dinner's in the freezer- Meatball Subs

Dinner can be as close as your freezer. Since I live out of town a ways (closest grocery store is about 12 miles away) I try to have some things on hand to make meals from. One of my favorite methods is to make items in large quantities and freeze them in meal size portions. Today’s dinner is the merging of 2 of my favorite freezer items: meatballs and spaghetti sauce. Both of these I made up a month or so ago and froze to for future use. They can be used individually in many dishes or combined like today. They are of course good over pasta but today we were in the mood for nice gooey meatball subs. So I grabbed the meatballs, sauce and some sub-rolls out of the freezer to thaw and with the addition of some grated mozzarella cheese we had a quick dinner. All I needed to add was a salad to complete it. (Sorry for the picture, that is part of this I am having the most trouble with, I can come up with great recipes, taking really good pictures is a lot harder)

Meatball Subs
1 container freezer meatballs, thawed
1 container freezer spaghetti sauce, thawed
4 hoagie buns, heated
Shredded mozzarella cheese to taste
Heat the meatballs and sauce together in a small saucepan until heated through. Spoon onto the heated buns, top with cheese and put under the broiler to melt the cheese.

4 sandwiches




Meatballs for the Freezer

4 pounds ground beef
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combing all the ingredients in a very large bowl being sure to mix very well. Form the meat mixture into balls about 1" balls. Place the meatballs on rimmed baking sheets and bake 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through. Be sure to not over crowd the baking sheet with the meat balls. Immediately remove the meatballs to a paper towel lined surface to cool. When they are cool enough to handle put about 30 meatballs (divide them evenly) in each of 5 quart size freezer bags. Label and freeze.
Use within 3 months.
Makes 5 containers of meatballs.
 
Spaghetti Sauce for the Freezer
 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes
32 ounces tomato sauce
2 cups water
12 ounces tomato paste
2 Tablespoons dry minced onion
2 Tablespoons dry parsley flakes
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 Tablespoon Italian seasoning

Combine all of the ingredients in a large soup kettle or dutch oven, over medium heat bring to a simmer lower heat to medium low and simmer 20 minutes. Cool and divide between 6   pint (2 cup) containers, label and freeze.
Use within 6 months
makes about 6 pints


On the spaghetti sauce I gave the amounts of the canned goods in ounces because I always check to see what size can is the most cost effective. Be sure to do this each time sometimes it is cheaper to buy multiple small cans sometimes the larger cans are more cost effective. Learn to think in the total number of ounces you need not the individual can size.