Turkey Meatloaf

Maybe you're like me, and trying to stick to a budget and save some money after the black hole that is ChristmasNewYearSummerHolidaysBaby'sBirthday.

When it comes to food, meat is an easy target when it comes to saving money. You can buy cheaper cuts of meat on the bone and slow cook them into a tender curry, stew or casserole, then freeze the leftovers for other meals, you can skip the meat altogether and get your protein from tofu or legumes, or you can buy mince and learn ways to make it interesting!

Mini Meatloaf
with braised red cabbage, beans and
potatoes with home-grown pesto

Meatloaf is a good way to make mince go a bit further by adding breadcrumbs, veggies, herbs or even dried fruit and nuts. There are lots of great recipes, and the flavours are limited by your imagination. I'm even being super lazy and putting everything in the food processor so I can catch up on the washing up! Making individual meat loaves means you have some easy leftovers for lunch the next day. If you don't have a mini loaf tin, a muffin tin works well too!

Turkey Meatloaf

500g turkey mince
1 small red onion
1 clove garlic
1 small handful thyme leaves
1 handful parsley
1 grated carrot
1 handful dried cranberries (or other dried fruit)
1 handful blanched almonds
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
salt and pepper

This is order to put things into the food processor. Give everything a blitz in between, scraping down the bowl as needed.
onion and garlic
grated carrot
cranberries and almonds
herbs and breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
mince and eggs

Blend until the mixture is very smooth, then divide among an 8-loaf mini loaf tin. Bake in the oven at 180˚C for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. You can glaze the tops by brushing with some barbecue sauce or cranberry sauce that has been melted in the microwave (do this half way through the cooking time, and again once they come out of the oven). My mixture made 6 loaves, and a couple of mini rissoles for the toddler.