I usually make my own meat balls but if I can't buy them any cheaper then I will buy them ready made. Our local Lidl had two one kilo bags of frozen Swedish Meatballs for £3.99 or £1.08 a kilo. I will use them up eventually. If you've ever been to Ikea and eaten the meatballs with that creamy sauce then here is the recipe as best as I could duplicate it
You will need
1 beef stock cube
1 heaped tablespoon of butter or butterish type (I used Lidl's version of Clover)
4 tablespoons of cream (I buy it on offer, freeze it in ice cube bags and open lump when I need it - I used four lumps)
1 pint of water
3 tablespoons of cornflour
4 tablespoons of Lingonberry jam???! What? Who has that? I had half a jar of cranberry jam in the fridge and plonked that in.
Here's the order that I prepared and cooked everything.
Half a savoy cabbage - savoy is always around 59p in either Lidl and Aldi and it's always British. I find the secret to getting anyone to eat cabbage is to remove the outer leaves first and then cut out the stalk from the centre of the leaves. Roll the leaves into a tube as if you were making a Cuban cigar and really finely slice it. Drop it in boiling salted water and boil for five minutes and simmer for twenty. It takes the longest so cook it first. Interesting Savoy cabbage fact - it's one of the super foods, full of vitamins, high in fibre and an all round healthy addition. Plus it fills me up and has no weight watchers points!
Peel and cook the potatoes for the mash. I had some left over parsley sitting, like flowers, in a jug on my kitchen window so finely chopped it and added it to the mash at the end.
Place your defrosted meat balls into a frying pan with a tiny amount of oil and turn every ten minutes - don't have the heat too high so they don't burn
Creamy Beefy Sauce.
1. Melt the butter
2. Blend in the flour
3. Add the beef cube and water
4. Whisk whilst heating through
5. Add the cream (or in my case frozen lumps of cream) and cranberry sauce or raspberry jam if you have nothing else!
6. Keep whisking until thickened - like the gravy in Ikea!
I added the cooked meatballs and the juices from the pan to the creamy beefy sauce and that added yet more depth to the flavour.
Over to you Dear Reader. I can think of lots of tomato sauce recipes and ways to use up these bargain price meatballs, but what ideas do you have for me to use them? What would you do with these meatballs?
Until tomorrow, when I'll upload my latest menu plan.
Love Froogs xxxxxx
My boys don't like them in sauce, so we just microwave them and add them to buttered pasta. We have also used them with melted soft cheese one of these recipes adapted with value soft cheese but I can't remember which one lol - http://www.philadelphia.co.uk/Recipes?search=meatballs&wmfKeys=meatballs
ReplyDeleteWe used purchased meatballs yesterday (like you, sometimes I can't make them for the same price, so I stick them in the freezer) to make pizza. After warming the meatballs, I thinly sliced them on top of the homemade dough (spread with a red sauce) & then added gouda cheese + green peppers, and a little salt & pepper. After the pizza was baked, we topped with sliced tomatoes. It was delicious, & just like a pizza our favorite shop sells.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is dairy intolerant, I just avoid creamy sauces. I'm also suspicious of frozen meatballs and prefer to make my own. I use beef mince to make mine. What follows is a little meatball recipe that I made last night for tea. It may well be a staple in your recipe collection, or it could be a new idea. But it is pretty cheap to make. The mince I used was premium and was on special at our local supermarket. I think it was Aussie $5.99. One could have also used lamb as well. Anyway, here it is:
ReplyDelete500g (or thereabouts) of mince of choice;
1 egg
1 onion finely diced
either a couple of teaspoons of dried herbs (I used a rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil mix) or a handful of the above really finely chopped, and I mean finely.
1/4 cup of rice.
about 1/4 cup of corn flour or plain flour.
1 large (800ml) can of tomato soup.
The method:
In a bowl mix the meat, onion, herbs, rice and egg by hand, so remove your jewels and wash your hands very thoroughly. Really work them through.
Either put the flour in a bowl or on a plate.
Form your mixture into balls. You can make them little, like the packet ones, or you can be generous and make them about the size of a billiard ball, but not bigger. Put them in the flour and cover lightly.
In a reasonable sized pan, put the tomato soup and about 3/4 of a can of water on the stove. Gently place your meatballs in the pot. Try to have them so they aren't touching, but it's not critical, as long as they aren't actually squished together.
This is important : nearly bring it to the boil and back the heat down to a soft simmer. Give the meatballs a bit of a stir at around the minute mark and then leave for about 15 minutes. If you made really small ones, then probably 10 more minutes would be enough.
When I put them on the stove, I chop up a couple of potatoes and put them on the stove to serve as mash under the meatballs.
You could add finely grated carrot to the mix as well, and zucchini if desired.
As for cabbage : I get some bacon, or if I'm feeling generous, ham and dice it up and put it on a gentle heat. At the same time, I boil some water and place moderately finely chopped cabbage to the water. I boil it for 2 minutes. Drain it well. By this time, the bacon or ham is nicely coming along, so I then add the cabbage, drop a lid on the fry pan and turn the heat down. I'll give it a stir a few time. Do the taste test. The cabbage should be wilted a bit and the bacon a little crispy. The cabbage will take on a lot of bacon flavour and it is really yummy. You could side serve that with the meatballs if there was going to be a crowd around the table.
Make a white sauce and pour over sauteed mushroom and onion, perhaps with a touch of minced garlic. Season with a touch nutmeg, black pepper. Add chopped parsley if desired for color. Serve over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, rice.
ReplyDeleteI know it's not totally the right time of year, but they are good cold too and make good picnic/eat in the car on a long journey type food.
