In an effort to get my Little Miss to eat better I’m trying to re-create some of her favourite less than healthy meals as healthy batch cooked versions.  This meatball recipe was a huge success, she eats every bite and usually asks for seconds.  

This recipe does take more time and effort than most of my other recipes but it’s so worth it to see the children clear their plates. In fact it’s such a big hit that I’ve increased the portion size.

I serve it with my homemade tomato sauce which also gets eaten right up. I’d prefer it with fusilli pasta but Little Miss insists on having spaghetti with her meatballs.

It’s only one portion of veggies so not the healthiest meal on the menu but still that’s a whole portion of veggies that actually gets eaten and without an argument either. In my book that’s close enough to a win for this meatball recipe to become one of our regular meals.

Ingredients

  • 2kg Beef Mince £7.00
  • Tomato Puree 43p
  • 3 Eggs 41p
  • Stale Bread
  • Parsley

Total Cost = £7.84

Makes 21 servings = 37p per serving

I’m not sure how much my homemade pasta sauce costs to make. It won’t be more than 30p per jar which feeds the whole family. Allowing 10p per person for spaghetti this makes a total meal price of 57p per portion.

Food purchased from Aldi, UK

Meat Balls Recipe - Ingredients
Meat Balls Recipe – Ingredients

How to Make Meatballs

I make my own breadcrumbs from stale bread and crusts. I pop the unwanted bread in the freezer and get it out the day before I want to make meatballs. After the bread has defrosted I whizz it through my food processor until it’s broken down into fine breadcrumbs.

It is possible to make your own breadcrumbs without a food processor. I used to chop the pieces of bread into tiny little chunks. It was quite time consuming and the breadcrumbs were certainly on the chunky side. But it can be done this way if you don’t have a food processor.

You need to use a big bowl or pan to mix all of the ingredients.

Meat Balls Recipe - Breadcrumbs
Meat Balls Recipe – Breadcrumbs

I use the high fat mince. Mostly because it’s cheaper but it also means that you don’t need to add any fat to the meatballs to cook them and keep them nice and tender.

Meat Balls Recipe - Mince
Meat Balls Recipe – Mince

Three eggs is about right for 2kg of mince. I just sling them into the pot without bothering to whisk them first.

Meat Balls Recipe - Eggs
Meat Balls Recipe – Eggs

And a full tube of tomato puree.

Meat Balls Recipe - Tomato Puree
Meat Balls Recipe – Tomato Puree

I’m using parsley from my garden. Finely chopped and added to the mixture.

Meat Balls Recipe - Parsley
Meat Balls Recipe – Parsley

Next you need to mix all of the ingredients together. This is much easier to do with your hands, which is rather messy unfortunately. Scrunch up the mince in your fists, stirring it up as you go until all the bread crumbs have been combined with the mince and the mixture is evenly mixed.

You could use an ice cream scoop to portion the mince but I prefer to use the palm of my hand. Roll the portion of mince in the palm of your hands until you have formed a neat little ball.

Meat Balls Recipe - Forming Meat Balls
Meat Balls Recipe – Forming Meat Balls

Lay out the balls on an oven dish, making sure that they don’t touch each other.

Cook them at gas mark 5 for 25 minutes.

Meat Balls Recipe - Cooking
Meat Balls Recipe – Cooking

They can be put straight into a freezer tub and left to cool. Once the meatballs are completely cool they can be frozen in the freezer.

I get them out the day before to defrost and then re heat them on the hob in a pan of sauce. They can also be reheated in a microwave.

Meat Balls Recipe
Meat Balls Recipe

If you don’t fancy cooking all the meatballs on the day they can be frozen raw. They would then need to be oven cooked after being defrosted. I find it more convenient to cook them all in one day and freeze the meatballs cooked.

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Meat Balls Recipe
Meat Balls Recipe

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A Little Bit About Me . . .

Thank you so much for stopping by my little corner of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!

Bridie @ Heart Hearth and Crafting

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