I don’t always use a wire rack, but it helps from keeping the loaf swimming in its grease. It works either way for me.
I’ve got a meatloaf pan, and you have to be careful to grab the pan itself and not the insert when you take it out of the oven. It does make draining the meatloaf easier, IMO. However, if you’ve got a broiler pan, that also works well. Even if you don’t have either of these, you can pull the thing out of the oven, remove it from its pan, and drain the grease off. I find that at least two drainings are needed.
I use ground chuck, onion, celery, bell pepper, bread crumbs (or other filler), Worchester sauce, A1 sauce, egg, milk, and some seasoned salt. Sometimes I add other things, it depends on what I have in the fridge. I sometimes put in dry mustard, too. I dice the bell pepper and celery and onion (peeling the onion first, of course) and pan fry until tender, THEN I drain and let cool, and add to the other stuff. I mix up the bread crumbs and seasonings and eggs and milk while I’m frying the veggies. Cooking the veggies first does bring out their flavor. Mix the meat in thoroughly, but with a light hand, and try not to pack it too tightly. I can’t eat pepper, so I don’t put it in the meatloaf, but most people will want it.
I put either A1 or ketchup or tomato sauce on the top during the last 10 or 15 minutes of baking, just after the last draining of the grease. I prefer A1, my husband prefers ketchup or tomato sauce. He also likes tomato sauce at the table, to cover the slices. If I make mashed potatoes, it’s gonna be brown gravy, though. Usually I will throw something else into the oven while I have it on. Regular potatoes, or a sweet potato (one sweet potato will serve the two of us nicely), or ANYTHING that might need baking, because I hate to have the oven on for just one dish.
I also make a wonderful turkey loaf out of ground turkey. I find that I can digest turkey much more easily than beef on some days. I usually use the type that’s white and dark meat, mixed. My husband was skeptical at first, but now he requests it. I use almost the same ingredients, except that I don’t use any eggs (for some reason, the turkey will hold together) and I don’t use any tomato products. Turkey loaves don’t seem to need draining, either. You can make turkey gravy from Better than Bullion (brand) flavor base, or buy turkey gravy in jars, or use a packet mix. Sweet potatoes are a particularly good side dish, but usually dressing or mashed or baked potatoes are also eaten. You can serve cranberry jelly or cranberry relish as well. I like to have some green beans or a cruciferous vegetable too.
My main goal when planning a meal is to have a protein, a starch, and a serving or two of non-starchy vegetables. I also try to have everything be a different color. For instance, I wouldn’t serve sweet potatoes and carrots at the same meal, unless I’m serving a LOT of dishes. Meat and turkey loaves tend to have some starch in them already, so I figure that we are eating one and a quarter servings of starch. This is why I usually don’t serve biscuits or rolls with this menu.
When you have elementary age boys, sculpt it into a face, put corn for teeth, peas for eyes and if you are really daring put a bit of spinach in the nose.
I went ahead and used the Cooks Illustrated recipe, with the following variations;
-I only used half an onion, and added a chopped bell pepper.
-I didn’t saute the onions and garlic.
-I used canned bread crumbs instead of saltines.
-I used all beef and pork, no veal.
-I didn’t use bacon. (I intended to, but the leftover bacon in my fridge looked like it was starting to spoil and I decided to throw it out.)
-I added some mustard and a dash of liquid smoke to the glaze.
-I left out the parsley and put in some dried sage and oregano instead.
-I used a traditional loaf pan because I was cooking in a toaster oven (regular oven’s on the fritz) and the only trays that fit in it aren’t fit to catch drippings.
Cooked it at 350 for about and hour and a half. I poured the drippings off and made gravy with them - it was good, but had a distinct taste of ketchup in it from runoff from the glaze. Let it rest 20 minutes, sliced it, and discovered it was still pinkish in the middle, so I popped the sliced meatloaf back in the oven for 10 minutes at 450 to finish it off. Whipped up a batch of instant mashed potatoes and dug in with the gravy
End result - pretty damn filling. Two slices (out of eight) and a small portion of mashed potatoes and I was stuffed. The bell pepper didn’t work as well as I thought it would (broke up the texture too much) and the glaze was a bit too sweet - 4 tablespoons of brown sugar is probably way too much, and I would have preferred more of a barbeque sauce-like flavor from it. Other than that, it held its shape well and the texture was good. Will definitely consume the remainder over the next couple days.
Thanks for the tips. 
I don’t know if my version is gluten-free or not. That would depend on whether oats are, since I use uncooked (well, at that stage) oatmeal as the starch/filler part instead of anything bread-based.
I’m on my second one (first eventually started having the coating coming off and I decided that wasn’t safe to use, so replaced it). Love those pans!