Bulking out Meals?

zippychick

How did you get on Kevie? The posts were on my lunch break at work hence the quick answer!

Kevie192

Lunch break at 3pm? I'd be starving by then!

It went really well, in fact I think I would go as far as to say the best Bolognese I've made... Although, that could be down to the fact I used my homegrown herbs for the first time! I usually use a jar of sauce so I was very pleased it was so tasty

AND I got 4 portions from the amount that would usually only make 2.

Thanks for your help Zip!

Kevin

zippychick

Fantastic regardless! Thats really good. So make a mental note (or write it down) how much lentils to mince you added and if you would add more next time etc. If you chuck in some very finely chopped carrots/veg/liquidised veg, you will stretch if even further
Really glad it worked out for you

Yes lunch at 3pm - i get exceptionally tired in the afternoons so drag my lunch until later - so the end of the day is less hard if that makes sense.....

x

lizzielondon

Hi,

Awful planning on my part means we're a bit skint this month

Would love to make up some big meals today and freeze portions (and hopefully carry this on next month etc)

I plan to get some big portions of mince and make bolognaise & chilli - I'm sure i've read something on here about bulking this up with red lentils? How exactly do you do this? and I assume this makes it healthier anyway?

I'd also like to do something similar with chicken maybe, but can't think of what to do?

open to any and all ideas!

Thanks!

quintwins

yeah you can bulk it out with lentils/porridge and veg

if you can make a list of what you have in your cupboards,fridge and freezer we might be able to give you a few more ideas

Stephen_Leak

If you get a whole chicken, whatever you do with it, you'll have the carcass left over. Even this can be used to make ...

CHICKEN SOUP

4 x 250ml servings

INGREDIENTS

1 cooked chicken carcass
1 onion
100g to 125g of at least 2 vegetables (see below)
1 teaspoon of dried sage, or ½ a teaspoon each of parsley and thyme
1 chicken stock cube
1 litre of water
Ground pepper to taste

METHOD

Remove any skin from the chicken carcass and discard it. Peel the vegetables and chop any tops and/or bottoms off, if required, and then chop them into 2cm (1 inch) pieces. Peel the onion and chop it into 2cm (1 inch) pieces.

Put the chicken, onion and vegetables, herb(s), stock cube and water into a large saucepan on a medium heat. Stir thoroughly. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat until it is just boiling (simmering).

Put the lid on and cook for 1 hour. Check the liquid level from time to time and top up if it starts to dry out.

Fish out the bones and put them on a plate. Remove any meat which is still on the bones. Put the meat back into the soup and discard the bones.

If you have a food processor, put the soup in it and blend it to the desired consistency. If you have a hand blender, put it in the soup and blend it to the desired consistency. If you don’t have a food processor or hand blender, use a potato masher, press the soup through a sieve with the back of a spoon, or leave it lumpy. If you used a food processor, rinse out the saucepan and put the soup back into the saucepan.

Put the saucepan on a low heat and reheat the soup gently.

Season with the pepper.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use green vegetables (celery, courgettes, leeks) and mushrooms for a light and delicate soup. Use root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, potatoes, swedes, turnips) and tomatoes for a thick and hearty soup, The so-called “Holy Trinity” of soup base ingredients is carrot, celery and onion.

For Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup, use green vegetables and add a small pack of noodles after blending. Cook them in the soup, according to the instructions on the packet.

For Scottish [CENSORED]-a-Leekie Soup, use 200g to 250g of leeks and add 4 stoned and thinly sliced prunes after blending.

TIPS

Don’t panic, if you fish out fewer bones than you remember going in. The smaller ones will have dissolved into the soup, adding to the goodness.

lizzielondon

Thanks for such quick replies! I will make a list now:)

adelight

Search for the 50p meals thread and the recipe threads. With the chicken soup, I do that but add a tea cup full of mixed lentils, barley, dried beans and a tea cup of broken spaghetti towards the end and end up with chicken noodle stew Also add the peelings if the chicken was part of a roast dinner.
Do you like curry? Make a basic curry sauce from scratch and make a huge amount of lentil/split pea curry, each time you have some of the curry add some leftover scraps of meat or veg to change it up a bit, add extra chilli one day etc

lizzielondon

ok quick check of cupboards ....

cupboard:
lasagna sheets
pasta & spagetti
white & brown rice
risotto rice (never made risotto in my life??)
500g green lentils
300g red lentils
1x dolmio tomato & basil pasta sauce
2x small red salmon tins
2x big red salmon tins (best before 2010...)
2x tuna tins ok date
8x tuna tins dates from 30.09.2011- 30.09.2010
most spices & dried herbs

Freezer:
peas/sweetcorn/chopped peppers
4x fishcakes recently bought

4xfishcakes been in there for at least a year!


Sooooo i clearly do not check my cupboards enough and hoard really old food!

Curry idea is great thanks! Can chicken be batch cooked and frozen in portions this way?

Thanks for all you help! Really trying to be better at this..

rosie383

Just remember not to add too many porridge oats into bolog or you end up with bolog flavoured porridge!!!!! Maybe a handful for a big pot. Just chuck in orange lentils with your sauce, grated carrots are good too. Gives you an extra portion or 2 for little money.

Use a lot of veg base and little meat or fish. One friend of mine would use 1 chicken breast per portion!!!! I use one between 4 of us on the rare occasion we have breast.

As for the dates on the tins, wouldn't worry too much. Use them in your meal plan. When ready, open and sniff. Should be absolutely fine if they are just a yr past their BBE.