Budget Saver Italian Meatloaf

[Danny Carlton]

Budget Saver Italian Meatloaf

2 pounds Italian seasoned ground turkey (currently available in many Wal-Marts for $1 a pound)
1 16 oz can spaghetti sauce
3/4 cups rolled oats
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package saltine crackers, crumbled (most crackers come in a box of four packages)

Directions
1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2 In a large bowl, combine meat, spaghetti sauce, oats, egg, chopped onion, salt and crackers. Mix lightly but thoroughly. Press into loaf or flat cake pan.
3 Bake for 1 hour, or until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear. Drain. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Alternate baking, for Sunday Morning....
If you're like us you like to leave stuff in the oven with a timer to turn on and off, so it'll be ready when you come home from church. Prepare the meatloaf the night before and place in the freezer. Then bake for 2 hours at 300 degrees, but also cover the loaf or cake pan with a cookie sheet (held down by a heavy cast iron skillet if necessary) to create an enclosed space that will maintain both the moisture and even tempurature. So if you leave for church at 8am and get home at noon, set the oven to come on at 9:30 and go off at 11:30. The frozen, raw meatloaf will then only set for a hour and a half before it begins to bake, so it will begin cooking well before thawing into the danger zone (40 to 140 degrees) and the extra half hour between 11:30 and noon simply allows it to cool and set before eating. We also place whole potatoes with a little water in the cast iron skillet, then cover it as well. That means we have a wonderful meatloaf with some nicely cooked baked potatoes ready to eat when we get home from church.

The best part....the cost.
Italian seasoned Ground turkey 2 for $1 each--$2
Spaghetti sauce, 50 cents
Rolled oats, 10 cents
1 egg, 10 cents
chopped onion, 25 cents
crackers $1 a box, using only 1/4 of a box, 25 cents
6 potatoes, 75 cents
TOTAL: $3.95 (appr.) and it feeds a family of 6 with leftovers. If you're one of those people that insist on more than the basic meat and potatoes, you can toss in a can of green beans or mixed greens for about 50 cents, but then you go over the $4 mark, which makes it one of them highfalutin luxury meals.

[Pastor Matt]

Might have to try this sometime. Thanks.

[sarienbarry]

Beans are generally quite inexpensive and you can make different things (casserole/soups/etc) and freeze the rest. Frozen veggies and fruit is not horribly expensive if the fresh stuff is out of your range. Try to stick with fruits and veggies in season -- they are usually cheaper.
You can also get meats (if eat such things) the day it "expires" (it doesn't really expire that day) for a couple of bucks cheaper than usual -- you just need to freeze it or cook it and freeze it that day or the next.
Pastas are usually pretty cheap and don't have to be bad for you -- you can make your own sauce very easily.
If you can find a way to get a chest freezer you will be able to buy things on sale and freeze them.
Scour the coupons and use them -- lots of store have double/triple coupon days

[Invicta]

We are great believers in getting thins for the least we can pay as we are pensioners on a fairly low pension. We have two large stores on the edge of town, Sainsubury and Tesco. We do not often shop at Sainsbury's but they keep sending us coupons for