Fast Foodie Series: IKEA Meatballs

This is part of what we call the “Fast Foodie” series where we use what we have in our fridge and in our pantry and try and whip up a meal. It’s usually done at the end of a working day, when we’re both tired and the last thing on our mind is what do we cook for dinner (I know, I know, we need a better plan, but this seems to work for us now, even though at times we don’t eat until about 8pm)! Eeks..

So tonight, we scoured our freezer and dug out half a bag of IKEA Meatballs…SCORE!

Then we threw in a few things together to form this – our creation of IKEA Meatballs, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables and Sammy’s swedish meatball sauce.

There’s no real recipe to this, it’s a lot of tasting and adding in things until you get the right – and Sammy got the sauce right alright! It was so close to the IKEA version…

Our meal took about 30-40 minutes to prepare and cook, but we didn’t have enough for lunch unfortunately, so this was just for the 3 of us.

We boiled and peeled the potatoes and made them into mash (with butter and milk)…

then we chucked the meatballs into the oven for about 15 mins. Then Sammy started on the sauce…

IKEA Meatball Sauce wannabe – First, she chops some red onions and pops them into the pan to be caramelized…

Then she puts in beef stock (diluted with some water), when it’s thickened a little, she puts in the cream (you can use fresh cream, but because we didn’t have any, we had to use long life cream instead). Then, just a little of corn flour to thicken it a little and salt and pepper to taste. It tasted great!

While that was happening, boil the vegetables (or microwave them if you prefer) and tadah! You have a balanced meal for 3, all under 40 minutes. These are the times when we are thankful for modern inventions 😛

There is just so much you can do with meatballs (doesn’t have to be IKEA ones, it can be pre-made ones), but having them handy in the freezer for times like this always saves some brain juice thinking of what to eat! In the past, we’ve also made them into spaghetti and meatballs and I know friends who adds them with their mee goreng or instant noodles – or you can top them onto a pizza base for just something a little different. The options are endless!

How do you eat your meatballs?