ReplyDeleteMmm..this looks so tasty!! I have painted the walls of our New apartement all day (not done yet!) and I'm all sore. I need something warm and comforting..with lotsa calories!! All I have here is a loaf of bread and a pot of homemade herby sea salt. I'm just spending the night to do more painting tomorrow, but all I have is an inflatable mattress by now. All this to say..I'm going to commit a thrifty-crime. I ordered in. Bon appetit everyone!
ReplyDeleteTurn your recipe inside out, Keep the leaves whole, remove the thick end of stem and blanch to soften. lay the softened leaves out and put a meatball on the outer edge, roll and fold the cabbage leaf round it, rinse and repeat, layer them in a dish and pour over the sauce and finish off in the oven.
ReplyDeleteToss them in the slow cooker and add jam or jelly and barbecue sauce in equal amounts. Serve over rice. We have used everything from grape to apricot with success.
ReplyDeleteSimple barbecue sauce is:
1/3 cup ketchup
1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic sauce
1 cup warm water
Of course you can add other things as sweeteners instead of jelly. Brown sugar works well, fruit juice reserved from canned fruits, or even a canof pineapple.
Use one tin of pineapple chunks, drain juice into a pan, flavour with about three tablespoons vinegar, and three tablespoons brown sugar. Bring to a boil. Thicken with about two tablespoons of corn starch mixed in a little water. Add pineapple chunks and if you have them chopped, sweet red peppers (for a festive look!) Add the browned meat balls, bring all to a simmer. Serve over steamed rice.
ReplyDeleteI buy sweet peppers and celery when on sale or in the "sad" looking clearance basket, chop finely and freeze in a ziplock, always ready to add for flavour or colour to soups, stews etc. an economical thing to have on hand. I don't blanche them, they keep just fine for this purpose as they are.
Congratulations Froogs on your award, I am sure you had a wonderful trip to London. What a great reward for all your hard work sharing your life and ideas and recipes to us all, you will likely never know how many people you have inspired to live a life within their own means, to learn homemaking skills, to be able to sleep at night, knowing their debt is under control.
Thanks!!
Hmmm this sounds like one to try! I adore the ikea meatbalk sauce.
ReplyDeleteWe usually make our own too and often end up with four or five left in the freezer. These tend to find their way into a "meatball in the hole" a pergect use up meal as the batter is very filling and adds lots of extra protein from the eggs!
Plus its a firm favourite of the kids :-)
Xx
Two one kilo bags for 3.99 works out to 1.98/kilo.
ReplyDeleteI buy turkey meatballs and nobody has complained.
My ideas were already put forth, so I just want to say thank you to the commenters for the other ideas that are new to me. The pooling of knowledge is so helpful.
ReplyDeletewith spaghetti and spicy tomato sauce is my fav.
ReplyDeletehow about adding them to one layer of a lasagne for a special dinner
We love meatball calzones... make some simple bread dough like you would for pizza crust, put in some meatballs, a little tomato sauce and some cheese, crimp edges and bake, yummy!
ReplyDeleteWe love meatball calzones... make some simple bread dough like you would for pizza crust, put in some meatballs, a little tomato sauce and some cheese, crimp edges and bake, yummy!
ReplyDeleteI wondered about the maths too.
ReplyDeleteWe have meatballs a lot. My daughters love them and prefer them plain. I always make mine from scratch as some say. Another quick and easy way to eat them os to use a long roll and make sandwiches with them.
Hello there!
ReplyDeleteFirst congratulations on your award!
Regarding the IKEA sauce, here's the North American version: make a regular gravy (based on a roux or even possibly Paxo?) and add dollops of sour cream (or crème fraîche). And, voilà: that quintessentially thick creamy sauce! As for ligonberry sauce, cranberry is an easy equivalent, although the berries are larger. Red currant would probably be a better equivalent.
My two cents for what it's worth ... thanks for the blog!
Cheers,
From Canada
Ikea does the meatball meal deal for around $12. One kilo bag of balls, jar of lingonberry jam, two packets of gravy mix (you need to add the sour cream) and the most divine frozen mashed potatoes.
DeletePaxo is a stuffing mix. Bisto maybe and flavour with sourcream would probably work, or even a Hunt's gravy mix (2/$1.25 at dollarama)
Yum yum, pig's bum!
ReplyDeleteBecause both my parents were born in Sweden I have a recipe that is several hundred years old and actually called for reindeer meat. But I make Swedish meatballs in bulk and freeze them in bags of 12. the cheapest fattest hamburger makes the best meatballs, also I broil mine and then fry them to reheat them. This gets rid of much of the fat. Delicious and cheap and everyone loves them. If I need to take a meal fast to a friend, I just pull out a bag or two, dig some new spuds and toss a salad.
ReplyDeleteon a long roll as a sandwich. Place uncooked spinach leaves on the roll then meatballs (We eat turkey meatballs) pour some warm marinara sauce on top and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.
ReplyDeleteIn Sweden we do not use lingonberry jam in the meatballs, but it is served on the side.
ReplyDeleteI give you a recipe for swedish meatballs that you can try.
These meatballs won a competition in Sweden's tastiest meatballs in 1996 and they are good!
5 tbs rolled oats
1 tbs potato flour
0.6 (10 tbs) cups cream (15 % fat)
14 oz minced beef
2 tbs grated fried onion (finely chopped)
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tbs veal stock
1 pinch black pepper (0.2 tsp)
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Mix oats, potato flour and cream. Let swell 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and mix together. Roll the meatballs and fry them in butter over medium heat.
Tips: A few drops of cold water at your palms makes it easier to nicely shape the mince into regular buns.
We serve this with cream sauce, boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam on the side.