mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food, written by a bunch of friends. Cathy is taking her turn blogging today, because Kirk and ed (from Yuma) have lives…
HI. Back again with another easy meal for two for $5 or less…buying ingredients which are on sale this week.
Let's just get this out in the open- I have *never* made the same meatloaf twice in my life. Never. I don't expect you to, either. Instead, I am giving you some general instructions so you can make meatloaf in your own way, to your own taste. The one I am showing you is *very* basic and tasty, without any added spices…
Start out with meat. You don't have to, but I mix 3/4 ground beef with 1/4 something else- in this case, ground pork. The 80/20 ground beef is $1.69/lb at Vons this week, the ground pork is always $1.69/lb at 99Ranch. I ask for one of my size handfuls of pork when I go to the butcher counter. 
Then you need fillers and binders. Today, I used an egg, raw mushrooms, stewed tomatoes and panko breadcrumbs.
Take the juice from the stewed tomatoes and soak the breadcrumbs in it. Stewed tomatoes have garlic, onion , celery and green pepper in it. No need to add any more flavor. 
Mix all the ingredients together-lightly. I mix the meat, with my hands, first, then incorporate the wet breadcrumbs, the stewed tomatoes and sliced mushrooms. Form into loaf shapes and place on a cookie sheet with edges (a jelly roll pan). Bake at 350° until internal temp is 170° if you are cooking ground pork, 160° if you are using ground beef only. About 45 minutes for 1 pound total meat.edit: You don't really have to hit 170° these days, but I cook until the thermometer hits 155° and then let it rest and it continues cooking and it should be fine. Well, I'm not dead yet anyhow…
Get an instant read thermometer. That, along with good knives are the kitchen tools you will need and use regularly. The rest of the things for your kitchen should all be multi-use items. 
While the meatloaf is baking, assemble the following: potatoes-red skinned, Yukon golds and new potatoes have thin skins that don't have to be peeled. Unsalted butter, salt and white pepper are all else you will need. Nothing fancy. Potatoes are good.
Cut the eyes from the potatoes, then chop into relatively small similar sized chinks, so they will cook at the same time.
Immerse potatoes into cold water-they were grown underground. (You put vegetables grown above ground into already boiling water). 
Turn heat on low, let potatoes boil until fork tender. Turn off water and drain-Do Not Rinse!
Put the potatoes back into the pot, add the stick of butter, some white pepper and some salt (you can add more after you have a taste). Mash.
Taste and see if you need more salt or pepper.
I use white pepper so you don't see black specks, plus it tastes kind of nutmeg-gy…you can buy white pepper in any Asian grocery store. 
When the meatloaf is done, take it out of the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes. The juices will stay in that way and the cold leftovers will be wonderful in a sandwich tomorrow. 
If you want to splurge and really enjoy your meal, (the regular price of this is about $1.49), get this can of Dawn Fresh by Giorgio mushroom steak sauce. SO worth it…just open and heat.
Slice the meatloaf, cover with potatoes and gravy. A meal.
OK, that was a very general recipe. You can fancy up the meatloaf with all sorts of things, you can fancy up the mashed potatoes, or you can do it this way and not have to think about anything. All the flavors work and you don't even have to add salt.
Cathy's Meatloaf
Meat: 3 parts ground beef to one part ground pork or ground turkey
Binder: breadcrumbs, soaked in some sort of liquid; egg
Flavor: stewed tomatoes, spices, garlic, sauteed mushrooms, chili sauce, Worcestershire, capers, olives-open up that pantry
Stretchers: fresh vegetables, including shredded potatoes and/or carrots, ground nuts, dry cereal, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, bulgur
Cook at 350° until internal temperature of 160°is reached. Take out of oven to rest, it will continue cooking.
Cathy's mashed potatoes
One handful of raw potatoes per person, one stick of butter, salt and white pepper. If for some reason there is not enough butter, add some milk sparingly to help mash.
This is how I cook. Really.