I generally don't buy those logs of frozen ground turkey and never buy fried onion rings. But every so often I do some unusual things. Especially when a bargain is to be had. The reduced poultry called to me as a way to prepare a number of meals in advance and also as a way to use up the fried onions left from the big batch of beans previously posted.
The two loaves were made from one roll of turkey, bread crumbs and eggs, as expected -- but with a twist. The onion flakes, some left-over rice and crushed corn flakes were mixed in as fillers too. This type of turkey is very fatty and has a lot of added liquid. Binders were needed -- as well as a way to use up odds and ends in the fridge.
One roll of turkey was used to make meatballs. They were baked and then portioned off in two quart-sized zippies.
It looks as though a lot of fat and liquid was rendered from these loaves, but there really wasn't all that much considering how much space in the dish was taken up by the meat.
The loaves were cut into four portions, then wrapped and bagged for future use. The first quarter was actually the basis for two meals. The first dinner only required three slices.
Making meatloaf ahead is one way I manage to have ground meat on hand for things like tacos and burritos. For this meal, I simply crumbled up the meat, mixed it with a couple of my favorite Goya liquid sauce bases. This was sauteed to heat it up and mix the flavors together.
These turkey tacos were delicious. I love this meal, but it takes time to chop everything. Having the meat part of it prepared in advance cut down on a lot of the prep time.
Making the meatballs ahead of time was very helpful, since I make sauce from scratch. The meatballs didn't take very long to thaw. It took me a couple of hours to make the sauce but only minutes to drop the meatballs in -- a real time saver.
Spaghetti and meatballs is one of our favorite meals. Best of all, there was plenty of sauce and meatballs left to make more meals -- two home-made pizzas to be exact.
One thing I appreciate about being retired, is that I can take a morning to turn a bargain like these logs of ground turkey into the basis for almost a dozen meals -- all based on eight dollars of turkey.
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