Freezer Meal - The "Oh, no!" Emergency Meal

Freezer Meal - The "Oh, no!" Emergency Meal

Dedicated Readers, I must apologize.  I did not have a post up for you at 5:00 AM.  This week I was quite ill and didn't attend to any of my work until Friday, yesterday.  With so much to catch up on I thought of you, the Reader often.  Alas, I ran out of Friday hours.  So here I set, with Saturday morning half gone, writing what was running around in my mind all week. 

Thank you Lord for my 'Emergency Meal'.  

The frozen meatloaf is a thing of beauty!

The 'Emergency Meal' was an idea born from Financial Peace classes.  Dave Ramsey tells a story about peanut butter breath and how when people are stressed and hungry they make poor decision which usually effects their finances.  This story became my story when one afternoon at the end of my rope, no plan for supper, I ordered food for our dinner.  The food was poor quality fast food which made my feel ill, physically and emotionally.  Why emotionally you ask?

I had blown the budget for a fast food meal because I was stressed and ill prepared.  So. . . I decided a plan would be in order and 'Emergency Meal Plan'.  

The first solution was a 16" frozen pizza.  This solution didn't work because the pizza was too tempting to my family and therefore was missing when we needed it for the 'Emergency'.  

The second solution was an enormous batch of burritos.  48 burritos to be exact, six bags containing eight burritos.  We spent 8 hours creating re-fried beans, homemade tortillas and ground beef.   It was a marvelous solution while they lasted but when we ate the last bag no one was willing to go through another 8 hours of labor to recreate those 6 bags. 

The third time is the charm, yes?  Yes.  The third solution was a meatloaf.  I have many, many pie plates thus I won't miss the plate while it is sitting in the freezer. My youngest son likes to make meatloaf sandwiches so he truly prefers the meatloaf made in a loaf pan. However, I have only 2 loaf pans so I won't sacrifice one of those to long term storage in the freezer. The pie shape is accepted because it is better then being hungry. 

I used my 'Emergency Meal' this way.  

• Remove the meatloaf from the freezer.  Unwrap the meatloaf and set it in oven.  If there is time to let the meatloaf thaw before turning on the oven it reduces the cooking time. (Thawed meatloaf, 350 degrees for 45 minutes for 1 hour) If not . . . 
• Set the oven to 300 degrees with the meatloaf on the rack.  Allow the meatloaf to go through the preheat.  Most of the time the 'tempering' will keep the plate from cracking if it is a glass or ceramic material. (which mine are)  I have not had a pie plate break using this method but there is always that one time. 
• Scrub and wrap potatoes and sweet potatoes in aluminum foil.  Throw those in the oven with the meatloaf. 
• Take the next hour to contemplate the vegetable to serve. 
• I choose fresh peas I had hulled the end of last week.  So with an hour to go, I put the peas in water with salt and set the burner to low.  With a lid the water and heat will cook the peas slow enough they will not be mush by supper. 

Snap a photo of your 'Emergency Meal'.  I'd like to add some variety to our "Emergencies"