Bulking out Meals?

pammyj74

I am doing this tomorrow. I am cooking bolognese in the SC with 800g of mince and want to add lentils to bulk it out more, how much lentils should I add?
maybe half lentils half oats or better all the same thing?
thanks

[Deleted User]

I knocked up a sheppards pie yesterday with 250 gms of best mince, and into this I added some carrots,some finely chopped onion and half a dozen sliced mushrooms.Browned off the meat and veg gently, into a jug I put two dessert spoonsful of bisto powder mixed up with an Oxo cube crumbled up and slowly added water whilst mixing all the time until I had about half a litre or so of gravy.This I added to the mince and veg mix.Mixed it thoroughly and bunged in a handful of ordinary porridge oats (I use tesco's value as oats are oats really and they are fairly cheap,I use these to make twinks hon-nobs as well as for breakfast)Stirred it all through thoroughly and put on a low heat to cook.Stirring occasionanlly to make sure it hasn't stuck to the pan.If the gravy looks too think just add a splash more of water or if too thin some gravy granules.I also stuck two teaspoons of lazy garlic in to liven up the taste a bit.(but then I love it so it goes in most of my meat cooking)Half an hour later I had a big pot of meat base for my sheppards pie.Whislt that was cooking a did a big pot of potatos for the topping and grated some red leicester cheese into the spuds with a good dollop of milk and a bit of butter I soon had a big pot of mash to top my meat mixture.I did a pyrex dish ful and topped with mash to go into the freezer for Thursady nights dinner as I have a friend visiting.With what was left over I managed to get two single portions to go in the freezer for my DD as her youngest DD loves her individual 'Nanny pies'so for basically half a lb of mince I have got four good size portions. Not bad for a quid, as the mince was a reduced packet in sainsburys.With a few green veg it costs out at around 40p per meal.Good made from scratch meals that freeze well and taste far better than those 'instant meals 'from the supermarkets and half the price.
My children used to say I could write a book called '1001 winning ways with mince '

babyshoes

Toomuchdebt wrote: »

I have read several things referring to adding oats to mince to make it go further...but no details...how much and what kind of oats and does it makle any difference to the taste?I'll do anything to try and make the meat go a bit further.

I usually add a large handful of porridge oats at the end of the browning process, fry them a little so they soak up some of the fat that has come off the meat, then pour in a load of beef stock, which they soak up and end up tasting nicely meaty. I can tell they are there if I look for them, but OH has no idea! Combined with loads of tins of tomatoes, I can make a standard pack of mince stretch to about 6-7 meals, when it used to do us about 3-4.

wigglebeena

Re: the adding grated carrot thing: wouldn't it involve less labour to just cook the carrots, liquidize them and throw them in?

zippychick

wigglebeena wrote: »

Re: the adding grated carrot thing: wouldn't it involve less labour to just cook the carrots, liquidize them and throw them in?

if you have a food processor it's not that much labour

Either or really. I've never tried oats - i prefer lentils as they just look like carrots and don't taste in the dish . I throw a few handfuls in , let them cook up, then add another 3 handfuls , let them cook up. I don't want to over lentilify a dish (yes, that's a word, albeit a made up one:o)

Psykicpup

I'm thinking of making prawn curry tonight :T(ok i'm trying to put off vac'ing my matress really:o) but on checking the freezer dont have as many prawns as I would like ideally.
What could I use to bulk this out? - must be store cupboard things as I have no money till later today/tomorrow to nip to the shops :money:

Ok will go 'fly' my mattress etc whlie yu lovely lot rack your brains for me...

Grebe

This sounds crazy but it tastes brill, raid the cupboard for beans, any beans will do and add these to your basic prawn curry recipe. If you have any creamed coconut this will thicken up the sauce making it more filling.

Forgot to say chick peas work well in any curry.

zippychick

Hi Psykicpup:hello:

I would probably try lentils or extra grated veg?

There is an older thread with plenty of ideas

Bulking out meals - do have a look and see what matches what you have in your cupboards

Let us know how you get on :j I'll merge your thread later
Zip

CCP

I was going to say chickpeas, too - they seem to go really well with prawns and make a lovely curry. Failing that, you could do prawn and veg curry, depending on what veggies you've got.

carriebradshaw

have you got a tin of tuna chunks in the cupboard? sounds yukky to some peeps , but I really love tuna in curry