Bulking out Meals?

lawsofnature

You could add crackers (which is what Jamie Oliver recommended on his show), but it's just as easy to bulk out meatballs with breadcrumbs and finely chopped onions. You could always add another veg, such as a red pepper or carrots (something that won't go mushy). Putting something like puy lentils in them would also be a good idea as they should stay fairly firm.

But, personally, like others have said, you should bulk out the tomato sauce with veggies. If you add too much to the actual meatballs they'll fall apart, also when you add up the cost of the extra crackers/veg/eggs to bind etc, it would probably only be marginally more expensive to buy a slightly bigger pack of minced meat.

Caterina

To be able to cook meatballs in tomato sauce and them not falling apart you can fry them first.

Italian recipe:

1/2 kg mince pork, 1/2 kg mince beef, 4 slices white bread (crust cut off, use it for breadcrumbs with something else) soaked in bread and squeezed - if you want to make the dish go further, add more bread, 1 small bunch chopped parsley, 2 eggs, chopped garlic to taste, 100g grated parmesan, salt, pepper, grated nutmeg to taste.

Mix well with hands until all ingredients are well amalgamated, then form small balls with your hands and fry in abundant hot vegetable oil. Drain on kitchen paper.

Sauce: chop 1-2 onions, 2 carrots, 3-4 sticks of celery very finely and fry in some olive oil. Add 2 cans of tomatoes (chop your own, don't bother paying extra for ready-chopped, use scissors while the tomatoes are still in the tin!). Cook for 20-30 minutes on a low fire, add the meatballs and cook for a further 10 minutes, do not stir as it might break the meatballs.

You can then remove the meatballs and serve them with potatoes and veg on the side, and use the meat-enriched sauce for pasta, lasagne and all sorts of dishes which require a rich tomato sauce.

If you make the meatballs very small, you can use them as stuffing for lasagne dishes together with the tomato sauce. To make a lasagne stuffing go further you can add chopped boiled egg in it, and make a fairly thick cheese sauce to put on each layer.

Buon appetito!

Caterina

phizzimum

I always make my meatballs or burgers with grated courgette and plenty of oats. A squirt of ketchup or brown sauce in addition to the usual egg will help hold it together!

Pink.

There are some good suggestions on bulking out meatballs so I've added them to the main bulking out meals thread to make the suggestions easier for others to find.

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shoppergal

i've seen people mention on here that they bulk out bolognese etc with oats. How do you do this? Is it just normal oats you use? Do you cook them or just add them in? At what stage do you add them in? Do you notice a difference in taste?
Thanks for any advice.

ariba10

We tend to use Oat Bran.

A couple of tablespoons full, it thickens and adds roughage.

kitschkitty

I prefer to use lentils or soya mince (the dried type) myself, but I remember my mum used to make breadcrumbs out of a stale slice of bread to bulk up mince dishes!

TheDevilWearsPrimark

I've recently discovered using cous cous to bulk things out, especially good in casseroles and so cheap.

jorichste

I use porridge oats with anything made with mince , alsothrow in a few lentils and a grated carrot. I just chuck it all in the pan while I'm browning off the mince.

Pink.

I use lentils too, and love barley added to casseroles. The couscous sounds good too, I might give it a go.

There are some good ideas here so I'll add this thread to the current one on bulking out meals to keep the suggestions together.

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