Bulking out Meals?

zippychick

ive merged this with our bulking out meals thread so you can see how others do it

our rubber chicken thread may also interest you

Zip

spike7451

I'f I'm having a bowl of soup,I'll often bung in a handful of frozen mixed veg or frozen mushrooms to bulk it out.I love veggies so quite often the pile of frozen peas will dwarf the rest of the food on the plate!

Mojoworking

I've recently started using this forum and been reading reams of pages of tips and tricks.

One of the things I read was adding porridge oats to mince meat and I was wondering (stupidly I know) how?

For example I'd use a slow cooker to make a chilli with one bag of tesco good for you mince with a tin of beans, tin of kidney beans, onion, passata etc and leave that all day, similar for bolognese etc.

So my question is - how much do you use? Or how much should I use so that no one knows it is there - is probably closer to the truth!!

Also could i get away with throwing the oats in at the beginning of the day in the slow cooker - or would these need to be added part way through?

Thank you in advance for any tips and tricks and help x

savingforoz

I add the oats at the beginning if I'm cooking something in the slow cooker - and I whizz them up in a blender first. Helps them disappear better.

As for quantities - I have a 3.5 litre slow cooker and if I was going to fill it I'd use say 4 tablespoons of oats.

Grated carrot is also useful for bulking dishes out but doesn't disappear in the same way oats do.

Hope this helps.

Mojoworking

This is exactly what i needed to know - and thanks for tablespoons - lots of things have cups measures and I'm clueless to that - can't wait to try it thank you x

Fruball

I've tried lots of ways of adding oats and here's my favourite way...

I put the uncooked mince in a bowl, add a few handfuls of oats and mix it in thoroughly along with half a tbsp flour which stops it turning to liquid at the frying stage (I also add an oxo cube at this stage as I think it gives an awesome flavour to boring, unmatured mince)... I leave it for about 10 mins then fry.

Nobody knows there are oats in my mince dishes

zippychick

we have a thread on bulking out meals which should help . I prefer to use red lentils

we will merge this later

ZIP

CupcakeLisa

January is going to be a tight month for us as i have no work till Feb so i want to learn to bulk out my meals a bit better.

I always see people suggesting to bulk out chilli with lentils and things but i dont know how to do it.

Am i just being silly or is it really easy?

Lisa

Mrs_Chip

Its really easy - just add whatever you are going to bulk out with (lentils/ extra raw veg/porridge oats) when you fry off the onion, if you are using tinned pulses (chickpeas/butterbeans/haricots) add them when you would the red kidney beans. You might need a bit mor liquid than you normally use if you are adding anything that is likely to thicken it up.

CupcakeLisa

so if i add an extra tin of tomatoes it should be okay?