cooking in bulk . . .

One thing that I have been doing for a while now is cooking in bulk.  I can't stand store-bought frozen meatballs - so I make a huge batch of homemade ones and freeze them in dinner-sized packages for a quick and easy meal.  I make them generically spiced, so you can make them italian-style with a jar of marinara, asian-style with teriyaki and hoisin sauce, or even bbq-style with a bottle of your favorite sauce.  I throw them frozen into a small crock-pot, cover with the sauce and cook on high for 3-4 hours.  AND here are the best parts:
1.  These are extremely healthy - baked, not fried - and low in fat, high in fiber. 
2.  These are CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP!  Only $2.60 for 10 - 2" meatballs, enough for us for dinner and maybe a leftover sandwich the next day!! 
3.  For one hour's work, you get 10 meals - yes, that is 10 meals! 

Meatballs in bulk
5 lbs 90% lean ground beef
2.5 lbs 93% lean ground turkey
2 lbs ground pork
2 cups freshly ground bread crumbs (see note below)
1.5 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
3 cups low-fat milk
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
2 shallots, peeled and halved
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 bunch italian parsley, stems removed
1.5 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F.  Line 3 large baking sheets with foil.  Lightly spray foil with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor or even a blender, process the oatmeal until it resembles small crumbs.  Set aside.

In a LARGE mixing bowl (really big folks) put all the ground meats.  If you don't have one big enough, use two and divide the different types equally between them. 

In a second bowl, place breadcrumbs and oatmeal crumbs, milk and eggs.  Mix well and set aside for at least 10 minutes.

Go back to your food processor and add the rest of the ingredents EXCEPT the parmesan. Process until everything is very finely chopped.  Add this mixture, along with the parmesan, to the breadcrumb/milk mixture.  Mix well. 

Now comes the fun part.  You need to add the breadcrumb mixture to all of the meat.  If you are using one bowl, just dump it in, and use your hands to mix it well (don't forget to take your rings off!!) If you are using two bowls, try to divide it equally and mix away.  If your hands start to freeze (mine do) take a break and warm them up under some warm running water.  After you have it mixed pretty well, you can dump the whole thing onto a large jelly roll pan and mix it some more, like kneading bread.  You really want it to be uniformly mixed. 

Once you are happy with your mixture, now comes the scooping.  I use a 2" ice cream scoop and level each scoop before placing onto the baking sheets.  This gives the balls a flat side, which makes it easier for my kids to cut them!  Put them about 1/4 inch apart and fill the cookie sheet.  I get 7 rows of 5 on my sheets.  Once the sheets are full, place them in the oven for 25 minutes, or until firm to the touch.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Divide into freezer bags and freeze until ready to use. 

Makes about 10 lbs of meatballs (about 100, 2" meatballs)

NOTE:  I haven't bought breadcrumbs in about 4 years now.  I make my own using stale bread, buns, whatever I have laying around, and keep it in a bag in my freezer.  Just throw everything in a food processor, and pulse a few times to start the breakdown, then run about 3-4 minutes on high to get fine crumbs.  Don't worry about removing any crusts - it's all good.  I think 3-4 slices of fresh loaf bread will give you about 1 cups of crumbs, so try 3 and see what you get, you can always do more!  I use these crumbs for everything, and what a difference in taste and texture versus the store-bought kind! 

You can also use this mixture to make meatloaves (divide into 2 lbs packages) or burgers (pan-fry, cover with marinara and mozzarella cheese for an awesome pizza burger!)