Mix up meatloaf now or later?

I defrosted ground beef and ground pork to make meatloaf, only to learn no one will be home tonight to eat it. Is there anything unsafe or unwise about mixing up the meat, raw egg, and other ingredients tonight, storing the mix in the refrigerator, and cooking it tomorrow night?

i think it will hold one day in the refrigerator. Make sure you cook the meatloaf well. No rare meatloaf. You would be killing any bacteria anyway in the oven.

I often make meatloafs ahead of time and then put saran rap on a freezer proof plate I form the meatloaf on the saran rap and I put another piece of saran on top and seal. I stick it in the freezer overnight. After it is frozen, I take the meat loafs out, fix the wrapping better, and put them in freezer zip lock bags. I can store the meat loafs and defrost and bake as I need them. I make 3 meatloafs at once. I cook one and eat and two are frozen. I don't like meat loafs in a loaf pan I prefer like a free form mound type to my meat loaf. I put shredded cheese on top and bacon when it cooks and sometimes I baste it with bbq sauce, chili or tomato sauce.

That's perfectly acceptable. Best practice is to make sure all of the elments of the recipe are cold when you mix them together. So if you saute the veggies for example, cool them down well before mixing in.

Thanks for the tips, toria and angrychefmike.

We do this all the time with gyoza/wonton filling without repercussion.

You'll be fine as long as you didn't defrost the meats in the microwave. Any type of meat defrosted in the microwave needs to be cooked immediately so as not to run the risk of food poisoning.

I made some very uninspired Meatloaf last night with a couple eggs, bread crumbs, dill weed, kosher salt, pepper, chopped onion, garlic and 7-up. It was missing something and came out very bland.

How do I jazz it up next time folks?

First of all - 7Up?

Secondly, cheese and spicy peppers fix anything. We Pies like ketchup spread over the top and baked; you can use a spicy condiment or barbecue sauce instead. You could toss in a little whiskey too. Or you can mash up a sausage with the meat. Once, I made it with beans and spicy salsa mixed in. I think my favorite was a mix of ground beef and chicken sausage, Italian spices, leftover tomato paste, and possibly some garlic and onions. This was split in half, then I pressed one half into the pan, topped it with a layer of mozzarella, and added other half of the meat mixture with a swath of ketchup on top.

Whatever you do, DO NOT use cornmeal instead of breadcrumbs.

I actually think it will be better as the seasonings have time to 'meld' with the meats.-Dick

HonestMan wrote:I made some very uninspired Meatloaf last night with a couple eggs, bread crumbs, dill weed, kosher salt, pepper, chopped onion, garlic and 7-up. It was missing something and came out very bland.

How do I jazz it up next time folks?

you didnt say what kind of meat you used. plain ground beef makes a boring meatloaf, IMO. i grew up eating and making the classic meatloaf mixture of 1/3 each beef, veal and pork, with bread soaked in milk, and i still think that's the best. i love lots of onions and barbeque sauce mixed with ketchup baked on top. hope that helps....justjoan

I put some frozen potatoes o brien in my meatloaf. also shredded cheddar cheese, onions, green peppers chopped, various seasonings, like salt pepper, garlic powder, etc. then I dump a bunch of bennetts chili sauce in the meatloaf and mix it all up with my hands. Mound it in like I mentioned above and baked topped with some cheese slices. sometimes I put crumbled bacon in too.