Meatloaf is one of those random dishes that unless you’ve had it as a child, you probably don’t really come across. It feels quite old fashioned to me, and isn’t the prettiest but it’s tasty and low effort. And you can add a couple of variations to the standard classic meatloaf recipe.

Classic meatloaf recipe - Bubbablue and me

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It was meal we’d often have as children. A regular Saturday meal, it was easy to make after we’d got back from music school and dancing. And something that’s always hard for the family cook, it was a meal that everyone would eat.

I was fussy as a child – I’d find any tiny piece of onion, didn’t like pepper or courgette, and just liked quite plain food. I’m much better now (better than the OH, because he doesn’t eat whole cuisines, whereas my dislikes are more polarising ingredients in general). But N is fairly similar in his dislikes. He’ll eat most things, but does moan about obvious onion, and won’t eat cooked pepper (although he likes it raw).

When I cook with mince, I usually add what vegetables I can. Not because N won’t eat veg (he is a big fan of most vegetables), but because many mince based dishes don’t really go with extra veg on the side. So I’ll add onion for taste, then add in chopped courgette, peppers, sometimes carrot. Whatever I’ve got that I can get away with, without the OH having a moan about the odd additions.

So my meatloaf includes vegetables as well. I just chop them up small – with this dish celery, pepper (green works best, but I’ll use whatever we have in), and courgette all work fine without being a really obvious flavour to detract from the meaty flavour. You could try lentils I suppose, or some small beans (or mushrooms if you like them). Obviously you’ll add breadcrumbs to bulk and dry the meat out a bit, but adding veg isn’t going to stop it being meatloaf, but it’ll also bulk it out meaning less meat is needed if you’re on a budget. Plus of course, it’ll be healthier.

I make my own breadcrumbs with my ancient bargain chopper, and store them in the freezer. They’re great for coating chicken or fish or adding to stuffing for roast chicken, and saves throwing out slightly stale bread.

We usually have the meatloaf with boiled potatoes or mash (at the request of the OH) and green vegetables, but I prefer serving it on tagliatelle with the vegetables. My mouth is salivating at the thought of it.

You can find the recipe below, along with some tips on variations.

Chose your vegetables. My staples for adding to meals are peppers, onions and celery. (Strictly speaking it should be green pepper for meatloaf but I didn’t have any.