Frozen meatball trick saved my dinner last Tuesday

I had a big work meeting run late and got home at 7pm with zero dinner plans. Threw a bag of frozen Italian meatballs into the slow cooker with a jar of marinara and some chopped onion. Cooked it on high for just 90 minutes and they came out perfect, not dry at all. My kid said it was better than the restaurant version we get downtown. Anyone else use frozen stuff straight from the bag like this or am I the only lazy one?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivanb4124d ago

Crack a joke about my own cooking skills here, because honestly if I didn't use frozen shortcuts my family would probably starve. Beth_mitchell is right that it's not exactly a chef move, but I'm pretty sure my kid would rate a gas station meatball sub as a five star meal anyway. Your trick sounds solid to me since I've done the same thing with frozen meatballs and jarred sauce more times than I'd like to admit.

blaked7912d ago

Exactly, that frozen meatball move has saved me more times than I care to count. I started throwing them in the slow cooker with a can of crushed tomatoes, some Italian seasoning, and a splash of red wine vinegar to fake some depth. It's not gourmet but it's way better than just dumping jarred sauce on them. Kids don't care either way, they just want something warm and easy to shovel in.

beth_mitchell24d ago

Oh come on, is it really that serious that you need a whole post about frozen meatballs? (I mean, I get it, we're all busy, but it's just meatballs in sauce.) Yeah, I've done the frozen meatball thing too. It's fine. It's not life-changing or anything, it's just a shortcut. Your kid probably liked it because it's saucy and salty, which is basically what kids want from any meal. But let's be real, calling it "better than the restaurant version" is a stretch unless you're comparing it to like, a gas station meatball sub. They hold up okay in a slow cooker because they're already cooked, so you're really just reheating them in sauce. Not exactly a chef-level trick. I'm happy it worked for you, but I wouldn't write a whole post about it. It's just frozen meatballs.