it all in one or two days.
I don't like the boom and bust way of doing things, perhaps because I'm too prone to burning out and then getting depressed. I like to be on an even keel, knowing that each day will have its own cadence. Everyone experiences days of nonstop activity, but I'd rather not force myself into them as part of a so-called plan.
If I cooked for a solid day or more (apart from the many hours it takes for a holiday dinner or other special occasion), I would not recover in time for the next bout! And then, what about nursing the baby, reading to the kids, and taking a nap? I couldn't have spent two days not doing those things!
I'm not doing it on Sunday, either. Sunday has enough for moms to do, and we have to rest on Sundays too!
Also, I think it's good for kids to know that Mom will usually be in the kitchen at a certain time getting things ready. They help of course, and they also have those great free moments that seem like hours, with the smells wafting around them as they play or read. Those are great memories! Do I really want to eliminate that part of life? I think that to do so would have the unfortunate consequence of enabling the crazy activity-oriented child-rearing we see today, something that I deplore.
And you know what, it's a lot harder than most people think to get things organized for a large family in a way that doesn't stress mom out! Or maybe they do think, and that's why they think we're crazy!
But you can't succumb to the dark side. So over the years I developed my own system that I'll call “Save a Step Cooking”. It packs your larder just fine, but it doesn't take that much more time than any one given supper-preparation stint does.
Or at least this one would have been quick if I hadn't knocked a bottle of Worcestershire onto the floor, breaking the cap. Of course the stuff ran under the fridge… the health nut gods punished me for using such an evil (MSG-laden) ingredient! What was I thinking?
You can read about my methods in Worksheet V, over there in the sidebar! Hey, even I know when a post is long enough! ๐
It's not that my ideas are original or couldn't be found elsewhere. It's just that I thought that maybe having someone filter all the information for you might be helpful. If I can do it, so can you!
Did I take a picture of the finished meatloaves, with their lovely homemade barbecue glaze? No, I'm not that organized! We sat down and ate one, and I put the other in the freezer along with these meatballs. Maybe next time ๐
Pippajo says
See, I neeeeeeed to know how to make the meatloaf. I have virtually given up on meatloaf. It kicks my butt each and every time. I have never been able to make it no matter what. Maybe you can save me? Maybe I should look in the worksheets in the margin first? I promise I will, but right now…erm…I have to make dinner…heh heh. Gotta sear a roast and throw it in the oven. Then I can come back and look around while it's roasting…
Anonymous says
Amen, sister! Real food. I'm with you on this one.An all-day cooking session would put me out-for-the-count these days too. Not gonna happen. I agree, a steady diet of boxed and nutrition-lacking coupon food is not the best way to go.Simple food does not take much effort to make, a roast, baked chicken, broiled fish. Easy, and it can still be frugal too.Lyn
Nefertitichild says
Oh my gosh I am so hungry now, having seen those meatballs. Best. meatballs. everrrrrr.Can we have those when I come home for spring break? ๐
Freckled Hen says
This is among my favorite posts. I like the part where you let "each day have its own cadence". That's brilliant. This is where I need work. You inspire me to empty the nonsense from my plate and fill it with meatballs…they look yum-o.
Leila says
Pippajo: You crack me up, and you know you are the most efficient person on earth with your fancy vintage stove. DH: Twins, clearly.Lyn: You know it!Deirdre: Yes, honey, they are in the freezer just waiting for YOU!! :)FH: Embrace it all! xoxo!
sue says
I'm with you on once a month cooking. I have eleven people to cook for and I can barely fit food for two weeks in my fridge and freezer. But I do try to "Save a Step" and double up. I think you are right on about a mother in the kitchen cooking. I have greatest memories of that as a kid. I used to talk to my mother while she was cooking and now my kids do that too. I think I learned to cook by osmosis watching my mother.
Lindsey in AL says
Wow, Leila! Were we separated at birth? I mean, I think I'm the age of your older children, but it's still possible, right? This whole post (and the accompanying worksheet) spoke to the way I am finally learning to do things, on MY timetable and playing to MY strengths instead of someone else's ideas of what works best. Thanks, again!, for the encouragement!!
Barb says
Love the post! It's all about the food in large families. Boy do I hear about it if the food the kiddoes are looking for is gone. "Mom, it's time to go grocery shopping."I hear you about the cadence of each day, too. I swear if we're out one day, I need two at home to get back on track.
NorahS says
Great ideas. I also really enjoy the worksheets. I need to be better about doing this. Now that it has an official name, maybe I will.
Jen - Balancing beau says
oh – you know I love this post…just did a similar one a few weeks ago. Saves so much time, doesn't it.In regards to the markdown milk. I will edit my post. This is specifically on milk that is getting close to the date stamped on it. They will just have to throw it out, so most stores are willing to sell it cheaper to recoup some of the their losses. Some wont….you just need to ask the dairy manager. ๐
50s Housewife says
I love this post! You are so encouraging. Would you pretty please share the meatloaf recipe? ๐
sue says
My poem:Make ahead,Do the prep,Double up.Save a Step.
Rachel V. says
Thanks so much for the encouragement! You motivated me to do this last night….I even blogged about it! ๐
Anonymous says
great ideas! I like the frozen meatball idea. I do that with meatballs and cooked crumbled ground beef but when I load the plastic bag, I flatten out the bags and contents (without squishing) that way they stack like bricks, avoiding a big ball of food to defrost. I love your blog!
Christine says
My mom died when I was expecting my fourth child. I learned a lot from her growing up and with my first three children, but there were some things that I just never got to ask her. I have read your discipline posts and now I am working on food organization. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Anonymous says
SO GOOD! Wish I would have read this years ago when Baby 1 came along. Now at Baby 6 I finally realize I am not a couponer, nor am I a once a month cooker and precisely because of the reasons you described. However it took so long for me to figure this out. I am reading through your organizing, cleaning, cooking…..home making posts now. I am so inspired to keep working at it. Thanks for sharing!
SweetHomeAlabama says
Hi! I am a young wife and Mom of three, and so thankful to have found your blog this week! I need your helpful, practical wisdom, for sure. May I ask for even more specifics as far as meatballs? Are they just made with meatloaf ingredients? I would pop them in the oven, and then freeze them once they've cooled? And from their frozen state could they go directly into a crock pot, you think? Sorry to be so clueless, but I want to learn. Blessings to you and your beautiful family!
Leila says
SweetHomeAlabama, I didn't post a recipe because I don't really use one, and I realize that's a bit obnoxious ๐ But I make my meatball recipe and then make meatloaf too from that. The main thing is to use some sausage and to use your panade, as described in the post. Your mixture needs enough fat and the panade, and basically the rest will be fine.Then yes, bake in the oven and then cool. Freeze by loosening them from the tray but freezing them like that, separately — then bag in ziploc and mark the bag with how many.Then yes, directly from freezer into your pot of sauce, whether in the slow cooker or on the stove. Warming them up in the sauce makes everything yummy.Enjoy! Thanks for finding us!