I would freeze the meatballs individually on a tray then pack them into one meal’s worth bags or containers. I’d freeze the sauce separately as well.

I always make a big batch 3-5 lb of meatballs and freeze them. I put a cereal liner on a cookie sheet and freeze my meatballs, then into a ziploc bag. Easy to pull out the number I need. Never in a sauce because I use my meatballs for pasta, or with a sweet and sour sauce, etc.

Meatballs freeze easily. The answers above are optimal. If they aren't super delicate, you can also just put them in a container or bag in the fridge and put that in the freezer when it's cold, sauce or no sauce. Freezing them in the sauce, however, especially if there's enough of it to cover halfway or more, is that you have to defrost in the fridge for several days, or else they may fall apart. Also, there will be more effect of water migration the longer they stay frozen. But it's fine if you just want to hold the left overs for a couple weeks. ETA, if there's enough sauce to pretty much completely cover the meatballs, you can store it in a container that will fit one of your pots, and, rather than thawing, you can just put the frozen contents into the pot and set it over low heat (or thaw setting on oven) to melt, covered if possible. Don't be tempted to stir, but you can turn over the block to speed it up. If you stir, you're more likely to break up the meatballs. This isn't the best way, but I've done it and it works.

I do the same as mentioned. Freeze on a tray, place in freezer bag amd pull out the amount needed each time. Sauce gets frozen separately.

Same here. Roasted/cooked, then freeze on a tray. Bagged or most often food savered bags if going in the freezer without plans for a few weeks/month. I add later to sauce as they thaw quickly straight from frozen on top of a fresh sauce.

I usually freeze the meatballs and sauce together in portions. It's easier for me when it comes time to reheat and eat. It's probably better to freeze them separately, but again, just easier for me to portion them out and freeze them together.

I'm with Amylou :^) I make a huge batch of meatballs. Brown and finish cooking in sauce. After the first meal, I freeze it all in glass bowls. Sometimes the meatballs fall apart after defrosting; Then, ya just have meat sauce;^) Not worth the extra time for me to freeze apart. Making big batches are a way for me to have easy convenient meals.

Thanks everyone. Good ideas.

I have a lot of sauce left which I made from scratch and do want to freeze it. I might try freezing the meatballs outside the sauce which would take less space in the freezer. I'm limited in space but freezing the meatballs separately, then put into zip-lock bags could work. Problem is the sauce which I could divide into separate containers.

Not sure how much room it will take.

I'll work on this tomorrow and post back.

Such great ideas!

Jane

Jane, we make ”spaghetti and meatballs” frequently. I purposely make a double batch so we freeze half. We put those in the sauce to be frozen in a thick zip lock bad, letbthe air out of it, label it and freeze the bad. I use a bag so that I can have flexibility over a rigid container in the chest freezer.

BTW, my mother taught me how to make delicious, 2 to 2.5 inch diameter tender seasoned meatballs, AND, she always just gently set them down into the simmering sauce — none of that foolish messy frying rigamarole. I see Chris Kimball’s Milk Street must have had coffee with my mother. They are now advocating this technique.

That’s funny, because my Italian neighbor taught me that 30 yrs ago. Lived in NYC, she alway had her family every Sunday. She made the most delicious meatballs. I finally asked how she made them. She taught me, so simple but light, not heavy, delicious. I’ve always make ‘Debbie’s meatballs. Took me time to not brown them anymore!

Jane

Debby was wise.

I like having extra frozeen treats. So good to be tired or cold and tired when doing fall chores or a winter walk. Open the freezer and have a delicious meal.

Jane, would you share your sauce recipe? I've tried a number of different sources of sauces, and I'm always looking for another one.

I'm going to try that trick of cooking the meatballs in the sauce. It is a pia browning the meatballs, frying or baking.

Here is a photo of my sauce just after I added the raw meatballs. I just set then into the simmering sauce (“low” -est setting) then used a wooden spoon to be sure all are submerged. Cover, and set the timer for about 30 mins.. The meatballs are very tender (ingredients include fresh, large bread crumbs, about the size of little fingernail, and some chopped onion & other. That helps keep the texture soft.

I always sear on a few sides before putting them in the sauce (very simple marinara). My meatballs have a lot of minced carrot and onion, dried parsley, matzah crumbs and eggs. The matzah and eggs are good binder, but the meatballs will fall apart if they're not seared. Alternatively, I do bake them on parchment paper when I'm not feeling, but more for spaghetti or similar. Seared is better if they're going to be cooked in sauce. YMMV

When I was a young cook, many moons ago, i seared my meatballs before adding sauce to finish cooking them,. After a few years, I found that we all liked the meatballs cooked directly in the sauce. I'm not proud…I use Ragu traditional or marinara style sauce. The meatballs are tender and other than maybe one or two, they do not fall apart. I made a huge batch on Tuesday because I was feeding an unknown number of people that night. We ended up being only 4 people for dinner, so DH and I had leftovers Wednesday and tonight I just froze the remainder in sauce using the FoodSaver.

I always roast my meatballs for about 20 minutes before adding them to the sauce. We had spaghetti and meatballs this week. I did a quickie sauce with Rao's Marinara that I doctored a bit. Will have to try cooking the meatballs entirely in the sauce sometime.